Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Snow in Southern Indiana

On Thursday last week, it was 60 degrees. On Friday, we had 7 inches of snow. In southern Indiana usually the snow melts before another snow falls. Not this time! Last night we got another two inches.




I'm going to have to find the bird feeding tube. The poor things can't find the seed on the tree stump any more.


And I thought I was in the land of easy winters. Shows you what I know...

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

P.S. Here's the weather lore for predicting snowfall borrowed from http://www.naturealmanac.com/archive/predicting_winter/predicting_winter.html

Snow

There are three infallible methods of predicting snowfall for the coming year so take your pick:

1) Count the number of foggy mornings in August. This number will be the same as the number of snowfalls for the following winter, or if you're not a morning person... (Most of the days in August had fog this year. So somewhere around 25-30 snows.)

2) Count the number of days from the first snowfall until Christmas. This number will also give the correct number of snowfalls to expect, or... (Our first snow fell on November 12th. 43 snows?)

3) Count the number of days from the first snowfall of the season to the preceding New Moon. This, too, will tell you what the coming winter will bring. (First snow on November 12th. New moon on November 3rd. 9 snowfalls?)

A fact well-known to our ancestors but hardly ever taught today is that when snow lies in drifts in the shade and refuses to melt, these drifts become "snow breeders" which attract more snow. Also, if the sun shines while snow is falling, expect more snow very soon. If your dog howls at the moon it signifies an early snow. And remember, a white Christmas means a green Easter (and vice versa). This is an excellent way to gauge the length of winter since it gives you an idea of what to expect several months in advance.

I know the weather lore and keep track of the fogs in August, but this year I can't come up with a good guess. The lore doesn't match itself - which it usually does. So here goes nothing...

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

P.S. It's mid-April and I noted all the snows on the calendar. Our snows started on November 12 - which is pretty early for southern Indiana - and continued into March. It isn't out of the realm of possibility that we could get another snow, but the odds are bad. So the total for this year, everything from a trace to several inches, was 26 snowfalls. That best matches the fogs in August prediction.

Tackling Tunisian Crochet

I've tried Tunisian crochet in the past and obviously missed a step or two, because the results were unlovely.

I found a couple different sizes of afghan hooks and messed with it until I found something I was satisfied with.

Here's a largish lap robe that finally came up to my standards.

 
 
Since I sewed the strips together with a row of single crochet I decided to make a ridge on the border as well to give the finished piece a more unified look.

 
 
I first worked a row of double crochet around the sides and then I did a row of single crochet as front post stitches.
 
 
It's warm. Each row came out with the right number of stitches. I'll do something fancier the next time I try this kind of crochet.
 
Thanks for visiting with me,
 
Kathi Linz
 

Angela 2013

Angela comes but once a year and always at Thanksgiving. Abby LOVES our girl.


 
We decided not to shop together on Friday, but that may have been because Angela went out Thanksgiving evening and hit all the sales until about 4 in the morning. lol
 
She set up my Christmas tree and decorations. Our time together was all too short.
 
 
Thanks for visiting with me.
 
Kathi