Well, perhaps you couldn't call our walk "regular" just yet. It's pretty full of adventure and surprises.
In some places, we're still wading snow. Thank goodness for our Muck boots.
In spots, the snow melted and then re-froze on our path, so we had to walk beside the path unless we wanted to ice-skate, which we were neither one inclined to do.
We've seen deer tracks and raccoon tracks in the snow, but this one really puzzled us; it went on for yards and disappeared down a ravine. From a distance it looked like a tractor tire track... a tractor with one tire. We're still puzzling over this one.
It's hard to tell, but there are rivulets of water running in this shot. Thawing is a wonderful thing. I could learn to like mud.
To those who offered suggestions on my problem with the disappearing library books on my Nook: I know the books disappear after two weeks. That isn't the problem. I check out the book, which puts it on my computer. I immediately connect the Nook and drag the book to it. Sometimes I can find it and read it after I do this; other times it's nowhere to be found. However, if I try to drag it to the Nook again, I'm told the book is already on there. What puzzles me is that it's only an occasional thing, because I go through the process the same way, every time.
Oh yes, there are huge piles of snow around; if you're reading this before dawn, you can see by my temperature-indicator on the sidebar that it's well below zero. However, most roads are passable now. At noon yesterday, not all of them were. If you recall, yesterday morning found Cliff's sister's car still in a ditch.
Here's what our nearest highway looked like from the cab of the old Ford pickup as we headed to the rescue. Pretty, but not very good driving conditions.
Rena's car looks rather lonely, doesn't it, sitting abandoned like that? We saw lots of cars off the road in snowbanks, on our way back home.
Cliff and Rena started digging with snow shovels. I was just dying to help, I even begged. But someone had to document this episode by taking pictures. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Cliff found a spot where he could hook the tow chain. He said his chain was too big to fasten securely; all he could do was hope it would hold.
It did, and we were on our way home. We turned around and went home a different way, since 24 highway was in much better shape than the road on which we had come.
Piles like these are going to be around for quite a while, unless someone figures out some way to get rid of them. We survived, and lived to tell about it!
We've had our Mercury Grand Marquis for at least six years. It doesn't get around well in the snow because it's rear-wheel-drive. However, we really didn't mind because, after all, it just doesn't snow that often around here. We went without snow tires for five years; we do have the old pickup, which is four-wheel-drive. It's a gas-guzzler, but in a pinch, we can get around in the snow by using it. Oh, and Cliff rides to work with Tony, who has a front-wheel-drive car and a four-wheel-drive pickup. Then last winter came around, and we were snowed in for a few days. We vowed to buy snow tires before another winter, and we followed through on that. Cliff even had the tires studded. I said, "You know what's going to happen, don't you? Now that the car is prepared for snow, there won't be any measurable snow all winter long." Boy, did I ever miss the boat on that one.
Yesterday and this morning I've been organizing my shopping list, and in the process of doing so, I realized I was getting excited about going shopping. For groceries! That's when it hit me that I haven't been off the place since last Friday, and that was only a two-mile trip to the bank to get our cash for the week. It was a week ago Thursday that we actually went somewhere to shop. No wonder I'm ready to get out of the house for any purpose whatsoever. In nice weather we're always taking little jaunts on the motorcycle, which relieves the tedium of staying at home all the time. Cliff has been asking retirees if they get bored with all that time on their hands; one former co-worker told him he only gets bored in the winter. I can understand that! Cliff, of course, has his shop, and it's heated now by a wood stove. However, he's pretty much caught up on stuff he can do in an enclosed space, even now; and he goes to work every day. He's really been enjoying those Farm and Ranch Living magazines my bloggie friend in Maine sent, with all this nasty weather limiting what he can do. Yesterday he bladed snow off the driveway. Someone asked in a comment how long a driveway Cliff has to clear. After it's daylight, I'll go to the road and take a picture to add to this entry. I think it took him about an hour to clear it with the John Deere. We have to go to Orscheln's to pick up a protein block for the cows, and I'm hoping they have their ten-cent-a-pack garden seeds in. I've tried enough of them now to know which varieties are satisfactory for my purposes. I'll check at Walmart and see if they have their mini-greenhouses yet. It's too early to start tomatoes inside, but I like to be prepared. I changed the header picture on here last night, and I couldn't seem to get the "Just Me" to show up. I thought Blogger wasn't adding it, but turns out I had it in black letters so it didn't show up against the dark trees. This morning I figured it out. I was going to address a rude comment left yesterday evening that I deleted, but now that I've slept on it, I've decided that would come under the heading of "methinks she doth protest too much", as Shakespeare said. It's better left alone. Here's something I've thought about: For those of us who use Blogger, at the foot of each entry are links to the blogs of persons who link to us in their blogs. I get a lot of traffic from this feature, and I don't mind the links that show on individual entries in my own blog. But I wonder if people shouldn't be given the option of whether they want these links to show. For instance, my blog link almost always shows up on Sister Mary Martha's entries because I link to her: She's a nun; what if I was blogging about something a nun wouldn't want to be associated with? That isn't likely, of course; let's face it, I'm pretty tame. She did come over and comment once, so I know she's checked it out. Still, is there even a choice on this feature? If so, I haven't found it.
Notice the snowdrift on top of the house. Cliff has the driveway cleared, so we're ready for the next big storm they say is coming on Sunday. The weatherman says this is the fifth-snowiest winter on record hereabouts. That garage is not Cliff's shop that we talk about all the time; it's just where we park the car and the motorcycle. All Cliff's tools and such are in the shop, which was behind me as I took this picture.
Oh, and to the foul-mouthed Kansas City commenter who came here from Sinic's blog and said I live in a double-wide, sorry. It's only a lowly single wide. You lose. However, it sits on 42 lovely acres.
Cliff and I didn't take our walk this morning, but after he'd been gone a while, Iris and I decided to go; I love to walk in the snow. However, I hadn't gotten a quarter of the way to completing my walk before my cell phone rang: It was Monica, my daughter's oldest girl, saying they had ridden the bus out here; school let out early. As luck would have it, I made about a gallon of hamburger stew today, so they had plenty to eat when they got here. Kids are always starving when they get out of school, aren't they? These two aren't picky at all; they know what good food is! My son's daughter who has been staying here decided to go back home for the night because of the snow that's forecast; she's only five minutes from work at home. A wise decision, I'd say.
Monica and Natalie spent about ten minutes bundling up to go outside in the snow.
Monica wore my Muck boots, which fit her pretty well; Natalie wore Cliff's Muck boots, which of course were too big.
They were barely outside long enough for me to take their picture. Natalie came in, followed by Monica, who wasn't ready to come inside but didn't want to be out there by herself.
Here's the forecast from Fox 4 News: "WINTER STORM WARNING for the entire metro! Snow starts after noon, maybe heavy by the evening drive- could be 2" by 4 or 5pm. High near 21. Heavy snow this evening, with a total of 6"-8" for many in the metro by morning drive Thursday. MOST snow is over by THURSDAY morning, but THIS evening drive could be a mess."
Oh joy. Cliff and Tony (the guy he rides with) will be leaving for work just when it's starting to pile up, and who knows what it will be like when they get off at midnight? Sounds to me like a good time to take a vacation day, but that's their choice, not mine. Actually, if it's going to be this cold, I'd just as soon it snows. Snow is pretty, and it's fun to look out the window and see it falling. It sure as heck beats the very thin coating of ice that was on our country blacktops and gravel roads yesterday morning; the daughter said she saw several cars in ditches on her way to work. By afternoon, the roads were clear. The oldest granddaughter, Amber, is spending some time here; she and her mother needed a little time away from one another (can you say "cabin fever"?) so she's occupying our guest room. She brought her mini-pin, Sophie, of course. Amber leaves for work at 3 A.M.; it's a twenty-five mile drive from here, and she starts work at four. She leaves her dog in bed under the covers. Sophie barked at me a few minutes ago, so I took her outside to relieve herself; once back inside, I put her back in the guest room on the bed and shut the door. She barked a few times, then I guess she crawled under a blanket and went back to sleep. I'll open the door and let her out when Cliff gets up; she loves Cliff, probably because he feeds her bites of whatever he's eating. He doesn't worry about her weight problem.
Sophie, wanting me to help her off the tall bed.
The furnace problem at the old house was quickly dealt with, once the heating guy showed up; the igniter was shot, so he installed a new one and was gone in less than a half-hour. It could have been a lot worse! I must remember to call the other heating guy who was going to come this afternoon and tell him we already got it fixed. I won't know the cost until we get the bill, but you know what? It was worth it, whatever the charge. There's something to be said for a man who will leave his warm house and brave the cold at 8 P.M. so a neighbor's water pipes won't freeze. God bless him.
Bonnie and Clyde spend most of their time these cold winter days with their heads in a bale of hay. They're not worried about winter weight gain.
Speaking of which, Cliff and I are steadily losing weight so far; there's something exciting about getting under 180, then under 170. Seems like a cause for rejoicing when I can say I'm one hundred sixty-something, rather than one hundred seventy-something. It only takes two pounds to make that difference, but it sounds like a lot when I say it.
Yesterday was another nice day; normally we would have gone to Adrian on the motorcycle, but the weatherman was sure a change in the weather was on its way. We did not want to be out on the Gold Wing when the temperatures took a plunge. The slide show pictures various items for sale at the swap meet. Cliff only bought a couple of tools. We ended up making it a full day of country-style shopping: We drove through every tractor sales place we passed, starting with Cook Tractor in Clinton. We stopped at a little store south of Warrensburg that specializes in Carhartt clothing, because Cliff could use a new coat. Unfortunately, this place had higher prices than the local farm stores. We stopped at Kleinschmidts near Higginsville, where I got myself another pair of Muck Boots... short ones for walking in the dew this year. They were $50, as opposed to the almost $100 I spent for my winter boots. Obviously, I am a Muck Boot convert. I think Cliff is too. Oh, and today, the first day of spring?
Just guessing, I'd say we have two inches of new snow. I actually welcome this one, because the last snow we received was so wet, with temperatures above freezing much of the time, that the world was looking gray and dingy. Now it's lovely out there, and still not terribly cold. We had a great game day. I knew I had gone over my calorie limit, so imagine my surprise when I got on the scales and found out I lost two pounds since last weigh-in (and yes, I do know there's nothing more boring that somebody else's diet). Slow and steady wins the race. My goal weight is not what all the charts say I should weigh. I just want to get back under 170, so I set my goal as 165. Perhaps once I get there I will decide to try for more loss; we shall see. I'm not a big football fan, but on Superbowl Sunday I always feel I should pick a team, so I chose the Saints; my granddaughter, Natalie, was the only other person with me on that decision, and I celebrated their victory with her as if I really cared who won. Grandson Arick worked yesterday, but he came by for chili after he got off work, and watched the Superbowl with us. If the Montana trip pans out, he might go with us; that way he could do part of the driving. He's never seen South Dakota, so we're wondering if we should extend the trip and lay over there a couple of days, since it's on our way. That's all I have for this morning: over and out.
My walk in the pasture was easier yesterday than it has been in a long time. I took this picture a few days ago, and this was far from the deepest snow I had to walk through. It wore me out, and I shortened the distance of my walks, some days.
Even though Sadie often ended up in drifts more than belly-deep, she enjoyed every outing thoroughly. Here, she was scanning the woods for movement; not thirty seconds after I took this shot, she was off to the bottom of the ditch, barking up a tree. She no doubt saw a squirrel.
Hyperblogal left this comment on my last entry: "Barney Fife, cows and Santa.... you're okay in my book."
He was referring to these metal posters above my desk, items I purchased at a tractor show last summer. That cow one looks crooked in this picture, but sitting here at my desk looking up at it, it doesn't. That's strange. I'd better get my yardstick out and see whether it's crooked or not.
The Santa part of his statement came about because one of my Christmas plates was showing in a picture. I really, really love my Avon Christmas plates. I'll be putting them away before too long; there are some in almost every room of the house right now.
When my mom sold Avon, she set out to buy the plate for each year when it came out. After Daddy died she was getting rid of some stuff, and my sister bought her collection; I had never had any interest in the plates until I saw them displayed in Maxine's kitchen, and then I started picking them up at garage sales when the price was right.
They have very little value; they sell for practically nothing on Ebay. New, they're around $30, I believe. If I had a place to do so, I'd leave them on display all the time, because they really make me happy. Still, there's something to be said for putting them away; every December it's like discovering them all over again.
Beyond that Corps of Engineers building is the Missouri River, pretty much covered in ice.
Taken in my back yard this afternoon: Smoke from the Sibley Power plant forming an interesting design in the distant sky.
This is what 131 looked like this morning, as we headed toward Odessa.
The piles of snow that snowplows had pushed up beside the road were as tall as our pickup.
We went to get some Muck Boots for Cliff; unfortunately, most sizes were sold out and we left empty-handed (empty-footed?).
Cliff spent lots of money at Clark's Tool, buying an Ingersall-Rand Needle Scaler. Don't ask me what that is; all I know is, Cliff is very happy with it. And since he used money from his tractor fund, I'm happy too.
The snow drifted between our garage and the house; I used the snow shovel and made a path through it a while ago.
New Year's Eve, Cliff worked; but Tony, the guy he usually rides with, did not. Cliff drove our old pickup to work, since our car is helpless on snow and ice (we haven't been in it since before Christmas). When he got home New Year's Eve, he forgot to t turn the lights off on the truck; he's used to our car, which automatically turns its lights off if you leave them on. Three days later when we were going to go to the store, the pickup wouldn't start: The battery had not only run down, but had frozen so hard that the sides were bulged out.
Yesterday, more blowing snow. The Mahindra ("Ma", they call her) didn't want to start; but after some tender loving care, she came to life.
This makes the third time Cliff has had to clear the driveway; every time he gets it nicely cleaned, more snow comes along with plenty of wind to make it drift across the drive.
Yesterday after Cliff left for work, I took Sadie out to the pasture for a walk, which is no easy task with snow on the ground. I didn't walk all of our usual paths, but I got plenty of exercise.
The temperatures were right at, and even perhaps a little above, freezing. I noticed when I tossed Sadie's stick that the snow clung to it... much to her displeasure. The snow which was so dry when it fell was now a wet snow. I made a snowball just to make certain.
"I wonder if any local kids are making snowmen," I said to myself (or Sadie, or God... I'm never sure quite who I'm talking to at times like this). "Wouldn't it be funny if there was a snowman beside the driveway when Cliff comes home from work in the middle of the night?"
Back at the house, I started rolling the big ball of snow that everybody makes for the lower part of a snow person. I don't recall that being such hard work! I had to sit down in a lawn chair and catch my breath a couple of times. Before I was done, I could hardly move the thing, it was so heavy.
Sadie didn't have a clue what I was doing, but she had fun running around me while I labored at my task.
I had to become creative to add the details to my snow person: the nose, of course, is part of a carrot. But I didn't have any coal or buttons for eyes and coat buttons. I thought about looking in Cliff's shop, but that would have meant I'd have to go in the house and get the key. No thanks.
So I cut those huge eyes out of a scrub pad that was lying on the garage floor, and I used little potatoes for the (very crookedly placed) buttons. The arms are pieces of dried-out Okra plants.
Now I'm sure you've seen better snowmen before; but have you ever seen one made by an old lady, all by herself?
I'll bet it gave Cliff a big laugh.
Below is another of those Sadie videos that I took during our walk. You'll hear my heavy breathing as I talk to her because walking in the snow will make you breathe like that; and you can see how the wet snow was clinging to the stick. I'm sure her barking irritates other folks, but dogs are like children: Your own are adorable, everybody else's are brats.
It's bitter cold, but Sadie and I both had cabin fever today. I'm the poster child, you know, for S.A.D.; and I really needed to get out in the fresh air. It took all the effort I could summon up, believe me.
I left with the intention of avoiding the drifts, but that was impossible. I knew I wouldn't walk the full distance we always do, because it's very hard to walk with boots and coveralls on. I glanced down in a "holler" and realized if I went down there, I'd be out of the wind. I descended into the quiet woods; it was, indeed, quite pleasant there. Sadie found a stick and I threw it for her several times.
And then I realized that I was going to have to climb up out of there, through the snow. That's when it hit me that I'm sixty-five years old, and if I'm going to do stupid things like this I should take the cell phone along; I could have a heart attack!
Then I remembered there's no signal down in the holler anyhow.
I consoled myself with the knowledge that at least there was snow on the ground, so Cliff could track me and find my cold, dead corpse.
Oh wait, with the wind blowing so hard, tracks fill in about as quickly as they're made.
Evidently the freezing rain last night coated the path before snow fell, because I'd take one step up and slide back down two. Puffing and panting, I'd sit down in the snow until I got my breath, with Sadie poking a stick in my face trying to get me to throw it. Once I got my breath, I'd proceed with my ordeal.
That may not look like much of a hill to you, but you should have seen my struggle; it was nothing short of heroic!
Finally I got over to the side of the trail and pulled myself up by those brushy plants you see on the right. Looking down, the slope seems more formidable, doesn't it?
I won't be taking that walk again; not in the snow.
Cliff's awake; he asked, "How much snow did we get?"
I told him there's no way of knowing, since the wind has blown some places totally bare and piled up drifts in others. I don't imagine we got more than two inches.
Before he woke up, I put my coveralls and boots on again and went outside. I took water to thaw the gate-latch. Then I pondered the situation for a while.
Bonnie will usually follow a can of feed anywhere: Did I dare let her out the front door of the barn, which would mean letting her free into the whole wide world, and try coaxing her into the front door of the horse stall so she'd at least be inside with her calf?
That meant getting her out the door on the right, through a snowdrift, and into the sliding door on the left. Without letting her moose of a calf out.
I had success with this project. When Cliff is fully awake, dressed, and caffeined up (another hour, probably), he'll figure out how to free them from their confinement.
This picture, by the way, illustrates why Bonnie can't use the open-face shed. Although the horses tolerate her and her calf pretty well, they're not about to share this small space with cattle. Once we get the sliding barn door open, we'll leave it ajar so Bonnie and Sir Loin can go inside out of this awful wind.
Because I wanted to freshen up our milk supply, I took Sir Loin away from his mom last night and shut him behind the sliding door of the horse stall. Because otherwise, he wouldn't leave any milk for me.
I knew it was going to be miserable this morning, but it's only going to get colder; so I figured I'd be wise to get it over with.
If I'd known what I know now, I would have skipped the whole thing and bought a half-gallon of milk at the store.
First of all, the sleet and freezing rain had frozen the chain that secures the gate to the small lot; try as I might, I couldn't loosen it. I could have come to the house to get water to pour on it, but it didn't seem like too big a deal to go around to the front of the barn to get access to the livestock. It turned out to be a bigger deal that I thought, since I ended up wading through three-foot-deep snow drifts.
I put down my bucket with the udder-cleaning towel in it and got a full can of sweet feed for Bonnie, who is usually waiting right at the barn door to get in. This morning, she wasn't. She was behind a shed at the rental trailer, trying to keep out of the strong winds blowing out of the west. When I called her she started bellowing her complaint, and finally came on around.
This is inside the barn.
Poor Bonnie just wanted in.
She really wanted in.
She dived into that feed as though she hadn't eaten in weeks. I got my share of the milk, turned her out, and discovered to my dismay that the sliding door I needed to open to let Sir Loin out was frozen shut. The sleet and freezing rain had gotten in the track. I pounded, I threw my body against it, all to no avail.
Now I'm waiting for Cliff to wake up and help me figure out what to do. Meanwhile, I opened up the door to the milking part of the barn so Bonnie could get out of the wind. I hope she doesn't tear anything up in there.
The weather-guessers guessed right this time: they've forecast two to four inches of snow. It's still coming down. So pretty and still!
I don't know who won that contest. If you look at the results now, I came in second. But I think I may have gotten several of my votes after the deadline. Whatever happens, it was fun.
I may not be on the computer much today; I'm fixing dinner for Cliff's nephew and his family, and since I was cooking anyhow, I invited the son-in-law and however many of his kids want to come. And of course the oldest grandson, who loves to eat. And Cliff's sister who lives next door. So it's a big cooking day for me!
We'll have roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, Old Settler's beans, and home-made rolls. Now we're going to need something green in there, and I didn't plan ahead very well. The only green stuff in the freezer of which I have enough is peas, and lots of people don't like peas. However, to round out the meal, I will probably fix peas. Or maybe peas and carrots.
I've made my sister's lemon pie for the first time today. Of course I licked the pan, and it was so good! Nephew Scotty loves cherry cheesecake, so I always try to make that when he's here. I had an extra pie crust, so I also made a pumpkin pie. And Cliff's sister baked a cake.
I wonder why Cliff and I can't lose weight? Seems like every weekend there's some sort of pitfall that deters us from healthy eating!
