What do you do to overcome "winter" boredom?

[mrsclem]

I just put out my outdoor Christmas lights today so they'd be all set for the annual Thanksgiving night lighting.

We used to light ours up on Thanksgiving night as well but as the displays change every year I just can't keep up. Hubby has started to help but spent 30 minutes last year counting light sets to see how many cords he would need! He likes to watch me work rather than working on his own.

 

[Mmathis]

Winter! What Winter?!!

It's that period of time when......

......no one's asking why the fish in their not-yet-cycled ["what's that mean?"], grossly overstocked ["but my 'pond guy' said it was OK to keep 30, 12" koi in a 500 gallon pond"] ponds are are "suddenly" and mysteriously dying, despite the fact that "these same fish have been in this pond for 2 years and there hasn't been a problem until now," ["oh, and it's 110 degrees outside and there is no shade"], followed by "I've never tested my water, so why should I start now," and "why don't I argue with everything everyone on here has to say......" "After all, I came to you asking for help, so why are you trying to tell me what to do?"

You know, the time of year when we get a small break.......

 

[Mmathis]

I enjoy it when members talk about all the plans they have for the next year as far as improvements / upgrades to their ponds. This is the time of year for dreaming & planning........ And I want to spend 2 weeks at Disney World. Not gonna happen, but I can dream & plan........

 

[JBtheExplorer]

We used to light ours up on Thanksgiving night as well but as the displays change every year I just can't keep up. Hubby has started to help but spent 30 minutes last year counting light sets to see how many cords he would need! He likes to watch me work rather than working on his own.

I used to do a lot. The gutters would all have 6 icicle light sets, all bushes (six back then) would be covered in net lighting. Two reindeer, a sleigh, a spiral tree, candy canes, & a wreath with a spotlight.

It was fun, but now I find ways to do less but still make it look like a lot. This year I simply have five strings of lights of various lengths, a candy cane set, and a green spiral tree. Still lights up the front nicely, but cuts back quite a bit on the electric. I've also started to take out the garage lights and porch lights and replace them with 40w green bulbs.

 

[teeemkay]

The holidays keep me occupied... and then once that's over--hockey. Hubs usually gets tickets through work for Blackhawks games 2-3 times each year, so that is something nice to look forward to as I'm shoveling out.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I got busy this Fall building a greenhouse over my garden. My tomato plants finally died, but I still have some romas ripening on the dead vines. In an effort to more closely monitor the temps in the greenhouse, I've been collecting the pieces to build a remote temperature and humidity sensor. It started out using an arduino but now I'm moving towards an ATtiny board which uses much less power. Basically the computer wakes up every 5 minutes, check the current temp and humidity, and sends that data over wifi to a receiving computer which handles the data logging. With the low power requirements of this setup, I'm considering trying to make a completely self-contained unit that uses a solar cell to keep the battery charged.

Today it hit me... if I can get this project together, I can take it one step further and add a second temperature probe for monitoring the pond water temps also! So that's my goal for the Winter, to get both systems set up to monitor the pond and greenhouse. You know, in between working on model trains, rebuilding the motorcycle engine, cleaning the garage...

 

[mrsclem]

Middle of December and ponds are still at 50 degrees! Getting holiday lights up and grass cut! Underwater camera died again so no watching fishes under the ice if we ever get any. Trying to plan holiday party for 27th and having surgery on 23rd! I love a challenge! This will not be a boring winter!

 

[peter hillman]

For years I was an avid skier, snowboarder really enjoyed winter and the white stuff. I would always get some type of gear for xmas. Now, age and lack of desire has changed all that, besides having several knee and other joint issues. And who want's to get up at 5am to shovel snow? At least now we have all wheel drive vehicles so the stress of trying to get to work on a icy Monday is much less. I hate winter....... And now the holidays are becoming more work than enjoyment. As a long time employee I always enjoyed having a couple weeks off for Christmas and New years. Now, with new management they tell us what days we have off and what days we will be working. My wife and daughter only get one day off for Christmas! I HAVE to get the tree up today, even tho I really don't feel like it, and have a ton of other things I HAVE to do for the 'holiday'. Top it off with my father in the hospital for the last four days I'm just not feeling very xmassy. . Really wish I could beat the wintertime bla's but I need more than 7hrs of sunshine and warmth for that to happen. Yes I've thought about moving to a different climate.

 

[morewater]

After New Years, Punta Cana. February is a short stint up to Naples to play golf with the posse.....back to Punta Cana......home beginning of April.

 

[Lisak1]

Well, winter is going to be a whole lot less boring since it's now December 12 and it's gonna be 55 degrees today in Chicago! I'll take it! My fish are all actively swimming around, chowing down on algae.

 

[addy1]

No boring winter here, Sun, warm, no snow, mountain walks, waiting for a house to close.
It is still warm at home, 60. The pond is hanging around 46 or so.

 

[mrsclem]

Finally done! Now I have something to do in January and February, packing it all back up!

 

[JBailey]

I'm getting ready to fire up my incubator and hatch 80 or so chicks for sale and flock replacement. I've been working on flock genetics for years and have too many spreadsheets of chicken lineage.
We're also getting the crop plan ready. Since we backed off some of our commercial growing last year, it's hard not to keep planting giant crops that need processing and storage. We grow most of what we eat and are always working on crop rotation and soil amendment. More spreadsheets
And I am spending way too much time pinning pond and recreational landscaping ideas to my assorted boards.

 

[peter hillman]

I'm getting ready to fire up my incubator and hatch 80 or so chicks for sale and flock replacement. I've been working on flock genetics for years and have too many spreadsheets of chicken lineage.
We're also getting the crop plan ready. Since we backed off some of our commercial growing last year, it's hard not to keep planting giant crops that need processing and storage. We grow most of what we eat and are always working on crop rotation and soil amendment. More spreadsheets
And I am spending way too much time pinning pond and recreational landscaping ideas to my assorted boards.[/QUOTE
We had a mini farm in Waitsburg WA. Couple miles from Dayton. 14 acres and all the animals farmer John ever had on his farm, hard work, but a good life. We leased out about 8 aces for alfalfa, the rest we did personal foods on.

 

[JBailey]

I had some acreage up north near Kettle Falls. It's nice to be able to grow alfalfa, but I missed the wet side too much and had to come home.
Still have lots of family all over eastern WA though. Lots of good memories over there.