Week of Dec 27, 1998 - Jan 2, 1999
The very cold temps have continued. We have about 6 inches of additional snow this week and several nights with temp -16 to -24 degrees. We returned from California after a visit with Dave and Tracy Thursday night about 10:30. We left 70 degrees and returned to -16 degrees ARGH! It is snowing as I write this, be it very lightly and temps are now in the mid teens. It was a wonderful visit with the kids,two trips to the beach and a trip to San Diego Wild Animial Park. The Bird show was great, Alex the African Gray Parrot was the star of the show, Recommended. I should soon have a few pictures posted in the photo album after the film is processed. The birds and squirels are busy at the feeders today! A Happy New Year "1999" to all.

Week of Dec 21-26, 1998
Well a week of winter weather has arrived. Below zero every day for over a week now, so this is "more like it". It has been clear most every day, so it is nice to have the sun to brighten the days. "Sillyvester" went to the vet Wed morning and will remain there for a week, try to protect him from the cold weater if we can. He had been allowed in a few times to warm him up a bit, the pet heater has worked well, but he just stays in his box. The pound indicated that they may be able to take him soon. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas, we sure enjoyed ours and of course eat too much turkey!

Dec 20 1998
Late breaking news! The lake froze last night and is now snow covered as a light snow has been with us all day. The temp last night was about 6 below and has remained in the low single digits today. It now looks a lot like Christmas:) Just a week ago we were flying in cloudless skies with a temp of almost 50 degrees. There is nothing like Minnesota weather.

Week of Dec 12-19, 1998
Ouch..Winter has returned to "The North Woods" for Christmas week. It snowed about 6 inches Thursday night and Friday morning. Then Friday night the temp went to 8 below with 20 below in the forecast. Pat bought a Pet Heater for "Sillyvester", a 6 watt heat pad designed for that purpose, so we hope that will keep him warm in the garage. His box is well insulated and is topped of with a nice blanket. It looked like the lake might freeze last weekend, but it didn't happen. In fact, as we look out over the lake, we see large rolling waves and huge clouds of steam rising from the surface, can it be long now?

Week of Dec 6-12, 1998
More blue sky and 30s-40s all week. We plan on going flying this afternoon. It should be wonderful, the temp is 42 degrees. Of course still no ice on the lake other than a bit of edge ice in the mornings.Lots of birds, Finches and Blue Jays mostly. First chance for snow mid week. Very busy week for us both and a busy weekend as well. The Christmas letter is finished and mailing labels are done, so we should be getting them out soon. Well it was Gizmo's week. She is now an "it" as well. "Poor thing", she was good and is making a quick recovery. She went in Wed am and came home Thur am. She was very tired Thur night, but is getting back to normal. We had a nice dinner at The Harbor last night with Don, Diane, Rod and Meredith. David, the onion rings were GREAT!

Week of Nov 30-Dec 5, 1998
The fantastic weather continued all week! Temps in the upper 30's and a 40 degree day here and there. Several sunny days with wonderful blue skys. There have been several reports of trees budding out because of the warm conditions.It was however a very busy week at work with parent conferences Tues, Thur and Fri. A three hour plus math department meeting on Friday afternoon as well. We are in final planning phases for 99-00 curriculum, even before the end of the first semester 98-99. ARGH! "Sillyvester" (Our darling stray "cat boy") made a trip to the vet on Wed and returned Thur as an "it" with his shots taken. We so hope that a good home can be found for him, he is such a loving kitty. Rained all night last night with the temp hanging about 34 degrees, 70 percent chance of more tonight with the fear of freezing rain. The extended forecast is for single digit temps early in the week and snow for mid week. All of the snow is gone except for patches in the woods. Lots of bird activity with very large groups of Grosbeaks. Can that be true that there are only 12 days of school before Christmas?

Week of Nov 22-29, 1998
Wednesday we headed out for Missouri! The weather was fantastic, temps in the 60's our entire stay. Joyce had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner and a house full. Mom cooked the turkey and pies, others contributed as well, since Joyce got in from the field about 9pm Wed night. The Viking victory was enjoyed by at least Pat and I :>) I helped Chuck and Andy in the field Friday, while Pat and Mom went in to St Louis to see GrandPa Bauman. I took one last grain truck in to the elevator Saturday morning. Chuck and Joyce finished the 1998 harvest up and returned the combine to the farm. Mom had another wonderful dinner early Saturday afternoon. Great Grandma, Uncle Marvin and Aunt "V" joined us. We headed back to Minnesota about 1:30pm getting back home at 11:30 this morning. Considerable fog for the last 3 or 4 hours, at times down to 1/8th mile or so. It was so great to see everyone again.

The weather in our absence continued in the 30's and lower 40's, we still have the snow and ice. We do however have patches of grass showing through again.

Week of Nov 15-21, 1998
Wednesday we had 6 inches of snow/drizzle/snizzle. Heavy layer of about 4 inches of ice at the bottom of the mess. Thursday I had to get the snow blower out and blow the driveway hill so we could get to work. This weekend's temps in the upper 30's were a pleasant break. We even saw the sun Friday afternoon and Saturday morning after many days of clouds. A little bit of ice is forming at the edge of the lake, it will not be too long before the lake will freeze. However it does look like it will be later than normal this year.(Normal is Thanksgiving week).

Week of Nov 8-14, 1998
Temps were mostly in the mid 30's for highs this week. Tuesday school was called at 1:00 because of Blizzard conditions. We ended up with about 4 inches of wet snow/slush mixture. This storm was formed by a very intense low pressure area. Duluth set an all time low pressure record of 28.475 " Hg. The previous record was from the November storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald. The lake/pond at the intersection of 169 and 17 was frozen over Thursday morning. Pat had to chase Gizmo up the lakeshore as she enjoyed chasing the waves along the shore line.

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