Puzzling

My latest puzzle was only 300 pieces and the pieces were larger.

 However it made me feel like Spring!  

I did not like how my one crochet project was going so I frogged it (ripped it apart) and began again. 

Yesterday I made it to the grocery store, gas station, car wash and made supper (Philly Cheese Burgers, Steak Fries and Coleslaw)...the menfolk all passed on the coleslaw but they did eat carrot sticks. 

My pain is still there...it might be a little bit better...I am hopeful that I will see an improvement soon.

Far Side 

First Day of Winter

 The first day of official Winter brought us about 3 inches of snow.  The snowstick shows 4 inches of snow. 

I shoveled the walk and the patio.  Twas fun. I just live to have snow blow back in my face and make me look like a big old snowball until it starts to melt and then refreezes...yup u betcha extra good fun in the snow.

We met Jen and Andy and exchanged Christmas packages in a parking lot up North.  We will Zoom with them on Christmas Day. We visited through open car windows...a little chilly but worth it. We met at a DQ ...had a Blizzard...perfect snowy day treat....Andy went through the drive thru for us.

Minnesota social distancing

We got home...my other baby brother had been by and cleared the rest of the snow out of our yard...I shoveled by the garage a bit. 

A blizzard is forecast for mid week...and not the DQ kind.  

I was a helpful prep cook for Far Guy while  he made Impossible Italian Sausage Pie for supper. I had a nap and woke up just in time to drive out to the corner to see the Conjunction. 

Here is my best photograph...I did not get out my tripod...it is what it is. 

Hope you can see the bright spot in the sky.  I thought it would be more impressive all the hype there was about it.  The red lights are a Cell Phone Tower. 

Anyways today the days start to get longer!!  30 seconds  or so...

Far Side

Shell Lake and River

When we went for a drive on Monday we found ourselves over on Shell Lake always a favorite spot of mine.   Luckily there are no huge changes happening to the lake or the river.

Shell Lake where the melt has started. This is looking west..  The Shell River leaves Shell Lake at this point and travels under the road...and heads for the Smoky Hills.

Shell River looking East.

You can see the Smoky Hills in the distance. And yes they were truly smoky that day.

We haven't been out since Monday.  We should be crossing off "stuff" on our lists left and right...but I crochet and watch TV and Far Guy woodcarves and plays computer games.  I knit on my socks for a short time yesterday just to change things up then I had a nap.

Anyone else out there feel like they are stuck in limbo...waiting for the axe to fall?
We are supposed to get warmer weather soon....perhaps that will help

Far Side

Finally some sun!

The sun came out for most of the day yesterday.

Yard with squirrel tracks

June the snowbank

I was in no danger using the snow rake...it has a real long handle...I think about 12 feet with one extension and 18 feet with two extensions.  So I could stand back a long way and pull the snow off a little at a time.  Easy peasy.  The whole snow rake is rather heavy...the worst part for me was getting it all the way up there where I wanted it!  Yes the snow comes down with a bit of force and splats all over the patio...like I said I made myself a mess...but I cleaned it all up and today after the sun was shining there is little to no ice where before we had ice...mission accomplished!   I am after all a Minnesota gal and we can deal with snow! ( most of the time)

Errands and  Pulmonary Therapy were accomplished....and Far Guy felt good enough to go to Woodcarving.  Everyone there was happy to see us!

The tax papers were dropped off at the accountants...glad to have that done for another year.

Three more medical appointments this week. One of which may involve a stop by Hobby Lobby.
Far Side

Ice Castle

They are building an Ice Castle on the beach in Detroit Lakes.
 

I have always wanted to see it.  It is not yet completed.  When it is done they have a gathering and it is all lit up.

They harvest blocks of ice to build the castle

The blocks are lined up on pallets until they are ready to be placed.

It should be beautiful all lit up.

It was fun to see it in progress!
Far Side

Quiet Day

We had a quiet Monday.   Errands in town will wait for another day.

Far Guy is still not well.  It may just take time for him to recuperate....last year it took him about 8 weeks to feel better.

As the sun came up through the trees I took a few photos.

This is how it looks out the kitchen window.

My other baby brother brought us our mail and I checked the bird feeders.  Just the highlight of our day.

Far Side

Happy St Urho's Day!

We plan to attend the St Urho’s Day parade.  I will have parade photos tomorrow God willing and the crick don’t rise.

What you don’t know about St Urho?  He chased all the pesky grasshoppers that were eating all the grapes in Finland.   Purple and green are the colors of the day…representing the grapes.

Now for the Snow Stick contest!  Please leave me a comment with the date you think the snow and ice will be completely gone from the snowstick.  The winner or winners will get something special from me.  Those of you too shy can email me with your guess.  I will take guesses until Monday night at 9 PM.

Here is the Snowstick History:
2011  April 8
2012  March 13
2013  April 30
2014  April 10
2015  March 11
2016  March 8
2017 March 20
2018  April 22

Far Side

Guesses:
March 26 LD
March 31 Denny   Marilyn
April 2 Lisa
April 3 Marlys
April 5 Cathrin
April 7 Rita
April 8 Victoria Z
April 9 Pauline
April 10 Red
April 11 Dianne
April 12 Kay  Marti C
April 13 Gemma's person   Karen
April 14  Kathy    KCD   Dale
April 15 Phyllis
April 16 Jo Anne and unknown
April 17 Sara
April 18 sillygirl
April 19 Andrea   Betsy
April 20 Unknown  and Cathy M
April 21 Wendy D
April 22 Bonnie   Linda
April 23 Gene B
April 24 Granny M    Carol W
April 25 Joyce  F
April 26 diane
April 28  Barb
April 30 Susie
May 1 DJan
May 5 Sonja

Legs and a drift

First the drift.

This spot will drift everytime the wind blows…unless it rains then the snow will get a crust on it.  The roads were pretty good.

We had to go to town for my Physical Therapy session.  They think it is more than just my Hamstring Tendon that is injured…time will tell.   I can sit by the dining room table as the bench is wood and supports my leg/butt…but sitting in a soft chair or on the couch…forget it…the only reason I can sit in the car is because of the heated seat!  I have no pain walking or standing, just sitting, until recently I had no problem laying down…but now I have pain most of the night.  Heat and Aleve and Extra Strength Tylenol help.  I am supposed to avoid  movements that cause pain.

I have finished the legs of my sock…actually two socks.  I knit at the dining room table.

The  two on the right are ready for the “Heel Flap”…I watched the video and it seems pretty easy.  I am hopeful that I can do it.  I also have written instructions and made my own recipe card for socks.

On the left…I splurged on two sets of bamboo needles for my Schachenmayr REGIA sock yarn and I have begun a cuff. 

We have five appointments this week…one down …four to go.  I am not real thrilled when it is an appointment week….especially dental appointments.

Far Side

Warmer Winter Days

We had some warmer days, anything above ZERO is appreciated.  Beware when it warms up it usually snows.

 

One day we actually had sunshine!  As you can see our ditches are full and there will be drifts across the road when ever the wind blows.

This snow drift/pile is as tall as the Catholic Church.   Believe it or not these photos were taken the same day.

We had a quiet weekend, Far Guy is woodcarving and I knit on my socks and took a online art class on Whimsical Drawing.  We blew snow away from the greenhouse/woodshop so we could open the door…we had a 3 foot tall snowdrift back there.  Far Guy is back taking care of the birds all by himself…he is getting stronger!  One day at a time.

Far Side

Gnomes, Far Guy and shoveling

When I put Christmas away I left the gnomes. I thought they looked wintery.  Jen made the gnomes, they are sewn by hand.

Never mind the nails on the mantle they are for Christmas stockings.  Still have not found a “the” perfect spot for Chance’s canvas…then again maybe the mantle is the perfect spot.

Far Guy is a bit better, we hope that he will improve everyday.  He will see his regular Doctor on Monday…or at the very least talk with him on the phone.

We are getting a snow storm later today that will go into Monday.  Just what I need in my life more freaking snow.

Yesterday I got the path to the small garage door shoveled and the path to the bird feeders all cleared out.  No path to the sauna yet…I ran out of shovel muscles. Luckily my other baby brother snow plowed a path back to the LP tank so I took a broom and cleared snow off the tank so I could read the percentage.  I made a trip to the landfill (we go every three weeks or so) and recycled.  So much for Saturday jobs…thank goodness the weather was warmer…I think it got up to 24 F above zero…practically shirt sleeve weather.

Far Side

Cookie Exchange

I am part of a yearly cookie exchange.  I buy the containers first and then figure out what I will put inside.

This year I made Turtles.  Pecans covered in caramel and chocolate.  I made them ahead of time and incased them in Press and Seal inside the tins. Usually there are 10-12 participants…this year only 6.  So I have left over tins in the fridge.

I bought Kraft Caramel bits, you add a bit of water and microwave them then stir them up and pour that over piles of pecans.  Melt chocolate and put over the top…then I cooled them in the freezer before I packaged them.

Far Guy and my other baby brother were taste testers and declared them delicious.

Tree on Main

The tree on Main Street was put in place last weekend.

As you can see it is a very tall tree.  It has lights that were lit last night in a ceremony on Main Street.  The lights are lit in honor of Hospice patients.  Far Guy’s Mom was a hospice patient and received very compassionate care from Hospice…one of the lights was lit in honor of her memory.

Yes,  we have center street parking and diagonal parking on Main Street.  In the original townsite the streets were wide enough for a team of horses pulling a load of logs to unload at the lumber company and make a U turn in the street.

It is a very nice tree.  It is a Blue Spruce.  I will try to get a photo of it at night…but we rarely go into town at night in the winter.

As you can see we have the usual dismal grey November skies.  However it was 40 F yesterday or 4 C eh!  Much of the snow has melted.

165th day of snow

We have had snow since October 28th.  Just incase anyone was curious..that was 165 days ago. 

Here is the snowbank I named June.

It was –3 F yesterday morning that is –19 C eh, unbelievable for April.

What is happening besides below zero temperatures and no snow melt?

I am still winter/spring cleaning in the kitchen, I have one drawer (the silverware drawer) left to clean and two cupboards and then the open cupboards that catch dust.  About half of the cabinets have been cleaned on the outside too. I should do the stove top and the oven too that will take part of a day….so in three days I might be done.  The laundry/furnace room might be next on my list.

We are working on the Christmas Ornament prototype…we have been “communicating” with each other about it.

We had the neighbors over for the card game Golf one night they are having a bit of Cabin Fever also.

We watched The Frozen Four and cheered when University of Minnesota Duluth won!  It was a great game!  Hockey is over now…at least College Hockey is.

Projects

This week I have some cards on my desk. 

I got a new stamp.  Ordered it off the Internet.

It makes a lovely card.

I love my Prismacolor pencils…and my metallic watercolors and my Spica markers! Fun stuff to work with.  I got some new Metallic Colored Pencils…they are pretty cool too.

Here is the other painting project. It is for a friend…Far Guy is trading it for a bunch of dental bits that he can use in his Dremel tool.

Yesterday I got three more kitchen drawers/cabinets cleaned…11 out of 28 are done.  Progress is slow.

It is cold here…bitterly cold…damp…it snowed and blew over the roads and made the roads icy last night coming home from Bingo with my Dad…he got to holler Bingo just once…me not at all.  One away …one away…

Got Snow?

We have enough snow now but it sounds like more is on the way and cold…deep winter cold with wind chills…yuck.

March will be going out like a Lion…we are paying for those in like a Lamb days we had the last days of February and March 1st.

The Easter egg hunts will be quite easy unless they don’t color the eggs.

The snow hung in the trees and then when the sun came out the snow fell again…some in huge plops as it hit the ground.  Much of this snow melted and made mud.

We stay busy.  Far Guy is working on a woodcarving and I am working on cards and a few bead projects…my desk is full of projects.  We had dinner guests one night Adobo Chicken was on the menu.

Our card playing neighbors have the flu at their house so no cards have been played.  Our daughter sent us a CDC warning about Influenza B being on the rise and the Flu shot only being 42% effective. Uffda  …sounds like a crap shoot to me.

 

Walkway

What a difference a day or two makes and some sunshine.

March 5th after Winter Storm Quinn

March 6.  Great minds think alike.  We got out the monster of a snowblower.  It is self propel and a bugger to steer, but it does have R and that gets me out of some situations!   We got a pathway made for the walk, and another for Chance and one to the bird feeders oh yes and the sauna.  I shoveled some.  Shoveling was hard work because the snow was so heavy.

March 7. We have a clear walkway again.  I can wear my crocs with socks to walk the dog.  I hope we have a few days with no new snow.

We stay busy…doing what I am not sure.  Laundry and a bit of cleaning.  One night She who sees Robins first (My sister in law who lives next door) made her famous Pizza that Far Guy really enjoys…it has lots of stuff on it (peppers,olives etc…) she also makes a plain pepperoni for me.  It was good to get out of the house.  Last night we had a surprise visitor…our youngest daughter Jen stopped for a visit….came to check up on the aging!  Chance loves her and was thrilled with her visit…we were too!

Sunday afternoon

Sunday afternoon we played cards with the neighbors. We have not had company in a long time.  It was good to see them.

We played the card game Golf and waited for it to start raining…but the rain held off until evening.  I heard on facebook that thunder and lightening may be headed this way. Poor Chance will have to hide.

We are in a Winter Storm Warning until Tuesday morning.  We are supposed to get rain, ice and snow.  Hope it is not too much ice.

There were 10 inches of snow at the snowstick just before dark last night.

Discoveries

Every bottle of regular soda we had in the house was flat…only the non sugar kind had any fizz.  The pantry was cleaned out.

After X amount of time pancake syrup grows mold on the top even if it is stored in the fridge. Cleaning out the fridge is now on my list of things to do.  One nasty discovery may lead to another and expiration dates will be checked.

The walk to the mailbox is getting slick.  Especially the gradual decline to the actual mailbox…I discovered that the newly fallen snow at the edge of the road made a soft spot to land.  Chance came over to see what was the matter and Far Guy wanted me to get up right away…well I needed just a moment to figure out if anything important was broken.  Nothing was… but I am a tad stiff and sore.

Chance likes the black sunflower seeds and if left to his own devices will stand under the bird feeder and eat them…probably another source of his recent bout with pancretitis.  He cannot be trusted alone outside. He knows he is not supposed to eat them…but apparently he has forgotten in his old age.

Entertainment

The phone rang.  Far Guy said “It’s for you so you might as well answer it.”  He cannot stand to let the machine get it…

It was a fellow with a foreign accent.  He asked “You were having problems with Windows 10 how are you doing now ?”  I replied “Fine”  “So no problems?”  “Nope I threw it in the garbage!”  “What?”  “ Garbage…G A R B A G E where it belonged.”  “What did you do with it?”  “I threw it in the trash TRASHH.”  click

A fine howdy ya do that was…at least he could have thanked me for my time and said goodbye…but just click…where were his manners?  I suppose he just wanted to fix my computer over the phone and charge my credit card.  ( I still have Windows 7…and hope it lasts a bit longer…Far Guy has Windows 10.)

Far Guy was laughing the entire time…next time he is answering it.  Since we don’t have caller id on our land line it is anybodies guess who is calling us…the next time the phone rang Far Guy answered it and it was my other baby brother.

Other than phone calls our biggest entertainment is the snow and old movies on TCM. I watched a really good one called The Search.

Wildlife Cooperation

Of course we are involved in this cooperation.  We buy the Niger Thistle seed to fill the feeders.

The Redpolls empty the feeders almost daily.  Sometimes we can skip a day but not often.

Under the feeder you may notice some brown amongst the black.
Turds.

Here is one of the turd makers.  They feed in this area after dark and very early in the morning.  There is a rabbit highway that leads out of the woods into the yard.  We have three rabitts…one is smaller than the others.  I hope that the Silver and Red Foxes don’t find them.

Sometimes we put out carrots and sometimes corn.  Sometimes the thistle seed that the Redpolls drop is enough for them.  I like watching them out the kitchen window.