Can't believe it . . .

Not the photo I meant to put here but what the heck.  It's okay. A Northern  Flicker enjoying the suet a few weeks ago.

It just dawned on me; I never went out of the house today. I can't remember when I haven't at least gone out to feed the birds, empty the garbage or just gone  out for a breath of fresh air. I did go out three times yesterday to keep the snow under control so P&D's Pop, whose back is acting up pretty fiercely, could use the snow blower today. He scraped the last of the snow off of the driveway before he used the snow blower to get the mail box and the driveway. He tried to get it done before the winds took over but I watched him and it was miserable going. Thank goodness he didn't try for the paths it was bad enough with what he did get done. Between the both of us I guess we equal one able bodied person! I can't lift the snow but I can push it because it it light and then Grampa can use the blower to get it out of the way. The benches near the horseshoe pits are almost covered. We can't see the horseshoe stakes at all and the raspberries are at least halfway obliterated. This is a hell of a lot of snow, believe you me (as Ma used to say!) it is now 12 degrees at 6pm. About the same as it's been all day. Yesterday it was eight below in the morning and never got above 17 degrees all day. The house is staying pretty darned comfortable. We've been keeping the thermostat at 70 during the day, 71 in the evening and 68 at night. It works out well. Grampa has also managed to plug up most of the drafts with a type of seal and peel. It has done a tremendous job for the old windows.

We had home made beef stroganoff for our Valentine's Day dinner last night and peanut butter brownies. We will go out for a more formal dinner some day this week, weather permitting. Need a Black Russian and some Beer with dinner for a change! Kiddo was here Friday into Saturday and we had a great time. I got him some new flannel sheets for his bed and he really liked them. He and his Mom will be going snow tubing at Yawgoog Valley tomorrow. They'll have to dress up really well as I think the high will only be in the teens again. I'll try to get my food shopping done before the next snow on Tuesday. The schools have Monday and Tuesday off this week for Presidents' Day. I hope numb nuts doesn't think that the day is to honor him! What a gross idea. That it even popped into my head is disgusting. If we make it to 2016 without getting hit again by the Islamists it'll be pure luck. I don't think we've ever had this much of a dithering idiot for president although Carter was certainly another lame brain. Well, I'd better stop before I go on a rant just because I mentioned Presidents' Day!

Quote:  There is nothing seems so like an honest man as an artful knave.   ___C. Simmons

I did it, I did it, I did it . . .

Baby it's cold outside.

I said to him I did it and indeed I did. Oh my word, it only took me about a year or so but I figured out how to watch my Amazon Prime freebies like Masterpiece Theatre when P&D's Pop is sleeping. I finally put my feeble brain to work and now have my Pioneer headset working through the Smart TV. I couldn't figure it out but I knew I could watch and listen to my basketball games on the regular TV shows with my headset but when I tried to make the changes on the Smart part of the LG TV the headset wouldn't work. So with P&D's Pop off to a meeting tonight I decided to work on the problem and I solved it! I couldn't make the Pioneer headset work on the Amazon Prime but that's because I had to change the settings on the regular TV HDMI before I went to the Smart TV for Amazon Prime. Isn't that amazing that it took me so long to figure it out. I'm ecstatic because I can now watch all the schmaltzy stuff  that Grampa can't stand.  I just hope I can keep any expletives that may come out of my mouth in some sort of very quiet mode. Yay for me. Good on me.

In other matters I had a great visit with younger sister today. We pretty much pick up dessert, go to lunch and just hang out together. It's warm, comfortable, relaxing and fun. It's probably my best habit. And since I am a creature of habit I hope the weather continues to cooperate for our Wednesday meetings. Kiddo has Friday off and I'm hoping the weather allows me to go get him and we'll bring him home Saturday before we get socked with another snow storm. We have an outrageous amount of snow and I'd like to try to push some of it off of the porch roof but Grampa says no. So I shall be good and not go upstairs with a shovel to push the white stuff off through the three windows over the porch.  I guess it really is okay but I'm a nervous Nelly. The house roof is fine and the garage is pretty good too but the porch picked up a lot of drifting snow.

Well, time to take a shower and start watching some Masterpiece Theatre!

Quote:  Little joys refresh us constantly, like our daily bread and never bring disgust; great ones, like sugar-bread, refresh us briefly, and then bring satiety.   ____Richter

And on the fourth day . . .

Yesterday

Yes, on the fourth day P&D's Pop found his wedding band! The day before our 48th anniversary he had worked outside with the snow blower cleaning up the driveway and when he came in noticed his wedding band was missing. He checked his gloves and I looked around the garage but there was no ring. So, being the economical Yankee he ordered one yesterday on Amazon. This morning as I wakened  he waved his hand to me and there was the ring on his left hand. He had been standing near my seat at the dining room table looking out the window at the birds and happened to look down; there, on the little striped red rug  that holds the stool with my blooming cyclamen he saw his ring on the rug under the lower rung of the stool! Wow, he figures that it fell off Monday morning when he opened the blinds and because it fell on the little rug he never heard it! I said that I rarely clean around that area and he said, "That exposes a glaring problem." He cracks me up. It's a good thing I hadn't decided to use the Dyson on a rare cleaning frenzy! Now I have more reasons not to go overboard being a neatnick.

Grampa is at the school helping out today and I think I'll go out and push the new snow that's falling quite fast across the driveway so when he gets home around lunchtime he won't pack it down with the Hyundai and make it hard to clean up.

Quote:  Some persons do first, think afterward, and then repent forever.   ____Secker

48 years ago . .

A few years ago! We just keep improving with age!

Hard to believe we were married forty-eight years ago this evening. We had both worked on that day and were married in a quiet ceremony at All Hallows Rectory. We'll spend another quiet day in warm and comfortable togetherness today. Couldn't ask for any more blessings than we have; three wonderful big kids, their families and friends and each other. Life is good. We'll go out to a quiet dinner and watch some Husky basketball this evening. Parfait!

Quote:  Good humor is one of the best articles of dress one can wear in society.   ____Thackeray (and at home ____Irene)

Okay, that's it . . .

Oodles of snow birds

Yup, that's it Mother Nature - this is not funny any more. Gees, P&D's Pop is already out with the snowblower after having pushed the snow in front of the garage down to the lawn twice. With the added five or six inches of snow it is now some concoction of freezing rain/sleet so he's trying to stay ahead of it. Whatever it is, it is supposed to last until six this evening. Even the birds are trying to grab a seed and then fly away looking for a protective place to eat! P&D's Pop put some bird seed under the Dodge Ram for them and they're so grateful they aren't even flying away from the sound of the snowblower.

Had a nice Super Bowl Sunday with Oneco friends and another couple from Franklin. We all piled into the Chevy Truck for the ride on some pretty poorly plowed roads to Twin Oaks for a leisurely dinner. The place is always packed but because of the Big Game there were very few people there and we had a great time. Haven't gone to see any brothers or younger sister in ages! May even have to call off my card date with Cousine tomorrow. Grampa has a dentist appointment tomorrow, school, perhaps, and maybe a dinner date, just we two, to celebrate 48 years of married life! Wow, that's another incredible happening. Doesn't seem possible that our kids are already long gone from this old house. Speaking of this old house our nephew and his wife who live in Moosup have bought a new house in Moosup rather than try to update their older home. Can't blame them. They'll have a 10 year old Cape with two acres, a brook for fishing and a pool for all and sundry. They close on the new place next week. Looks like there will be one more house up for sale in Moosup!

Hoping I'll get to see younger sister this week but if the roads are the least bit bad I won't be going anywhere. I do miss seeing our Kiddo but I know he's having a blast playing out in the snow with the neighborhood hoods and helping his Dad plow out driveways - he runs the plow!

Quote:  Could we see when and where we are to meet again, we would be more tender when we bid our friends good-by.   ___Ouida