Happy winter solstice to everyone

[gumpus]

It hit 50 here today and the weather for the next week looks wonderful. It's been unusually sunny this December. The roads are dry and the ground is mostly soft. Winter storms have been passing south of us. No chance for a white Christmas and that's fine by me. Just enjoying each day as we try to sneak through winter. Cheers to all.

 

[Canotrouge]

-20C quite a bit of fresh snow(for up here) and I went for an hour and 45 minutes xc ski this after noon and going back tonight to meet with family and friend to small hut for supper!!
Life is great below zero!

 

[Gerald]

Happy B day gumpus. Enjoy.

G.

 

[frozentripper]

Cheers and happy winter solstice... it was a real pleasure pedaling around the streets of Toronto in the warm sunny weather, when just several days earlier temps were freezing cold.

I was going to post these solstice photos in the pic of the day thread where there was something earlier but they're more appropriate here... the skies yesterday were clear, making observation of the sunset at it's southernmost solstice point possible.

Sunset at the Toronto waterfront two weeks ago, position marked by the distant buildings... neither telephoto or wide-angle, normal lens view at 50mm equivalent.

​

Yesterday\s solstice sunset at the same spot, sunset at it's most southerly point, a little further south. From here on, the sun returns northward again, higher in the sky, with longer days and spring eventually approaching. Happy first day of winter to you all!

​

 

[Odyssey]

Happy winter solstice. Talking on the phone the other day with my brother, he reminded me the days would be getting longer as we officially proceed into winter. So, hello and welcome winter, and hello and welcome longer days!
Last night we enjoyed the first annual Family Christmas Movie Night. A potluck dinner ( I baked an elderberry/strawberry pie ) followed by a Christmas themed movie. And then another movie. And then another. By 10 o'clock I was nodding off. When we got home I meant to take the dog for a walk under streetlight and stars but felt too tired. Early to bed instead. You know what they say, "It's a dog's life." Sounds good to me.
I am sitting here with my morning cappuccino as I type this. The house is quiet, even for a Sunday. That means my wife has taken our family dog Lily for a walk. They'll both be loving that. We're dog-sitting again, this time over Christmas. We've not minded Lily before so we're all three of us getting to know each other, and it's going just fine. But we must be doing something wrong, maybe spoiling the dogs too much, because the kids call our place The Doggy Spa. Too many treats? Too many walks? Too many cuddles? Is that even possible? I think I am to blame. I draw a hard line : "No sleeping on the furniture! Stay off the beds!" And then I let the dogs take turns in my reading chair, and treat the spare bedroom like a canine lounge. Well, to be fair that bed is awfully comfortable and I do cover it in a sumptuous blanket. With the curtains open we can see out through the lilac branches into the snow covered yard and remember the summer play amongst the strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb. And the reading chair does sit under a reading lamp which casts a warm glow and is next to the front window from which we can watch the world go by. Is it so strange I and the dogs should share some of the same comfy delights? Ah, I can hear the bell hanging from the front door knob jangle, they must be home. Time for breakfasts ( leftover pie?) , another cappuccino and planning for a longer Sunday afternoon picnic walk. And then an evening in the reading chair...whoever gets there first. And as the days grow longer I'm reminded that it's a dog's life.

 

[Waterdog]

Put on the local whitewater river at usual time and stopped along banks to make some pizza steak sandwiches on the Skottle grill and Guinness Stouts about 1ish Got back on river forty five minutes later and realized the sun was dropping quickly behind the steep mountains. It was probably in the low 30’s without the sun. Minor miscalculation on our part. Saw three resident bald eagles flying in the half canyon light and zero people on the river. Slowly but surely the days will glow brighter for longer moving forward.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[Guest]

Happy winter solstice. Talking on the phone the other day with my brother, he reminded me the days would be getting longer as we officially proceed into winter. So, hello and welcome winter, and hello and welcome longer days!

I don’t so much mind the earlier sunset, at least while I am at home. But sunrise at 7:20 am hereabouts and still getting later each day for the next week or so. I still get up a 5am each morning. That is a lot of morning dark.

Sunset is at 4:49 pm today. In a month sunset will be at 5:16pm, and sunrise will be at - woo hoo, a whole extra minute! – 7:19am.

 

[Odyssey]

Ha, amateurs. Thanks to Lily, our Alsatian-Rottweiler holiday hound, I've been getting up at 4 am, right on the bleary eyed shuffling slippered dot. Her bladderclock is precise and I don't want to test it, so when I hear her snuffle at the side of our bed discomforting our comforter I drag myself from slumber. I whisper to my wife "I've got this." Standing at the kitchen window I watch the lurking shadow as it dissolves through the predawn gloom in the backyard. I actually enjoy the early rising but have no stamina to stay up and at 'em. Perhaps a little later on towards springtime the early morning rituals will come easier.

 

[sweeper]

Ha, Rookie. my 13-year-old Lymphoma covered, Deaf, Black Lab barks all hours of the night for water, to go outside, to be with someone...

 

[BWCA66]

Sunset here at 4:32 today, 60 more seconds of bow hunting!

 

[Guest]

Sunset here at 4:32 today, 60 more seconds of bow hunting!

I always had a laugh when duckhunting, legal to shoot a half hour before official sunrise. On public hunting lands a lot of guy’s watches seemed to be running really fast.

Hereabouts we have wayyyyyyyyy too many deer. Or home is adjacent to an 80 square mile area surrounding a reservoir that is mostly No Hunting or select Archery Only zones, with lots of field and forest edge and tasty rural yards surrounding the reservation.

We have deer out the wazoo. I see them almost every dawn walking casually along the backyard forest fringe. I see them often enough to recognize individuals. They ate every Hosta in our yard down to the nub; (the missus counted) all 220 of them. Our Corolla became crushed scrap metal because of a big buck running pell mell across the road a half mile from home.

My wife’s car has been hit twice by deer – she didn’t hit them, she braked hard and they ran into the side of her car. One dented the hood on a back flip, 9.5’s even from the East German judges. I followed an Animal Control truck up the road last week, picking up deer cacasses. He stopped as often as the mail lady and still missed a couple.

Our stream valley outside the reservoir is festooned with deer stands, at least one on every property; the locals and their come-on-over friends can’t kill enough deer.

Really not a fan of that particular virginianus overpopulation. We don’t have a denuded browse line quite yet in the woods, and the deer all appear fat and healthy. If we had a big freezer, despite the vegetarian wife, I would eat me some venison.

 

[gumpus]

Well Odyssey you sound pretty strict with your pets. Our mutt can go anywhere she wants plus we have an electric blanket on the couch so she can lay on a nice warm blanket on the coach in the sun. The electric blanket makes her snore louder.

Took this pic tonight. Have to point the camera (phone) towards the south to capture the sunset. From the bluff at St Joseph the sun is setting over Chicago this time of year...Chicago is about 75 miles away.

 

[frozentripper]

Some great color there, Gumpus... keep 'em coming. The weather here in S Ont is forecast to be mild and partially sunny looking forward, so after the Toronto Xmas shopping insanity (was in that yesterday) has ended, maybe there'll be some quality time outdoors.

Solstice vid from Sweden.... "Darkness is defeated"... . check out the sooty teapot, I need something like that on day hikes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7eo1FB5wU

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Cheers and happy winter solstice... it was a real pleasure pedaling around the streets of Toronto in the warm sunny weather, when just several days earlier temps were freezing cold.

I was going to post these solstice photos in the pic of the day thread where there was something earlier but they're more appropriate here... the skies yesterday were clear, making observation of the sunset at it's southernmost solstice point possible.

Sunset at the Toronto waterfront two weeks ago, position marked by the distant buildings... neither telephoto or wide-angle, normal lens view at 50mm equivalent.

​

Yesterday\s solstice sunset at the same spot, sunset at it's most southerly point, a little further south. From here on, the sun returns northward again, higher in the sky, with longer days and spring eventually approaching. Happy first day of winter to you all!

​

frozentripper,

The images did not come across for me.

 

[frozentripper]

P Pitt... the photos still are visible here, don't know why not for you.

Maybe the Flickr photo links will work if clicked upon.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49255984091_05724d44ff_o.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49256217592_2387b0fb59_o.jpg

 

[Odyssey]

"Well Odyssey you sound pretty strict with your pets."
Well yes. Yes I am. I am a hard hard man, with principles of granite and shared self restraint unbeknownst among lesser men. And that is why family pets are only allowed 1 treat a day. More usually 2, but not more than 4. Never ever exceeding 6. At one time. But there's always more in the hall cupboard.
I was a complete fail this morning. Don't know what happened to 4am. It came and went without me. My eyes popped opened at 9. I blame my late night reading habits. Lily the dog was curled up next to me beside the Christmas tree into the wee hours whilst I plowed through a thriller. When I finally trudged off to bed I turned and asked "Coming to bed?" Lily just gave a big sigh and closed her eyes again. She grumbled just a little when I turned off the tree lights.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Thanks, fozentripper. Those links worked. Very nice images!

 

[Boreal Birch]

Today the sun was up for 1 minute and 15 seconds longer than on the Winter Solstice. 18 hours and 6 minutes shorter than Summer Solstice will be on June 21.
Beautiful flat light if you are into photography this time of year.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all the great Canoe Tripping Family!!