Rice on Your Head
My husband is still in a death struggle with the shop computer. I thought there was a TV problem, and then an Internet problem, yesterday. I finally found out after dinner that it was a HUSBAND problem. HE had made it so the TV didn’t work and my computer didn’t work so that he could hopefully increase the download speed for stuff he was trying to get on the shop computer. Communication is one of the things that has suffered since his strokes.
ANYWAY, we talked about it and agreed that I would have at least a short time at the computer today before he turned everything else off again for the day. Hopefully he will get all the stuff he needs on the shop computer today and he can continue to tweak it however he wants and I can get back to normal.
It’s rainy again today, so I won’t be spending much time outside. Amber came up to greet me this morning while I was making the bed. I pet her and she was SOAKED. I got a towel and dried her off the best I could before coming downstairs. She really doesn’t seem to mind. Her hair is thick enough she might not even realize how wet she is! She greeted me with a huge smile, so I guess HER morning is off to a fun start.
I hope that your day is a good one. Once I do a couple more posts, I’ll watch for you again tomorrow.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises
“Keep your faith in beautiful things;
in the sun when it is hidden,
in the Spring when it is gone.” Roy R. Gibson
Earth.com
Quora
I’m thankful today that the precipitation we’re due to get all day today and tomorrow is JUST rain. No snow, sleet, ice, or severe storms – no flying hair balls – JUST rain.
As soon as it’s time for our mail to have been delivered, we’ll check to see if the trash people have made our trash disappear this week. They didn’t last week, I assume because of the weather. I would imagine that if the school buses can’t make it around up here, neither can the trash trucks, mail delivery, etc. Hopefully, they’ll get it today.
My husband is in a ‘death fight’ with the computer that lives in our shop. I’m not sure WHY it’s a death fight, but he has spent hours and hours putting a new operating system on it, new video card, etc., getting more and more upset because it isn’t working. He plays music on it when he’s working in the shop. Since we haven’t been out there, except to get tools or mailbox decorations, I’m not sure why everything else has taken a back seat to this, but it has made it so that he can’t sleep at night and then sleeps on and off during the day. I’m glad he can get his rest, but I wish he would take a more measured approach to this.
I hope that the weather is not a problem where you are today and that this is a nice Tuesday for you.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
This is the flying pig we had hanging from a line up high over one side of the driveway. Since he fell onto the driveway during the recent snow storm, he has been moved to the shop, waiting for some long-needed refurbishment after hanging out in the weather for several years now. He needs new eyes, a total rework of his mouth and nose, and a repaint. I’m dragging my feet a little because I’m trying to find a good time to strongly suggest that we anchor him to a boulder beside the driveway, rather than trying to hang him up again. He’s really heavy, and I don’t want my husband trying to do this when all I can do is stand nearby, holding my breath and worrying trying to be ready to drive him to the ER if the worst happens.
Since I wrote this morning, we took our trash down to the bottom of the driveway. There we found our trash from last week, just as we left it, in the humongous can the company provides. I guess the ice storm made it impossible for them to do their work. We’ll check it tomorrow after the time they normally pick up, and see if it’s still there. If so, I’ll have to call the company. We got our mail, took other mail to leave at the post office, then the bank, then the local grocery where we indulged ourselves by bringing home fish dinners for lunch. Then a nap, and the day is half gone!
We may be the last people on the planet to see this, but the last two evenings we’ve been watching “1883,” the prequel to “Yellowstone.” We moved the last disc for the show to first in our queue last night and hope to be able to watch it very soon.
Another really rich story with strong characters typical of Taylor Sheridan’s work, fleshing out the John Dutton clan. Another thing that was fun, other than seeing Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, plus new to ME actors Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett and others, were the guest stars that just suddenly were there, like Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Taylor Sheridan himself. The quality of the acting is really, really impressive. If you haven’t seen this prequel yet, I highly recommend it. I should have brought more tissues. I can’t stand it when Sam Elliot tears up.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle … a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream.” ~ Barbara Winkler
This won’t happen for awhile, but I’m enjoying dreaming about it. Each year I try to get head lettuce and then several other leaf lettuces to add variety to our salads. I also try to get spinach plants, and of course, tomato plants. Otherwise, I experiment. I grow radishes from seed, celery from cutting off the bottoms of celery I buy at the store and then replant when they sprout in water. I like to grow some sweet onions. My cauliflower and broccoli grow lots of leaves, but I haven’t had much success in growing the edible parts yet. I’ve had mixed results on squash. Maybe I’ll try some herbs on my kitchen counter this year, as well.
A little at a time, I’m thinking about what I want to start with this spring. I would love to be able to supply all of our friends with nice veggies straight from the garden.
I’m thinking about all this now because we can finally negotiate our driveway, and the ice is almost completely gone. We still have areas that could use more chain-saw work, but we’re able to drive up and down without a problem now.
I’ll get out my last planning sheets and see if I can figure out the best places to put the new spring plants. It seems funny to talk about ‘crop rotation’ in chest-high 4’x4′ wooden planters, but it’s just as important here as in humongous commercial farms.
I hope you’re enjoying a beautiful day.
Filed under Gardening, Seasons, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Anna Pokrzywnicka
Christine Cummings Ceramics
fineartamerica.com
carved canteen vase – welburngourdfarm.com
Holly Storlie-dailypaintworks.com
Twilight in the Wilderness-Frederick Church
saatchiart.com
The First Snow-Andrey Tutunov-urgetocreate.tumblr.com
Filed under Favorite Things
Jade Wheaton Lewis
A SHORT HISTORY: We married in 1969. Between then and 1977, we lost three babies to miscarriages. (Rh Factor) In 1978 we had our son. In ’79, we lost another baby to miscarriage. In ’80 we had our daughter and our family was complete. Two months later, on February 5,1981, we lost our daughter, Jade, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the unexplained death, usually during sleep, of a seemingly healthy baby less than a year old. SIDS is sometimes known as crib death because the infants often die in their cribs.” The peak incidence of SIDS occurs between 1 – 4 months of age; 90% of cases occur before 6 months of age. Babies continue to be at risk for SIDS up to 12 months.”
She was “perfect,” and she was gone. Our minister said, “Jade was born, lived a little while, and then died.” I couldn’t listen to more.
The pain was so intense that we both seriously considered suicide, then decided we had to live for each other and for our son. I read everything I could find on SIDS, and discovered the experts knew very little about it – why it happens or what can be done to prevent it. The experts also told us we were lucky that our son was only 2 – that he wouldn’t understand or remember it. Soon after we lost her, he took Jade’s blanket across the room to the trash can, threw it in and said, “Broken.” So much for the experts.
Lasting effects –
There ARE some positive effects, though –
A really frustrating thing is that the experts know little more now than they did 42 years ago about SIDS. There are now baby monitors that are very helpful to parents. The experts now suggest that babies sleep on their backs. I haven’t found anything more about the shots that babies get at two months. I will never forget, though, that our pediatrician came out to the house when he heard we had lost her, and cried with us.
I hope that one day I will see Jade again, finding that her spirit is healthy and happy; and that one day the mystery of SIDS is solved.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Family, love
“In the coldest February,
As in every other month in every other year,
The best thing to hold on to is each other.” (Linda Ellerbee)
Unsplash
Filed under love
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, Peter Swanson Pottery
Depositphotos
It’s beautifully sunny this morning and the ice is finally thawing! My husband decided yesterday he would drive down the driveway – ‘damn the torpedoes – full speed ahead!’ and get the mail. He actually made it back safely. He did say it was too slick to do anything about the big trash can we’ve left down there since Monday for Tuesday pickup. Since it’s supposed to get to 58 this afternoon, we should get a bunch of thawing today. We’ll plan to get out and replenish supplies tomorrow afternoon.
We’ve spent almost 3 weeks now, supplying one day and then being trapped on top of our ridge line for the following week, one week at a time. I’m hoping that we can just settle down now and have the REGULAR Arkansas winter for at least a bit. I’m still feeling extremely lucky that our systems and back-up systems worked to keep us pretty comfortable through all this. When things dry out enough, we’ll move firewood into the holder in the garage so we’ll have plenty of firewood for more fires, if needed.
My husband didn’t mention any problems getting down or up the driveway yesterday, so I guess that means we didn’t have any more limbs or trees blocking our way due to the ice storm. We’ll still need to neaten up more from the quick and dirty job we did of chain-sawing things down that prevented our passage after the heavy, wet snow brought so many trees and limbs down the week before last. We can do that a bit at a time, though.
The sunshine brings my spirits up after all the cold, cloudy, and grim we’ve had. I’ll take some time and see if I can walk around outside today, smiling up at the sky.
Other than cheering on the beautiful day, I’ll make my husband’s request for chili for dinner tonight and continue working on our tax records. Be still, my heart. :0)
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Leashrly Life
Why am I like this? I’m far too old for it to be ‘cute’ anymore. I KNOW one thing in my head, but I ACT differently. I set myself up for failure by my all-or-nothing attitude, rather than taking things I want to change ONE STEP AT A TIME and then treating any problems/lapses/mistakes/weakness as an excuse to throw the day away, rather than looking at it and deciding to handle it differently next time. It’s embarrassing.
Yesterday I did well on my eating until my husband got out some chips after dinner. I wasn’t even particularly hungry, but like a lemming, I went into the pantry and got some chips, too. THEN, to compound the weakness, I proceeded to beat myself up mentally and emotionally.
I’m either ready for House Beautiful Magazine to come in and photograph or you can see tufts of dog hair wafting around as you walk across the dining area tiles.
I read a couple of articles yesterday on making improvements. It stressed not taking everything on at one time – making SMALL changes one at a time and building on that. I am TRYING to taking that to heart and practice that.
Filed under Attitude
When I posted about some really nice 3-D embroidery awhile back, Carol Jansons wrote to me, explaining a bit of how it was done and sending me some examples of her own work. I was really impressed. I’m delighted to tell you that I got her permission to share a couple of examples of her work with you. :0)
Truly impressive, lovely work by Carol Jansons. Thanks for letting me share, Carol.
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, Peter Swanson Pottery
Tenor GIF Keyboard
We’re supposed to get to 50 today, so we’ll finally get some much-needed thawing. Our driveway, of course, will be the last thing to thaw, so I’m hoping that we won’t need to deal with whatever has broken, fallen, or is hanging into the driveway until at least tomorrow.
This looks like snow, but it’s ice – tiny ice pellets now frozen together. You can HEAR Amber run across the yard.
I’m making a point of not trying to have any contact with this stuff. It’s super slippery. Our driveway pad is pretty clear now, but even before you get to the edge of it, there is still pretty thick ice. Mother Nature will need to get serious with the warmer temperatures before we have any chance of even LOOKING at the driveway.
Women’s Health
My BIL and SIL in Charlotte are driving today to get the new furbaby they are adopting. I’m so happy for them, even though they’ll have their hands full with new dog, adapting her to their home and lifestyle, plus teaching her to get along with their cat. Their lives will be richer and they’re excellent rescue parents.
Women’s Health
A shout-out to my dear friend Marsha. We met online almost 20 years ago. She listed her gorgeous pottery on Creative Artworks, my website. We’ve actually met face-to-face only once when my husband and I were in Florida for some reason. She came to our hotel and took me for an amazing afternoon. I think we could have talked forever. I just smiled and smiled. Our friendship has only grown, even though I closed the website down years ago. She changed from pottery to jewelry, excelling at THAT, too. I hope we’ll be friends forever.
Unknown
I hope that your Friday is a nice one, with a fun weekend to follow.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“From December to March, there are for many of
us three gardens:
the garden outdoors,
Visit Pasadena
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
Vegetable Gardening Online
and the garden of the mind’s eye.”
Apartment Therapy
Filed under Gardening
Mark Twain – Bay Art
“Ice Accretion” – The process by which a layer of ice (icing) builds up on solid objects that are exposed to freezing precipitation or to supercooled fog or cloud droplets. At the earth’s surface this usually refers to glaze formation, and the amount of ice can be roughly measured by an ice-accretion indicator.
I had never heard this term before. We not only have ‘accretion,’ we have what appears to be snow, but isn’t. It’s about 3 inches of SLEET now hardened on everything. We MAY get more until around noon today and THEN we’re supposed to start getting a bit of thawing. I”ll believe THAT when I see it.
I was amazed this morning that I could HEAR Amber walking around on the ice – another first. In another day or so we’ll be able to walk out in the yard far enough to see the state of our driveway. I admit I’m not looking forward to THAT, either. We moved to Arkansas about 36 years ago because of a new job for my husband. We thought the winters would be mild. Most of the time, they are, with only 3-4 inch snows that are soon gone. Every once in a while, though, Mother Nature laughs at us, dumping a nightmare on us.
We’ve been lucky. We have learned to prepare with backup systems for everything really important, so we’re not totally dependent on public power or water, and we stock up so we can be stranded up here for a good while.
I’m more than ready for spring this year, and winter has really just gotten started. I’ll be very grateful when we thaw and can get out again. I hope you’re staying warm and safe during this.
Filed under Seasons
Carol Jansons sent me an email with photos of stunningly beautiful churches from all around the world. They were really amazing.
Borgund Stave Church, Norway
This one appealed to me the most. It calls to me, somehow. This looks like a place where the whole community has shared the best of times and the saddest of times for years and years. A place of sanctuary, where you can go for help when you hurt, or to celebrate when something wonderful is starting.
Since the Internet is such a wonderful place, I was able to find more photos of this to share with you.
ArchEyes
ArchEyes
Visit Norway
workingbyhand.wordpress.com
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive, Wooden Church
We are totally iced in and the temperature is 28 degrees F. The forecast is for yet ANOTHER ice storm from about noon today until noon tomorrow. I just contacted everyone, telling them we won’t be able to make it to Lunch Bunch this Friday. Maybe we’ll thaw out by a WEEK from Friday.
I haven’t even tried to see if we have more limbs and trees down in the driveway. It’s like a skating rink outside. It LOOKS like snow, but it’s little bitty ice pellets. I just let Amber out. She tried to run, but fell down, sliding. I waited about 5 minutes, then went to the garage to call her. She came around the house, ‘running carefully,’ if that’s possible.
I suggested last night to my husband that he NOT put Amber on the leash when he took her for her last outing, worrying that she might pull him just at the wrong time and make him slip and fall on the ice. He actually LISTENED and did what I asked! She took care of everything quickly and both got back inside in one piece.
It’s hard to believe that we are facing yet another ‘significant’ ice storm above what we already have. The good news is that if we live through this, the weather is supposed to improve a LOT with highs in the 40’s, 50’s, and even 60’s by the end of the week! HOORAY!!!!!!!
My husband and I haven’t killed each other yet. He, as usual, does a combination of things that melt my heart and other things that make me want to dig a hole in the back yard to throw him in. For example, last night he said, “Thank you for my life.” He went on to say there is no one in the world he would rather be iced in with. Yeah. NICE.
On the other hand, I heard a crash this morning while I was in the office. I jumped up to find out what had happened, worried that he fell and was hurt. He was sitting at the dining area table, calmly drinking coffee. He had TOSSED the Corelle plate he had been using under the dog gate so that Amber could lick it. THAT’S what I heard. I glared at him, looking at me innocently, explaining that my heart had stopped when I heard the crash. Just another day in the life of the Lewises.
I hope you are safe and warm.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
creativeartworksblog 