Winter on the River

The severe weather has finally broken. The gray skies went away on Saturday. We won't see temps above freezing until later in the coming week, but nothing like getting out into a little sunshine to take care of the cabin fever!

Debbie and I spent Saturday afternoon and evening in Leavenworth, KS. We attended McPherson College basketball games in the evening at St. Marys. There is a quilt shop that Debbie likes to visit, so we went over early.

I had my camera along for the ball games, so while she was in the store I went down to the riverfront. Leavenworth sets on the Missouri River, and they have a nice park at the riverbank. This image is from the there. Please enjoy!

Brrrrrrr !

We are in our 10th day of below freezing temperatures here in Kansas City. The header photo shows you what KC, MO looks like right now. While not unheard of, this many days of deep cold is the most extreme winter weather we have experienced in recent years. We bottomed out last night at 5 degrees according to the local reporting station. We didn't quite reach the record of -8 which is what some of the TV weatherpersons were calling for.

Homes and vehicles around here aren't ready for this sort of extended cold. Our furnace has run nearly full time since we got home on Dec 28. We have one waterline in the house that was frozen. We've rigged a hair dryer to warm up a space in the outside wall and that cleared things up.

My poor old truck is having problems holding a charge on the battery. The battery was dead when I got home from Minnesota on Thursday night. Fortunately the airport parking has a service truck that can come and give you a jump. I've had the battery on the trickle charger for 24 hours, so tonight I'm parking it outside to see what happens. I think there is some sort of electric fault that drains the battery than only happens when it is extremely cold. I've been to the auto parts store, and the five year old battery was giving up the ghost. Nothing like cold weather to uncover things like that. We'll see how the new battery works!

We are venturing out tonight to see the McPherson women's and men's basketball teams play. St. Mary's is a member of the KCAC, so Mac plays in Leavanworth, KS once a year. Fortunately, it's on the weekend so we can get to the games. I will be shooting the games so there should be some sports photos tomorrow.

Stay Warm !

First Day of Winter

After a warm fall, we are seeing a rather cold and gray December.  We are not anticipating a White Christmas, but many areas west of Kansas City will see a major winter snowstorm starting tonight and running through Christmas day.

I drove up to Squaw Creek NWR yesterday.  The winter has truly arrived.  There was quite a bit of snow remaining on the ground.  The marshes are frozen and the migrating geese and ducks have moved on south.  The only waterfowl we encountered were two pair of swans that we saw fly by a couple of times.

The eagle was the first one that we encountered on the refuge. It was sheltering in a tree near the entrance to the refuge. There were only a few eagles left of the 150-200 that were there a few weeks ago. The covered lane is a connecting road between two portions of the refuge.