The Polar Vortex Has Descended Upon Us

I know what you mean Ernestine.  No phone calls from kids here either.  They assume I'm okay until the sheriff or hospital notifies them otherwise, LOL..

A look out my front window this morning revealed this--

16 inches of snow--officially.

That doesn't include the drifts that have occurred

So, I went to my front door to open it and look out and....

I could open it about one inch.

Both front and back doors blocked by at least a foot of snow. 

So, I stuck my camera lens through the opening and took a picture. 

Darlene felt trapped yesterday--well today, I am truly trapped.  Good day to cross stitch or clean house--whichever motivation wins--and we ALL know which one will win, LOL.

My ADHD Tasmanian Devil Snow Shoveler never showed up today.  I am the only person in this park that is still snowed in.  I hope he comes tomorrow or I will have to do some myself.  I just want to clean off my car and start it up and let it run for awhile.

My neighbor Tami, saw me complain on FB about being trapped by the snow packed up on my storm door, so when she was out shoveling her drive, she came over.  Made a path from the street up to my porch and cleaned off the steps, the porch and the snow up on my door.  When I first opened up the storm door, I actually got a feeling that I was free.  I sound like Darlene, LOL.

Now we under the wind chill warning.  It was 9 degrees when I got up--the temps continued to drop and it is now -16.  I have no idea what the wind chill is, but probably near -30.

My house has been making loud popping sounds as the siding contracts.  One was so loud, it raised me off my chair and sent the cats running under the bed.  It sounded like my whole east wall had fallen off the house.  I hope the cement foundation doesn't heave--it has before--that really causes a problem because then, none of the closet doors will shut and the front door will get gee hawed and not open very easily.  Our homes sit on cement blocks, on a cement pad, so if the cement heaves, the whole house gets unleveled and it is very costly to get them leveled again.

Well--let's see what tomorrow brings--okay?

13.5--So Far.

This morning--only 6 inches of snow.

My dear snow removal guy showed up--this time with a snow blower.

 Dear Dan is 47 and has ADHD.  

He goes at any job as fast as he can

When he comes in to get paid, he talks a mile a minute

and he talks forever!  But--he is funny and I like him.

A good thing because--I think I will be seeing a lot of him this winter..

Glad I filled the feeder yesterday as I had a crowd all day. 

This is a standing flower pot I have in my front garden.

It is at least 5 feet tall--so you can see how high the

snow drift is and the foot of snow on the top

This evening when I looked out.

Car is almost completely snowed in. 

13.5 inches

 ...and a picture I just took of my front (computer) room windows.

That is snow blown up on the windows

What all this means is---I have had a couple of lovely days, watching sports and movies and cross stitching to my heart's content.  Still not motivated to clean up this room--maybe tomorrow?  Maybe not. LOL

The snow is supposed to quit around 4 a.m.  I have no place to go until Wednesday, so I don't care.  I love it in fact!!!

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Oh, I gotta tell you.  Darlene called at 3:00.

"How long is this suppose to go on?"

"Until early Monday morning."

"Well, it's getting to me!  I don't like it.  I can't get my back door open there is so much snow on the deck."

"Why do you want to open your back door?"

"What if someone came to my front door and I couldn't get passed them and needed to escape out my back door?"

<Good Grief!>

"Ah--in the first place, who would come to your door that you needed to escape from?  And in the second place, no one is out driving in this blizzard, so no one is going to come to your front door."

"I heard that my daughter was coming to the area this weekend.  What if she comes out here and tries to cause trouble?"

"She's coming here?"

"Yes--to East Lansing."

"Well--Indianapolis is getting this same snow storm, so she won't be going to East Lansing.  Secondly, East Lansing isn't in this area--it is at least thirty-five miles west of here and IF she is there, she certainly is not going to be out driving down the expressway to come and harass you."

"Well--I don't like the fact that I can't get out and drive my car.  I went out and started it just to make sure it would start."

"I thought you just got a new battery for it."

"I did, but I don't trust it, so I had to make sure it wasn't too cold."

"Well, right now, it's 27 degrees out and that isn't cold enough to hurt the battery and cause it not to start."

"Okay."

"Besides, you don't want to be out driving in this kind of weather."

"Well--I don't like being imprisoned!"

<Good Grief!!>

"You aren't imprisoned.  Do you need something?  Are you out of water or food?"

"No."

"Well, just relax.  Take an Ativan, put your feet up and watch a nice movie.  You'll be fine."

"I just want to be able to go for a drive---if I want too."

"You don't want too.  You get out there on the roads and get stuck or slide into the ditch and you would be in big trouble.  You are much safer right where you are."

"Do you think our roof will cave in from all the snow?"

"Not likely."

"What if the power goes out?"

"I've lived here almost eleven years and that has never happened."

"Yeah but--what if it did?"

"Darlene--you have no control over the weather or what happens because of the weather.  Go in your bedroom, lay down and talk to Jesus in the Chair."  (She has a chair by her bed that she swears Jesus sits in and talks to her at night.)

"Then--you aren't worried?"

"No.  Not at all.  They will have us plowed out by morning.  Grand River will be clear by mid-morning.  You don't have to work tomorrow, so--just relax and it will all be all right."

"But...it's suppose to get down to -35 tomorrow."

"I just heard, that is the wind chill.  The real temperature will be in the single digits, but we will be all right."

"It's just driving me crazy not to be able to get out."

"Well--put on your coat and boots and go outside and go for a walk then.  Come over here."

"I don't want to go out in this cold!"

<Good Grief!!!!!!!>

"Hey--don't forget.  Season four of Downton Abbey starts tonight.  Nine o'clock on PBS--a two hour view.  Let me know what you think of it.  Call me in the morning.  Okay?"

"Okay--if I live through the night!"

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Let's all calm down.  It is winter.  It is Michigan.  We are FINALLY getting a "normal" winter and it is going to be a hard winter this year.  Which--if you think of it--will make our spring and summer gardens even more beautiful than last year.  The past winter's where it stayed above freezing, were not good for our perennials or our spring bulbs.

This is a geological cycle--global warming--which causes harsher winters and hotter summers.  Just relax and don't forget to...breathe.  What else can you do?

Let it snow!!!!!

Once Again--with Feeling

Today's high temperature was: 30 balmy degrees

Sunny

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Everyone is freaking out about the weather.  I think it is more a "normal" winter, than we've had in a long time.  We had winters like this when I was a kid.  In fact, in 1978 we had 25 inches of snow, overnight and during the day.  My hubby had to stay at the shop in Flint because he could not get home--he arrived 2 days later.  We had so much ice on the road in front of the house, that he and the kids went out and skated up to my Dad's farm.  We thought it was great fun!

Tonight we are getting about 3 inches of snow.  Tomorrow afternoon, it will start again and we will get an additional 6 inches.  My buddy Dan, my snow shoveling out person, will hopefully arrive on Monday morning and earn his $10.  But if he doesn't--I don't need to go anywhere until Wednesday, so......
=======================

...I just watch TV and cross stitch or once in awhile, do some housework--not too much. However, this computer room is so disheveled and dusty that one of these day..........I just might clean it up.

All the wonderful football Bowl Games have given me plenty of time to stitch.

my school.

Filled up the bird feeders today, ran up to the Wal-Mart and got some Diet Pepsi, Milk and Cat food.  We are ready.  Bring it on!!

As long as the power stays on, we will be fine.  Expected to be -30 on Monday.  

It's A Tad Cold

Sunny and -7 degrees!

This is what I accomplished yesterday--this and nothing much else :-)

Got the outhouses put behind the school--the cemetery where 4 generations of ancestor's sleep and the Burns Township  hall.

The school is now a house--the one I wanted to rent last August, on the corner.  The Township Hall has been torn down and it's land is now a new part of the cemetery.

NOW--I have to figure out how to create my school--don't quite know how I'm going to do that.

=====================

Good football game last night--Oklahoma (15 point under dog) beat Alabama!  I was so happy as I dislike the Alabama coach--who coached for a time at MSU and then basically deserted them.  

Tonight is Ohio State against Clemson.  I will be rooting for Ohio State as they are a Big Ten team and....I don't even know where Clemson is located, LOL.

Victory for MSU

Today's high temperature: 17 degrees

4 inches of snow

=============================

There's nothing quite like being an underdog and winning the game.  Our best lineman, Max Bullough was suspended for the Rose Bowl game.  His replacement Kevin Elsworth, who rarely gets to play, came in and took over and won the game with that last stoppage of the Stanford running back.

Been a Spartan fan since I was 12.

Through all the lean years, I loved them.

When the University of Michigan taunted us and called us

Little Brother, I loved the Spartans.

When our coach went into the empty Rose Bowl last May

and did a small video, telling the team that we would be

there on January 1st, because "it is our time",

he wasn't kidding!

The other leagues, the Pack 12, the SEC

 call the Big Ten, losers, but today

we proved we are not!!!

(I think Fred put in a good word

for us)  :-)

This has been a good year to be a Spartan fan--we haven't had many like this one.  And now--on to Basketball and looking forward to the Final Four in the NCAA tournaments in March!!

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I have been cross stitching almost constantly the last couple of days.

I told you I finished this farm, the one I grew up on.

Today, I finished up my Grandma's farm--where I raised my children.  I managed to make the

stone front of the house, look like stone.

January 1, 2014

<sigh>

T'was The Day Before The Day

They tell us we can expect 5.8 inches of snow on New Year's Day

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Marcia, thanks so much for letting me know the kids liked the book.  So far, I have had only good reviews from the kids that have it.  :-)

I always wanted a Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I got one about 6 years ago--very expensive.  Two years ago, I had to get a new clutch, belt and brushes, plus two filters put into it= $175.00.  You cannot change the belt and brush by yourself.  Lately I had noticed that it no longer seemed to be picking up the cat litter or anything else, for that matter, so yesterday, I took it to the store to get repaired.  The owner was waiting on a customer, so I looked around at some of the floor models of vacuums.  There was Oreck, Hoover, Riccar and Dyson.  I noticed over in a corner, three Dyson's just like mine--they all had repair tags on them.  I talked to the owner a bit and asked about the Dyson's.  He said, "I'd be out of business if it wasn't for Dyson repairs."

SAY WHAT??

"I thought Dyson was supposed to be the best."

"No way!  They are highly over rated and very expensive."

"Well--I have one out in my car that needs to be repaired...again."

He went out and brought it in for me.

"Yep," he said.  "Needs another clutch, a new brush and belt."

I walked over and looked at an Oreck.

 Then he said, "This machine here is a really good one and a great price, plus it is on sale until the new year."

I looked at it.  Riccar.

"I've never even heard of this brand."

"It's made in the US--Missouri.  In my opinion, it beats any other vacuum I have in this store.  It's got a belt and brush you can replace yourself and the best suction I have ever seen."

He went on to say that most carpet manufacturer's won't honor the warranty on their carpet if you use a Dyson--"The brush on a Dyson will rip out the pile and carpet fibers."

So I came home with a pretty blue Riccar vacuum cleaner and spent the rest of the afternoon vacuuming every inch of carpeting in this house and boy--he was right!!  He also gave me a 5 year maintenance warranty for free.  I can take it in every year and he will clean it and check it all over to make sure it is all right--free.

I didn't quite believe him about the carpet companies not liking Dyson, so I called the local carpet store when I got home and asked.  Sure enough.  If you use a Dyson to vacuum your new carpeting--they will not honor the warranty on the carpet, if something wears.

Then, I Googled, "5 best vacuums" and came upon this presentation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFECvZOal14   very interesting.

So--my New Year's resolution is not to use the charge card for anything in 2014--put the vacuum on it, but it was still 2013, LOL.
==========================
As an adult, I never liked New Year's Eve.  We either had a party or went to a party or dance--I was ALWAYS the Designated Driver as I never drank. I had fun dancing and all, but everyone else got so drunk!  I never got so many "hits ons" by my friend's husband's as I did on New Years Eve.  Of course, they were drunk, so I excused them for their actions.  But, I always felt uneasy around them for a couple of months after that.  They, being drunk, could always use the excuse that they "didn't remember"--I never bought that for a minute.  Anyway--as the midnight hour drew near, there was cheering and laughing and whooping and hollering and I--just felt sad.  Another year out of my life, is the way I felt--still do.  Then I had to drive the drunks home and stop the car at any given moment so they could open the doors and heave.  At least, I got the bed all to myself that night--my hubs was curled around the porcelain throne, sleeping on the cold bathroom floor.  

I had a pretty rough 2013, so I guess I might look forward to a better year in 2014, but, being the worrier and pessimist that I naturally am--I don't put much hope in this next year.  I think it is just going to be harder then the past one--something is telling me that.

At least my Spartan's are playing in the Rose Bowl, for the first time in 25 years, so that is one good thing to look forward to on New Year's Day.
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My cross stitch is progressing.  I am now working on my Grandma's farm--the one where I raised my children from 1967 to 1988.  The house sure was hard to do.  I couldn't make the stone front look like stones--still pondering on how to do that.  Real hard to outline the squares to look like stones.

Have a Happy New Year!