Yard

The sun was out for 15 minutes and nearly blinded me.  After that we didn't see it the rest of the day.

Brown and white our winter colors.

Good thing I kept some of the glass plate decorations out...hope they make the entire winter!   They are a bright spot in our dreary yard.
Far Side

SNOw Kidding

We woke up to a world of white.   Winter has arrived...what happened to Fall???  We need a do over!

The snow stick was not even in the ground for 24 hours...did I jinx myself?

The flowers are freeze dried.

A good potion of our area had roads slicker than snot on a doorknob.

To top it off it was cloudy and gloomy.
November is typically our gloomiest not much sunshine month....and so winter begins.  Ready or not!

At least I was in the mood to work on Christmas Cards...they are complete and are being stuffed into envelopes with address labels and stamps...the Christmas letter can be tucked in later or not.   I am not in charge of that letter.   If a letter goes inside they just have to be sealed and mailed.

We drove up North to see our oldest daughter.  I spent some time in Hobby Lobby where more yarn might have been purchased.

Far Side

Fresh Snow

It started to snow about noon on Thursday.  On our way home from our appointments we noticed more and more snow.

I took a photo of the patio.

 Before the snow and after the snow.

We had 4 inches of snow at the snowstick just before dark.  So the snowstick contest will begin again.

The snow storm is not finished with us.  It has been real windy.  Many of the roads are closed to travel, they are icy and dangerous.

I just finished raking the front yard one day this week...all twigs and spent bird seed was hauled away and I cleaned out the bird bath and put in fresh water for the birds. Then the Juncos came about 24 hours before it snowed.

We hunkered down at home...watching Frozen Four Hockey Playoffs. Far Guy worked on a woodcarving...I worked on a variety of things; nests, cards, scrubbies and old photos.  One afternoon this week I watched The Highwaymen...excellent movie except some of it was filmed so dark it was hard to tell what was happening.  I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.  It was based on a true story.

We have no place to go on Friday so we will stay hunkered down until the snow ends.

Far Side

Spring is not here yet

Spring might be right around the corner..maybe.  In Minnesota anything is possible. Most  likely we will have snow the rest of this month and into April.

All good things come to those that wait. Whining does not work. Spring is on it’s own schedule..just because Spring officially arrives in ten days or so..doesn’t mean it will visit Minnesnowda.

Snow banks in our yard March 11 2013

Everyone I have talked to is sick and tired of moving snow.  In town the sidewalks are like tunnels..one of these days I will get photos. 

Saw half the neighborhood in the grocery store, and got caught up on most of the area news. Who died, who was sick, who could still not eat regular food, who got their hips done, who had extensive dental work..old people news. You know it has been a long winter when the menfolk are standing around the grocery store visiting. I noticed that almost everyone’s grocery cart had chocolate of some sort too.

I heard that chocolate followed by a nap would make day light saving time tolerable.  I love self medicating myself with a tried and true remedy.

The ditches are full of snow now.  Every time the wind blows the snow will blow across the road.  Then depending on the temperature there are drifts across the road or ice forms as the snow thaws and refreezes.

Yesterday the roads were good.  I have seen drifts along this road that were taller.

When I rode the bus back and forth to school I loved to sit by the window and scratch a little peek hole in the frosted up window with my finger nails.  First scratching up and down and then side to side..or cupping my hands together and breathing on the window so I could see outside. If it was really cold I held my thumb on the window until a tiny peek hole appeared. There were old short telephone poles (6 feet tall) along this road, and some years you could have walked along and touched the tops of the poles.  I have not seen snow like that in a long time.  This was also the stretch of road that had a deep ravine where water would collect in the spring and water would run across the highway…near the old farmstead where the lilacs would bloom in the spring:)

January 15 2012

I bet you have noticed that if I cannot come up with a title that I just use the date.  I am so imaginative some days.

It is mid January and we finally got a little snow..not much, but enough to cover up the brown.

We  went to town..this is what it looked like traveling behind a snowplow.

We followed him at a distance almost all the way to town.  You can see that the snow does not cover the grass in the ditches yet.   Even with this new snow of maybe an inch there isn’t enough snow for snowmobiling.

We can usually hear the snowmobiles at night out on the trail that goes by.. but not this year.  The lake hasn’t been singing at night either..on real cold nights you can hear the lake moaning and groaning..it is quiet outside at night..only Bailey barking when she hears us open the door to take Chance out.

We had 8 hours and 54 minutes of daylight yesterday.  On a day like yesterday when it is dark and dreary all day long..it seems shorter.

I finally made a list.  I have been doing lots of “stuff” just not the “stuff” I should be doing.  Hence the list.  I put it up on the bulletin board..the first thing on the list is to put Christmas completely away..the second thing is to make note of new addresses on the Christmas Cards.  I pass that on to Far Guy.  I sort out all the Christmas Photos and I gather all the Christmas Letters after I have read them again and staple them all together like one huge book and file it away in a folder marked Christmas letters 2011.  Not sure why..perhaps they will be interesting to someone someday… and I still have room for them in one file cabinet.   I can hear our daughters say “Why in the world did Mother keep all this stuff?”  So perhaps I am keeping the Christmas Letters just to irritate them someday.

I decided the list was necessary..I was having way too much fun lollygagging around doing what ever I felt like since Christmas.  So I am going to stick to my list for the rest of January and then take all of February off and lollygag some more:)

Autumn Joy

One of my favorite fall plants is Sedum 'Autumn Joy' she isn't fussy, she can survive almost anywhere. The deer do like to mow mine down..they must be tasty.

They stay green all summer and then in the fall they turn a rosy pink/red. I have learned never to plant them along a walkway. In the fall they attract a huge amount of bees and wasps and all kinds of insects with stingers. I have one more clump to move.. maybe next spring.

See they even look lovely all covered in snow. This photo was taken on Oct 10, 2009.

They can complement other plants in your perennial garden. I took this photo recently in town, someone knew what he was doing in this perennial bed.. the texture and colors work really well together this time of year.

Another crappy cloudy, dreary day..cold too.. Cold, wet dreary days in October=8. Sunny and crisp=1. Snow and cold=1. Indian Summer where are you? :)