Crueller than I thought it was going to be...

Poor little tulips got totally covered in our snow storm this afternoon.  Did I mention that I am really ready for winter to be done??

Gracie's romp in the snow

 Hello effury body and effury kitty - 

I've been spending a whole lotta time on the foot of Mummy's bed - I really like having her home all day long - she just lets me be and is always there for me to give a snuggle to.

This snow was all the way up to the bottom of my skirts.  Yikes!












 Now what do I do? 

The Shepherd said that he could see everywhere that Gracie went out side - one place was into the bamboo.  We figure she was looking for burdies in there. 

A couple more wintery pictures

 This maple looks like it's been dipped in plastic.  All told, we were snowed or iced in for a full week.  First time that's happened in years.  And we didn't really get as much snow as we've had in the past, but it would snow, then rain, so everything was like a skating rink

I like the ice hanging off the bell. 

Ever the optimist, before our witch hazel got hammered by the northeaster last week.  

And then it really started to snow.

Gracie was going outside, but it was snowing so hard, you can see her skid marks as she ran back into the house...

The Shepherd worked tirelessly to keep a clear path between the house and the barn.

"Hey, you - make it stop snowing.  My water is frozen"

Jefferson and Buddy didn't think much of the snow. 

The ice storm nearly broke the limbs off our Cedrus deodara

But once it warmed up "a little" The Shepherd
was able to knock some of the ice off.  Luckily it didn't damage the branches.

After this one last hurrah, where we got another 3 or 4 inches of snow, the wind switched from north to south, and the temps just climbed about a degree an hour from mid 20's to almost 45 degrees in about 24 hours.  The snow just seemed to disappear almost over night. 

Thank goodness! 

Snow day

I should say. another snow day.  This is getting old. 

The view from the Cat Door

Yup, 16 degrees - that's what the little widget on my computer said this morning. What it didn't say was that there were NE winds of about 30 mph blowing out of the Frasier River Canyon up in Canada.

Make that about 2 degrees. Brrrrrr!

With my bad knee, I move so slowly that I'd freeze to death between the back door and the car. I decided it was a good day to stay at home.



So I spent most of the day at the computer working on "work" stuff - "Logmein" is a wonderful program.

I got two of my quarterly reports done!

And spent a lot of time monitoring the cats coming and going - mostly worrying about them when they would go out and wishing they'd get back in the house.

Hmm - doesn't really look too bad out there -



Look the wind has died down -








.




"18 degrees - schmeighteen degrees - that's what I've got a fur coat for", says Gracie on her way out to check up on The Shepherd when he went out to feed the sheep!















George finally succumbed to his favorite snoozing spot after deciding that "Schmeighteen" degrees really was too cold to spend much time out there...













Even Bella spent most of the day inside. But with a careful watchful eye on bird TV.











And Gracie - after a few short trips in and out, spend most of the day on "the big bed" -

"Come join me Mummy" -

No, sorry sweetie, I have to get back to work. You have a nice nap now.

Snowdazed

Thank heavens.

Mother Nature waited a few days to deliver my "Birthday Snow"

I had WAY too many things to do last week to have to do them in the snow!








It started snowing Saturday night when we were driving home from the Asian Bistro.

And it snowed all night, scuttling my plans to do errands on Sunday morning - Oh, well, I'll just sleep in - since my spinner guild meeting was Saturday morning and I didn't get to sleep in then either.






And it snowed the better part of Sunday too.












Until Sunday evening when it warmed up a little and the snow flakes fell off of the trees - do you recognize this picture from the first one?

Do you see the Witch Hazel, all covered in yellow blossoms? If you biggify the first picture, you can see it all covered with snow.








The Shepherd said it was mighty slippery on the roads when he came back from church.

The Mrreows were racing around "like crazy pants" in the snow. In and out the cat door about
eighty seven times - They were very little the last time there was snow here and I think their previous mommy kept them in the house because they were so tiny.




It ended up a pretty sunset on Sunday, but then started snowing again during the night. I decided to stay home from work yesterday, but went in today. The roads were traveled enough that they weren't too bad. It is only supposed to snow a "skiff" tonight and tomorrow then warm up AND IT WILL ALL BE GONE!!

What do you mean, IT"S SNOWING!!!

For Pete's sake, it is the 25th of February - our snow should be done for by now. But just after lunch it kind of started to hail, then it really started to snow, and by 4:00 when I checked with The Shepherd by radio he said it was coming down pretty hard in the North county and he would call me when he got home. (both companies we work for have the Nextel phones, so I can "beep" him during the day if need be - cool huh?)

At about 4:45, he called - "I think you'd better start home," he said.

I normally work until 6:00 p.m., but we were nearing white out conditions by that time and he feared for my safety - the Jelly Bean is not really the most reliable snow car, and, lets face it folks, we here in Western Washington are a bunch of weenies when it comes to snow.


So I got my stuff together, and started home. One of the fellows I work with helped brush the snow off my car - it was pretty much all covered in a thick layer by then.


Now,I grew up in Eastern Washington, where, in "the old days" we used to get a foot or two of snow every winter. I learned how to drive in the snow. But, it's a "different" snow over there - dryer and not so slippery - and the people who drive in it are not IDIOTS like they are here on the West side.











My normal 20 minute trip took about 40 minutes and it was just about as slippery as I can remember driving in. In fact, even though I had slowed down to about 10 miles per hour when I got close to our road, the knothead that was behind me was following so close that I couldn't brake to turn, it was so slippery - so I had to keep going down the road and come in the back way which involves going up one hill and down another - by this time, I was driving (spinning out) in a white out. Yikes.


Finally got to our driveway - The Shepherd was pacing back and forth - he had shoveled a path from where I park my car to the back door - (I wear Crocs, which inconveniently, at this time of the year, have holes in them....) He is such a nice guy!


Anyhow, all these pictures were taken just after I got home - it had snowed this much in an hour, and I was REALLY glad that I was home before dark, I am pretty sure that, as slippery as it was out there, that I would have ended up in the ditch if I had waited that extra hour to head home.







One thing that The Shepherd rescued off the front porch was my book order from Barnes and Noble - bought with the gift card that my younger sister gave me for Christmas.

I got three books -

#1 "The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys" by Drew Emborsky - It has some pretty cool patterns in it and two that The Shepherd approved of - looks like I'll be busy, busy, busy -




The second book I got was Sys Freden's new book "Contemporary Crochet, 27 European Designs" -
Oh, man, this one makes me drool. Very, very cool stuff. I think it is going to make me get very serious about making something for myself.



I also got a new paperback, "Firefly Lane" by a local author (and a NY Times Bestseller) Kristin Hannah. I have always enjoyed her books - but it looks like it will be a while before I'm sitting on the front porch to read...

Well, I'm off to finish my church newsletter, and tomorrow night is payroll - so I'll be busy for the next few days. Have a great weekend.

Random thoughts, random acts and old axioms

Not necessarily in that order -

An old axiom (revised)

.....gone yesterday, here today.....

It was almost gone - just a few piles here and there








The six foot drifts were gone from the driveway










Until this morning that is...









The same old axiom (revised)

.....Hair today, gone tomorrow..... Speaking of white.....

My birthday is coming up. My hair has, like my mother's did, gone white on top first - kind of gives you that skunk look if you wear your hair down - I mostly wear mine up in a bun or pulled back in a terribly unstylish pony tail - I never claimed to be a fashion maven. BUT, now my eyebrows are turning white. I could ignore them for a while, then I started plucking them out, but that's gotta stop, or I'll look like a fat Lieutenant Illia (Who you say? Read up on your Star Trek)

A Random Thought -

.....You gotta watch what you say.......

Two of the "local merchants" that I named in my eight fav stores have contacted me to say "Thank You" - I was somewhat taken aback I guess, that my mention would even be noticed, let alone responded to - which was cool - I must admit, I was lazy and did not give you links, as most of them have web sites - oh, well, there's always Google, now, isn't there?

It also made me think about the fact that one never really knows who one's whole audience is - I know when I look at my site counter, that when Flagstaff comes up, my friend Kathy has been here here, or Leigh & Rascal in South Carolina, and there are others that I recognize, but for the most part, most of you out there are a mystery to me. As one blogger friend says on her side bar - "Would it kill ya to leave a comment?"

And Finally - A Random Act of Kindness ~

I confess, I have a great weakness for McDonald's Chicken Nuggets. All those commercials that were on while I was snowed in and eating "real food" for lunch - they were killing me! So, you guessed it, my first day back to work last week, I headed out to (one of my eight favorite restaurants) Mickey D's for lunch. Rainy and cold, I braved the drive up lane rather than get out and walk through the slushy mushy parking lot. Ordered my McNuggets & et-ceteras for my lunch and when I got to "Window #1" to pay, I was informed by the cashier that "The car in front of you paid for your lunch, and said to tell you that "Jesus loves you" -

Huh? Well, I'd never thought of that in conjunction with my fast food lunch, but what could I do, but ask what the people behind me had ordered - "A Kid's Meal" - "OK, I'll pay for their meal then", I said. - Which tickled the cashier and thoroughly confused the people at "Window #2" (the Pick-up window) who couldn't figure out why we were all paying for other peoples meals - someday they'll understand.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is our delayed and belated Christmas service at church. The Shepherd, who is also The Minister of Music is on high alert - Hopefully this new snow will be gone by morning (it's 38 degrees out - yay!) as we have about a 20 mile trip to get there -

I'm trusting that you all had a Happy and Safe New Years - I have pictures from our "New Year's at Nancy's Farm to show you and a yummy recipe for Smoked Salmon Cheesecake - but, you'll just have to wait - anyhow, it will give you something to come back for.

Sorry H.B.

Well, sorry H.B., Santy Claws couldn't grant your request to take away the snow, in fact, old Mother Nature brought us 6 or 7 inches more last night. The Shepherd spent all Christmas morning shoveling out the driveway AGAIN.











The girls are a little perplexed - they have been locked up in the barn most of the past week, so what is all this white stuff all over the ground?














This little one has been supervising The Shepherd and keeping the seeds cleaned up in the greenhouse and around the hay storage.




Do, de, doot do. So, Danny, what kind of trouble shall we get into today?

Let's go check out the Deodara Cedar. It's branches are mighty tasty...






(click to biggify this picture to see the thought process going on here)








Wait, I'm just trying to shake the snow off the branches....

Happy First day of Winter

Ok, so I'm a few hours early, but we have gotten more than our share of an early share of winter here in the Pacific NW - the temps have not been above 30 degrees for the past 10 days - mostly hovering around 20 degrees. I am not too fleet of foot anyhow, and snow adds so much excitement to walking. Plus, Crocs do not lend themselves to walking in the snow very well, and when I tried on my old snow boots - too small - so I'm stuck with the Crocs!

Nonetheless to say, I have been sticking pretty close to home, but here are some pictures that The Shepherd has taken around our place in the past couple of days.

I have the best husband in the world. He keeps the porch and steps cleaned of snow and the paths cleaned off.








H.B. & Buddy aren't too sure about all this white stuff - and what happened to our water bucket???
































Sinda says - "Wake me when it's over. It's too cold to go outside and the valet is not too good about cleaning out my litter girls box!



























Speaking of water buckets -see that little red spot in the middle of this seemingly black & white landscape? If you click on this picture to biggify it, you will find that it is Danny and Taylor's water bucket - they will not leave them alone, and seem to think that they are soccer balls - at one time they had two buckets and a feed bowl out in their yard.










The Shepherd didn't even have to shovel out this walkway in the front of the house - the wind did it for him.














The art forms that Mother Nature comes up with are really fun and beautiful.
























There are severe weather warnings posted right now for the whole Pacific Northwest - they are expecting anywhere from 2 - 12 inches of snow between here and the southern part of the state, plus winds up to 70 miles per hour in some areas.

The Shepherd, who is also The Minster of Music (really) for our church has been on the phone with the president of the congregation and the minister - We will probably have to postpone our Christmas service that was planned for tomorrow night. We have a lot of older members, and if the "younger" members (that would be us) don't want to be out on the snow and ice in this kind of weather - we certainly don't want these older folks out on the roads. The message will be just as pertinent next Sunday.