Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten! Part 2, Teil 2

Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!

Woke up to snow this morning. It'll be around 33 all day long! Yeah! A white Christmas...at least today. Tomorrow they predict it in the 30s but clear and sun...we'll see!

Heute frueh hatten wir Schnee! Es soll den ganzen Tag ueber um die 0 grad sein! Hurrah! Ein weisses Weihnachtsfest...wenigstens heute. Fuer Morgen ist Sonne angesagt und klares Wetter...Wir werden's sehen!

Newest Weatherreport:
Rest of Today


Periods of snow. Areas of blowing snow. Windy. Much colder. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches. Total snow accumulation 4 to 6 inches. Near steady temperature in the upper 20s. Northwest winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. Chance of precipitation 90 percent.

And more from the Abilene Reporter News at 5 pm (Dec. 24, 2009)

Snowy weather brought a beautiful white blanket of snow to Abilene and counties across the Big Country Thursday, but that winter storm also made for hazardous driving.

If you have never heard the word “blizzard” when referring to snowfall in the Big Country, that is because it has never happened. But it has now.

High winds and blowing snow Thursday prompted the National Weather Service to issue a “blizzard warning” for West Central Texas —the first blizzard warning issued for this area since the NWS office in San Angelo opened in 1947.

A blizzard warning is issued when blowing or falling snow is accompanied by sustained winds above 35 miles per hour, reducing visibility to less than one-quarter mile for three hours or more.

The blizzard warning was issued for Callahan, Haskell, Jones, Shackelford, and Throckmorton counties. A winter storm warning was issued for Taylor and other counties in the Big Country that weren’t included in the blizzard warning.

“The is the worst I’ve seen it in 20 years,” said Haskell Police Chief Steve Grand.

Temperatures will be below 20 degrees on Christmas morning but should inch up to 40 later in the day. Sunny skies also are expected.

Meteorologist Les Hiesler, who worked at the Abilene office of the NWS before it closed, said he did not recall a blizzard warning ever being issued from the office, which was opened from 1908 to 1995.

Abilene received between two and five inches of snow, while between seven and eight inches accumulated in the northern parts of the Big Country.

The winter storm system tracked east along Interstate 20 Thursday, bringing snow to all of the areas east of Abilene.

Snowy conditions turned to slush, then ice, making roadways hazardous for motorists. Accidents were reported all along I-20 from Mitchell County to Eastland County.

“All of the snow is along and north of I-20,” said Buddy McIntyre, a meteorologist with the NWS in San Angelo.

The blizzard conditions caused white-out conditions for drivers, and freezing temperatures are expected to keep the roads icy and very hazardous.

“The highway conditions are going to remain in pretty bad shape,” McIntyre said.

Another cold front will move through the area Sunday night, bringing temperatures back down to freezing. More wintry weather is likely on Monday and Tuesday, McIntyre said.

Snowfall across West Central Texas is a rare event, with snowfall in December even rarer. However, most rare of all may be a white Christmas.

Since 1914, Abilene has had only three measurable snowfalls and three trace snowfalls on Christmas Day. In other words, a white Christmas occurs on average about once every 14 years.

So, what did I do today?

This was supposed to be a workless day with just nothing at all to do...so...

• I started to record all of Dan's records to Computer (well, it will take longer then I though :-)) it will be a loooong project, but that is okay, it's his Christmas present and whenever I rather sit on the computer I just tell him I copy his records...of course I have to listen to his music...that is not always my piece of cake, but it's his Christmas...
• Then we decided to go shopping...for food...well, Walmart is way too full, so we turned around and went to Albertsons...yeah! As I needed a cake for tomorrow I was looking around for something when I remembered that Dan had bought a can of Blueberry Pie Filling...he was going to bake something weeks ago...and still hasn't. When I reminded him he was going to get a baked pie shell...well, that's good for filling with jell-o and whipcream...but fruit...aaagh!!! So I looked at a Blackberry Pie Filling can and found a recipe for a Coffee Cake, took a picture and emailed it home so I can copy it for the Blueberry can...here it is!

• Well, the package of Jell-o in the back is clearer then my recipe, but I made the coffee cake...I'll take a picture of it later when I made the glaze (doesn't matter that I didn't have 1 1/2 cup of butter (only 1 1/4) and took less sugar...took 2 cups of flour, seemed to batter up okay :-)
• Before I made the cake though I cut onions and meat and am making Gulasch for lunch tomorrow, and for Monday's lunch...there is someone having a birthday and I'll get her lunch :-) Oh, well...no surprise here!
• And then it was back to the computer recording more of Chicago...now I found my old Christmas records, so I am taking a break and record those, or at least one or two, while still cooking the Gulasch!

So, this is my day of not doing anything...but it's fun to cook and to finally doing something with those old records that are collecting dust in the corner :-) I wonder how they will sound when they are copied over to a CD, as that is the next step :-)

Oh, have you realized we already had our Christmas...as Dan got a record player from me :-) Well, those pictures will follow when I put them on a nice background and on Creative Memories...you'll just have to wait and see what else we got...so, stay tuned to the Bush's blog!

Uh somebody… A little help here please!!

Uh somebody… A little help here please!!

Uh somebody… A little help here please!!

Uh somebody… A little help here please!!


If the pic doesn't show up here you just have to click and follow the link! It is so precious...and no, it's not at my house, and not my dog either!

Playing with StoryBook Creator again!

Just wanted to see what I could do and this is what happened...took all the color out of the picture, except Rick!

And it didn't even take that long :-)

Now this picture looked really good before, but I am liking it better now!

And an update on the weather :-)

Yesterday it was cold...cold...cold...brrrr!
Today it got pretty warm :-) Predicted was 70, but that didn't happen. We had a high of 59 and a low of 30. No ice on the roads this morning, even though that was forcasted. It was cold this morning, but nothing compared to yesterday. Then it got pretty warm just to turn cold with gusty winds and dust storm. Now we are waiting for the arctic air that is supposed to come down. -17 in Wyoming, Lubbock 25, Our weather tonight is going to be 22 and tomorrow the high will be 39...or so they say :-) then it gets warm again! Yeah, Texas!!! Wouldn't want to live anywhere else :-)

Yep, it was cold yesterday!

We had a temp of 28 almost all day long. Started to get warmer as the night was progressing. There was supposed to be ice this morning, but there isn't any, so we go to work as usual. The dogs meanwhile...