Calm before the storm

 The blizzard is supposed to begin with snow starting about noon tomorrow. 

We are as prepared as we can be.  Yesterday I finally got all the ice removed from the walk. 

We went to recycle...good to have Ranger Blue out again! 

The highway was free of snow and ice...you can see that the Smoky Hills were living up to their name. 

Far Guy has a bit of a sore throat and a cough. Hopefully it is just the change of households and he will straighten out in a few days. I have one eye on him. 

Far Side

At least it's windy

 There is a saying here Up North.  It's really cold, but at least it's windy.  In the summer it's really hot but at least it's windy.  It seems to be windy just about every day. 

There is a huge snow drift in the driveway.  I am not going anyplace anyway.  People are starting to shovel out even though it will just drift in again.   The sound of snow blowers and plow trucks is almost constant. 

Andy has returned safely.  A five hour drive back home was an eleven hour icy road trip.

Jen and I ventured out to the Air B&B that they have in Grand Forks...the roads are either ice covered or snow covered.  You have to watch out for yourself and everyone else. 

Noah is settling into his new apartment, and Adam is working on the application for his third floor walk up apartment.  Soon both grandboys will be living on their own.  Adulting is an adventure. 

I finally put the fence up around the tree as someone kept stealing ornaments.  Someone that wags her tail and growls softly when she has something in her mouth. 

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

Flowers and a snow encounter

Every week when we shop I wander by the floral department.  I admire all the different color roses and wonder if I could have roses in the house which bouquet would I pick?  My moods are different just like flowers….mostly I like yellows and orange roses, next would be red and then pink, purple and ivory or white. 

Maybe when spring comes I will find a heavy duty vase and have some flowers out on the table on the patio.  I saw one of those old milk can carriers filled with vases…that may work…or maybe just an old quart jar in a wooden box.

I cannot have flowers or green plants in the house…my eyes will itch and my nose will run and I will get a nasty cough… the result of too many years in the greenhouses continually being assaulted by plants.

My roses that I had growing outside finally died…Minnesota (freeze your butt off) winters can be hard on plants.

Yesterday I got stuck in a snowbank.  The snow is deep in the yard…very deep. (Waist deep)  I wanted to retrieve a suet feeder (against Far Guys wishes) and put it in a tree that would be closer to firm footing.  Well I busted through the crust of the snow so many times that I ended up crawling on all fours.  I retrieved the suet feeder and tried dragging it along crawling.  I finally sat down to re- ass-ess the situation and my butt fell through the crust of the snow…picture feet in the air along with my head.  I rested and looked at the sky. Eventually I lifted my butt out of the snow and half rolled scooted to the patio.  I was covered in snow, all my clothing was wet…snow had been shoved up my shirt and down my pants and into my boots.  I was done being outside enjoying the snow.

Far Side

Shopping for cars

I am trying to keep it simple.  Just give me something that will travel in deep snow has heated leather seats and blue tooth and I am happy.  Rear view cameras where the lines show you exactly where you are going…accident avoidance with some kind of flashing lights…heated steering wheel… have you heard those commercials…it isn’t your Grandpa’s Buick anymore?  That is what my grandparents drove…a Buick or an Oldsmobile.

The salesman was nice, he is a young fellow so I am sure he could use the commission from the sale.  The appraiser was scared to death to drive our Sunday vehicle with Chance inside.  Chance didn’t even get up from his nest in the back seat.  Far Guy went along just to make sure that Chance wouldn’t mame the guy for life.

Those glossy phamplets they give you to study at home must cost a pretty penny. 

Far Guy is sold, he test drove it, I declined.  I also declined to made a decision until the perfect color red one shows up in a couple of weeks.  They had a grey one, it was a mess from the snow and rain.  We live on a gravel road.  We don’t have our own car wash.

If we waited a few more years our perfect car might be built…one that washes itself, drives itself while you read, never gets lost and stops at all garage sales.

February Thaw

We are having a thaw, what a mess.  It just makes for icy areas that will eventually be covered by snow.  Hip breakers.

We still have some snow. It was 36 F or 2 C eh! yesterday.

Lets call it five inches of snow at the snowstick.

I tried to work in the woodshop yesterday…tool troubles caused a hissy fit and a near melt down, I came in and collapsed on the couch.  I am going to buy my very own Rotary Tool and smile when I hand back Far Guy his piece of crap junk that doesn’t work for me.  He has no problems with it…when he is in the woodshop I just ask for his assistance.  I know I am mechanically challenged…but still…why do some things have to be so difficult.

This is my after Christmas look at the wreath by the door.  Rummage sale stuff.

This is another rummage sale bargain.  I need to touch up the paint on the flowers and fix that poor birds leg.  I know it is kinda Christmasy but I still like it.

HP is sending a box so Far Guy can mail back his computer.  He is using the laptop for the moment.  He has it hooked up to his monitor and says it isn’t too bad.  We usually only use the laptop when we are away from home. 

Bass Lake

Recently we went for a drive, one of my favorite drives is to make a large circle and go by Shell Lake and Bass Lake.

Shell Lake only had a few fish houses.

Bass Lake had quite a few houses out.  We visited with three young lads at the Bass Lake Public Access..they were sledding.   One was using his sled like a surfboard, it was fun to watch.   They asked us what we were up to..I told them I just wanted to take some photos of the Fish Houses.  I asked them if they were afraid of dogs, they weren't so Chance was allowed out to meet them.

My Dad used to have his Fish House out on Bass Lake.  My brother and I would tag along.  We sometimes would visit with other people on the lake.

One day in 1966 or 1967  Jody K. came along and he and I took off on his snowmobile.  We were friends even though we went to different High Schools, we used to go sledding at his house in the winter.   Bass Lake is known to be a really deep lake, back then it had a kind of mystique about it someone had drowned there in the summer and their body was never found.  To a teenager that is really a horrible thought. Not that you would die, but that your body would never be found.  Anyway Jody and I are cruising along,  we began to go slower and slower, the part of the lake that we are on has flooded with water. During warmer weather the snow will weigh down the ice and then water comes up between the ice and snow.  You cannot always tell an area that has been flooded..it just looks normal.   We are at a standstill, we hop off of the snowmobile and we both push while Jody accelerates..It is so cold.  The water fills your boots and seeps into your clothing and weighs you down.  It is hard to walk..your feet are on the layer of ice now covered with two to three feet of water.  Jody is pretty calm he says "Push, push hard..we will make it out."  All I could think about was falling into a hole in the ice..but I kept trudging along and we eventually made it out of the flooded area..what a relief.  We headed back to my Dads Fish House and he immediately took me home.  I have never been so cold in my entire life.  Jody had a short trip by snowmobile back to his home, we called to make sure he made it back alright.  What started out as a quiet afternoon of fishing, became quite an adventure:)