If you have cabin fever this winter, let me recommend a visit to the Vesterheim museum in Decorah.  I was able to spend part of the afternoon on Wednesday, January 12th.  Mr. Charlie Langton was our host…Charlie knows EVERYTHING about the museum and is a very friendly guy.  I had never been to the Vesterheim before…I want to go back!  The folks there will be glad to show you around, and there is a lot to see!  I took a few photos while I was at the museum.  Here is a link to the Vesterheim Museum…http://vesterheim.org/index.php

The Vesterheim Museum in Decorah

Charlie Langton showing us around

Weaver's loom

Model ship

My wife would love the quilts!

Gorgeous silver!

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We KWWL meteorologists are lucky to have some great radio partners.  Our relationship with KDEC radio in Decorah spans almost twenty years!  You can hear Storm Track 7 weather forecasts on KDEC AM 1240 and on DC 100.5 FM.  Here’s a link to KDEC…http://www.kdecradio.com/home.htm   You can listen to some great music live via online streaming!

On Wednesday, January 12th I paid a visit to our friends at KDEC for the “Your Eastern Iowa” franchise.  I got to talk with Jeni Grouws and Darin Svenson…they work with the FM side…and Bob Holtan, the owner of KDEC.  Bob wears many hats and is an all-around good guy.  Thanks, folks for an enjoyable day!

KDEC AM 1240

FM 100.5

Jeni, Darin and Jeff

 

Bob and Jeff

 

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Many thanks to the teachers, staff and students at West Central School in Maynard.  I had the chance to visit with the 5th graders on January 5th.  It was our third attempt at getting together…the first two tries were scrubbed because of bad weather (imagine that in the wintertime!)  Third time was the charm…and we got to talk about lots of different kinds of weather.  Ice and snow, heat and humidity, hurricanes, tornadoes and hail.  I even got to eat school lunch!  Yum…pizza burgers!

It was a cold day in Maynard!

How 'bout those Blue Devils?!?

Jeff and the 5th graders

Click here to see the Maynard 5th graders saying hello!

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I live in a great place when it comes to viewing the sunset.  My neighbor’s snowy winter fields allow me clear access to the horizon.  Just to see if I could see any noticeable difference, I took a photo of the sunset on December 17.  At this point the sun is just about as far South in the sky as it gets (Winter Solstice was December 21, and I wanted to take a photo then…alas, we had a cloudy evening!)  I took another sunset photo on January 4.  If you look closely, you might be able to see that the sun is creeping just a bit farther Northward.  I thought perhaps we’d notice a bigger movement in the two-and-a-half weeks since the Solstice.  I’ll continue to take sunset photos in the weeks ahead.  We should be able to use the trees and landmarks along the horizon to see that the Sun is indeed returning toward the Northern Hemisphere.

Sunset December 17...sunset time 4:38 PM

Sunset January 4...sunset time 4:50 PM

Sunset January 16...sunset time 5:06 PM

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