New Year's and Winter Pictures

Beaver pond reflection, Jan. 10th, 2016.

A couple of posts back, I said I'd post some Winter pictures, as well as a couple pictures from New Year's. Here are some pictures I took on New Year's Eve morning, New Year's Eve, and a few days after New Year's.

Uncle Mo's karaoke pub in Renton at the turn of the year, New Year's Eve, 2015-16. The Space Needle can be seen glowing with fireworks in the big TV screen.

A karaoke singer brings down the house singing a pop song, standing on the table. New Year's Eve, 2015-16.

On New Year's Eve I went to a local karaoke pub which is one of the most popular bars in Renton, and it was a fun time. The following morning I took my Nikon snapshot camera out on my bike and snapped some pictures.

During our two to three weeks of Winter, the pond froze over solid. Photo taken early morning, New Year's Day, when it was around -4C / 24F. Within a week and a half or so, the pond was back to normal, with a pair of ducks swimming in it.

Since then, the weather here has felt more like Spring than Winter. Right now as I write this, the temperature outside is 9 degrees C (about 50F) and the sun is shining. Outside I can hear chickadees and red winged blackbirds.

An early fog raising from the Cedar River on a -4C/24F day, New Year's Morning 2016.

Red Winged Blackbirds are a summer bird here in Western Washington -- they usually appear in Spring, and nest in the ponds and swamps during late Spring and early Summer, when their "kong-ka-ree" call can be heard. It is a pleasant sound of Summer.

Morning traffic on the early morning of January 6th, 2016.

When I go out on my bike, it feels like Spring already. Winter right now seems to have come and gone. I love all the seasons, but now that Christmas season is over, I say bring on Summer!

New Year's Morning it was very cold for us, about 24F/-4C. The frost was so thick on the Cedar River Trail that it looked like a light coating of snow. This picture was taken just after sunrise, as you can see the sun lighting the hill behind the grove of cottonwood trees.

Some parts of the U.S. have warmer weather this time of year, but they also have other problems, like tornadoes and rainstorms that cause mudslides and the like. Other parts of the U.S., like Minnesota, where the Seattle Seahawks football team played a couple weeks ago, have -10F weather this time of year.

A ravine set in the hillside just off the Cedar River. One wouldn't know that this bit of wild nature was only a kilometer from a heavily urbanized area. Taken a few days before Christmas, 2015.

Here in Seattle we have none of that, really.... It's usually mild in the Winter, and this Winter seems milder than usual. Technically, we are a Mediterranean climate. You wouldn't know it from all the trees around here, but similar to other Mediterranean climate areas we really don't have that many freezing nights here. And this Winter has been the least freezing in a few years.

A drop of water in a small trailside pond on a rainy morning in early December, 2015.

A BIG FOOTBALL DAY

Today is a big NFL football day here in the U.S., with two major games being played. One of the games features the Arizona Cardinals playing the Carolina Panthers. Carolina is a tough team and they beat our Seattle Seahawks last weekend. The Carolina quarterback, who is very talented, ripped down a Seahawks '12' flag after winning the game against us last week: that's unnecessary, and it's a bit ungracious in winning. I hope Arizona wins. Go Arizona.

On the morning of January 2nd, the frost was even thicker than New Year's Morning, looking like snow. It was our dose of Winter this year.

The sun rising through a small break in the fir and maple trees on the hillside overlooking the Cedar River Trail frog pond. The pond was created in the 1890's when the Pacific Coast Railroad (and the transcontinental Milwaukee Road) cut off the flow of a stream, causing the pond, which has existed until this day.

The other game will be the Denver Broncos playing the New England Patriots. Both of those teams are very good, with star veteran quarterbacks. It should be a good game. New England play NFL football the way the German team played soccer during the World Cup -- they're like a well-oiled machine, and very efficient at playing the game. They beat Seattle last year at the Super Bowl. My guess is they will go all the way this year.


So I shall be spending the rest of the day watching football, and working out some.

A pair of ducks recently decided to take over a local pond -- it's the same pond that is frozen in the photo up above. The two ducks stayed there for a while, but I think they've gone. Maybe the raccoons that wander through there at night scared them off. Photo taken January 14th, 2016.

Here's hoping you have had a great January.

CC 1-23-2016