Another Saturday, Another Baking Day
Here it is another Saturday, and I've spent a lot of today baking. I made two apple pies and one black raspberry. That doesn't sound like a lot and for many people, it wouldn't be a lot, but I'm really not in the habit of baking pies, so for me it is a lot. Then I decided to make chicken roll-ups for dinner. I had all the ingredients for that except the tubes of crescent rolls. So, I mixed up the dough for crescent rolls. The recipe calls for a mixture of cream cheese and cream of chicken soup and shredded chicken. This is put into the crescent roll dough and shaped into a little package. It bakes in 15 minutes, but it takes a while to make the dough and let it rise and then roll it out for the triangle shapes. I made a small pan of cinnamon rolls with the remaining dough.
To end the day, I'm baking caramel corn. Once the corn is popped and the syrup is made, it isn't hard to finish it up. I have two pans of caramel corn baking in the oven on 250 degrees right now. This is the second of three sets of 15 minutes and then stirred and returned to the oven. It will be done in time for me to get ready to start our New Year's Eve celebration.
We're invited to a friend's home for a couple of hours and then we'll finish up here at midnight, for those of us who will stay up that late.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Doing OK
I've been keeping busy today. Today is the one year anniversary of my husband's death. It was a hard day but I'm doing OK. I have family with me and there's been lots of happy things going on around me. We got some more important work done, and had lots of enjoyment together. This evening my son went with me to a ministerium dinner. I was glad to be invited to this dinner. I still feel that I'm part of this group, to some degree. It was a good meal and it was good conversation. It's been a good day.
Helping the Library
Today we made a book drop off at the public library. I had culled a few more of my books to give to them. I also had some more magazines to give them. At our library, we have a constant magazine sale. People can bring in their old magazines and others can buy a magazine for a dime. It's a good deal for readers, it gets rid of old magazines without throwing them away and it makes a little bit of money for the library. A dime a magazine isn't much but lots and lots of dimes add up. Lots of people do support this small fund raiser. We dropped off several magazines and picked up one. My son saw a bicycling magazine that appealed to him so I forked out a dime for him and he is taking the magazine home with him. 
Morning Thoughts
It was a good night! Both Desy and Rusty slept through the night and didn't have to get up! I am pleased. I'm up early to be sure the recycle bin is out to the curb and ready for whenever the trash collectors come by, but it was easier to get up this morning because I got to sleep through the night.
I'm living life in the fast lane these days. There's so much going on around me and so much to do. I like having responsibilities and people around me. It's the kind of life I lived for many years. Just as my physical muscles cry out to be flexed and used, the social part of me cries out to be used, also.
It is 6:12 and the trash collecting truck is on the street below our house. They usually go pretty early here. Many people just put everything out to the curb the night before. Sometimes I do that, but I'd rather not have it out there if it's rainy and damp. Odd, I know, because it's being discarded and what does it matter if it gets wet? But I wait till morning. It gives me a good reason to get up early and I usually feel better when I've been up early. The concept of sleeping in sounds good but when I do, I feel like I've been wasting time.
More Pictures Posted
I posted some more pictures to Flickr this evening. They are pictures I've had for a while. One is a picture of my husband and me on the we were graduated from college in May of 1959. Our daughter, who is in the picture with us, was born in December of 1958.
Company
Today has been been a different kind of day for me. I'm used to spending more time at the computer than I did today. I didn't do my usual blog walk or write morning letters to my friends. Days are different when I have company. It feels good to have company in the house. It feels great, actually! 
Busy Today
I was busy "here and there" today and I'm very late getting my first entry into my blog. Once again Rusty got me up in the night, at 3. I was very tired this morning. The tiredness kept building and finally, I went to bed for a short nap this afternoon and slept the rest of the afternoon! Now I'm refreshed and ready to go till midnight! I'm afraid I'm getting my own sleep cycle out of kilter this way, but surely I'll get back to normal soon.
We went to Erie this morning and I got to browse in two books stores! That was lovely.
The ice is melting here. The icicles have been crashing down. I'm glad for them to be down and thankful that they let go when no one was under them.
Office Work
I just started doing the newsletter for the Columbus Church. I didn't want to be involved with making labels and writing calendar dates, but I've not been very good at getting someone else to take over that job. This afternoon, my daughter-in-law helped me with setting up the merge mail data base for a label list, and we actually got it printed. Then I had to work on the birthday list.
My husband was very involved with people and collected birthdates from so many people that he met. Now I had to take a lot of people off his list and try to sort out who should be included on a birthday calendar. That was something I wanted someone else to do, but I'm not too good at delegating. And I know that I probably have the best source of info with the lists my husband had compiled. There are people coming who are new and I don't have their birthdays, but they will have to let me know when their birthdays are.
I'm hoping that now that I've compiled the first set of labels and a viable birthday list, I can give this information to someone else to keep it updated and working each month. I think that should work. There's every reason it should work. It HAS to work. I know I won't always be available to be doing that job for them.
Office work took up a lot of my time today!
Good News - Bad News
The good news from my home this morning is that Desy slept through the night after three nights of desparately needing to go out to the dog pen two or three times. I know I can't complain because if she didn't wake me up to go out, I'd have a big problem to deal with. But it's hard for me to get up during the night. I rarely need to get up in the night myself. So, Desy slept all night and I was pleased about that.
The bad news is that Rusty had to get up during the night. He was desperate. Again, no complaints about him telling me he had to go out, but I am so in need of sleeping through the night as usual.
I wonder if they have "Puppy Flu." But I haven't heard anything about that going around.
Posted
This afternoon I posted some pictures to Flickr. I added some pictures of my latest decorated eggs, --snowflakes. And there are pictures of my granddaughters in the snow and at some favorite activities indoors. I tried to show my egg tree, but the picture didn't come out as good as I'd like it to be. I hope you'll check them out when you have time. 
New Snow
Our old snow, though still rather deep, was getting ratty and nasty looking. This morning we had a bit of new snow and now our world looks white and clean again. It didn't add a lot of snow and it actually seemed very pleasant for sledding down the steep bank at the Concord School playground. I didn't go out to sled ride but it looked like great fun.
Owen Marshall
One of the forgotten things that I found was a journal from 1973. It's not a notebook journal. It's one of those kind where there is one page for each day, so you can't write very much about the events of the day. One day I wrote that I wasn't able to watch Owen Marshall on TV. I confess. I have no memory of a TV program named Owen Marshall, yet I liked it enough to record that I was disappointed that I couldn't watch the program that day. Looking it up on the Internet, we found that there was such a program from 1971 - 1974. Owen Marshall was an attorney, and the program was in the same order as Perry Mason. Even knowing this, I still don't remember one thing about that program. What a lot of things I've totally forgotten!
Merry Christmas
This morning I was told that it's been 10 years since Christmas was on
a Sunday. I personally don't remember that. The celebration
of Christmas is different when the date falls on a Sunday. Our
Christmas Eve service was well attended but our morning worship was
not. None of the families with small children came. I think
I wasn't surprised.
A Test Carrot
I finally remembered to buy a bag of whole carrots, instead of baby
carrots and tonight, I put a big carrot out in the driveway in front of
the garage door. Maybe I shouldn't, but it's Christmas and it is
such a cute bunny!
I was invited to play the piano for the Christmas Eve service and I'm
so glad that I accepted. It was so good for me. A couple
from the church invited me to dinner with them at 6, kept me through
the evening with their family, and brought me home after the
service. I wouldn't have gone to the service if I had to go
alone. They helped me have a wonderful time.
A really nice thing about this evening is that for a change we didn't
have really bad weather! We usually go to the Christmas Eve
service in a snow storm and some years we've had to cancel the service
because of the heavy snow. But this year it was mild. We still
have tons of snow but it's not on the roads now and that was great.
Also, we didn't have to clean off the cars before drove them this
evening.
I wonder if the bunny will eat the carrot or if she will think it's a trick.
Baking Day
For many years I considered Saturday to be a baking day. I could
bake any day of the week and I did, but Saturday was a day when I
always baked. I'd make something to have on hand for Sunday
dessert, and/or I'd bake something for a snack for the Sunday school
class. When my husband was diagnosed with diabetes, I had
to cut back on baking because it wasn't good for him to eat those
sweets. I got out of the habit of baking on Saturdays.
Today I had a reason to bake again. At first I felt the tug of
inertia. I just didn't feel like starting to bake, but I had told
myself all week that I was going to bake on Saturday. So I got
out my big bowl with the blue stripes and filled it up with dough for
cinnamon rolls. Once I got started, the enjoyment of baking came
back to me.
One part of the dough I made into a pan of rolls and the other part I
shaped into a tea ring. They came out as close to perfect as I
could ask! And I'm the only one here to enjoy them, --but,
tomorrow I'll be having company again.
While the dough was rising the second time, I started making blueberry
pies. I work so slowly, but I eventually got the crust made and
the pies ready to go into the oven as the tea ring was done.
I haven't tasted the pie, so I don't know if they are as good as
they look or not. I think they will be.
It felt good to be baking again.
The Bunny
I saw the bunny this morning! It was still dark when we got up,
--the dogs and I. I let them out into the entry way that comes
into the kitchen and as I went out with them, I looked out the door to
the driveway before heading in the opposite direction to let the dogs
into their pen. There was the bunny, loping down my shoveled path
from the car to the door. At the house, s/he turned and ran
alongside the front of the garage to the berry patch. Perhaps its
home is in the berry patch or under the garage on that side. I
know bunnies can be death to spring flowers and gardens, but this bunny
was so cute! Its big, long ears were standing up and it was
intent on getting back to its hidey hole. I don't think it saw me
but it may have heard me stirring around in the house, opening the
door to the entry way. The bunny looks healthy so it's
getting something to eat!
More Forgotten Items
There were other things I found salted away in the closet
yesterday. One was a Christmas centerpiece that Mom gave me a
long time ago, before she moved to the nursing home. It had been
a floral arrangement but was still a lovely Christmas arrangement when
the flowers were dead and gone. I put it in a plastic bag and put
it up on a high shelf in the closet and forgot about it.
Another thing I found was the little white duck flower pot that I'd put
into the a box with some other knick knacks. I'd packed them away
because I was out of space to let them sit around in the house and they
are definitely too much too keep dusting. But they are things I
really value and wish I could display all the time. Most of them
were elephants from my collection. The duck was a gift from my
childhood friend, Nancy Pearl. She gave it to me with a little
plant in it during one of my childhood illnesses. I've long
forgotten which illness, --chicken pox, mumps, measles. I had
them all and measles more than once. The little duck was cute,
but it was too small for a growing plant. I used to have it out
on some piece of furniture and just drop little odds and ends into it,
--like stray paper clips or pins. It was nice to see it again.
And I found some newspapers! Why did I keep some
newspapers? It was obviously something I'd done. I checked
the newspapers and found that they were ones with one of my Christmas
stories on the front page. Ah, that's why I didn't toss
them. Well, as long as I haven't pitched them so far, maybe I
should keep them a while longer. I can let my kids throw
them away some day. They don't take up much room. I think some
people gave me their newspapers. I'm pretty sure I didn't go out
and buy three more.
Finding Lost Things
Today was a day to find some things that I had misplaced. I can
certainly misplace things so that it takes years to find them!
Some things only take days to find and some things only take hours or
minutes, but, no joke, I found Mom's electric scissors today and I
didn't know where they were for YEARS! She asked me about them a
couple of years before she died. She asked me if I use them and I
hardly remembered that she'd given them to me when she stopped using
them. She never really liked using them because, she said, they
vibrated too much. I had to admit to her that I didn't remember
what I'd done with them but I wasn't using them. She was
disappointed. I was sorry to disappoint her.
Today while I was looking for something else, I found them in a little
storage area under the hanging clothes in the bedroom closet.
It's hard to get into that space and I was groping around in the dark
and found something that I couldn't identify by feel there at the very
bottom of the storage space. I pulled it out and discovered that
it was Mom's electric scissors, without any batteries in them.
I'll have to find out if they will still work. If they still
work, maybe someone will want them.
I also found some of my art correspondence course books, in that same
storage area. I had completely forgotten that I'd put them
there. And I found several things which I can throw away.
It feels good to recognize things that I'm able to dispose of.
That included some of my college class work and a ratty old
pillow.
Finding lost things is good therapy.
An Axe?
As I came home from my grocery shopping spree, I got this great idea. 
Why not get out the axe and chop the ice blocks out from under
the fenders behind the tires. I knew I'd have to be very careful
because I didn't want to chop the tires. It was too solid for me
to kick it loose, but I had the notion that the axe would do the job
well, --if I was careful.
I worked slowly and carefully. Once I bashed my finger against
the rim of the fender, but other than that, no problem. I had to
be gentle with the axe but it really did chip away the big blocks of
ice and left that area free again. Yeah!! I even picked up
the ice blocks and threw them out of the driveway. A job well
done, if I do say so myself. 
I put the axe in a convenient place in the entry way to the kitchen.
Restorative
There's something about my morning routine that is a restorative to
me. I got up reluctantly this morning. The cozy nest in bed
felt so good. But I knew I had to get up. It was
time. At first I dragged a little but then as I got into the
familiar morning routine, my spirits lifted. I've checked for
footprints on the porch, fed the birds, answered my mail, fed the dogs
and prepared my breakfast. As I'm ready to sit down to eat, I
just realize that I feel restored again. It's going to be a good
day! 
Afternoon
I cleared my paths and steps and the end of my driveway this morning
and now this afternoon, snow is filling them up again. At least it's
still light an fluffly.
I had my piano tuned this morning and I've been taking some time to
play it. When Mr. R. was finished tuning it he said, "It's not ready
for Carnegi Hall but it's pretty good again." My piano is older than I
and I always forget how much older. I have it written down somewhere
and I didn't ask today. But I know that it's not an easy piano to
tune, --something about the steel strings not stretching exactly and
some of them giving overtones of a slightly different vibration. But
Mr. R. always does a really good job with it.
I'm glad to have it back in tune again and that I could try it out for a while this afternoon.
Rise and Shine
The thing about getting up early in winter is that it is so dark
outside. I can't see how much it snowed overnight. From
what I saw of the dog pen, I'd say that it didn't snow much. But,
I can see that the car is covered and the road crew has been out, so
I'm wondering what has happened out there since the sun went down
yesterday evening.
I'm always glad to see the first day of winter because it means to me
that the days will be getting longer each day, building to my favorite
time when June is here. It's so much easier to get up early in
the summer when the sun is up and the world is bright with light.
But today has as much promise as a sunny summer day and it's up to me
to rise and shine and be on the lookout for the blessings today will
bring.
It's for the Birds
I didn't go outside and shovel yesterday, nor did I refill the bird
feeder. I saw that there was still some food there and I did
sprinkle a couple of handfuls for them to make sure they had enough but
I didn't do anything much. Today, it still looked like there was
food scattered underneath the feeder but I decided to get out there and
refill the blue feeder and also put more peanut butter in the critter
log. It's been empty for a while.
It wasn't easy filling the holes in the critter log, because of the
cold. But I was glad that I did it because when I came into the
house and put the phone back in its cradle, I looked out the window and
there was a flock of at least three dozen little birds feeding at the
feeder and under it. And, there were two little woodpeckers at
the critter log!
Where were they before? I didn't see them watching me but someone
was watching! I think the birds must have communication signals
that I don't know about.
I almost got to see some birds on my porch! I wasn't thinking
about birds on the porch and just opened the door without looking out
first and there was a whir of wings and whoever had been there flew
away. I'll have to start peeking out there more often, quietly,
and probably I'll see them. They are hungry today!
Can you imagine eating seeds like they do? How can those tiny
seeds give them the fuel energy they need in this cold
weather?
Another Sean Story
I think it was probably that same year, when Sean was 7, that this
story took place. He and his brother went to a friend of mine
while I was busy with something. She was going to give them lunch and
she had some other children at her place, too. At 11 o'clock he
told Terri, "It's lunch time." Terri said she wasn't ready to give them
lunch yet. Sean said, "At my house we eat at 11 o'clock.
I'm hungry." Terri told him that instead of lunch at 11, she
would give them a tea party and then they would eat at 1. Sean
said, "I don't drink tea."
Some how they got through tea time, with no tea for Sean! Terri
got busy playing beauty shop with the girls and then it was 1
o'clock. There was Sean sitting at the table. "You said
we'd eat lunch at 1," he said. "It's 1 o'clock now." Terri
was surprised that Sean was so aware of what time it was. And
hungry, too!
Sean Decides About Ketchup
In 1995 when our twins were 7, they stayed with me for their summer
vacation. We had sandwiches one day for lunch. Lyn put ketchup on his
sandwich. I found a packet of ketchup from Dairy Queen in the
refrigerator and cut it open to put in on Sean's sandwich. Sean said,
"Corry Grandma, I didn't say that I wanted ketchup on my sandwich." I
said, "Ok, you don'thave to have ketchup." I pulled the ketchup packet
away. Sean said, "But, I didn't say I don't want Ketchup." This
confused me. "Well, ok. This is a special packet of ketchup and I cut
it open already." Sean, "But I didn't say I wanted ketchup."
I got impatient and opened Lyn's sandwich and squirted the ketchup on
it. Sean, "But, I didn't say I didn't want ketchup." Me, "Fine. Put
ketchup on your sandwich. It's OK. Just use the bottled ketchup."
Sean, "But, I didn't say that I want ketchup." This put me on overload
and I didn't know whether to put ketchup on his sandwich or not. I
gave up and ate my lunch. Sean sat there for a long time looking at his
sandwich and thinking. In the end, I failed to notice whether he put
ketchup on his sandwich or not.
His dad got a good laugh from this story when I told him in 1995 and he
also got a laugh from it when I told him about it again today.
Dependent or Not
I like to be independent. I know that there are some people who
really enjoy helping others, but even people helpers have a limit as to
how much help they can give and it's not easy to help people when it
means you have have to go out of your way to do it. I'm trying to
ask for help when I need it, --when it isn't going to complicate
someone else's life to help me, but not to overdo my requests for help.
Today was another "buy dog food" day and that's a 50 pound bag. I
can lift it but it's not easy for me. So I combined my "help me"
and "I can do this" and with a little bit of both, I got the dog food
home and in place for when I need it, probably tomorrow. In the
store, I asked the man who was stocking butter to help me when he got a
minute free. He put down his box right away and came and lifted
the dog food into my cart, making sure the price code was in a
convenient place for the check out girl.
I had parked at the far side of the parking lot, but near a shopping
cart collecting place. When I got to the car, I found that
someone had pulled in behind me, close as he could get. I
couldn't put my purchases in the trunk unless I would start the car and
move it forward. I decided to put things into the back seat
area. I was saving the bag of dog food for last and I was going
to give it a good try. But as I unloaded the other purchases, a
couple of young men in a big pickup truck parked beside me.
They jumped out and headed into the store. They never even
noticed me. But I noticed them. "Excuse me," I said, and
they turned toward me. "Could you put this bag into the car
for me?" I asked. "No problem!" the one nearest me said and just
like that, it was in the car! No problem, for sure! It
didn't inconvenience him at all and it helped me a lot.
Being at home was another story. There was no one around. I
quoted one of Father Tim's favorite verses from Philippians and hugged
that bag to me and turtled into the entry way where I keep the dog
food. Mission accomplished! It raised my heart rate but I'm
still at the place where that's good for me. But, I admit that
it's much easier when there's someone with me to either carry the heavy
load or grab an end with me. But it's done now for the next three
weeks.
Speed of Talk
A woman I once knew talked like a river flowing, flooding over all
interruptions, pressing forward with her own train of thought no matter
what someone else tried to say, either to add to the conversation or to
change the subject. Her torrent of words flattened every subject,
pressing it to the ground till it was reduced to nothing. When I
was with her, I gave up trying to converse with her and just
listened. 
Complications of the Speed of Thought
Thought is so complicated! It comes so fast and is so related to tiny
scraps of insight, memory or key words that it's sometimes hard to pin
down its path or trace it to its source. When I begin to write the
things I'm thinking, I pause to wonder how to word something and my
thought has gone speeding off down the road, leaving only its cloud of
dust behind. 
Uninvited and Unwelcome
I was sitting here at my computer, writing a letter and looking out the
window when I saw it. A bird about the size of a pigeon flew down and
settled on a branch of the big old maple tree in the front yard.
Pigeon? I don't remember pigeons perching in the tree. Then I
realized that the contours of the bird weren't right for a pigeon.
Wait a minute! This was no pigeon. It was a hawk! It was here to
choose from my birdy buffet table! I couldn't sit here and let that
happen.
I went out to the porch and looked at it sitting there in the tree.
Sure enough, it was a hawk! I spoke to it. I think I said, "What are
you doing here in my tree?" When the first word left my lips, the hawk
flew away, fast! That surprised me because I was nowhere near enough
to the hawk to be a threat to it. It left in the direction it had come
from, up the hill. I went to that end of the porch to try to see where
it went but it was long gone.
Before I'd even come back into the house, little birds began twittering
from a couple of the bushes in front of the porch. I told them that
they should be quiet because the hawk could get them but they just kept
it up. When I came back into the house and resumed typing my letter,
little birds came to the feeder. There had been no birds at the feeder
before the hawk sat in the tree. Aha! The little birds knew that the
hawk was around, knew that I'd chased the hawk, and were actually being
careful to hide from the hawk without needing my warning.
I know that hawk lives somewhere around here and I know it has to eat, too, but I want my little birds to be safe.
Oh, yes, I must mention that this morning, most of the carrot was eaten.
Recognizing an Actor
While I was visiting with Jewel tonight, she had the Hallmark channel
on TV and it was showing a program called Meet the Santas. I was
intrigued to see in the opening credits the name Armin Shimerman,
because he plays Quark in Deep Space Nine. I have often wondered
what he really looks like because I'd never seen him except in the
Quark get up with the facial distortions. I knew which one he was
because his voice was pretty much the same and then, when he walked, I
saw that his movements were very much the same, too. It's very
hard to change your voice and your walk, even to play a different role,
---unless you're someone like Robin Williams.
Tantalizing Aroma
I'm baking an apple pie from a recipe that I got online a few years
ago. You just pare and slice the apples, sprinkle with one
teaspoon of sugar and one of cinnamon, then mix up a dough batter that
is really thick and drop it on top, sort of like a cobbler, then
bake. It is almost finished now and it smells so inviting.
I know I can't wait very long before I sample it! What a
wonderful aroma!
Deer and Rabbits
I just heard Art Drysdale, who has a program about growing plants, say
that deer really love roses. He says roses are like deer
candy! The guest he was talking to said, "So, if you want to
attract deer, grow roses." I am intrigued by the idea of "deer
candy." When you put it that way, you can understand better why
the deer would come to your roses and enjoy! If someone was
growing a fudge bush in my neighborhood, I'd be so tempted to go past
there and have some every now and then. But it must be even
harder for a deer to resist that temptation because I can make my own
fudge and a deer can't plant his own roses.
Dawn suggested I put a carrot out for my hungry rabbit. Last
night before I went to bed, I took two of my little mini carrots out to
the porch and laid them down where I'd seen the bunny footprints.
This morning they looked like they hadn't moved at all but something
looked different about them. So, I went out to look closely. The
carrots were nibbled at a lot but they were frozen to the porch!
The bunny couldn't get them loose. I hope s/he has other things
to eat.
It's In the Cards
I have all my Christmas cards to the church families taken care of
now. In fact, I had that done for last Sunday. We can take them
to church and have them distributed there without postage
stamps. I know I give out more cards that way than I would if I
had to put postage stamps on all of them.
Tonight I spent two hours and got 15 cards ready for mailing tomorrow. Two hours to do 15 cards! 
It does give me a good feeling to have it done, though. I really do want to stay in contact with these people.
I'm hearing that we may not need to shovel snow again for much of next week. I'm hoping that's true.
A Small Joke
Sometimes I think I'm clever. Sometimes I'm the only one who thinks so!
Today while I was shoveling the heavy snow, that had the consistency of
soft brown sugar, taking it away from the end of the driveway
where the snow plow had deposited it, a man came from the school across
the street and walked toward me. As he approached, I greeted him
and he responded. The he came to the sidewalk in front of my
house and asked me if I minded if he'd stand there and smoke.
He's helping at his kids' Santa's Workshop at the school and there is
no smoking allowed on any of the school property. He needed his
smoke break and hoped I wouldn't mind that he would smoke on my
sidewalk.
I thought I'd make a joke with him, so I said, "I'll tell you
what. I'll smoke for you and you can shovel for me." That's
funny to me because I don't smoke and there's no way ever that I would
smoke for him. Then I added that part to the sentence, "but, I
don't smoke." He proceeded to tell me about his bad back and how
he can't possibly shovel, --as if I was serious about him shoveling for
me! I had to tell him that I just thought it was a little joke
because I don't smoke. Maybe it was a little funnier because he
doesn't shovel!
We talked a little while he smoked and then he limped back to the
school and I went back to finishing my task, while I thought about how
not everyone appreciates my sense of humor.
Today's Morning Treat
We only got a few more inches of snow overnight. That's not really the
treat, but maybe in a way it is. I won't have much to shovel
today, and that's definitely a treat. The real treat is that the
snow on the porch is covered, just covered, with tiny footprints, most
of them birds. The new visitor leaving paw prints is a
bunny! Does a rabbit eat bird seed? What does a rabbit eat
in weather like this, when snow is three or four times deeper than he
is tall? And, where does this rabbit live when he's not exploring
my porch? Still, I thought it was a neat treat to see the birdy
and bunny footprints on the porch.
Day's End
I got a call from the Y this evening telling me that there will be no
Aquarobics tomorrow morning. I think it may be more because our
instructor doesn't want to drive in for the class than the fact that
the weather is bad. I may be wrong abuot that, though. I
think she doesn't live as close to the Y as I do and the back roads
will very likely be extremely icy after the precipitation we had today.
It's time to head to bed now. It's been a cold day here in PA but bed is cozy and warm.
The Party's Over
We were able to have our party in spite of the nasty weather. I
feel sure that the bad weather kept some of our folks away but we had a
pretty nice time together. The air still felt awfully cold but it
must have warmed up after all because we really did get freezing
rain. When it was time to get the car ready to go, it was
completely encrusted in ice. That was a big job getting it melted
off. Driving wasn't too bad though. After the party, about 2
o'clock, the car was OK and didn't need to be deiced again. I
stopped for a few groceries on the way home and I was glad to get back
into the driveway safely. Around 3 o'clock, it started to snow
and soon the car was covered over again. I'm satisfied to stay
home tonight. The party's over.
Tea Time
This is such a good morning for a nice cup of hot tea. A storm is
heading our way but right now it's quiet outside. It's gray and
overcast and that makes it easy to believe that the freezing rain
and/or snow is coming. It's still very cold outdoors and the cold
creeps around the edges of the house. Because fuel prices have soared
so high, most of us are wearing layers of clothing and keeping the
thermostat low. My tea choice this morning is Honey Lemon. It's
waiting for me at the table while I write about it now. I'm sure it
will hit the spot when it's cool enough for me to sip it.
Speaking of tea, I got to tell my friend, Minna, yesterday that her
advice to me about soaking my possible spider bite thumb in strong tea
for half an hour three times a day really helped me. From the first
time I did that, my thumb started to heal. Minna loved hearing the
news. She positively cackled! "Wait till you get my bill!" she
chortled. She told some of the others about my "tea cure" at her
suggestion and each time she burst into cackling laughter and said,
"And I told her, 'Wait till you get my bill!'" She was really happy
that she'd been able to give me advice that helped my thumb. I know
she had to pay quite a lot to get that advice from a dermatologist.
I'll wait and see what kind of bill she gives me! I think I'm going to
have lunch with her tomorrow.
Predictions
The prediction that I'm hearing about a change in the weather that's on
the way right now doesn't sound very good to me! Our evening
newspaper says that our road crew is being called in at midnight
tonight to prepare for the freezing rain and snow that is expected to
hit us about that time. Even though we are really heavy laden
with snow and don't really want more, we know that freezing rain won't
be a good change. It would be better to have more snow.
The temperatures this morning were very close to zero. I knew it was
cold as I walked to my car. The crunch of the snow under my boots
told me that it was very cold. Walking in the snow produces a
definite crunching sound when the temperature is around zero. It
will have to get a lot warmer than that in order to rain.
If the weather does turn really nasty for tomorrow morning, it will
probably cause our dinner party to be canceled or postponed.
We'll just have to wait and see. From December to March in our
area, we have to make plans with the proviso, "Weather permitting."
Submerged Dream Fragment
Often I remember large
portions of my dreams when I waken but sometimes something in my dream is
completely submerged when I wake up and later in the day it resurfaces. That happened today.
When I was getting ready to
give Desy her morning pills, I started to get out the prednisone because I’d
seen that she’d scratched her back raw in three places and I knew that the next
time she got pills, I’d have to include the prednisone again, though I had
thought she’d had enough. Suddenly I
realized that Desy is fine. Her back
isn’t bleeding! She doesn’t need the
prednisone today. That had been in my dream somewhere. I don’t know how it fit into the dream but
the memory of the sight of the bleeding places on her back is very real in my
mind, and it was just a submerged dream.
Odd! I put the prednisone back
unopened.
Christmas Eggs
I wanted to do some Christmas Eggs this year, using the Pysanky technique of wax resist and dyes. Today the two children came to my house after school until their mom is done with work just before 4. They were fascinated with the eggs I was doing and were interested to try their hand at doing an egg, too. We worked together and the time flew by and soon their mom came. She was amazed at what her children were doing and she was very pleased that they had this opportunity to explore this art craft.
They will come again tomorrow and we'll work on the eggs a little more.
Another Party
This is a very busy week for me. I have three parties to attend. Now two parties are past and one is still to come. They are all nice parties, but they come so close together. Today's Christmas fellowship luncheon followed closely on the heels of last night's Artists' Guild party, but I have a day off before we do the XYZ Christmas party on Thursday.
Today's party was a sit-down dinner and was well attended by folk our new pastor had not yet met. He asked everyone to introduce themselves and tell a little something about themselves. I got so interested in listening to what others were saying that I forgot what I had meant to tell them about me! That was an interesting time as some people told some things about their history that I hadn't known before.
Another interesting thing in today's party was the "show and tell" part about Christmas ornaments that had special meaning for us. Amelia brought a ceramic tile with a Danish greeting on it. She also brought a little figure, a hanging ornament for the tree. It was a "nisse" which is a small, old man with a white beard, usually dressed in a gray sweater and trousers with a red pixie cap, red stockings and wearing wooden shoes. I looked that up! 
I think Amelia's little figure was predominantly dressed in red. What I found said that he's a little creature that you want to be friends with because he controls your fortune. The Danes would put out a bowl of porridge for the nisse on Christmas Eve. Amelia didn't tell us all that. She just showed us the little figure and I think he's been in her family tree ornaments for many years.
It was a good party.
Turn About
After being up so early yesterday morning, I was sort of late getting up this morning. To my delight, there's no new snow and I don't have to shovel today. I'm glad for a day off from that chore.
Last night was the Christmas party for the Artists' Guild. One of the highlights of the party is the game of Pictionary. We have two teams and a representative from each team draws their word on the drywrite board in the room. I know that's not the name of it, but I can't think of what it's really called and that explains what it is. I am very bad at guessing what people are drawing and most of the time I had no idea how people got the word they did from what was being drawn on the board. It was a fun game.
Everyone brought finger food and we had a feast. Another nice thing for me is that I had a ride with my back door neighbor and I didn't have to drive. It was a good party.
Predawn Activities
After being tired all day yesterday, I wakened early this morning and got up at 5. Maybe I had shoveling on my mind and it woke me up. I'm not sure what it was but I was wide awake and decided to get the day started.
Yesterday afternoon and evening I worked on a Christmasy Pysanky egg. I know those two terms don't go together because Pysanky is the term for Ukrainian Easter Eggs, as I understand it. But I used that technique and made an egg with a wreath and a candle and used Christmas colors. I left it last night in the black wax stage and this morning I was eager to see if the colors came out as well as I'd hoped. So after I fed the dogs, I candled the wax off my egg. It's not bad, I think. It definitely comes across as Christmas.
Then I did the shoveling and it was still before dawn! I didn't like being out there shoveling by the road in the darkness because there is some traffic in the early morning, --people going to work. I didn't want to wait till later because traffic picks up as people bring their kids to school. It was easy for me to keep my eye on traffic in the predawn because drivers all had their lights on. I'm using the word traffic, but actually the cars were few and far between. I just didn't want to be caught out on the road with a car coming toward me.
As I worked, the sun came up and daylight gradually increased. It wasn't a gorgeous sunrises because the cloud cover is heavy and the snow was still coming down. I was almost finished then. Just before I left the roadway to shovel the back door neighbor path, a white car covered in snow, without headlights on, came up the street. I didn't see it until it was nearer to me than I would have liked it to be. I was in no danger but you should realize that I am super cautious about cars and streets. I'm almost like Ramona the Pest when she was a kindergartener and wouldn't cross the street as long as there was a car anywhere in sight on the street. I know now it's those invisible cars you have to look out for. They sneak up on you! This white on white car was on of those that sneak up quietly!
Now my predawn activities are completed and I can get ready to go to Aquarobics, --although I really did get my exercise this morning.
Viewers Choice
Tonight I was watching TVLand for a while and they were doing the top 10 holiday shows, as rated, I think, by viewers. The number 10 show was the Andy Griffith Christmas show where Ben, the grouchy, old shop owner makes a fuss about Andy's plans to let prisoners go home for Christmas and then return to finish serving their term. I was surprised to learn that this was the only Christmas show that they did on the Mayberry programs. I do remember that show and I liked it, too.
A couple of the shows that were chosen were Thanksgiving programs. One was WKRP's promotion of dropping turkeys from a helicopter and what a fiasco that turned out to be.
The Number One Show, you may be delighted to learn, as I was, is Charlie Brown's Christmas. How much we've enjoyed that show and still love the Peanuts characters and the specials that have been done with them. How nice that it made the viewers' top choice.
Merry Christmas!
Stumbling
I feel like I’m making a lot of mistakes lately. This morning I had it on my mind to get outside and take care of the bird feeder again. On these cold mornings, I have to bring the feeder indoors to let the screw threads warm up so that I can open it to put more seeds in. So I did that and it only took about a minute. I hurried back to the porch and unscrewed the top from the bottom and to my astonishment, the feeder hadn’t been empty and about two cups of seeds poured out of it! I was too busy to notice that it wasn’t empty. In my defense, I can point out that it is a deep blue color and it’s hard to see through it, but if I’d been noticing better, I would have realized that it wasn’t empty. I have a lot of bird seed out there on the porch now. I hope the birds come get it.
Then when I was reading the Bible this morning, I read something that I hadn’t noticed before. James 3:2 “All of us stumble many times.” The fact that ALL stumble and do it MANY times really grabbed me. I felt like I’m stumbling many times more than usual. But then, I see, ALL stumble. The passage goes on to say that the person who doesn’t stumble in word is perfect. I see that being careful about my words is more important than being careful in filling the bird feeder. But, I’ve stumbled in word, too.
I’m thankful that God does forgive when I do stumble with words and He’s bringing this to my attention.
Christmas Shopping
I went Christmas shopping with my friend to Erie this afternoon.
I haven't been to Erie for Christmas shopping for several years.
I didn't actually do much buying today. I was with my friend and
we had a good time. I was impressed with the crowds and the
traffic. I realized why I haven't been to Erie in December for a
while.
I was able to buy a few things, but it's a good thing that no one's
Christmas happiness depends on me. I won't have lots of gifts
purchased. I think I lack a shopping gene. I'll try to do
some more shopping here in our town, --if the weather isn't too
inclement. It was fun being with a friend, though, and she got
some of the last things on her list. She knew exactly what she
wanted. I just had a vague idea of what might be possible.
My two dogs were joyous when I returned and both needed to get out into
the pen right away. Then they wanted dinner. We had baked
potatoes with our meal in Erie, and they were big potatoes and neither
of us ate the whole thing, so I brought the rest of the potatoes home
for my animals. I cut the skins up into bite sized pieces and put
it in with their food and they were both very happy to get it.
Now I'm going to call it a day and get to bed early for a change.
Goodnight!
Respite
We are having a respite from additional snow this morning. There
was no further accumulation over night. I didn't have to spend
much time shoveling this morning. I just had to clear the porch
steps and clear off the car again. The snow on the porch showed
that a great many birds have been exploring there for seeds. I
never get to see them there though. Funny thing, there are many
footprints around the big sack of birdseed in the corner. I don't
think they got into the sack but they've been all around it. The
bag is sitting there upside down, so I think they aren't reading those
upside down words, but they do seem to know that there is food there.
Last night I made Christmas cookies to put into the Hospice Christmas
baskets. Last year I received one of those baskets and what a
blessing it was. It pleases me to have a part in bringing
blessing to someone else this Christmas, though I felt sad as I made
the cookies because I know there are families who are going through
great sorrow as we did last year. The expressions of love from
other people eases the burden a little. I want to have a part in
this effort.
Frustration
While I was in college, I worked one semester doing light housekeeping
and baby sitting in the home of Ernest and Carolyn Leiser. One
day, I think when I'd put in my 20 hours, Ernie cleaned up the
kitchen. There was a particularly crusty casserole dish to scour
clean. I don't know how long he worked on that but it was a good
while. Just as he got it sparkling clean and he gave it the last
rinse, the dish slipped from his hands and crashed to the floor and
shattered! He was so chagrined. "Why did I drop it now that
the work was all done?" he asked sorrowfully. I've always known
how frustrated he must have felt.
Today I had a similar frustration. I knew that the grader had
gone past our driveway and I had to get that furrow of snow away from
the end of the driveway. I bundled up and went out to my
task. I was diligent. I got the edge of the driveway clean and
walked to the car to shovel snow away from that area. Then the
big truck with the snow plow came up the street past my driveway,
--buried the end of the driveway in about a foot of heavy snow,
tapering off to a point about four feet from the end of the
driveway. I stood there and watched in horror. It had taken
so much energy to get that snow out of there and now I was back to
square one. I was so frustrated, and tired, I stood there and
cried, and thought of Ernie Leiser and the broken, clean, casserole
dish. (I really was tired.)
Tomorrow, I think I'll have to shovel all over again, but I should get a fresh start after a good night's rest.
Too Much With Us
I was just thinking of the words of William Wordsworth, "The world is too much with us." Until I looked it up, I was thinking that the phrase was, "The world is too much with us, late and soon." But it turns out that the words "late and soon" start the next sentence. But that isn't the point of my thoughts this morning. It's the snow that's too much with us, late and soon!
We're in the grip of yet another snowstorm and although I rather like snow, it's getting to be a burden to keep the driveway clear. And the big grader just took a swipe past our house. I'll have to get that build up shoveled away from the end of the driveway. Sigh. But I do know the exercise is good for me. I've been out to feed the birds and I've cleared a path to the back door neighbor but I haven't done the driveway at all. The wind is blowing and snow is covering over the stairs and path already. It's hard to shovel before the storm and wind dies down. Too much. Late and soon, --even though the words don't go with that sentence as I thought they do.
Snow Accident
For the last hour and a half I've been watching the news about the airplane accident at Midway Airport in Chicago where the plane slid off the runway in the blizzard. They don't know for sure if the accident happened because of the eight inches of snow on the runway, but it seems to be a likely reason. The most horrible thing about this accident is that the plane crashed through the retainer fence and crushed one or two cars in the street area and there were people in the car/s. I can't even imagine how incredibly awful that would be to have an airplane crash down on the car of someone you know and love, or on you! Everyone in the plane is safe, but it doesn't sound good for the passengers in the car or cars. And all the while the camera crews are showing the scene of the accident, the snow is falling like a veil.
I finally got up to look outside my window and discovered that our predicted snow has started falling. It's coming down in a lively fashion, but I don't think it's as heavy, yet, as the snowfall in Chicago. The car, which had been completely clear of snow once more, is no completely covered in snow again! Meanwhile, they showed a scene from PGH, where they have been expecting a lively snowfall tonight. The report said that they have received an inch of snow in an hour and there is a lot of concern for their airport conditions.
Sad to say, this lovely and beautiful snow can be deadly for traffic, on the road or in the sky, or landing. I am so sorry to hear about this plane accident.
A Good Book Can Open Doors
It stayed cold and sunny all day today. It's great how the bright sunshine lifts the spirits. It's been a good day. I got the car cleared off and the driveway cleared and to this minute, it's still cleared. Of course, we do have the threat, or promise, of overnight snow again. I should be ready to handle it again in the morning, --if we do get it.
I spent the morning with my friend, Jewel, who marvels each day that she is now over 90. She's in frail health now but she and I shared good conversation. She can still read and that's a wonderful blessing. My mom couldn't see to read for a good many years before her death last year at 92. What a difference it would have made in her last years, if she could have been able to read. When life gets really boring and all you can do is sit, a good book can take you away to a fun place and fill your mind with beautiful pictures and ideas to keep your mind busy.
I think it's great that Jewel can still read and enjoy good books.
Early Morning Sun
What a difference the sunshine makes! It was a bright, sunny day
today, from the morning through the afternoon. We have the
forecast of another snowstorm heading our way this evening, but today
was beautiful.
I had to out and about by 10 this morning, which gave me plenty of time
to get the car cleaned off and the end of the driveway opened
again.. I found that it was sunny but it was COLD! The
afternoon newspaper says that it was 7 degrees this morning. But
the sunshine made the day beautiful.
One More Go at the Snow
When the snow plow went by again, I went outside again to get the piled
up snow away from the end of the driveway before it froze that
way. Rusty begged and pleaded to go out with me, so I decided to
give it a try. I held on to his leash while I shoveled the snow
away from the driveway. Actually, for the most part I used the
shovel as a little plow and pushed the snow across the road. The
I threw it up on the bank there. Rusty didn't seem to understand
why we were doing that but he loved the activity and happily danced
back and forth across the street with me.
When I finished the snow removal, I put Rusty's lead on a stake in the
yard and got a few pictures of him. It snowed really hard most of
today and my pictures today turned out to be dim with the muted light
of the snowy atmosphere.
I'll probably have to dig out from under the snow again in the morning when I have to leave the house for a while.
More Snow Thoughts
When I was finished shoveling, I was covered with snow! It's a
light fluffy snow, but it covered my hat and gloves and coat and stuck
right to them. When I came into the house, I woud have all that
snow to bring in with me.
And, that reminded me of Dad. He was really careful about keeping
snow outdoors and not dragging it into the house. He kept a broom
by the door and very carefully brushed his boots and trousers clear of
snow before he came in.
There was no way I could brush all the snow off me. I took my
jacket off while I was still on the porch and shook it, but still lots
of snowflakes stuck with it. I stomped snow off my boots and then
came into the house. I hung the jacket on a hook in the cellar
stairway and brushed the snow off my hat into the kitchen sink and put
the hat and gloves in front of the hot air vent in the kitchen to dry
off. I don't think it would have been good enough to suit my dad
but I really did try not to spread snow through the house.
Snow Thoughts
This morning was another morning to shovel the driveway. I
suppose we got another six inches overnight, or close to six
inches. It's light and fluffy and only took me 40 minutes.
While I shoveled, I thought about our first next door neighbor here on
Concord Street. Bernon and Lucille had lived there on the corner
for ages when our family moved here. He always kept his driveway
completely bare of snow in the winter. We often commented on how
amazing it was that his driveway was always cleared, right down to the
cement. He must have grabbed his shovel when the first snowflake
headed toward earth.
I have never minded shoveling, so one morning when it was snowing, I
went out to shovel the snow out of the driveway. Bernon was out
there. He said, "You shoveling! Why are you shoveling when
you have three boys who could do it?"
I don't care a whole lot about what people think of me, right or wrong,
because I know who I really am and if I please God, I don't have to
please everybody else. But I found out that day that I really do
care what people think of my children. So I went into the house
and told my boys, "I can't shovel. You guys have to do it."
And I explained why. From that day on, the boys took care of the
shoveling when they were home. They would still shovel for me if
they were home.
Bernon kept his driveway clear as long as it was possible for him to do
so. His last winter, he had worked in his driveway and slipped
and fell. He couldn't get up. His wife and my husband went
to him to help him. I called the ambulance for him. As I
remember it, I don't think he was able to do any shoveling after that
fall. But for many years, he kept that driveway clean as a
whistle, something none of us have been able to do. We keep it
open but not clean down to the cement as Bernon did.
Interesting Diet
WJR has been airing discussions about this interesting new diet that's
been published lately. OK, I didn't pay close attention to who is
advocating it but the diet is that you can eat what you want and
still lose weight. The idea is that you only eat when you are
really hungry and stop before you are overfull. You can eat
anything you want as long as you are really hungry when you eat.
That is, don't eat out of boredom or stress or some other not really
hungry feeling.
This reminds me of a diet I read about over 20 years ago. They
used a scale of 0-10, with 10 being very full and 0 being very
empty. You should not eat till you are just under 5 and you
should only fill up past 7. If you would eat this way, you
would lose weight. This diet really works but it has the drawback
that a person doing this wouldn't fit into a family mealtime
schedule. This is a serious defect because it would mean that it
would do away with families gathering together for regular meals
consistently. This togetherness at table is important to
families. It would also mean that the person preparing the meals
would be running a restaurant, and that wouldn't work for families
either.
I don't know if a person followed this new diet would really crave
things like chocolate cake, ice cream and chips and not real
food. The theory is that if you can eat anything you want, you
won't crave junk food. But if you did believe that you could eat
anything you wanted and indulged yourself, you would have serious
nutritional problems. This might be a good diet if it's coupled
with a lot of common sense and discipline.
Interesting.
Question
OK, I admit that I'm growing older, significantly older. But in many ways, I feel like I've always felt. I don't run stairs but I think I never did that. I know I go a little slower than I would have done 20 years ago, and I understand that. That makes good sense.
My question: Is there any reason to do with aging that makes it harder for me to open my mail? Just opening an envelope turns out to be a real annoyance. Even when I use a letter opener, it just doesn't go smoothly. The envelope tears in odd ways. I keep getting little paper cuts on my hand and they are more than a little annoyances. Then when I get the envelope open, the letter doesn't want to come out of the envelope. It sticks in there, determined to keep its message to itself.
I don't remember this happening years ago. Maybe, the real answer has to do with my memory, rather than my hands. Maybe opening mail always was like this and I just don't remember. Maybe now that I'm older, I'm more impatient about getting the mail opened and that's why I have more annoyance when I struggle with the envelope. Since this is December and I'm expecting to receive an increase in envelopes to open, I thought I'd like to get to the root of this issue.
Lovely Party
I'm home from the lovely Hospital Auxiliary Party. I was feeling pretty certain that they must have found a secretary for the coming year and I was thinking that I should have taken all my books to turn over to the new secretary. Then I remembered that I would have to write up the minutes for tonight and then turn over the books, probably at the next meeting.
Then I found out that they really didn't have a name for secretary. I have no idea why they didn't ask me, except that we aren't strictly following Roberts Rules of Order. It was a very informal election and though I'd rather not have been elected, I was made secretary for the next year.
The food was good; I had good conversation with companions at my table; and I won an interesting door prize. It's a three panel Christmas train, hinged to stand up on it's own. It's made of wood and is painted in bright colors. So, I came home with another little ornament for my baby steps toward Christmas Day. I think I'll put it on the mantle in the living room.
Mixing Party Time with Business
Yesterday evening, I called in my reservation for the Hospital Auxiliary Christmas Party so, I'm set to go this evening. We will have a brief business meeting but mostly it will be relaxation and conversation, --having a good time together. Our business meeting should be mainly about annual election. I haven't heard what slate of officers the nominating committee has chosen.
Whoever has agreed to hold an office will be elected. That's how it has been for a number of years now. I hear stories about people in organizations vying to be president, but that's not how it is here. We have people vying to not be an officer. Though I'm willing to be secretary if I'm needed, I'm not at all willing to be president. And it wouldn't upset me in the least if they have found someone else to be secretary this coming year. In fact, I'm hoping that's what has happened. Since I haven't been contacted about being an officer, I'm hoping that I'm home free for this coming year.
Planning for December
December is hard for me this year. I've been trying to think of
what things I will do and what I won't attempt. I had hoped to
have this worked out in my mind before December started. But here
it is, the fourth day of the month already, and I'm still wondering if
I will do "this" or "that." However, I've given it some thought
today and I know I want to:
- Send Christmas cards
- Bake Christmas cookies
- Do some decorating
I missed going to one party. I was confused about when it would be held and I missed getting my reservation in. I think I'll be going to the Hospital Auxiliary party tomorrow evening. I realize now that I didn't get reservations in for that either, however, since I'm playing secretary for them, I just kind of expect them to know that I'm planning to be there.
Baby steps will surely get me through this December.
Meal Time
Carolyn and I take turns hosting each other for Sunday dinner. Today was my turn to have her come here for dinner. Usually we eat in the dining room, but today, I decided it would be more cozy to eat in the kitchen. I think it was a good idea. I have some bird feeders hanging outside the kitchen window. I can't see them when I'm sitting at the table but Carolyn is taller than I and she could see the birds better than I. She enjoyed watching them come to the feeder and flit around in the trees there. It was a very pleasant meal time.
Tell Tale Tracks
Yesterday evening I looked out into the driveway and saw that the sun had done me a favor. Everywhere I'd shoveled was now completely bare and the car, which I'd also shoveled, was also now all cleared off. I think I shoveled a foot of snow off the car, thinking I'd make it so much easier for this morning when I needed the car. When I saw it all clear yesterday evening, I felt really smug, thinking how that hard work had paid off for Sunday morning.
Well, overnight we had another four or five inches of snow! The car was covered over again, but it was fluffy snow. However, on the windshield, it was crusted with ice. It took a long time to thaw the ice and get the windshielf wipers free, --even with the engine running. I let the car run while I worked on the driveway and the sidewalk.
When I got to the front porch, I was really delighted to see little bird footprints all around in the snow! I did what Dawn suggested and sprinkled bird seed on the front steps yesterday afternoon. I would certainly have loved to have been looking out the window to see all those little birds finding the seeds on the front path and then coming up on the porch. Of course, it could have been just one bird or just a few birds running all over the porch. The bag of bird seed in the corner of the porch was open just a tiny bit. I wouldn't have been surprised to have found a little bird nestling there inside the bag. I opened the bag slowly and carefully, just in case. But there was no bird inside the bag. If it had been a chipmunk exploring the porch, I'm pretty sure he would have helped himself to the contents of the bag. But they are snug in their dens, probably somewhere under our porch.
When I finished shoveling this morning, I sprinkled another handful of seed on the steps. What fun it is to feed the birds.
Feeding the Birds
I saw this morning that the little birds were coming to the blue, weather proof feeder but just sitting there. I knew that they needed food. There is even more snow out there today than there was yesterday. I went out and brought the feeder to the porch. It is made in two parts which screw together.
I couldn't get it open to refill it. I worked and worked at it and wondered why it was so hard to unscrew it when it hadn't been difficult at all before. Suddenly I realized that it was frozen together and I'd have to warm it up to be able to get it open. I brought it into the house and put it by the kitchen hot air register and in a few minutes, when all the snow was melted, I opened it with no difficulty.
Soon I had it back on its hook on the arbor and the little birds came back again to eat, but not as many of them as yesterday.
Burning Rubber
Today while I was shoveling snow, as school was being dismissed almost two hours early, I heard someone burning rubber up by the stop sign, uphill from me. I wondered who it was who didn't know how to drive in snow. When the street is slippery and the tires spin, the best way to handle it is to give it just a whisper of gas and take it really easy. Also, it can be helpful to back up, just a tiny bit and then try again to ease forward. Burning rubber sometimes works, but usually it makes the spot even more icy.
I turned and looked, and there was a police car sideways in the street! This struck me so funny! I laughed to myself as I continued my shoveling. Everyone in the snowbelt has to learn to drive in snow at some point. Evidently this policeman was learning.
When I came home last Saturday and got stuck in my driveway, I was being careless. I really thought I probably would get stuck but I would get off the street enough to take the dogs into the house and then I could shovel my car free and get it parked. I wasn't surprised to get stuck because the Echo is very low to the ground and there was a great deal of snow. I was hoping that maybe I could sort of bulldoze my way in, but I couldn't. When the wheels started to spin, I stopped. I figured I'd shovel out of it before I made it too slippery. When the guys pushed the car back out onto the street, they didn't have any trouble getting it free.
Our policeman backed into my upper neighbor's driveway and then turned around and went down the hill instead of up. To be fair, I'll tell you that there were lots of people who had trouble on the slippery brick street, and quite a few turned around and went through the school parking lot instead of continuing up the street. The road was really slippery today!
Want a Blizzard?
Our local Dairy Queen usually stays open just until Thanksgiving and then closes for the season. This year they have extended their time until the end of this week. That's where I like to get my blizzards.
Today, if we aren't having a blizzard, it's awfully close to one! I thought this morning that we had a couple of inches of snow out there, though I knew that it was coming down pretty fast! When I went out to clear the car off and head for Aquarobics, I found six inches of snow to deal with! It took me 15-20 minutes just to clear off the car. I had hoped to clean the car off and sweep the shovel down the sidewalk to keep it open.
There were only four of us at Aquarobics this morning and our instructor asked, "Are you all crazy?" Just driving across town was a trip! It was like driving through a veil of snow.
When I got home and had lunch, I dressed warmly and headed out to shovel. The six inches of snow was more like two feet by then! It was still pretty fluffy but getting more solid all the time.
I put some bird seed out again though we usually don't have birds here in the winter. I thought I'd do it just in case. It must be hard for birds to find food with this much snow. Now that my shoveling is done and I'm back in the house, I see that there's quite a flock of little birds out there feeding. I'll keep an eye on the feeder and keep it filled if they are going to feed there.
Chocolate covered cherry blizzards are much better than the blizzard we are having today. Fortunately though, I like snow.
That Outdoor Work
This afternoon I decided that the weather conditions were OK for me to see about working outdoors. In our last wind storm, earlier this week, we had a good many dead limbs blow down from the old maple tree. Most of them were at my neighbor's place, which has been vacant for going on two years now. I lose track of how long.
Phina was a good neighbor and her daughter and her husband are good friends of mine so I do what I can to keep the yard kind of picked up. I collected the old wood from the fallen branches and tried to kindle a fire in the fire ring. At first it seemed like it was going to catch, but then it wasn't going very well. I was on the verge of giving up but David came along and worked with me to coax the fire into a blaze and I was able to burn up a lot of the newly fallen wood.
It feels good to work outside, to keep using what strength I have, and to build up more strength.
One of my next projects will be to tackle the drum of old hubcaps which we found in storage in the garage. I found a place that will take them. Now I'll look for a way to get them there.
Therapy
I have to report that since I did the hour and a half shoveling, my arm pain is GONE! Over Thanksgiving I had been taking pain pills and using the medicated ointment for relief. My pain never affected the use of my arm except at the computer. I could move my arm in any direction without pain but sitting still, finding a comfortable position lying down, and using the computer gave me lots of discomfort. It seems that what I really needed was energetic exercise. So, now I'm really thankful for that exercise. It was the therapy that I needed.
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