Best Of

The mittens are going slow. I have made so many mistakes and ripped so much out because of poor translation from German and my loong vacation from the craft. But I think I will have one unshrunk mitten for after surgery, and a pair of felted ones.

Tippy has discovered yak cheese! If he has a small piece left and you are worried about choking, you can put it in the microwave and it puffs up.

Driveway clear enough for Vietnam Veterans donation pickup today. Already have it out by garage since front walkway is impassable still. It is solid ice so resistant to any attempts at removal. I had 1 kitchen trash bags, 3 bags of books and 3 cardboard boxes of mixed items to go. Feels liberating to let that stuff go and we threw out anything we did not want others to wear or use. So closets are done for now.

Birdfeeder is very busy with frequent visits from flocks of sparrows, juncos, cardinals, an occasional woodpecker, and blue jays. A very large four legged group of "birds" has been eating seed on the ground as well as the smashed pumpkins I have thrown out. I only have 2 pumpkins left though.

Read that the deer enter starvation mode this month due to burning up fat stores to try to stay warm and this weather has hastened the process. Their normal fare at this time of year is the tips of branches and brush. March can be their salvation or death knell because if they start to eat grass before their stomachs have acclimated to the "spring" acidity, they die with full bellies due to inability to process (acidosis) what they have eaten. They have it tough and it is truly survival of the fittest. I watch last spring's twins and hope they make it, though one is incrementally larger than the other. I saw one licking at the snow yesterday to get water. I am hoping stream is not frozen over because that is their closest water access.

It is expected to reach 30 degrees today, but it is overcast so we will not get the sun as we had yesterday. The sun does help with melt though as soon as the sun goes down, it freezes again.

Taco, I 'll send you some snow to offset your drought. I am hoping though, that all this ice, when it melts, will really fill the reservoir, so our summer doesn't result in a drought.

I spent several hours working on genealogy yesterday and started to print out data on each person in my lineage such as grandparents, great grands, parents, etc. I want to put it with the monologues I have written or each family as documentation for facts and sources. This will also provide focus and to let me see where the gaps are.

Still experiencing lingering effects from my cold and hope by next week it is gone. The cough is chest rattling and sounds worse than it is. I'll try to dust first floor today and see if DH can run vacuum for me.

Guess that's enough about my boring, winter existence.

cindyny, loved the story about SO's birthday mix-up and how everyone made the best of it.

carole, glad you are able to get out to exercise class. I know how much you enjoy them.

Justforher, do you have anything prescribed for anxiety? What you are going through right now is scary and it might be nice to have someone to talk to about what you are experiencing.

petite1, I hope your cabin neighbors can tell you what's going on in that neck of the woods. It seems NC got a really heavy snow blow.

Chris, hope the knitting is going well. Have you finished the mittens?

Sandy, hope you are or have enjoyed NO. Not sure if your visit is over yet.

harley07, how is the weather in Chicago area?

Hope everyone has a great day and waving "Hi" to everyone.

I just walked out to the street to retrieve the garbage can and check the mailbox. The sun is warm. I was comfortable in a tee shirt and cropped pants. The piece of mail holding me up from doing our tax return had been delivered. Before going inside, I visited dh in his workshop. He had a bowl with beautiful pattern in the wood in his lathe. We lamented that he wasn't playing golf on this perfect day for golf. I'm so hoping that the sciatica won't end his golfing.

In the early afternoon, I'll go for a walk. I also have to go to the Piggly Wiggly for milk, since I used the rest of dh's milk to make chocolate pudding. I have the slow cooker going with a pot roast that will be Italian beef, thanks to packet of seasoning. Eddy's, which I had to order since it's not available locally.

It's such a relief to have Louisiana winter back in progress. I can move my little collection of succulent plants back outside, hopefully for the rest of winter.

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

Dalai Lama