ThePicMix
HOOOOORAAAAAY! It’s officially spring!
My heart is happy to finally welcome spring. My thermometer says 29, though, so it’ll be a few more days before I can do anything outside to mark the occasion.
I hope that the weather is improving where you are, too, and that you have exciting plans for the season that starts today.
Quotespedia.org
Filed under Seasons
I’m afraid these will all be broken and battered after the storms, so wanted to share some of them with you.
This is our tulip tree. The photo doesn’t do it justice – it makes my heart lift just looking at all the hope and promise there.
Spring is at least a month away, but this is part of what I found when I was walking around in the yard yesterday! The sight made my heart soar. I really needed it.
You can’t feel down when you see things like this.
There were signs all around the yard that good things are still happening, and are yet to happen.
Spring is around the corner!
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
Mark Twain – Bay Art
“Ice Accretion” – The process by which a layer of ice (icing) builds up on solid objects that are exposed to freezing precipitation or to supercooled fog or cloud droplets. At the earth’s surface this usually refers to glaze formation, and the amount of ice can be roughly measured by an ice-accretion indicator.
I had never heard this term before. We not only have ‘accretion,’ we have what appears to be snow, but isn’t. It’s about 3 inches of SLEET now hardened on everything. We MAY get more until around noon today and THEN we’re supposed to start getting a bit of thawing. I”ll believe THAT when I see it.
I was amazed this morning that I could HEAR Amber walking around on the ice – another first. In another day or so we’ll be able to walk out in the yard far enough to see the state of our driveway. I admit I’m not looking forward to THAT, either. We moved to Arkansas about 36 years ago because of a new job for my husband. We thought the winters would be mild. Most of the time, they are, with only 3-4 inch snows that are soon gone. Every once in a while, though, Mother Nature laughs at us, dumping a nightmare on us.
We’ve been lucky. We have learned to prepare with backup systems for everything really important, so we’re not totally dependent on public power or water, and we stock up so we can be stranded up here for a good while.
I’m more than ready for spring this year, and winter has really just gotten started. I’ll be very grateful when we thaw and can get out again. I hope you’re staying warm and safe during this.
Filed under Seasons
Giphy
It’s not this bad yet, but we have teeny, tiny sleet pellets falling now. The temperature is 22 degrees F., and the “feels like” temperature is 12. Mostly, it LOOKS like just a really cold rain right now, but the pest control guy just called me to ask how it was here. I suggested he go home and be safe, rather than try to come to us until all this is past and we thaw out again.
We still have public power, but looking at the weather website, we really won’t get above freezing until Wednesday afternoon, and the STUFF doesn’t quit coming, really until Thursday morning. Should be interesting.
The “fleezing dizzle” title comes from a party my parents were having a hundred years or so ago. My dad had his own one-man advertising agency, and a lot of the people at the party were in the media. A topic of conversation came up where someone started to laugh helplessly as he tried to talk about a weatherman who got his tongue tied, saying “Fleezing Dizzle,” rather than freezing drizzle. Everyone started to laugh, with the exception of one man, who said, “Oh, God. That was ME!”
Meanwhile, we’re warm and cozy inside. I’m making spaghetti for dinner, and my husband wanted some hot chocolate earlier. Full comfort mode.
I’m enjoy book #30 of 55 of the In Death series by J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts, fully into her world of amazing characters in a future world. I love being rich in paperback books – able to snuggle down under my throw, coffee cup beside me on the warmer, escaping to another world, engaged in other concerns. A nice relief.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. On the way back up the driveway this morning, we stopped and I hoisted our ‘flying pig’ into the back of the truck. One of the huge limbs that came down with the last snow storm was the limb from which the sweet pig was flying and he had crashed head first into the driveway. I had forgotten how heavy he is. We took him out to the shop. I plan to refurbish him, since he’s been flying for several years now, and then I’m HOPING to convince my husband that securing him to a boulder at the top of the driveway, wings flying, would look just as good as him flying from a line in a tree….
I hope you are enjoying your day.
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
We got the trash set up for pickup tomorrow. I really had trouble dragging the can down to where we leave it for emptying, due to the really skid-y gravel. I would do better, I think, if I had CLEATS on my shoes. Anyway, I got it down there and we filled it up. We also got the mailbox Snow-Goon decoration up. It was interesting, in that in the time it took to put the Happy New Year decoration in the truck and put the Snow-Goon on the bolts that attach it to the mailbox, the nuts we put on top of the mailbox FROZE to the top of the mailbox! That’s the first time we’ve had THAT happen. We drove carefully down the road where we could turn the truck around to drive back up the driveway. We didn’t have any trouble with that, happily. There is a thin glaze of ice on everything. The schools are closed today. There were 91 ‘closings’ on the weather website today – I don’t ever remember seeing that many before. We may be in for it.
Truegrid Pavers
This gives you an IDEA of what our driveway is like. We don’t have NEAR as much pretty gravel as this picture. We have LOTS more trees. And you have to add at LEAST the length you see here, if not MORE, to get as long as our driveway is, but the steepness here is comparable. We also have branches down all over, particularly on the left side of the driveway. The other side has woods, but it also has a ditch where water goes down to the street. We don’t want that to get clogged, so I drag whatever we cut down to the other side.
Even if the only rain we get is LIGHT, it doesn’t take much accumulation on the power lines to cause an outage. Again, we think our generator, which runs all except for heat and air conditioning, is worth its weight in gold. The extra money we spent on the electrical stuff for it to come on and go off by itself is worth everything not to have to go outside over and over to fight to get it to come on, or to turn it off.
Our cat, Abby, likes to sleep in the garage most nights. We have a big pile of firewood in there and put her sleeping ‘cube’ on a rectangle of wood on a holder that my husband made years ago attached to the wall . She really likes it, and the fact that she has a cat door so she can come and go as she pleases. (She also lets us know if she wants to stay inside, instead. We cater to her wishes.) She jumps up from the garage steps to the firewood holder pile in order to get up to her food, which we put on top of the firewood pile to keep our dog and other critters from getting it, and her bed. This is the only dry wood we have, though, and we used a bunch of it from the far side of the holder with the snow storm we just finished. If we have to make many fires during this ice storm, we’ll have to try to keep her end of the holder intact as much as possible. She’s getting old and can’t jump the way she used to. I can relate.
As I’m typing this, an icon popped up, saying, “Snow coming.” It says the “temp is 31 (feels like 21 – I can confirm THAT). “Scattered rain and snow showers expected. High will be 34”. The graphic of what to expect when shows rain/sleet/snow from 3pm until 9pm. :0(
I love to look at snow. I love snow globes. I even love to build a snowman or make snow angels. But then it’s supposed to go AWAY. NOT cause trees to break or hang down in the driveway, blocking our path. NOT cause power outages. I’m ready for spring and winter has hardly begun. Whine – gripe – moan – and generally be annoying. Sorry.
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
Yahoo Movies UK
We are done, in more ways than one. I’m doing puns and poems this morning because I don’t have any energy to do much else after our work yesterday.
We spent an hour in the driveway, chainsawing and hauling, before lunch, rested a bit, and then did another three hours after lunch before finally clearing enough that we could drive up and down the driveway again. It looks a bit like a war zone, but it’s workable. We’ll try to neaten things up some other time, but today we’re resting. We left one larger branch simply moving the end of it to the side of the driveway. The break is up too high for us to get to it, and the blade in the chainsaw desperately needs replacing now.
We’ll do that, buy more night lights, and replenish groceries later today.
The ‘Determined-Man/Energizer-Bunny’ syndrome enveloped my husband yesterday afternoon, and he was determined to finish. We did, but he was almost unable to get into the truck to ride back up. I went up and down the driveway four times yesterday afternoon (650+ feet up the STEEP driveway) until I had to sit on a boulder beside the driveway and gasp for breath awhile before continuing. The power cords wouldn’t reach, so I had to make the last trip up and down again. Even with FOUR 100-foot cords strung together, it was barely enough. (We used an outdoor plug at the top to do all we could from the top down, then switched to an outdoor plug at the bottom to work our way up.)
We did a quick and dirty job of it, since the chainsaw blade was trying to give up, but we did it. I talked to my husband again about the fact that we are getting older and need to modify our activities more to deal with that. He agreed, but I don’t trust the agreement to last the next time…
He is taking a much-needed nap now, and we are determinedly putting nothing on the agenda today.
The really encouraging news is that we’re due for possible ice storms next week….
Filed under Challenges
eBaum’s World
Fox Weather – Getty Images
Russia Beyond
Sia-Snowman
Filed under snow people
mocha.org
I wish our place looked as pretty as this, but we ARE as snow-covered.
We will be this way until further notice, although the melting has started just a bit. There is a good 8 inches on the deck cover, for example.
The public power was restored overnight. We were on the generator all of yesterday, with only a couple of short periods of public power before it would go off again. The poor power guys have been at work steadily now for three days trying to get power back to everyone. We went to bed around 1:30 this morning and still had no power. It was really nice to see we have some this morning.
Our generator has done a fantastic job during the past three days, but it deserves a good long rest now. It is propane powered and it’s really a luxury not to have to worry that we’ll run out of fuel for it right in the middle of a rough patch of weather. We’ve gone through a LOT of firewood, our only source of heat the past three days. When we built the house about 36 years ago, we insisted that we get a real wood-burning fireplace that was efficient, with doors on the front and a blower built in, so that we could use it as a source of heat when needed. It’s gotten a workout, too. It’s really nice to be able to start the day without having to build a fire, though.
Soon my husband will decide to walk around outside, and then he’ll see that we’ll have to chain-saw our way to the bottom of the driveway and the street before we can go anywhere, even after all the snow is gone. We are both to the point where we’re a bit long in the tooth for heavy work, particularly when the weather is really cold or hot. My husband uses the chain saw and I’m the ‘tugger/hauler’ of the stuff he cuts, moving the pieces off to the side of the driveway. A little bit of work like this goes a LONG way.
The problem is that no one can get UP the driveway, either, so we can’t really hire anyone to come help us. I’m hoping that we can do it a little at a time. We have supplies enough to last quite awhile and that if it takes us a week to get it done, it won’t make a bit of difference. My husband is like the Energizer Bunny, though, not wanting to stop until he almost collapses. We may have to have a ‘discussion’ about how much we do at each session….
It would be nice if the power stays on today, and we can simply enjoy it for awhile.
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
The snow has stopped. We have 6-8 inches on the ground, the most I’ve seen in the 36 years we’ve lived here. It’s 36 degrees F. now. We had no public power from 4pm until midnight yesterday. I was downstairs reading when it went out again around 2am. We are still without public power. Thank goodness we have a generator and a wood-burning fireplace.
We tried to plan ahead when we built, having some backups for cases like these. We have a gas stove rather than an all-electric home. We have a well. We have a propane-powered generator wired so it turns on automatically when it senses there is no public power. Because of this, we have power and a fire in the fireplace because the generator does not cover heat and air conditioning. So we are good, even though we’re snowed in until further notice.
I just went outside to take a couple of pics. We have BIG branches lying across the driveway. I HOPE we don’t have any TREES there, but I couldn’t see well. So even when the snow melts, we’ll have to chain-saw a bunch of stuff before we can drive down our driveway. In this pic, you can see snow-covered power lines across the pic.
The snow almost covers the brick planters.
If you look carefully, this is the top of the driveway. You can see some BIG branches that have broken off and are hanging down across the driveway. I got depressed looking at it, so just came back in without investigating further. I’m purposely not mentioning it to my husband. He FELL bringing the firewood in last night, landing on his back. He’s okay, but I want him to rest, instead of trying to tackle this problem.
The snow is pretty, but now that we’ve had a chance to look at it and say that, hopefully we can get power and heat back with safety for the good men working right now to make that happen, and that the snow will melt away, becoming only a fond memory.
Filed under Seasons
I went out again to see if I could capture the feeling of being inside a snow globe this afternoon. I have to admit it’s a really PRETTY snow. It didn’t surprise me that soon after I wrote the last post, the pest spray guy’s company called to tell me they would need to reschedule. :0)
Filed under Seasons
mitgirl-stock.adobe.com
Big, sloppy, wet snowflakes are raining down on us now.
It just changed to snow about half an hour ago. Since it’s supposed to snow until 6am or so tomorrow, we may get an impressive amount for Arkansas.
I’m always frustrated trying to get pics of the snow. I can never catch the ‘feeling’ of the big sloppy flakes.
Our driveway should still be fine right now, but probably won’t be as evening approaches. The pest control spray man is due any minute now, but I would be super surprised if he comes. I’m expecting a call from his office asking to reschedule.
The local schools are closing early – right about now – and the buses should be able to get everyone home safely, and then home themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if school is remote tomorrow.
I’m going to see if I can find some creative snow creatures on the net. I love seeing what people come up with. I hope you’re enjoying your day!
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
Routinely Nomadic
“Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together.” ~ Verna M. Kelly
It misted, then changed to rain, then changed to sleet, then changed to snow. And all is white now, but not much actual snow. The temperature is 11 degrees now with a wind chill of -9.
Since we are prepared to stay up on top of our ridge line until the world is more civilized, and my husband got a text that the part he ordered to try to fix our air compressor had been delivered, he jumped in the truck to go down to get it, and the mail at the bottom of the driveway. (Our driveway is 650+ feet and STEEP, so this is not a small decision.) Since I couldn’t change his mind, I insisted he at least take his phone so he could tell me he was stuck in a snow drift. He grumbled, but did it.
He got back up the hill with no problem. I had quickly swept the garage of leaves while he was gone. We have now left the garage door half way open, so the animals can go in and out, but a lot of the cold stays out. I also went ahead and started dripping water in my husband’s sink upstairs and our utility room sink downstairs. Hopefully, that will be enough so they won’t freeze.
All of that and UPS had NOT left a package for us…. At least we know we’re not stuck yet.
I would much rather see a beautiful PHOTO of the snow, rather than actually be IN it…
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
Pexels
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The first part of the weather forecast for Greenwood is happening now – heavy mist turning to rain, then sleet, and later snow. It’s quite gray outside. Thankfully, we’re warm and dry with Amber, our 95 lb yellow lab and Abby, our cat, taking full advantage of the warm and dry. Even with the rain and snow today, at least the temperature will be above freezing. Starting tomorrow, we won’t get above freezing until Monday afternoon. Cabinet doors are open and we’ll be dripping water at night. Update – the rain has now turned to sleet.
Amber woke us early this morning, barking. We think we might have another raccoon coming through the cat door to eat our cat’s food and what bird seed it can find. :0( I’m trying a new thing of bringing whatever cat food is still in the cat’s bowl inside when she is in with us, putting it out with her again when she is out. I have no idea if this will have results, but it’s worth a try.
We stocked up on supplies Tuesday, and I spent about an hour repacking meat and chicken this morning to be in dinner-cooking packages in the freezer. I finished that, got it all stored, the packaging washed and thrown away and the kitchen cleaned up. My husband looked at me like I was crazy, watching me wash the packaging, but I told him it was part of the NOT giving critters enticement to come into the garage.
I had a really nice day yesterday – with Lunch Bunch in the morning and a massage in the afternoon. I came home feeling relaxed and happy. My husband was taking a nap when I got home, so I joined him. Nice, lazy, happy day.
I’m enjoying a calm, slow start to our day. I’ll try to get my act together and get something accomplished. Have a happy, safe day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
This snowman is happy, but I’m not. Arkansas is a place of mild winters – one of the reasons we decided to settle here. I’ve even had lettuce still growing in December before! And yet, today, we’re having our Christmas Lunch Bunch to avoid the coming bad weather. Tomorrow the forecast is for rain/sleet/ice/snow and flying hairballs – with a wind chill. Friday morning is supposed to be -4 with a windchill of -25. This is NOT civilized for Arkansas!
Enough griping. I’m happy that we’re meeting with our friends in about an hour to laugh, hug, enjoy a good meal and exchange presents. I’ll head out again for a massage and gift exchange at 2. When I get home I’ll try to handle any details with getting ready for the coming weather and prepare to snuggle in until further notice. I have a reminder prominently displayed so we’ll remember to drip water from one faucet downstairs and another upstairs that have been problem areas in the past.
I feel lucky we have a warm, dry house. The heat and air techs just came a couple of days ago to check out our system and we’re good. We have a generator if we lose power. It runs everything except heat or air. We have a wood burning fireplace with a blower on it if we need it.
I wish you a happy 1st day of winter. Make it a really nice day.
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
pexels-eftodii-aurelia
The coming weather has me a bit concerned, so I’m trying to arrange that we do everything needed before the rain/sleet/snow/flying hairballs event comes on Thursday. I’m trying to change Lunch Bunch from Friday to Wednesday – with our gift exchange. I’m hoping to hear today on that. If we’re a go, I’ll call and alert the restaurant, since they open early for us on Lunch Bunch days, and our much-loved waitress participates in our gift exchange.
If everyone agrees to do this, then we will go to Walmart and our local grocery afterwards to do a bit of stocking up, in case we’re stuck up on top of our ridge line for several days.
I have a massage at 2pm – with another gift exchange. If we haven’t managed to change Lunch Bunch, I’ll shop on the way home from my massage. Either way, we should be able to tuck ourselves in to being house-bound if the weather gets as bad as they say. It’s VERY unusual for us to get below 0 in Arkansas, but it is forecast we’ll be -4 on Friday morning with a wind chill of -25. We’re concentrating on making sure our faucets are all protected outside and that heaters are working in the well house, and that we leave cabinet doors open in one bathroom and under my husband’s sink upstairs.That’s all we can do, and we’ll just hope it’s enough.
We have some ceramic planters on the deck that I’m planning to cover with trash bags this afternoon. I’ll put something in the top of each so as much water as possible runs off and turn over saucers so they won’t catch water.
I love the LOOK of snow, but I don’t like to be out IN it much. I remember sledding down our driveway one winter with our son when he was about 7, I guess. He was sitting in front of me and my legs were straight on each side of him. About half way down the driveway, the snow started coming up the legs of my jeans. By the time we got to the bottom (we didn’t shoot straight out into the road and across into the field across from us, thank goodness), my jeans were so full of packed snow I looked like the Pillsbury Dough “woman.” Our son thought that was hilarious, laughed like a loon and wanted to do it again. That was the last time I sledded. His opinion was that snow angels were ‘lame,’ though kind of pretty. I left the snow fights to our son and my husband.
Be careful in the coming days. Stay safe, warm, and dry. Great snuggling weather.
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
Today it’s a balmy 38 degrees F. with a high of 51 this afternoon, so that isn’t bad. When I looked at the forecast for the rest of the week, though, I got more serious. The forecast is for snow Thursday and a HIGH of 16 Friday, so whatever we get – rain/sleet/ice/snow/flying hairballs – will stay for awhile. Since we live on top of a ridge line up a steep driveway, we try to plan ahead and modify our plans if it looks like we’re in for bad weather.
I’ve contacted the Lunch Bunch group to see if they are willing to have Lunch Bunch and our gift exchange on Wednesday, instead of Friday. That way we can all stay home safely watching the weather and not having to get out in it. So far, I have one “whatever everyone wants to do,” and I’m waiting to hear from the others.
I have my December massage Wednesday afternoon, so it MAY be Lunch Bunch, a trip to Walmart and the other local grocery for supplies, and then my massage. However, the Lunch Bunch plans go, I’ll plan to stock up for the bad weather.
Stay safe, warm, and dry.
Filed under Mother Nature, Seasons
My sister-in-law creates this gorgeous display each year – a beautiful way to show off her collection and get into the Christmas spirit at the same time. She sent me these pictures, and she said it was okay if I shared them with you.
This is a close-up picture showing me that she includes two figurines in her display that I have sent her at various times over the years. It makes me feel that I am with her, and that’s a really nice thing.
I’m trying to get into the spirit at my house, but I haven’t really caught the bug yet. I think the first thing I’ll do to start feeling the season is get two packages ready to send to two special people for the holidays. I’ll also prep to send Christmas cards.
Have you caught the spirit yet?
Southern Living
I’m really not ready for this month – or winter – to start. My hair is blowing so hard as the time whizzes past I’m suffering from wind-shock – if that’s a thing. I’m really trying to get the yard ready for winter, but Mother Nature is laughing at me as she plays ‘crack-the-whip.’
Yesterday afternoon I did get out and cut the Rio Samba rose bushes WAAY back. It seems that these bushes last about 3 years and then have to be replaced. I can’t really complain, because they have bloomed their little hearts out, but I hope they’ll do it one more time before we have to start over. I also bagged up leaves and refilled the trio of planters. The leaves had blown out due to the extremely gusty winds we had a couple of days ago.
It’s 31 outside now, but since it’s supposed to be in the mid 50s this afternoon, I’m planning to check to see if I need to weed whack in the front one more time. I’ll also use the leaf blower to attack the piles of leaves particularly around the front porch. My to-do list outside is beginning to shorten.
“Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” Victor Hugo
Filed under Seasons
Casey Rasmussen White – fineartamerica.com
“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.” ~
Faith Baldwin
eBay.com
“Fiery colors begin their yearly conquest of the hills, propelled by the autumn winds. Fall is the artist.” ~ Takayuki Ikkaku
marygibbsart.com
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” ~ George Eliot
“How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.” ~ John Burroughs
The high this afternoon is 53. The high tomorrow will be 38. Winter is coming.
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Seasons
I’m feeling pampered and spoiled right now. I’m just home from a particularly wonderful massage. I told Lynn about the area of my back that was hurting since I added some new poses to my yoga practice. She really zeroed in on a big area, it turned out, and it feels much better now. I’ll drink lots of water this afternoon and then do my yoga practice for the day.
It’s almost time for lunch. We’ve been enjoying a wonderful bunch of grapes lately, plus we share an apple, called Cosmic Bulk, as a part of our healthy lunch.
My husband was doing some weed whacking in the front when I drove up. It’s too hot, so I got him to stop as soon as he had finished the section that was offending him the most. I reminded him that I’m planning to do the rest of the weed whacking on Saturday morning.
I wish today looked at least a bit like this here.
Filed under Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
Happy Fall! Mother Nature hasn’t gotten the memo yet, as far as weather in Arkansas is concerned, but we’re hopeful she’ll comply once she does. It’s only supposed to get to 92 today.
We’ve been trying to encourage it, putting our scarecrow on the mailbox, but the pleas have been falling on deaf ears so far.
I’ll leave in a minute to get my monthly massage. My body is already saying, “ahhhhhh!” :0)
Today is DAY 69 of my daily yoga practice. I have a sore spot in my back that MAY be due to the new poses I’m doing lately. I’m hopeful that Lynn, my miracle-worker/massage-therapist, will be able to ease the discomfort.
Have a wonderful first day of Fall!
Filed under Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
My husband brought in one of our fancier yellow iris yesterday. We’ll have several days to enjoy it, while the various buds open up and smile at us.
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening, Seasons
It seems that winter is having trouble saying goodbye this year. The coasts of the U.S. are both braving snow this week, while the mid-section is suffering through waves of severe spring storms. It’s really a challenge.
Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together. ~ Verna M. Kelly
Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. – Victor Hugo
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. Albert Camus
Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. Victor Hugo
When there’s snow on the ground, I like to pretend I’m walking on clouds. Takayuki Ikkaku
Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it. ~
Richard Adams
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Seasons
Deep purple is my favorite color. Whenever I see it, my soul reacts, with happiness welling up inside and spilling over. Spring is one time of the year where our yard reflects my love of the color.
They are blooming almost all the way down one side of the driveway now. When they are finished, yellow ones take over.
You can see my heart is really full this time of year. There is much to do in the yard, and little time right now to do it between severe weather. Soon things will tame down (hopefully) and I can get our planters weeded and cleared out, tomato plants in, and buy some purple petunias for the deck. :0)
Stay warm and dry!
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening, Mother Nature, Seasons
I checked the weather website yesterday evening right before dark to find that, not only were we supposed to get rain after sunset, but HAIL. I went out and clothes-pinned sheets over my veggie planter boxes to protect my sweet, young veggies as much as I could.
It DID storm overnight and we’re still under a ‘thunderstorm and hail’ forecast this morning. It’s raining and very dark outside now, though the thunder and lightning are so noticeable. It looks like the sheets won’t come off until at least lunch time. I hope the plants don’t get squashed by the weight of the wet sheets!
Here was what 3 of the 6 garden boxes looked like last night –
It’s cool here (45 degrees F. and a pretty good breeze), but I needed some spirit-lifting and took my camera outside to walk around and see what I could see.
“Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.” — Kahlil Gibran
Filed under Gardening, Mother Nature, Seasons
It started raining last night and is still raining today.
I got my early spring garden planted, so I’m really happy about the rain, even if we drown going to Lunch Bunch today. :0)
Two days ago I got some leaf lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower plants in my raised bed, square foot garden. Yesterday I planted to bunches of red onion sets. I don’t have the irrigation timer installed yet, so I was really glad to see we were expecting rain last night. The garden is started! I’ll probably plant some radish seeds, plus more lettuce (my husband likes me to try head lettuce) if we can find it, but basically, the early spring garden is in. (This photo shows three of the six planter boxes. I took it before I planted the onion sets.)
I’m looking forward to seeing my friends for Lunch Bunch today. It’s a big moment of ‘normal’ in a chaotic, scary world, and I treasure it, and my friends. We’ll probably stop at Real Food on the way home to see if we can find some goodies to bring home.
Since working outside isn’t in the cards today, I’ll concentrate on cleaning some of the inside. Most of what I vacuum up is dog hair. You would think Amber would be completely bald by now.
I hope that you can stay safe, warm and dry today.
Some wise person said, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” or words to that effect. I just checked outside again, and the white stuff is clearly falling now. No accumulation on the ground yet, but you can easily see it’s snowing. Oh, joy.
Grudgingly this time, I’m sharing some more snow creations from really creative folks who obviously enjoy the snow more than I do right now. I truly love the imagination and humor shown, and delight when I find new examples. :0)
Filed under Seasons, snow people
My husband laboriously negotiated our ski slope of a driveway to get several days worth of mail yesterday, then again when he received an email that UPS had left a package for us at the bottom of our driveway. Since our driveway is STEEP and 650+ feet, it was quite a bit of exercise. We have sunshine today, and our afternoon temperatures are supposed to be above freezing (33 degrees F. now), so we may finally start getting some melting. I figure it’ll be another day or two before we have our freedom to come and go as desired again.
I’m ready to put winter and February behind me. My heart is in the garden, playing in the dirt, envisioning colorful flowers and veggies. Maybe in another 2 or 3 weeks, I can think about finding some early spring plants to get going.
Otherwise, one of my dear friends made me feel really special yesterday, and I’m still glowing from it today. She creates drool-worthy jewelry, mainly from silver. She branches out from time to time into copper, one of MY favorite metals. Yesterday, in the mail my husband retrieved, there was a package from her with SEVERAL pieces of copper jewelry – earrings, a bracelet, and two necklaces! A feast for the eyes, I keep changing which is my favorite. I can’t wait to show them off to my Lunch Bunch friends. :0)
I hope you are safe and well today.
Filed under Friendship, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________, weather
creativeartworksblog 