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Jan 1, Aomori: Cold, snowy, windy. High of -5C. Low of -9C.

Jan 2, Northern Rivers: Moderate temps, showers on and off - pretty nice for summer. Birds were acting nervous tonight - something was spooking them - didn't see a hawk around. If it was Taiwan i'd be worried about an earthquake.

Jan 5, NR: No earthquake, or anything else that i noticed to explain the bird behaviour. Possibly a goanna or a snake under the porch that birds sensed but i didn't. There's a yellow-bellied tree snake (not venomous to humans at least) on the porch now, which judging by the noise, has an unfortunate frog in its mouth (it's head is out of sight). Forecast is for another rain event over the next few days - up to 100mm. Went fishing in creek but didn't catch anything - maybe the water is too dirty from the flood - or maybe there's too much real food for them to fall for lures. Some large sand deposits washed down in the floods - i'd like to move some to my vegie garden which is mostly clay but it's hard to access.

Jan 6, Aomori: Meanwhile, it was -9C at 6AM this morning. High today forecast to be -2. More snow coming tomorrow. This is the coldest, snowiest winter we've experienced here so far.

Jan 7, Aomori: -9C again this morning, high today of -3C, 1 foot of fresh snow on the ground this morning. It's supposed to snow all day, all night tonight, and all day tomorrow. Fire hydrants are completely covered at this point. Now I see why they have the 3' poles with flags attached to them. Apparently, this is the snowiest winter we've had in ten years.

Jan 8, Aomori: At least 1-2 feet of snow overnight. I haven't ventured out yet to check. That's in part because there's a 4-foot snow drift right out our front door. Wind gusts overnight were over 40kt. It looks like we could get another foot today before it starts calming down. School canceled. High today forecast at -4C.

Jan 14, Aomori: The last few days have seen below normal temps with lows between -10 to -8 and highs hitting a whopping -3. We've had some sun the last couple of days. Yesterday had sun and low winds making for a good day for a walk. It's supposed to hit 5 today, so the roads should clear some. Driving has been absolutely treacherous considering that most roads are not plowed and we've had multiple feet of snow over the last ten days or so.

Jan 21, NR: The La Nina effect appears to have kicked in - apart from the big flood in Dec it's made for a great summer - not too hot - just enough rain to forget about watering garden. For a lot of stuff you could plant, mulch, then come back in a few months to harvest. Some bad news however - noticed the return of the white cockatoos this morning. There goes my peaceful valley. Not in mega-numbers yet but for sure it's coming. Some snake activity in last couple of weeks - green tree snake (with frog moaning in its mouth) and one small python. Also noticed shed snake skin hanging from rafters outside backdoor. That means snakes in the roof - so long as they stay there it's ok - they're after the rats.