Beauty and the Beast

When the sun comes out it melts some of the snow on top which runs down and then freezes again as it gets into the cold air. My wisteria vines provide a place for the drips to go and refreeze. This vine grew from seeds I brought back from my sister's vine in California. Hardy soul to survive here. It takes over the gourd birdhouse in the summer. This is the beauty part.

The icicles even gave my RV a fringe on top.

This last picture is the beast part. After shoveling the heap the snowplow left at the end of my driveway for me twice, they came by again while I was out and left another ridge. I drove through it to get into my driveway. How can such pretty white snow get so nasty? Side roads are still snow covered. Luckily I live on a state route.

AHA. I solved the problem of the pictures. I downloaded a later version of Kodak Easyshare. That may have helped. This is my backyard early in the morning. A neighbors porch light shows. The branches of the bushes are covered with ice.


This picture just before dawn shows how big the snowflakes are. The flash picked them up. It has taken 2 days before the street is really cleared. The last few passes of the snowplow left a 2 1/2 foot wall of ice and snow at the end of my driveway.

Sunday it is supposed to get above freezing. For those of you living in the southern climes - enjoy.

Snow

Well, I've tried to figure our how to load pictures from my desk top computer to this site and have been unsuccessful. I found the cable for downloading from the camera to the computer and downloaded the pictures but they went into limbo and refuse to be found while on this site. It is just snow and ice. If you really want to see that there are plenty of pictures on the web.

We got 4 inches of fluffy snow, then 1/2 inch of sleet and rain that turned to ice, then about 8 to 10 inches of more snow on top of that. Kind of a winter sandwich. I spent a good bit of time yesterday cleaning off the car and part of the driveway. I think that covers my exercise for the rest of the week. Sometimes I had to shovel off the top layer of snow and then break up the layer of ice before I could get down to the pavement.

I was surprised I was able to get the car doors open, had to break the ice off the handles first.

Cabin fever is setting in. There were four different phone calls to see if I needed anything yesterday. I think that means I am officially elderly. I really appreciate the kind thoughts of family and friends.

Things sound different when everything is covered with snow. The dogs let me sleep a bit late because they didn't hear the usual road sounds in the morning. They made up for it the rest of the day by barking at any sound they heard, muffled tire treads, shovels scrapping on ice, etc. The snow balls up in their feet and they can't walk very well if they stay out too long. I thought I might have to carry them in so they could melt but they managed to limp inside for a doggie treat.

Still haven't gotten out to take my poor laptop to the computer doctor. That will be at the top of my list when mobility becomes a better option. I am afraid it is history but will see if anything can be done.

Stay warm.

Christmas/Easter Cactus

This is an antique cactus plant. It's been around for a very long time. I think I got it from my Mother and then passed it on to my daughter, she passed it back to me in the fall. Occasionally it decides to bloom but this year it can't seem to decide when it is supposed to bloom. It is stuck in a "mud" room that is pretty cold. It seems to like it there and has several other buds. Some of them may even wait till Easter to bloom.



It is winter here. My atomic clock is working overtime to keep track of things. It got down to 11 below zero but I didn't get a picture of that. At about 10:00 p.m. my automatic thermostat turns down to 65 degrees but as you can see the kitchen stays a few degrees below the living room where the thermostat is. I have an old quartz heater that sits by my feet on really cold nights.

Advice I have received since being diagnosed with breast cancer:

Eat cabbage and anti-oxidants.

Laugh every day.
Exercise 1/2 hour 3 times a week.

Exercise 1/2 hour every day.

Drink a special tea - eissac - comes from Canada.

Read a lot of hand-out literature about breast cancer.

Avoid stress - HAHAHAHA

Things I have done:

Eaten lots of vegies and chocolate (it's an antioxidant isn't it).
Laughed or cried almost every day.

Exercised most days, maybe not for 1/2 hour.

Drank lots of raspberry herbal tea.

Read about eissac tea.

Read all the literature I was given about cancer (except the part about my fertility and how it might affect my partner), plus looked it up on the internet.

Some of my more stressful problems have been solved.

Got a tatoo.

Yeah, I know, but I gotta do what I gotta do.

My laptop just stopped having a picture, the screen died, just faded away. Tomorrow, if the white death (that is snow - 10 inches predicted for tomorrow) doesn't prevent it, I will take it to get checked out. I usually use it to post to this blog but luckily I have a desk top computer also. And Circuit City, where I bought the laptop and an extended warranty, is in bankruptcy. What did I say about stress?

Bad Dogs

No pictures today, just mental images. Picture a pound of coffee spread over the floors and bed. A late Christmas gift of coffee from one daughter to the other was left in my keeping on the table in the kitchen. I went to the antique shop (the Barn) for a couple of hours to visit with the other dealers. There was even one customer but she didn't buy anything. I left the dogs out of their kennels. You get the picture? I don't know how much they ate but they have been drinking a lot of water. The bedspread is in the washer. Somehow the coffee got through the spread and onto the quilt. That just got a good shaking. The house smells like Starbucks. The broom and dustpan got a good workout.

Now for the other news. I try to keep things upbeat on here and for several months there hasn't been a lot of upbeat news to report. Most (probably all) of the people who check on this blog now and then already know that I was diagnosed with breast cancer last June. Not just breast cancer but stage 4 (spread to the bones), grade 3 (there are only 3 grades). This past week I got the results of tests to see if the treatment was working. It IS working! The Dr. even said I was in partial remission. So I continue to take pills every day and IV's every four weeks.

Not mentioning the cancer on here has been kind of like walking around an elephant in the living room and pretending it isn't there. It is there and it makes a difference in everything. It kind of puts coffee all over the house a small matter in my life. Yet a hangnail or a paper cut can become a major issue. Go figure.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions just let me know. It looks like I'll be around for a while after all.

Love to all.