Christmas

[Dweller_Benthos]

Oh yeah, parked at the beer garden, I see the importance of getting an all wheel drive vehicle was lol!

That gazebo is nice, with the fire place gives you a comfy view as well, very cool! or warm I guess!

[PZ]

 

Yeah, it is really nice to be able to enjoy the outside at this time of the year.

On a different note, we're departing from the usual Xmas fare of ham, turkey, or a beef roast in favor of a fontina-based cheese fondue. The kids are coming over and it should be fun. 

[mandru]

Happy holidays everyone.

Thanks for the pictures PZ.  I've frequently admired the lovely homestead you've built for your family.  I strongly feel a comfortable home filled with peace and tranquility is an essential foundation for happiness.

[PZ]

Thanks for the pictures PZ.  I've frequently admired the lovely homestead you've built for your family.  I strongly feel a comfortable home filled with peace and tranquility is an essential foundation for happiness.

Thanks mandru 

I bought this place way back when I was starting my career. At that time I couldn't afford to heat the house (electric heat) so I purchased a wood stove and hung sheets over the stairway to the second floor so I could keep the main floor warm. For the time, I purchased a home I really could not afford, but made it w0#k anyway and I sure am glad I did.

I know it sounds cliché, but I kind of miss those lean days.

I paid less for this place than a new pickup costs today.

Hope your holidays are filled with the priceless memories that money can't buy.

[fragger]

All the best for the holidays, chaps! I hope you all have great times and prosperous new years

PZ, I had a quick look at your photos, I'll have a proper look later. I'm about to depart for my sister's place for our annual slap-up Christmas lunch, so I don't have time to do a proper peruse of your photos right now. But I will say that I'm always struck by the contrast at this time of the year between the northern hemisphere and the southern one. I see pictures of snowdrifts and winter woolies there, while here it's T-shirt and shorts weather

[fragger]

Great photos, PZ Brr, looks chilly...

Speaking of which, I'm wondering how you guys in the States have been coping with the weather. I've been seeing some pretty scary stuff on the news about the extreme cold which has been gripping the US during the last week or so. Hope you guys are all okay

[fragger]

As a contrast to the foregoing "winter wonderland" pictures, I thought I'd show you where I spent Christmas day.

I reduced the image sizes and put the whole post in a spoiler so it wouldn't take up too much space on a main page.

Spoiler

This is where my sister and brother-in-law (henceforth known as "my bro") live, about a half-hour's drive from me on the Lansdowne River - like, right on it. They have acreage but they don't farm it (apart from a veggie garden), however they allow some of the local farmers to graze their cattle on it periodically.

Looking north-east from the entrance.
House is up on the left, Lansdowne River on the right, one of my sister's two dogs in the middle
(a dachshund/bull terrier cross, which is an interesting combo. The mind boggles).

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My bro has done heaps of w0#k on the place since they first moved in about 18 years ago.
It was all a tad run-down when they bought the place, but he has made a vast improvement to the house and grounds over the years.
He put in the driveways, did all the landscaping, and did an amazing job on the inside of the house.
There is one field over the fence on the right, and a larger one behind the house (I didn't photograph that).

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The house is up on a raised mound in case the river floods, which it does on occasion.
They keep their freezers and supplies well stocked for such eventualities, and they've been isolated a few times over the years.
To the left of the house, mostly hidden by trees, is my bro's garage/workshop.

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Another shot of the river, looking south-west.

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Front yard and the riverside barbecue area where my bro works his magic (not this time though, too hot outside).
He has another one out the back and a portable gas one in his workshop. He does like his barbies.

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The deck at the front of the house with the pitched roof is all his doing too.

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This is his lovingly restored 1965 Ford F100, nicknamed "Doris".
He and my nephew, who is a bodyworker by trade, spent several years working on it.
What they couldn't find, they made, like the wooden tray, which they built from scratch.
He doesn't drive it regularly or anything, only to the local motor shows to exhibit it.

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While I was outside, my sis, bro and parents were holed up inside the house where the air conditioning was, like sensible people. It was a stinking hot day and it was only myself and the dog who were silly enough to venture outside to take piccies. But that was okay, an icy Yule ale awaited me indoors.

A good day was had. Plenty of laughs, and I made my usual Christmas pig of myself at lunch

[PZ]

Great pics fragger!

Man, your bro's place looks fantastic.  Must be great to have a place right on the river. I especially liked his outdoor grillin' area!

Here are a few pics to help you feel cold 
(When the slideshow starts you can click any image up to two times to see a higher magnification: first click results in a minor zoom and the second click reveals scrollable super zoom)

Spoiler

I've had to plow enough to make the driveway berms taller than I am
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The path to the gazebo
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This is the path to the fire pit where we have the bonfire on New Years Eve. Snow is piled so high you can't see the pit
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The treat waiting for me when I am done shoveling the path to the fire pit. Oh, you can see the treat in the second image if you click to magnify.
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An even better treat once the day is finished. A cheese fondue in the gazebo with my sweetie.
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[Dweller_Benthos]

Dang that's quite the contrast between the two! We had some pretty cold weather Christmas Eve day, about 5 below F here that morning and the remnants of the storm that went through Friday, where it had been almost 50°F during the day, then the temp plummeted and was the aforementioned 5 below the next morning when I had to clear out the driveway. Not nearly as much snow as PZ has for sure though, that's a pile! Fondue in the gazebo looks good though!

Now our weather has warmed a bit and the snow is melting. Up here in the hills it won't melt completely but down in the valley it's all gone already.

[nex]

WOW!! what a contrast. Love the pics guys. I will have to flip a coin to pick which one of the two I would like to go to. Seeing the most snow we ever had was no more than about 5 inches

[fragger]

I'm glad you guys in the US are okay. We were hearing stories about people freezing to death in their own homes in some places over there I immediately thought of PZ and some of the snowy photos he has posted in the past, but I knew if anyone would be prepared to deal with extreme weather, it would be him

I think I mentioned it once before, but I have never seen snow in person. That's not altogether unusual for a lot of Aussies. There is only a few relatively small areas in Australia where it snows, mostly in the "high" country around the New South Wales/Victoria border and Tasmania, which are quite a way south from where I am. There is enough snowfall in the first area to justify several ski resorts, but that's about it. NSW, Victoria and Tasmania are the only states which get any snow at all - South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory never get any - ever - and those are the largest states, which altogether make up roughly 3/4 of the landmass. There are a few places due west from me where they get snow during some winters (not all). One of those, a place called Barrington Tops, is only about a hundred miles due west of me. Even then, the snowfalls are generally light flurries.

So I have no idea what the stuff feels like, what it's like to walk through, or anything

We had a colder-than-usual, prolonged, and very wet winter in 2022 thanks to the volcanic eruption in Tonga last January messing up the atmospheric patterns in this part of the world. It certainly isn't winter anymore though We didn't even seem to get a spring this year. It went straight from winter to summer in a matter of days, with almost no transition.

Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year to you all!

[fragger]

nex, I'm just guessing, but weather-wise I'd say you'd feel more at home where I live than you would than in the US, seeing as how we're in the same hemisphere and almost at the same latitude

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah I see that even Saudi Arabia has snow or did get some, even in Mecca which I guess is unheard of there. So there's still hope for you Fragger! LOL!

It all really depends on your location, here in eastern New York state, we have very little snow left after a couple storms. It's warmed up and rained quite a bit and the snow we had has melted. But, just a few hundred miles west around the lakes and the city of Buffalo, they are getting hammered with snow an some people have died because of it.

But yeah, happy new year, I'm sure the weather will continue to be a thing that happens, and we will continue to complain about it!

[PZ]

Happy new year gents! Snow piles are melting here to about half that in the last set of photos. Warmer too - mid to high 30s F during the day.

[fragger]

Glad you're okay, D_B

Yep, we do like to complain about the weather... But if there was no weather, there'd be nobody to do any complaining