The weather forecast calls for snow tomorrow. Quite a lot if they prove to be right, and that would really be nice. But please let it snow and not that other wintry mix stuff (ice/sleet). Please?
I now have a full blown case of laryngitis. I hate it. It hurts to talk and my tonsils are still swollen. Aspirin does help the swelling some. If I try to yell at the dogs a very strange croaking sound comes out and they tilt their heads and look at me oddly. What is the matter with mommy’s voice? At least it gets them to stop whatever they are doing that I am yelling at them about. Mostly barking. Anyway it’s a pain.
Two nights ago we had some snow that turned to sleet and then froze. As the trees warmed up and the ice melted I took these photos. I hope to be taking snow photos tomorrow. Bella will love it!
Our tree is up and decorated. We cut our own tree this year—a lovely blue spruce—at the local tree farm. Bella thinks she is a present and likes to lay underneath it.
So the house is looking festive, I have more cookies to bake and we are expecting SNOW. Here’s hoping my blog will be decked in white tomorrow!
All three of us in this photo are wishing and hoping for snow!
The weather is confused. We’ll have a really warm day, say in the high 50’s like yesterday, and then the next day will be in the 30’s. You’ve all heard, no doubt, about the ice storms last week. We barely escaped the onslaught of nasty weather by being a few degrees too warm. “Up the mountain” (as they call is around here) was a different story with downed power lines and trees, just a few miles away.
Not really knowing this, we took a drive on Saturday morning and were greeted by a beautiful sight: tree branches coated with ice, glistening in the sun. Of course there is a power line in my photo! It was like driving through a sparkling Winter Wonderland as the trees at times made an ice tunnel for us to drive through. I got out to take a few photos and and could hear the snapping and cracking of the ice sloughing off the branches. Ice crunched like big shards of broken glass under my feet. Very strange but also very eerily beautiful. I haven’t seen anything like that in years.
Days start out well enough, but they soon turn windy and grey with a smattering of rain. Other than hoping it was snow falling from the sky, the weather suits my mood of late.
capricious |kəˈpri sh əs;-ˈprē-|
adjective
given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior
I wonder if this word has any bearing on my astrological sign: Capricorn? If so, I think it sums me up pretty well!
Sunday’s sunrise
I’m not sure what it’s doing out there this morning. It’s still so dark I can’t tell a thing. When I let Bella in a few minutes ago she had a few fluffy flakes stuck to her fur. The sun should be up by now (7:13 a.m.) but it’s not obvious. I haven’t even opened up the curtains yet. What’s the point if you can’t see anything? I don’t like letting the dark in.
In other news, I think I’m coming down with something. My throat has been feeling swollen for a few days now, but this morning it feels like I have golf balls in there. When I was a child it was all the rage to remove children’s tonsils. Almost everyone in my class in school had tonsilitis at one time or another. I clearly remember that they even had a children’s book of Tommy (or whoever) that had a tonsilectomy and how he got to eat a big bowl of ice cream in the hospital. I was envious and wanted to be like those kids.
But, lucky for me (or unlucky) I still have mine. I never notice them until times like this when they are trying to ward off infection. By the feel of them they are really working hard in there. Ugh. Swallowing is not pleasant. But, like the strange weather, this too shall pass. At least I hope so!
Geez, we just had the scare of our lives. We heard sirens blaring and they were coming right down our quiet little road! A fire truck drives slowly by our house like he’s looking for a fire. We dash to the windows and peer across the street at the Murray’s but all looks well there, then over to the Corbett’s at the end of the cul-de-sac. Nope, not there either. The dogs are going nuts and Bella is scared. What is that awful noise mommy? Make it stop!
I look out the window just as he’s driving back past our house and see a figure on the front of the fire truck. It’s wearing red and it’s waving at me. Good grief. It’s SANTA! I wave back laughing with a strange sort of glee. It’s only after he is past our house and I see him stopping in the front of the neighbor’s down the road that I realize the reason for this strange visitation. Oh, now I get it. Probably looking for donations since we have only volunteer fire departments up here. I wish I known what it was all about because if I had I would have run out and given them something.
New Jersey is weird. Scare the living daylights out of people with sirens and horns with Santa aboard. That’s life in a small town!
What I see out my window: grey, gloom, rain. Rain. Not the wished for snow, but rain. Don’t get me wrong, I love rainy days but I prefer them in Spring and Autumn; not December. My yearly lament for snow starts about now. Last year we had several nice snows before Christmas which made it feel more festive. Not so this year. (Those sprinkles of snow a few weeks back certainly don’t count as “snow”.) I guess I have to move to Texas where it is snowing today. Or maybe Louisiana. I heard they were getting snow too. But in New Jersey where everyone talks about how horrible the winters are—we get rain. And it’s 33º F outside right now.
Yesterday morning it was 55 balmy degrees when I got up. What a shock to open the door to let the dogs out and be hit in the face with warmth! So strange. It rained all day yesterday.
Baby Bella is getting cabin fever. Yesterday she tried to go outside and play but was not happy when she did. She likes to sit and look up at the falling drops of rain and tries to catch them in her mouth making cute little smacking noises.
I don’t feel very much in the spirit of things this year. Not quite sure why. So, to get myself out of this non-festive rut I’ve been in I guess I’ll haul out the decorations and start to decorate the house today. I’m sure Bella will be more than glad to help. I have visions of her chewing on the lighted garlands, eating tinsel and anything else she can find to amuse herself with. I don’t feel like decorating. But an undecorated house without a Christmas tree doesn’t do much to get one into the mood either, now does it?
I’ll let you know how it goes!
Above are the shadows of my house and my favorite tree this morning. Yesterday was an interesting mix of weather. We had snow, sleet, freezing rain and mostly just plain rain. All day long. Rick made a batch of Caraway Swiss (cheese) and I made broth for turkey soup by boiling down the turkey carcass. Not much else to do. Bella was a bit stir crazy not being able to go out in her yard and play, but otherwise we all managed to stay snug and cozy with a fire going all day in the wood stove to keep off the damp chill emanating from the windows.
We had a good Thanksgiving. How about you? We had more than enough food (we’ll be eating turkey for the next week) and it was good to see friend Carolyn again.
We relaxed and took it easy.
And, best of all, Carolyn got to see bears! Can you believe they made a grand appearance just for her? Friday we were watching movies in the living room just before dark, TV turned up for surround sound and had a fire burning pretty merrily in the fireplace. I happened to see something black out of the corner of my eye through the sliding glass door and thought that Rick must have let Alex outside on the deck. Wait a minute, that’s not Alex, it’s a BEAR. On the deck. Not four feet away from where we were sitting! I kept a calm voice so the dogs wouldn’t be alerted and start barking and said to Carolyn “Quick, look, there’s a bear on the deck.” Rick was in the other room and came to see. Myrtle was up on the deck too but not quite where the cub was. He was standing up on his hind legs trying to reach the bird feeder. They heard us talking and started leisurely back down the stairs to the yard. We stood on the deck outside and watched Myrtle and the cub for a few minutes until they left the yard. Myrtle and the one cub got to the edge of the grass and the cub climbed up the big oak, showing off, as Myrtle decided whether to give up the bird feeder idea or not. We could see other black-ish moving things in the woods—the other cubs. It was hard to see them in the dusky gloom, but they were there.
They came back again on Saturday night around the same time (4:30 or so). I was sitting in the sun room reading when Rick walked in. He glanced out the sliding glass door and said, “Every time I see that old tree stump in the woods I think it’s a bear.” Two seconds later he said, “Wait a minute—that is a bear!” Sure enough, Myrtle and the cubs were roaming around just outside our fence, foraging for food. They were pretty far apart and we could only account for four of the five cubs. They are not staying as close to momma as they used to. They are really getting big.
So we are going to have to keep a closer eye on the yard now. I assume they are getting ready to hibernate (or as much as they ever do here; more like a mini-hibernation.) and trying to fatten up for Winter. It’s nice with all the leaves on the trees gone that we can now see them.
While the weather was nice on Friday, Rick got some slow motion footage of Bella running. I love the second vid of her and what her ears are doing! Check them out below. She continues to grow and amaze us with her intelligence. She’s a very good puppy.
Page 57 of 102 pages
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