Weather Again

Yesterday we had thunderstorms followed by fog.  We are counting our blessings that those thunderstorms were not carrying tornadoes, at least this far north.  I had to dig out portions of my back yard to let as much water run away as possible before the temperatures dropped below freezing again.  City road crews had to find and clear all the storm sewer drains yesterday to reduce flooding on the streets.  The drainage trough and pit behind the garage were full and overflowing.  On the plus side, it has shown me that my plans for a drainage area behind the garage need to be enlarged, expanded, and places re-graded with both summer runoff (below grade porous drainage) and winter runoff (surface grading only) in mind.

Today it is snowing again.  By the time it is finished, there should be at least eight inches accumulated.  Hubby's drive to work today was 15 minutes longer than usual.  I hope he doesn't get stuck there overnight.  It is still snowing and drifting.  The snow is really pretty, but the light is too low to get decent pictures today.  Best guess is it will take 2-3 hours to clear the snow from my sidewalks and driveway using the snow blower.  On the plus side, Chloe is thrilled.  She came in from her morning duties outside looking like the abominable snow dog.

Update:  The snow stopped around 7:30.  It took just over two hours to clear the driveway and sidewalks, but the plow has yet to go down our street.  More clearing is yet to come, and the gas supply for the snow blower is dangerously low.

Chloe is sacked out on the floor with all four feet sticking out to to the side.  Little does she know that after some fun playing outside she will get a bath.  It will be a complete surprise to her because the precursors of ear cleaning and brushing will be skipped tonight.  Extra conditioner will be a must.  Her hair is getting quite long.

The Jingling Collar and Click of Dog Claws

awoke me this morning at some ridiculously early hour. 

 I had this sense of being stared at continuously by a very nervous dog.  So I tried to order Chloe back to her bed.  Nothing doing.  She was stuck to me like a really bad practical joke perhaps involving super glue, loose couch cushions, and narrow doorways.  Every move I made, there she was getting in the way or following so closely that I had to be careful not to step on her feet. At first it wasn't clear what was upsetting her.  She wasn't doing a potty dance.  She did not seem to be in pain.  There was plenty of water in her bowl.  Hubby was sleeping soundly.  Everything seemed perfectly normal inside the house.  Then the faint flicker of light illuminated the kitchen window blinds, and the rumble of thunder sounded.  Ok, so it is an extremely rare January thunderstorm, and little miss chicken dog is scared of the thunder - again.

Why is it that she is such a "daddy's girl" for ear scratching, hugs, wrestling, and generally fun stuff, but when she is scared she instantly becomes a "momma's girl"?

Snowy Wish Granted

 Well, unless it switches to rain and melts all the snow,

there might be enough snow to get out the cross-country skis.

The weather forecasters are predicting that it will switch to rain,

but I'm still hoping their predictions are mistaken.

For today at least it's a Snow Day!

"Aw, ma, I want to go back outside and make Ginger chase me until she hits the end of her leash and goes twang."

Ginger - "Put me back in the house; I'm cold!

Oh wait, do you have any treats?

Just checking.

Or do you want to play?

Bring Chloe back outside, she's funny."

Sorry Ginger, have to drive over to mom's to give her daily shot.

This is the view of the street with all the stately old homes.

Wait, are you having trouble seeing the road,

much less the houses?

Guess there won't be any pictures of the lake today either.

The drive over to mom's house and back was an adventure.

Torque steer is actually still possible

even when starting out in second gear.

That reminds me I still hate those

Michelin Harmony high mileage tires!

Made it home safe and sound, although at one corner there was a little doubt when a city snow plow truck looked like it wasn't planning to yield even though I had the green light.

Time to settle in for some indoor activities,

perhaps with a very unseasonal snack like a banana split.

What can I say, winter is the only time I can eat bananas, because the rest of the year they aggravate my allergies too much.

A Bright and Sunny Day

And I forgot to bring the camera.  After going over to mom's house to give her insulin shot, I came home with plenty of daylight to spare.  So I packed Chloe into the car for the short drive across town to the unofficial winter dog park.  See, my city has this annoying leash law, but the lake is county jurisdiction and city leash laws do not apply.  Even though the ice does have a fairly long crack that opened along the path that the river takes through it, the ice is still quite solid in a large area along the shore.  Chloe enjoyed her romp out on the ice.  She loved skidding all four paws at once as she gathered speed up to a full out run.  I picked up a harness at the store this evening, primarily for car rides.  But if the lake gets a little more snow on it, I might try using the cross country skis with some doggy propulsion added.  Could be interesting.

Chloe ran out and greeted a father and two children who were enjoying the sunny day ice fishing.  The father commented that he was glad that the children's winter gloves are water proof.  I can just imagine one of the children testing that guarantee by filling a glove with water to see if it runs out.  They hadn't caught any fish, but were still having fun outside.  Best guess is that mom was probably at home enjoying some alone time.  Both children were under 7.  They should sleep well tonight.

On the way back in we met a married Indian lady (with a dot on her forehead).  She was visiting the area from New Jersey and was taking pictures of the frozen lake.  Apparently the lakes out there do not freeze hard enough to allow people to walk on them.  One person's novelty is another person's everyday life, go figure.  We started talking about ice conditions and the upcoming sturgeon spearing season.  She asked how big they get, and was a bit surprised when I said as tall or taller than herself.  Then she asked if the fishermen only keep the eggs for caviar or if they use the whole fish.  They use the whole fish.  I've never had smoked sturgeon, but I bet it is quite tasty.

Hopefully that long crack in the ice refreezes before sturgeon spearing season begins.  Otherwise, access on the west side of the lake will be very limited, and local businesses could see less income if all the sturgeon spearing shanties have to be placed on the east side of the lake.

Why is it that

when hubby goes shopping he gets fun stuff like this with his Christmas and birthday cash?

And when I go shopping I end up buying vanilla, underwear, new pillows for the bed, and drip pans for under the stove burners?

I really should buy something fun, but I seem to be stuck in a frugality rut.

Yeah, So It's Cold Outside

OVERNIGHT

Chance
Flurries

Low: -2 °F

M.L.KING
DAY

Cold

High: 2 °F

MONDAY
NIGHT

Partly
Cloudy

Low: -12 °F

TUESDAY

Cold

High: 2 °F

That's because it is winter - duh.

Why is the news making such a big noise about it?

It must be a slow news day, or perhaps our weather forecasters are transplants from Florida.  When I was a child, we had a really cold winter.  We almost had a party when the temperature finally went above 0 degrees F.

Sorry I didn't post any recipes this weekend.  Hubby had the weekend off work, so we were able to go have a little fun shopping.  If there is enough light tomorrow there may be some pictures of what we found.

Just One of Those Weeks

Perhaps the ambition to make those poppers will arrive after a good rest.  Sleep sweet.  Hope your weekend is wonderful!

Good Grief, It's Wednesday Already!

Things have been a bit busy here.

A while back I promised you the recipe for jalapeno-cheese wonton poppers.  Hopefully that post will be ready for viewing by the end of the week.  There is one surprise ingredient which keeps them from getting too runny.  Can you guess what it is?

Oh Well, Maybe Next Year

Tis a sad evening for Packers fans.  The Packers lost.  But at least they managed to get farther than the Bears and the Vikings.

A Better Day

1.  Finally found mom's meds!  Yipee!

2.  Mom did quite well showering today.  Her balance and motor skills have improved significantly over the last year!

3.  Getting a little closer to sorting outstanding issues.  If I hadn't needed to go digging for mom's meds, I would not have known how badly they were falling behind on things while still saying that they were "handling it fine".

And now for something completely different and frivolous.

How about some color for a grey, foggy day?

Another Day of Aargh

Maybe the pharmacy will provide another set of refills for mom's meds that stepfather misplaced.  I still didn't find them today and did not manage to get to dad's place to spend some time with him.  Well, at least the Packers are still playing and we can catch the game Saturday.  (Or dad can watch the game and I can spend time with him partially watching the game, reading, and playing the zombie game on his ipad.)

Tomorrow is another day.  God is wise, he only lets us see them one at a time.  Good night.  Sleep sweet.

Spent the Afternoon Searching

mom's house for the prescriptions that stepfather said he brought home from the pharmacy just yesterday.  He even called them to make sure that nothing was waiting to be picked up.  In the meantime, we found mom's misplaced checkbook and a 2011 cashier's check written out to stepfather hidden in the depths of mom's purse (thankfully the bank honored it).  I have no idea what it was doing in her purse!  That thing is like a broom closet in the T.A.R.D.I.S.  Things go into it and disappear from time and space, for how long no one really knows until - look - presto - there it is again.  Unfortunately while stepfather was off at the bank cashing the check, other lurking expenses were found that will probably swallow that rather sweet windfall.  Among the lurking expenses was a statement and a bill for the total cost of an eye exam.  Her eye doctor's office sent the insurance claim to the wrong insurance company; so of course it wasn't covered.  Just when I thought it would be safe to skip tagging along on one of her appointments.  Guess mom didn't give them her current insurance card that day.  After all that searching I still haven't found her medications!  Tomorrow I will have to call the pharmacy and double check that stepfather actually called in the refills.  It shouldn't be too difficult; the pharmacy should be able to tell me how many refills are left and I can compare that number with the almost empty bottles in the meds box.

After visiting mom's eye doctor's office tomorrow afternoon with the correct insurance paperwork, I hope to spend the evening hanging out with my dad.  I don't even care if he creams me at chess, or spends the entire time channel surfing.  Maybe he'll let me play a few levels of that zombie game on his ipad.  Perhaps he would enjoy some library DVD's like Top Gear season 15 or James May's Man Lab season 1.  Hope he finds them entertaining.  Guess we will see.

Family Christmas in January

The extended S. family finally managed to gather on the 5th for some time together.  Fun and tasty food was had by all, except perhaps my nephew.  For some reason my sister-in-law's new terrier Sparky took a dislike to him, so my nephew spent the afternoon avoiding Sparky.  Perhaps nephew bore a resemblance to the person who dumped Sparky in a public park.  We had pickled herring, cheese, sausage, crackers, punch, green bean casserole, ham, and spicy baked potato chunks.

But no pictures were taken, because part of the "fun" involved sorting through five boxes of S. family photos (most of them not labeled) and deciding who kept which ones.  The printed photos were fairly easy to sort.  The negatives were another story.  I brought them home to scan.  Unfortunately, the scanner does not have a setting for 2 1/2"x5" negatives.  Software engineers can be so inflexible; negatives do come in more sizes than 35mm after all.  So, after scanning them as positives, digitally swithcing them to negatives - a bit of algebra there.  A negative of a negative becomes a positive.  Then the brightness and contrast needed a bit of tweaking.  More pictures were found than we had prints.  Here are just a few blasts from the past.

It would appear that someone wanted to save film by taking a picture of the child and the car at the same time.

Wonder whose baby this is?

Big awkward strollers are nothing new.

A car with running boards and a real trunk at the back.

The two little boys are probably Ma-in-law's little brothers.

Jealous, Who Us?

Tigger

Nah, I'm just sitting here meowing for a hair brushing and head scratching (way more than usual) for no particular reason.  Oh, and give me the water that you dump out of the rabbits' water dishes; I like it better than the fresh, clean stuff you put in my bowl.  Rabbit flavored water is quite tasty.  Just keep them out of my litter box.

Chloe

No, I'm not really jeaous of the cat or the rabbits.  See, I'm feigning disinterest now.  I wasn't sitting with my but on the landing and my feet on the first step at the very end of my leash just moments ago. And you have no pictures to prove it either.  But if you chose to give me one or all three as a present, I could manage to find something to do with them.  But hold the tabasco.  No fair that my leash is tabasco flavored; it is way too spicy to chew through it!

Happy New Year!

Here are some snowy pictures for a relative in Chicagoland.

Apparently, most of theirs has melted.

A lot of the houses around town are sporting heavy snow loads and icecycles.  Houses with those handy gutter toppers that keep leaves out of the gutters have really serious icecylce problems.  The companies that sell those ridiculous things should also include heat tape installed with their product!  The first significant snowfall was wet and sticky; the second was the "dry" fluffy stuff.  It usually slides right off our roof because of the steep slope, but this time there is quite a pile stuck tight with no sign of melting or sliding off anytime soon.  I hope we get some warmer days before we get more snowfall.  Usually one day in the mid 30's is enough to get the avalanch started.  The rumble of it sliding off the roof in one fell swoop is quite startling.  That reminds me I should have transplanted that one yew bush this summer; it is right in the drop zone.  Oh well, if it doesn't get crushed this winter, maybe it will get moved next summer.

The rabbits don't seem to mind living indoors on the dole,

separated by a chastity fence of course,

(which they do mind.)

I still haven't decided on names for them.

I can think of a few very descriptive names for the boy,

but they probably won't help his case any

when it comes time to find him a new home.

He's a bit of a slob, but really loves his carrots.

Both Chloe and Tigger are a bit jealous of the attention the rabbits have been receiving over the last couple of days.  Tigger pretty much avoids them.  Chloe is her usual self and really wants to go downstairs to play with the "live toys".  Of course they wouldn't be alive when she was done.

Now here's some people food.

We did get some sunshine today, but as you can tell from the long shadows in the picture the sun does not rise very high these days.

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year!