It's been cold here, really cold, but not as cold as other parts of our country. Take Minnesota for instance, where my beautiful sister Phyllis lives.
"It's minus 27 here this morning," she told me Wednesday.
With that in mind, I guess minus 6 isn't so bad after all.
"It was minus 10 when I got up," Mike let me know.
Early in the week, we made a trip to Dushore to firm up the caterer for Momma's funeral on June eighth.
I took a few road pictures starting with a snowflake that landed on the windshield. Once the Jeep got warm, the flakes melted as fast as they landed. I'm happy to have captured just one semi-decent shot of a snowflake.
I see he's still guarding his little patch of garden.
We saw turkeys on the way home.
When we pulled into our driveway, we scared a doe and her almost full grown fawn. They went as far as the upper hill and stopped to watch.
"I'm going to get them some corn," Mike says as soon as he gets the Jeep backed into the garage. It's funny to watch them come running when they recognize Mike.
It's been like Christmas around here with all the boxes that have rolled in this week.
Mike's always had trouble with acid reflux at night. He took Nexium for a little while when it first came out but it was too expensive. He's spent the last, I don't know, 15 years or so controlling it with diet, Pepcid, and the pink stuff.
"Let's get one of those beds that raises up."
"No," I tell him. "I don't want one. We'd have to get rid of our bed and I love our bed." It has drawers underneath. "I'll tell you what. You can get a single and we'll put it beside this one."
He snorted. "Yeah. I bet you'd like that. Then you and the critters could have the big bed all to yourself." Then he thought for a moment. "We could put it on top of our base."
When I was visiting in November, my oldest and much-adored sister Patti bought one of those bed frames that raises up so I called and asked her about it the other day.
"I use it mainly when I'm watching TV," she told me, "but to sleep, I have to put it flat."
"Did it fit in your bed frame?"
"No. I had to take my bed out."
We went on to talk about why I was asking about it.
"You know, Peg, it's a whole lot cheaper to buy pills for reflux."
Of course! (Slap myself on the forehead!) Mike's old enough now he's on Medicare and they would help to pay for doctor prescribed reflux pills. Why didn't I think of that!
Mike's been on a generic reflux pill for about a month now and he's had fantastic results. Then this —
"Peg, I've been looking at these wedge pillows and I think I'd like to have one."
So guess what shows up in the mail.
This thing came compressed and rolled up. It can take up to two days for it to fully inflate, it said.
Spitfire had so much fun with the box. I don't know what he was doing in there but he made a lot of noise thumping around and crinkling the packing paper. All day he played in there!
"You'll have to take that out before we go to bed," I told Mike. It was almost a shame to ruin his fun.
And then my new tie-dye tee shirt arrived! It's handmade by my beautiful cousin Shannon. She started an Etsy shop and I wanted to help support her. The tee shirt is so soft! I love, love, love it! But I might have to wait until spring to wear it. Did I tell you that it's cold here?
The Teasels were so pretty with their snow caps on that I had to go out and take a picture for you.
When I finally looked down I saw these weird tracks in the snow. It looks like they go into and out of the brush pile. I squatted down and looked inside but it didn't look like it went anywhere. Do you think these are just bird tracks?
A little wren came up under the kitchen awning. I don't know if she was just getting out of the weather or if she was after the leftover cat food.
Like this guy was.
He ate a couple of bites but was really nervous being so close to the house. He grabbed a mouthful and took off.
The sun was shining and it looked beautiful out. By the time I went to get the mail the wind had kicked up. It wasn't too bad going down but coming back was brutal! The wind was hitting me right in the face and it gave me a brain freeze. I'm not sure I've ever experienced one of those before that wasn't associated with eating ice cream but, boy! I sure did this day and it hurt!
The trip to the mailbox was worth it though.
Talking about Momma's favorite show, Burn Notice made me miss her so I went online and ordered the complete seven seasons to make myself feel better.
I'm not exactly sure when we'll have time to sit and watch all these DVDs that we've acquired lately. For one thing, sitting in front of the TV is not something I like to do nor do I spend much time doing it. And Mike has his favorite shows that he likes to watch throughout the day. But I have them if I ever want to watch them!
There was another box in the box that day too. My best West Virginia gal sent me some of the things that she makes and I have to tell you that I love everything she sent. Ear warmers for me. Two of them! They are so nice that I wore them around the house all day. Then when I had an occasion to wear them outside, I was pleasantly surprised that they work too! Sometimes the knitted and crocheted stuff doesn't keep the wind out but these were toasty warm.
"Pictures please," Trish said when I thanked her.
"Okay, but with my spiked hair I look a little like a pineapple." So if that's what you guys thought when you looked at my picture, don't worry, I already thought of it.
There was a hat for Mike.
"I didn't want Mike to feel left out," Trish said.
"I don't wear hats," Mike says.
"PUT IT ON ANYWAY SO I CAN GET A PICTURE!" I said between gritted teeth.
I'd say that technically he complied.
Trish makes the cutest snowman jar covers. Even though my snowman looks like he has a tassel on his hat it's just a tissue sticking up out of the box behind it. But who knows, maybe it'll give Trish some new ideas.
She also dabbles in painted rocks. I love the owl and there's a spider web on my desk that she did too. "Only you forgot to sign it," I told her.
I've seen some pretty cool pictures of frozen bubbles and thought it might be cold enough here to give it a try. I Google homemade bubbles and found one that said the bubbles were strong enough to hold up to the kids catching them if they wore a winter glove. The secret ingredient? Sugar. Who'd've thunk it? I twisted a piece of wire to make a bubble blowing wand and went out and blew some bubbles.
None of them froze in the time it took them to dash themselves against the ground and break and none of them survived landing on my gloved hand. I caught one on my wand but it didn't freeze before the light breeze swept him from his perch.
I gave up and went inside.
I did two glass projects this week. I made a baby boy for my brother John and his wife Eunice on the birth of Jacob.
And I made a flamingo in a heart for my flamingo lovin' girlfriend, Trish.
And I've started a new project already. That'll give me something to show you next time.
A trip to Wal Mart was on our agenda and I took pictures for you. Many of them you've seen before but now you'll get to see them covered in snow.
This is what our little creek looks like as you cross the single-lane open-grate bridge.
The Susquehanna with steam rising.
Towanda, birthplace of my cute little red-haired sister. Was Paul born there too?
I saw two hawks on this trip. They weren't in the same tree but they weren't very far from each other either. I didn't get a good shot of the first one but I got this shot of the second one.
We've been having some issues with Ginger for a few weeks now. She will hardly go outside. Poor dog. I know she needs to go out — she asks to go out even, but she'll get to the door, sniff the air, turn and run the other way until it becomes absolutely necessary for her to go out. She's never messed in the house but I know she's uncomfortable so I tried to make her go out. If pushed out with my foot or picked up and tossed out she'd fight every step of the way not to go out. She'd twist and turn, wiggle and squirm! It was much like trying to put a cat in a bag! Once outside she'd do one of two things. She might go out a few steps then turn and come back to the door without doing her business or she'd just plain stand at the door and wait for me to let her back in. It was pointless to make her go out.
Itsy doesn't have any problem going out at all. In fact, most evenings, when I'm watching TV with Mike, she'll run in and out four or five times in the two hours I sit there. I know she's just checking to see if the possum or the wild cat are out there, or maybe to pick at the leftover cat food, but I can't take any chances. If she asks to go out and I don't let her out and she messes on the floor, whose fault is it? So I play doorman to Itsy all night.
"Maybe something out back is bothering Ginger," Mike guesses and he's been letting her out the front door. She hasn't wandered too far except that one time when she saw deer at the pond and ran the whole way down there. Needless to say, she didn't catch them. Most times she just does her business and comes right back.
On our last shopping trip, we went into Lowe's. We usually visit with Steph if she's working. She and I bonded over craft projects. We both have a Cricut. She makes greeting cards for her friends and family and she even made me one. Lately, she's been crocheting the cutest stuffed critters and she showed me pictures of those. Somehow, the conversation moved to pets and I was telling her about Ginger not wanting to go out.
"My aunt's dog was like that. She has to put booties on him because the cold hurts his feet."
Is that what's going on here? Is the cold hurting Ginger's feet? She's never had any problems in years past. What's changed? I don't know but I'm willing to try anything. Luckily, I have a set of dog booties thanks to our friend Margaret. She bought them for her little Shih Tzu but Ellie wouldn't wear them so she gave them to us. I put them on Ginger and sent her outside. Now our arctic cold snap is over and our temps will be in the 40 and even 50's next week. We'll see if that makes a difference in Ginger's attitude.
Let's call this one done.
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