Surviving February

JP came home with a bouquet of flowers for me last night.  "For surviving February!" he said.

To be honest, February was not that big of a deal this year!  The weather has been mild.  The snowfall has been manageable and hasn't lasted long.  The extreme cold has been tempered by warmer, sunny days.  We will probably pay for this kind of February later in the year (for instance, I don't think the winter was cold enough to kill ticks, as we are continuing to see people with deer tick exposure, which is unusual.)

I think the bigger issue right now is surviving the transition into March!  After the 2+ inches of rainfall and flooding and tornado warnings yesterday, the wind kicked into high gear last night.  I woke multiple times during the night to hear it absolutely howling outside.  This morning I discovered that the roof and one door of my garden shed blew off, AND the entire thing blew over!

I worked on it this morning.  It had been sinking into the ground where it was placed, so I decided to put a layer of gravel underneath before replacing it.  I scavenged this by raking it out of the grass up by the barn (finders= keepers, right?)  I had to "repair" the door by sticking a giant bolt down through the hole that was left when the pin broke off, and I used a carabineer to latch the roof to the doors.  I also replaced the 2 big rocks that I keep on the lid to keep it from blowing off (doesn't work when the gusts get over 40 mph I guess!)

There was snow blowing around this morning, but in the meantime...

 

And this afternoon, I planted 72 plants for the garden:  tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and herbs.

 



In Like a Lion...

March washed in this morning in a BIG way!  There was over 1 1/4 inches of rainfall since midnight when I left this AM to drive North for Voice Therapy.  The creek across the road was high - I stopped and took a picture of it.

While I was gone, they dismissed school early due to flooding, and had a tornado watch, during which the girls sat in the basements of their respective schools for 30 minutes, and my Mom sat in the basement of the Doctor's Office!

I returned after therapy, and getting an alignment at Firestone (Lifetime Alignments - it's a great deal!)...about 2 1/2 hours (and over an inch of rain) later.  The creek looked like this:

 

The girls had slogged part way up the hill while I was sitting at the bottom waiting for the bus.  (So sorry, girlies!)

I wish I would have waited to scrub all the blood off the veranda out back.  Ernie tore his ear on something - probably the vicious sticker bushes in the woods, and bled all over EVERYTHING out there.  I could have just swept it off all with the puddles today...had I waited.

In the meantime, the Autoshop found my registration stuck to the tire of another vehicle that was in the shop at the same time, and we discovered that Ole Bessie had some rather necessary work that needed done before she would pass.  I've now spent almost $500 just to get her to that point.

L won her final Basketball game, but there is some big tournament this weekend, lasting from Friday night until Sunday that she is supposed to be a part of.  Hooray.

Gotta run...it's time to round up the troupes and head in for groceries and guitar lessons.

Enjoy the new month, and stay dry.

TGIF

Thank goodness that today marks the end of a long and stressful week.  Today was no exception, much to my dismay.

Here is a run down:

1.  Last Friday the autoshop that passed Old Bessie's state inspection last year, would not do it this year because of a cracked windshield (also present last year.)

2.  Monday the windshield replacement tech refused to replace the windshield because he was "concerned" about rust in the frame which could prevent him from "legally" replacing the windshield.  This is interesting because Bessie has very little rust anywhere.

3.  Called auto body shop to get estimate for repairing rust around window frame, he was unable to do so without "seeing the damage".  I don't want to put too much more money into this 28 year old truck!

4.  Different windshield company sent a tech out today, who replaced the windshield without problems.  (And by the way, I didn't see a single spot of rust when the cracked windshield was removed.)

5.  Stella has been waking me multiple times a night x 2 nights, whining and clawing at her kennel.  I think she's hot because it's 76* in the house and she has 2+ inches of winter fluff.

6.  Not sure if she's tired, or bored, or a combination, but she scratched more fabric off JP's chair twice in the past 2 days.

7.  Today I hacked off most of her fluff and gave her a bath.

8.  I got a tetanus shot on Wednesday, and my arm still hurts!

9.  Nearly didn't make it home from appointment with Speech Therapist in next big city North because of tractor trailer overturned on interstate.  Luckily was able to get around mess at a crawl.

10.  Have worked 2 afternoons on cutting down savage sticker bushes that are threatening to crawl onto our driveway.  Consequently my arms and face look like I have the measles from being stabbed.

11.  Thought they were done drilling well at 340 feet as they dropped casing and pump, but they pulled it out the next day & replaced it, and have been out just running water for a couple of days.  Progress seems to have stalled.

12.  Now there is a ditch digger in addition to the drilling rig in our front yard.

13.  L had field trip and end of season Basketball party on the same day.

14.  Took the Subaru in for State Inspection today & 3 out of 4 tires didn't pass.  Called tire shop and told that warranty was void even though they were only 1 1/2 years old because I could not produce proof of rotations and wear was not even.

15.  4 decent tires supposedly in stock at autoshop were no where to be found, after refusing no-name cheapo tires, they found some 40 minutes away.

16.  Mom rescued me on the way home from her errands in town after I had been sitting in the waiting room of autoshop for 2 1/2 hours.

17.  Autoshop called 2 hours later to say they lost my registration and proof of insurance.

18.  Called DMV to find out how to get duplicate.  Was told by 2 different people that I could "go to Harrisburg."  Informed them that it is a 4 hour drive and my car was currently being held hostage by the autoshop.

19.  After 5 PM, autoshop finally released my car.  Girls and I piled into Ole Bessie and went to pick it up.  We got shamrock shakes at McDonalds before heading home.  It was the best part of my week!

February Tidbits

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just a couple of pictures to show what's been going on around here.



J made chocolate covered beef jerky for her friends for Valentine's Day!



I found this hen missing the back part of her comb on
Sunday.  She is now in quarantine, getting daily
Veterycin treatment.

The first flower this Spring:  Hellebores

Finally Winter

The high temperature was 66* on Tuesday with sun and rain.  It dwindled to only 24* last night and turned to snow just as we were heading to bed.  There was a 2 hour delay for school this morning, but JP and I were out at 5:30 to clear the driveway and in front of the house.  I also walked the chicken fence, knocking snow off and shoring it up where the heavy snow weighted it down.  I measured 4 1/2 inches of accumulation.

On the way home from work this afternoon, the fields and trees along the roads were so beautiful, that I couldn't help but stop and snap a few photos.  As you can see, I was impressed by the contrast of the road and the snow.

 

 

It won't last long.  The temperature is supposed to soar back up to 60* by Sunday.

Journey

By way of explanation:

The first half of this commercial played during the Super Bowl on Sunday, with a link to the rest of the commercial on line.  At the website, it was prefaced by the tag "the following commercial was deemed too controversial for television."  84 Lumber is a local business in our area.

By posting it on my blog, I am in no way condoning illegal immigrants, or (as many commenters implied) the hiring of illegal immigrants over those immigrating legally.  The absolutely first thing that came to mind after watching this commercial was "This is what I think of your &*%^ wall!"  I am diametrically opposed to keeping people of other races and cultures out of our country - we are the "Melting Pot" after all!

That's it for my soap box.

Super Bowl Food

Although our Steelers didn't make it to the Super Bowl this year, we have the tv on...playing in the background while we go about our lives.  We enjoy the commercials, and want to catch Lady Gaga's Half Time Show.  Super Bowl Sunday is also all about the food, and we spent a big chunk of the day preparing some bite sized nibblies for this evening:



Milk & Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries



Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers



Sausage-Cheese Balls

Spicy Grilled Shrimp