White on white

Yes, the snow has returned. We had the first of two storms coming this week. The drive home last night from work at 11 pm was dreadful. Frustrating because it would have been fine if the plows had kept working but they had stopped hours earlier.

This morning I'm working on the driveway. I'm determined to keep it clear this winter so I don't have a repeat of last year's packed tire tracks that made it unusable. 2/3 scooped and no heart attack yet!

I had two opossums in the chicken coop last weekend. If this keeps up I'll have a mound of dead rodents. They had been stealing eggs and killed one hen.

No pictures because snow is not pretty when it's the enemy.

Spice Shelf Time Capsule

There are very few spices I use enough to need replacing regularly: salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves...that's about it because I don't cook much. I ran out of garlic salt recently and grabbed a replacement from Costco. It was awful! Harsh flavor that didn't agree with me at all, I spent an evening regretting the tiny sprinkle I used on spaghetti.

So, thinking I might just order more of the same brand I had before, I looked online. Apparently, Schillings hasn't been sold since 2002! Which raises the question of just how old my little container was? I will buy some McCormick's brand since they bought out Schillings and hope for the best. I've already told my son he can help himself to whichever spices he wants when he moves out; it only makes sense as he's already a better cook.

Other than that, my cold has moved into my lungs bringing about some coughing. Bleah, I am so ready for this to be over.

Mixed Review

In one way it was a great weekend...I had it off! Even better, the last warm day was Saturday so I could putter around outside. I also had the last load of firewood delivered. For the first time I chose to pay to have it stacked; I knew I couldn't get it done before it got dark and the forecast was grim.

This is really for next year's winter/emergency supply and it makes a nice fence between our yards.

Sunday gets negative reviews because the temps plummeted and I came down with a nasty cold. Grumble, grumble. One thing I did was go spelunking in my son's closet looking for the missing Legos. I didn't find them, but the layers dug out were fascinating. I even found the hair clipper set I was searching for last winter!

Today, Monday, we can only hope for a high of 16F with wind chills below zero. When I was doing chores I noticed something strange about the roof of my house. Went down to the basement to discover my furnace had kicked on...I guess smoke coming from the other chimney isn't so strange after all.

Local birds are thrilled I filled the feeders. There was even a woodpecker visiting this morning.

Yep

Today I head back to work...yippee...;) It was wonderful having those four days off even though it rained on two of them. I finally got some of the little chores done that I had put off, like bringing in the last garden hose before it froze solid (and split) and emptying the rain barrel. I also spent some quality time with my parents and a good friend.

I was just reading a BBC article with this line "Risks of adverse health effects arise when indoor temperature drops below 19C, with serious health risks occurring below 16C, it says." Out of curiosity I looked those temps up in our terms: 66F and 60F. I would be very interested to learn what these serious health risks are since my house frequents drops into the 50s. Granted, I usually put on an extra layer and when sitting have a cat or two acting as lapwarmers, but it isn't a hardship by any means.

Recently, I bought myself a treat, a box of assorted Lego pieces. I have had SO much fun sorting them by size and shape that I got out my son's Legos to play with too. Not only do I enjoy them, but it brings back happy memories of getting down on the floor and building with him all those years ago.

Working Blues

Today is my 7th day of working in a row; but it's also the last day before a long weekend off! I cover the Urgent Care or Emergency Room shifts so always in the evening. That's my preference; I leave the morning shifts for those with children and spouses to go home to. This way I get to sleep in. :)

My house was in the 50s this morning as the fire died down during the night. I suppose eventually I'll have to turn the furnace on, but we haven't even gone below zero yet and it just feels too early. What I will do this weekend is put flannel sheets on the bed!

I should go back out and bring in another bag of wood. There is nothing worse than waking up to an empty wood rack by the stove; I try to keep enough for a day and a half inside. Of course, there's the emergency stack in the porch, but that's for sickness, blizzards or injuries; basically, whenever hauling more in becomes a major event.

The Year of the ...

I always try to take pictures of my crab apple tree when it blossoms. This year it was on May 20 and the pictures were still on my camera because I haven't been on the computer.

So, those were my spring photos; now for the fall shots:

It's fascinating that no matter what the weather does, some things thrive and others struggle. All summer I was calling 2019 The Year of the Duck as there was an abundance of wetlands that never dried up. I didn't realize it was really The Year of the Garden Spider! If I'm lucky I'll get one of these to make her home around my place. This year I counted nine and there were probably more that I didn't spot.

I didn't miss the grasshoppers, but was sad there were fewer snakes. Frogs did quite well also. Maddening that the fleas were everywhere. I heard ticks were bad, but my chickens keep those in check.

Hello, again

The summer has wound down and autumn is here to stay. It's been a memorable year so far. The crazy wet spring that kept over half the fields unplanted stuck with us. To illustrate that: I never had to water my garden all summer long. Sadly, it culminated in flooding a few weeks ago that cut the town I work in in half. People had to drive miles out of town to reach a road that would take them to the other side. Power was shut off because so many basements were full of water and/or sewage; which meant sump pumps stopped working and more basements began filling up. Residents have been scrambling to get replacement water heaters and furnaces installed along with the rest of the clean-up.

Ironically, when this all happened the county had their emergency response drill scheduled; wisely, they chose to cancel that.

This was bad enough, but what concerns me is what happens next spring? Flooding this late in the year is very unusual for us. The ground is still saturated and will soon be frozen. If we continue to get these extremes in precipitation all winter, we could be seeing even worse flooding when it all melts.

A few years back, I read a discussion on the environmental costs of heating. Someone had calculated that it would take less energy to move everyone to a warm climate for the winter instead of heating buildings in the north. Is there a word for something that sounds good in theory, but would be an absolute nightmare in reality?

First there would need to be adequate living space and infrastructure for all those people and their pets. Next, how would it be organized when even evacuating a small city seems to be beyond our abilities? Do the jobs go with the populations? More infrastructure needed. Force people out at gunpoint or keep military on site to stop the looting? Farm animals. Nursing home and hospital patients. The homeless. There are probably dozens of other issues that any half-decent debate team could spot.

Conclusion: have adequate insulation, replace drafty windows and put on a sweater. ;)

I'm going to try to get back into regular blogging. Wait and see how that goes.