>We are starting to gain fast and furious here up in the north country! By this time next week we will be gaining a a minute and a half of sunlight a day, and Jan 11 marks the first day the sun will start to rise earlier!!

Jan 8, 2009 8:08 AM 5:22 PM 9h 14m 02s + 1m 14s
Jan 9, 2009 8:08 AM 5:23 PM 9h 15m 20s + 1m 18s
Jan 10, 2009 8:08 AM 5:24 PM 9h 16m 42s + 1m 22s
Jan 11, 2009 8:07 AM 5:26 PM 9h 18m 07s + 1m 25s
Jan 12, 2009 8:07 AM 5:27 PM 9h 19m 36s + 1m 28s
Jan 13, 2009 8:07 AM 5:28 PM 9h 21m 08s + 1m 32s
Jan 14, 2009 8:06 AM 5:29 PM 9h 22m 44s + 1m 35s

Now, in case you’ve been wondering what we’ve been eating, well its nothing too special. Last night was spaghetti with homemade pesto, the day before was beans, eggs, tortillas, salsa and such, and the day before that we went out to eat at a yummy fish place.

>If you dont live on a hill you might ask well just make your own with the deck!

>Its a beautiful but cold morning here in mid michigan. The sun is peaking out from behind some broken clouds and the roads don’t look too snow covered. A see a nice run in the forecast! It’s going to get up to 31 degrees today! We’re nearly 10 days past the shortest day of winter. Our mornings haven’t gotten any earlier, but the evenings are a bit longer, with the sun not starting to set until 5:15pm (civil twilight, 5:47pm). Lets not talk sunrise. we’re morning people. We are still on a two person crusade to get michigan on the central time zone to wake that sun up an hour earlier! ha ha. Scott’s approach is to simply just live on central time, but I’m going to get a petition going and send it off to the legislature. think they will take it seriously? We’ve already gained 5 minutes! So, here is the projection for the next few days:

Jan 1, 2009 8:09 AM 5:15 PM 9h 06m 43s + 46s
Jan 2, 2009 8:09 AM 5:16 PM 9h 07m 33s + 50s
Jan 3, 2009 8:09 AM 5:17 PM 9h 08m 28s + 54s
Jan 4, 2009 8:09 AM 5:18 PM 9h 09m 27s + 58s
Jan 5, 2009 8:09 AM 5:19 PM 9h 10m 30s + 1m 02s
Jan 6, 2009 8:09 AM 5:20 PM 9h 11m 37s + 1m 06s
Jan 7, 2009 8:08 AM 5:21 PM 9h 12m 47s + 1m 10s

>Scott and I promised to stay up till midnight – lets see if we can make it! tonight we had winter squash soup. I got the recipe out of my eating well magazine. First i roasted the squash and some garlic in the oven for 40 minutes. Then I cut up an onion and and 1 carrot and sauteed them on the stove. Then I added the squash that I had roasted and the garlic, some salt and some cumin, and a few cups of water, and let that simmer for about 45 minutes. Then I blended it and served it. It was a hair bland, but still good.

>
well its starting to cloud up a bit, but i had to post that its up a whopping 46 degrees out! So, we broke open the new sidewalk chalk (thanks Davis family) and decorated the driveway.

>So last night I made butternut squash raviolis with sage and gorgonzola. We also had asparagus on the side. I guess it falls under the pasta category, but still it felt like a break from the same old. Im not sure what we’re going to have to tonight. Im thinking of making perch with some risotto on the side. We have an acorn squash, so maybe that instead of the risotto. I might make kale or broccoli, i havent decided yet.

Its a beautiful sunny day in mid Michigan. Its 43 degrees out and barely a cloud in the sky. The girls and I walked over to hannah center, then the library, then the track. All in all about 1.5 miles, but it felt good to be outdoors and not be too cold! The snow is mainly melted, except for the snow banks. But, the melting snow is causing the red cedar river to crest. Its supposed to be 7.2 feet tonight. Last September it crested at 7.3 feet and the water came up just about as high as the “rock” across from erickson. We will try to get over there to check it out and take some pics.

>Im wondering if I really need to report what we’ve eaten for the last three days… I think lets just say that we’ve had lots and lots and lots of good food at both of our parents homes! We will post some pictures over the weekend.

What strange weather! Its about 54 degrees this morning here in mid michigan. I thought I would get a run outdoors in a t-shirt and tights until the thunder and lightening started. This breaks our “snow every day” pattern I guess! We had about 20 inches of snow in our yard christmas eve, so its going to mush today. Im going to suggest we all wear fishing waders today.

Yesterday the weather was also crazy. We were driving from Columbus OH to Jackson MI and just south of Toledo we hit freezing rain and almost instantaneously the roads turned into a sheet of ice. Cars were falling off of the road left and right. The highway was shutdown and we all just had to sit in our cars on the highway for about an hour and 15 minutes waiting for the salter to come through and for the highway to be reopened. Scott took this picture of the cars and trucks waiting on the icy road. that beautiful shine on the road is pure ice! he also got out of the car to get something from the back and literally skated all the way around the car. It was amazing we could even drive as we did on that road before they shut it down.

>When its super cold and snowy do you know what is really yummy to eat? Fish and chips and coleslaw. So, that is what he had for supper last night! Not too exciting I guess but at least we haven’t eaten that in the past two weeks.

>this is our fourth winter storm warning in the last two weeks! …..

Winter Storm Warning remains in effect from Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon…

Snow will redevelop Tuesday morning and continue into Wednesday. Some of the snow could be locally heavy at times. There could be some freezing rain or sleet south of Interstate 96 on Wednesday. A break in the precipitation could occur Tuesday night. Storm total accumulations in excess of 8 inches are possible along and north of Interstate 96 with up to 6 further south where a wintry mix could limit amounts.

>Its forecast to snow every day this week, and that is coming off of a week where I think we also had snow everyday. I guess what is another 6 or 7 inches? We are also forecast for a high of 16 today, and its 16 right now, so Im not sure if that means its going to get colder as the day goes on, or the forecast is off. I sure hope that it means the forecast is off! But by Christmas eve it will be a downright balmy 34!!!! yahoo!

Yesterday we went with our neighbors to the MSU planetarium. We went to the show “holiday of lights” which was fun. Frankie loved seeing the constellations, and Bee’s favorite part was the black light that lit her white shirt up super bright! Then we went over our neighbors house to have pizza together. So, i guess that is what we ate for dinner! ha ha!