HAIRCUT THURSDAY

Looking up at Bearwallow mountain on the way to school early this morning the evidence of yesterday's snowfall is still there.

The temperature was 28 again this morning and the wind is still breezy causing it to feel much colder.
After chores I took Dolly to the groomers at 9:30 and stayed in town to get all my weekly business done before lunch.
After lunch I called Markeeta my hair dresser and went over there for a haircut. It is always nice to catch up with Markeeta, we have been friends for a long,long time and enjoy talking.
I came home and she went out to the high school to watch a preview of a play her daughter wrote.
I thought the groomer would have called by now but while I waited I got all the Easter and spring decorations out of the attic.
This is my sunroom table tanks again to Claudia for the center piece tulips !

Other decorations are repeats form years past but I think they are still special.

And I am still using my painted curly willow with some more spring/Easter flowers.

After I got all this done still no call to pick up Dolly. I shouldn't have taken her in so early. Usually I take her about 11:00 and go pick her up at 4:00.
Finally I got a call about 3:45 that she was ready. Another trip to town for me today and right at he busiest time of day.
She looks beautiful in her new do !!

She doesn't co-operate very well when I want to take photos of her.
After evening chores and a quick supper hubbie and I headed up to #2 son's house to help him put a new part on his heat pump.
He has been running emergency heat waiting for this mother board to come in and unfortunately that didn't fix his pump. So he is still running on emergency heat and is going to call another repairman tomorrow. I picked up some more tax papers while I was up there.
Hubbie and I made it home just in time to watch Swamp People on TV.
Today has been a deceiving day,if you looked outside at the bright sunshine you would have expected it to be much warmer than it actually was. The temperature got up to 48 but the chill factor of the wind stayed in the low 30's . I poured about 3/4 inch of rain from the gauge after the storm that passed through yesterday.
Thankful to a loving Lord for the blessings of today.
Good Night and God Bless.

A SNOW DAY

Got a surprise call at 5:30 this morning saying school was closed for the day. I looked around for hubbie who is usually leaving for work about this time and he was coming back to bed,deciding the roads looked to bad to chance it until about 10:00.
We both needed an extra snooze today anyway.
There wasn't but a dusting around but at 24 degrees every flake that fell is still here.

D-in-love doesn't get out on the slick roads either so she waited until #1 son who works this area in his DOT sand and salt truck got to our road.
Another friend of d-in-love's from church needed a sitter for g-son's friend so I kept him also today. They both arrived about 9:00 and set right into a hard days playtime.

They played very well together without needing a referee's interference much at all. But by the end of N's stay they are, after all "boys" !!!

I enjoyed having a playmate for g-son on this cold,snowy day.
N's mom brought me this beautiful pot of tulips to show her appreciation when she came to pick him up.

Which was totally unnecessary but you all know how I love flowers and plants so thanks C, I love them and you and your kids !
While the boys played I had some time to watch the hungry little birds around the feeders.

Each year a sure sign of spring is the return of the Red Winged Blackbird to my feeders. Today as I watched the flurry of activity they appeared.

Out in the horse pasture I saw a flock of what I thought was the dreaded Starling return but a closer look and the definite red hue when they took off let me know all these were Red Winged Blackbirds also.

If you click on the picture you will see all the red flashes on each bird's wing.
They finally got brave enough to come into the back yard.

I love to listen to them talk to one another from the tree tops around our farm. I know these guys will surely be glad for the warmer weather that we are promised for the weekend after a day of below freezing temps for much of today. The temperature finally got up to 34 degrees late this afternoon just before another snow shower moved into our area.

As I went outside to do the evening chores I could see the snow coming across the mountains as they each disappeared in a white out against the snowy sky. It didn't last long and the sunshine melted each tiny flake away as soon as it fell. The wind is whipping making being outside long at all  very unpleasant. The tree tops are sure bending and whipping around,we are hoping none of them fall onto our power lines.
After #1 son and g-son left and hubby came in from work we hurried through all our outside duties and got inside to hunker down in the warm house. Sadly each cold night like this I think of all the homeless folks out in the cold fighting for their life to stay warm. One of the news reporters from the local TV station said today as they did their newscast they had ran across a homeless man who had wrapped himself in plastic and rolled up behind a rock pile to get out of the wind.
Hubbie and I watched a UNC/Maryland ball game tonight which UNC won and I did the weekly paperwork and payed bills between the game and Survivor.
I can still hear the wind blowing but not as hard as it was earlier,the temperature at 10:30 is 30 degrees.
Thanking God tonight for the blessing of a loving family and friends and a warm home.
Good Night and God Bless.

TUESDAY AGAIN ????

Is it Tuesday already ??  Seems like it was just yesterday that I was doing laundry and housework on last Tuesday !
A dreary morning made staying inside more bareable so after getting g-son to school and getting chores done I settled in for a day of work.
The first of the month wash day always has several extra loads of laundry. As I worked I thought about all the rainy days we have had lately and imagined what if the temperature had been just a lttle colder !!  Today's temp is mid 40's with a light drizzle all day.
As I sat in the car rider line to pick up g-son a few snowflakes drifted down even in the above freezing temperatures.
G-son was in a really good mood this afternoon. He ate and played until his dad picked him up.
The rain started pouring down just as chore time rolled around. I got drenched while outside.
All the animals were glad to get inside their houses for their supper and  to bed down for the cold wet night.
Our area has been taken out of the watches and warnings except the high wind advisory for the next 48 hours.

The snowline is really close to us so we will see what happens when we wake up tomorrow morning.
Grateful to God tonight for the grace He shows me each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

DAY OF WAITING

Hubbie took g-son to school while I let out the dogs and fed and watered the chickens. I was stretching some netting over top of my Silkie lot when hubbie came up and helped me drive some nails around to hang the netting on. I don't want to loose another silkie from a hawk attack. The lot is totally covered in the netting so if anything tries to fly down they will become entangled in the net.
If it snows I will have to take it down but it should be fine otherwise.With the black shimmer it gives off I'm sure it will scare off intruders.
I came inside and had breakfast then did some exercises while hubbie worked outside. We have a long list of errands to run but need to wait on the DOT man before we leave.He said he would try to be here before lunch.
I went through all my photos for decade pics for March. I realized this will be the 20th anniversary of the "blizzard of '93", that will be a long post !
By lunch time we were both beginning to doubt that we would get our list of errands done today. Finally about 2pm he came with the checks for the land they bought.
We took off to town as soon as he left to get to the bank and meet up with #2 son to give him his.
There wasn't time for anything else so we left town and picked up g-son from school. He went with us to Walmart  and Sam's Club to at least get some of our list taken care of.
We offered g-son a slice of his favorite pizza in Sam's but he turned it down to wait for mac and cheese at home. When we got here he ate 2 platefuls !
Dad picked him up and hubbie and I did chores and had some fresh steamed broccoli and corn on the cob I found at the grocery.
I did a  little paperwork and then worked on my blog book tonight to finish off an uneventful day.
The weather keeps looking less and less threatening for our area with the heavy snow warnings moving more north with each forecast.
Grateful to God tonight for the blessings of another wonderful day.
Good Night and God Bless.

CHILLY RESTFULL SUNDAY

A cold morning greeted me as I rushed through chores to get ready for church.
Church was good and everyone made it to a spaghetti lunch afterwards. It's so nice to have these weekly visits with everyone present.
I decided to spend a cold afternoon inside my office getting the shredding done once and for all.
I surfaced only to watch the UNC/FL. State basket ball game which UNC won.
Hubbie had a deacon's meeting at 4:00 that lasted almost 1 1/2 hours.  While he was gone I did chores and found one of my little Silkie hens dead inside the lot. She was partially eaten, I layed her outside to show hubbie to see what he thought had gotten to her.
When he came in and saw it we looked and found the feathers where it had been killed inside the lot. He thinks a hawk probably got in there and killed it but don't know why it didn't carry it off.
Scarily we think whatever did it and got a free meal will definitely be back.
Tonight I did my month ending paperwork and officially put February 2013 in the books. I enjoy working in my newly arranged office and it's nice to have all the files caught up now.
The wind tonight is howling out there and the temperature at 10:00 is 25 degrees,brrrrr!!!
I look forward to the end of the week for the weather but not for the time change !!

We are so far from normal each week I don't think we have a normal anymore.

I am looking forward to snuggling down in a nice warm bed tonight in just a little while as I sit here at the computer feeling the cold wind come in around the window above me.
Grateful to God for the blessing of His undying love for all His children tonight.
Good Night and God Bless.

SNOWY START TO THIS SATURDAY

Just as the sun came up this morning there was a pretty good amount of snow around.
I listened to the local news on the radio alarm beside the bed thinking they would announce that market was closed today. Not hearing anything I got up and got dressed and ready to go. I headed into the kitchen to cut and wrap some of the cakes I iced last night. To my surprise when I looked outside all the snow had already melted. The thermometer said 34 degrees.
Market was slow today but I'm thankful for what I did sell on a cold windy day like this. Kate,daughter's "little sister" came by to see me and pick up a couple cakes to take back to college in Greensboro.
After market I made a couple stops for sale items plus some new ink for my printer with a coupon for Staples,made it home around 3:00.
After  a short rest I did chores early before the ominous looking dark clouds rolled in and the snow flurries started again in a cold wind.
Daughter took her church youth group to a place called Moonshine Mountain today for an afternoon of snow tubing fun. D-in-love and g-son went along as well and g-son had a blast riding those tubes down that icy slope.
When they got home she and #1 son brought g-son over here so they could have a date night of dinner and movie.
G-son is in a very good mood tonight after having a good supper,he and Pawpaw are taking turns watching their favorite shows on the TV in the living room. I  went to watch the Duke/Miami basketball game on the bedroom TV. Dollie and Bernie think we have retired for the night,as they are snuggled down in the nice warm bed beside me.
Daughter called as she drove home asking what the vision fissures I have with my migriane headaches look like.Unfortunately she had them after the afternoon of snow tubing,but the fissures went away when she ate supper with the group. She was driving home and said she felt like she was going to have a really bad migraine. I told her to try the heat/cold method I have started using when I get them. I hate that she has the vision fissures as her busy lifestyle isn't going to be an easy place to deal with these.Talked to her later tonight and she was sleeping and had gotten over the headache,thankfully.
As I relax tonight I give thanks to God for the blessings He gives me each day. Some times I am so amazed at His goodness and gracousness that I experience it blows me away.
Good Night and God Bless.

THE BIG "30" FOR #2 SON

I can always tell when Friday rolls around with g-son as he is dragging by the end of the week.
I can't say that I blame him, usually I'm in the same boat.
After chores I exercised and started to take a walk outside but cut it short in the very cold,low 30's, cloudy day.
I baked 6 caramel,2 chocolate and 2 pound cakes before lunch.
One way to tell that spring is getting close is my sunroom table takes on new duties with these potted blueberry bushes that hubbie bought last week.

Had a little excitement around here just after lunchtime today as this white truck somehow managed to roll over into the field across the road without hitting anything.The top ,the windshield and the tool box were the only parts damaged in the roll-over.

Evidently no one got hurt as I watched out the living room window it looked like this ambulance left empty.

Ford motor company should have been here for a commercial for the tough ford trucks as a man drove this truck off.
Later #1 son came home and said it looked like the truck clipped the pole with the red tape on it and flipped. Just glad no one got hurt. Hopefully this time next year the road will be straightened and there won't be these accidents.
A call from a friend saying someone was looking through our mailbox later in the afternoon sent me down to check the mail. We had only some junk mail in there so I don't know what a lady who was leaning against our mailboxes reading a paper  was doing when the friend passed by.He said when he turned around and came back by she was walking on out the road.
I spent the afternoon working on my next blog book. I haven't had much time to work on it with everything else going on.
Daughter was involved in a special day with the governor of N.C. Pat McCrory, coming to her elementary school this morning. This is daughter's friend and the principal at the school walking with the governor and the school superintendent. Daughter says she was somewhere in the crowd that was following them.

The most special happening of the day was for #2 son as he turns the "BIG 30" today !!!
This boy has always been a smiling ,happy guy and is one of the most patient even tempered people I have ever known. Wow has it really been 30 years ????

I called him tonight to wish him a happy birthday and he had just gotten home from work at 8:30. He said there was a lot of workers at the post office out sick today. Hope he doesn't catch what ever everyone else has,maybe they just have Fridayitis !!
HAPPY  30th BIRTHDAY  SON  !!!!

I iced my cakes ,washed my eggs and blogged. I am listening to the weatherman say now it is going to snow here tonight and tomorrow.
Thanking God for the blessing of my kids tonight. Praying for their safety and happiness as they go through life.
Good Night and God Bless.