Sorry, no new entries here right now. We’ve been in the midst of changing up servers for all our web sites over the past few days and we now think we have things in working order again. The only sad thing is that the comments that were added during that time period cannot be switched over and will be lost, so if you made a comment and it is no longer showing up, that’s what happened to it.

We’re having a thaw and the snow is slowly melting, melting, melting, and I can almost hear it saying “I’m melting …” just like the wicked witch. Soon, like her, it will just be a big puddle. Hooray! Although there is talk of a mid-week storm that could involve that nasty word we’ve all been avoiding saying — snow.

So, in the meantime while I come up with something to say here, have a look over on the T@B site. I’ve blogged about what we’ve purchased so far to outfit the tiny kitchen!

Our 2002 Suburban is starting to show its age a bit. Little things keep popping up and it’s developed a few quirks. It still runs great but we would like to replace it before Rick retires so we can get that cost out of the way before a steady income goes away. We looked last year but were not happy with any of the choices.

Yesterday Rick called me excitedly to tell me that the Chevy dealership had finally gotten in a 2015 Tahoe for us to look at. We’ve been waiting for them to change up the inside of the Tahoe and Suburban back to a flat cargo bed in the back. Right now our Suburban’s seats fold down completely flat and make one continuously flat surface (with third back seat taken out). It’s the only way to go with dog crates. For several years now they had changed the inside to attract the “soccer mom” crowd and the seats did not fold completely down, nor did they form a single surface. We weren’t buying one. They told us that the 2015 models would go back to the original cargo space with flat-folding seats. Hence, our excitement.

I drove down to meet Rick over his lunch hour and we went to the dealership. The first thing we asked to see where how the seats folded down before anything else. The salesperson thought this was odd. Well, guess what? They’ve really screwed them up — again! The third row seat is not removable, nor can you order one without the seat unless you are a policeman or you’re a municipality. It does not fold flat, but at an angle that would make it next to impossible for a dog crate. The dog would be all bunched up on the lower end of its crate. To make matters even worse the third row seat is only inches off the floor of the vehicle making it impossible to sit in unless you’re a child whose legs stick straight out. For an adult they would be sitting with their knees in their faces. Totally useless! There is a tiny space behind the seats for a few bags of groceries but that’s it. We were bummed. We are assuming that the Suburban will be much the same, so we’re looking in different directions now toward the Toyota Sequoia or the Ford Expedition. 

Rick stopped by the Toyota dealership yesterday on his way home from work and said we need to both go and look at it. The seats don’t fold completely flat but he thinks they could work. The Expedition we have not looked at yet but the downside of that vehicle is that the reviews hate the GPS/radio/navigation system saying it’s really hard to use. If we are going to pay that much for a vehicle we want to be happy with important parts of it, you know? They’re pricey!

This weekend we’ll visit both of them. Stay tuned …

We’ve launched our new blog about our adventures and experiences with our T@B trailer. You can find it here. For now we are focusing on how we outfit it since we don’t actually have the trailer yet. 

I’m not sure the blog header will stay the same. I’ve been toying around with it. This is what I first came up with because I loved the blurb on the back of the T@B “I Go Where I Am Towed To” but it just wasn’t doing it for me.

Yesterday I worked on a different one and came up with this one which is the one I am currently using.

What do you think? Any preferences anyone? Take a look on the actual blog site!

On the snow front we were lucky and the current storm swung way south of us and we didn’t get a single flake! It is however colder than-a-you-know-what out there. BRRRR! Maybe by Friday we’ll have a warmer day. I certainly hope so. This winter is dragging on and on!

When I opened our upstairs bedroom curtains this morning this was the first thing I saw. Our resident broad-winged hawk all puffed up in the 7 degree weather, and obviously hoping to score a meal. He sat there for at least a half an hour without moving. As far as I know he was not successful in his hunt for food. Beautiful bird.

We did have two days last week that got into the 40’s and some melting went on in the yard. The snow depth went down quite a bit but we still have about 8 inches of solid white stuff firmly holding ground. What is out there is impossible to walk on (the dogs can just walk on top of it without falling through) and is glacier hard. I can only remember one year since we’ve lived here that we had so much snow cover. And, that was basically from one big storm, whereas this has been non-stop every week since the end of January. 

This week we have plunged back into the “polar vortex” (which to me sounds very much like a sci-fi film) and have not gotten above freezing. In fact, Tonight it’s supposed to go below zero. 

During our short meltdown, we had some lovely black ice on the driveway. We went out one morning to get in the truck and Bella was jumping around like her normal self and took a good fall on her shoulder. She’s still gimping around a little bit. I could barely stand! Nasty nasty stuff.

They tell us that more snow is on the way. Oh joy. Really? They were saying 3-6 inches over Sunday and Monday this morning, but now I see they have upped it to 4-8 inches. Just what we need — more snow! As it is we’ve had little squalls of snow come through every day this week or flurries flying around willy-nilly in the air. It didn’t amount to much, just a coating, but still.

In other news, we’ve been “feathering our new nest” and outfitting the T@B a bit. We got these great stackable pots and pans that I will show you soon. Very cool. They all fit together in one neat package (handle is separate). Other things include a few necessary kitchen utensils and supplies. We need to be careful because we don’t have much room for storage.

I saw on our T@B owners’ group the other day that someone has just ordered their new T@B and named it “Downton T@BBY”. How cute is that? It seems everyone has a name for their T@B. Now I don’t feel so silly that we name our vehicles. We’ll fit right in! Question is, what to name it? I hope to get the new blog up and running soon and it will mostly be things we have purchased while waiting for ours to arrive. Maybe it will help other new owners with what to buy (or not) as the case may be. 

I finished my sister’s cowl and shipped it off to her today, and I love mine so much I am making myself another one in gray.  I am (as predicted) still making my way through Kristen Lavransdatter.