Friends.....Maybe?

Don't you just know that dog would just love to chomp on that kitten? His master is probably standing right there and teling him to STAY!


I have seen this series of pictures before and lost them and tonight got them back again.

I am doing my bi-yearly cat sitting, for Tippie-Canoe, and Tyler-too. (yep, that is their real names) And Tyler has found a safe haven from Sadie...in the back of my closet on top of a comforter. Safe and warm too. Tippie on the other hand has discovered the DVR and perches in it all day long. WHen she gets down off the perch she slowly looks around and if she sees another cat or Sadie, she growls. Does not run, just walks around and growls, as if to say, "I am Kittie, hear me growl!" She is a seal point siamese and older than a kitten but we dont know how old. She is a sweetheart though, and as soon as Bob walks in the door, she is on him like he was cat nip! SOOOO Funny!

Tyler is the kitten that was adopted with Tippie. They found each other in the cat store, and were inseparable! Tyler is NOT Tippies kitten, but they both think he is. He is just over a year old and a big black sweet baby boy! He purrs and drools all over you. HE puts his nose right up against my arm and starts purring and making "mud-pies" and just goes limp. THat is until Sadie discovers that I have him on my lap, then it is black streak followed by blonde streak, followed by GRRRRRRRRRR as Tippie runs after them both to save her baby. My house is like Disneyland to them. Dottie says they LOVE to come over here when she goes back east.

Loki and Sadie play chase all over the house, and will settle down with the rest of the animals and cozy up to each other in front of the fire.

Once the fire place is warm and the spot in front of it is warm too, then all bets are off as to who is the aggressor and who is the victim. Who ever gets the warm spot first wins. Then all is calm in the Chandler household, and peace once again prevails.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve thoughts...

Christmas is a time for reflection. At least always has been for me in my adult years. When I was a very young adult not yet married, I loved Christmas Eve. I still lived at home, but I worked and I had my own car. I would save my money and go shopping on Christmas Eve. Oak Harbor was a lot different then, it only had one main street, Pioneer Way, and the stores were built out over the water on the South side. These were the old style buildings with wooden floors and high false fronts. The Christmas lights would be strung zig-zag from one side of the street to the other.

There were not many stores of note in town, there was the Co-op which later became the Pioneer Dept store, which carried EVERYTHING including piece goods. There was the shoe store, 3 drug stores, a coast to coast hardware store and two dime stores. That was just about it. None of these big box stores, and no strip malls. This was the mid 60’s, and we were a sleepy little town. I would buy a gift for all of my friends, even though it wasn’t much, a hanky or a scarf or a box of dusting powder. It did not matter. I felt so good about being able to save money and do this.

I would get all my shopping done, then go home and wrap the gifts. I always went to Christmas Eve Services at the Methodist Church, and gave all my gifts to my friends there. After Church services, we would have a cup of hot cocoa, and then head home to wait for “Santa”.

We lived in Coupeville, and my bedroom was on the second floor of an old Victorian home. It looked out over the field to the county courthouse. The County Christmas Tree was right in front of the courthouse, and was kept lit all the time day and night. Late at night I would sit there un my window seat and stare off into the dark night and look at the tree. I would then think back at how far I had come in my life, and how much farther I had to go to be where I wanted to be.

By this time, Mom had found her way to the bottom of a bottle, and was usually passed out in her chair. Dad worked 24 hrs at a time on the Crash Crew on Base, so it was up to Phyllis and I to make sure that Santa came for Michael. We would then head to bed and wait for him to wake us up in the morning. He was 8 or 9, and would be excited to see what was under the tree. When Dad got home at 830 in the morning, we were allowed to open our presents and empty our stockings which somehow magically got filled. Had to be Santa, because neither Phyllis nor I did it, and Mom was still passed out in her chair. Never did figure that out.

The quietness of the night sitting in that window seat remains with me still. The tree at the court house is gone now, and was not replaced. The County offices have taken over Coupeville, and Oak Harbor has become a hustle bustle place with three main roads all crammed full of strip malls and big box stores. We still have to go off Island to the mall, in Mt. Vernon, but we can find just about everything we need on the island. Everything that is except the community tree. There is no place in either town that you can call THE tree, that is all lit up and carols sung around it anymore. That has gone away. Every store has it’s own decorations, but there is no town center any more. No where to gather and have community sing alongs. It is as if everyone does their own thing and could care less about being a part of a whole. They all go to their different churches, and then home. No more neighborhood parties, no more caroling down the middle of the street. No more taking cookies to your neighbor’s houses. Where did it all go? When I sit there on Christmas eve and the nights leading up to it, with all the lights out except for the tree and the radio is on to Classical King FM and the non-stop Christmas music, I sometimes can hear the past calling out to anyone who would listen…”stop, people, STOP! Look around you, reflect on what you once had…grab that feeling with both hands and do not let go.” It would sure be nice wouldn’t it?

Hurrah!!

I have been trying to post for two days now, and I just can't seem to connect. Or if I do, I get kicked off right away. I SOOOOOO Need a new computer!!!

Christmas Spirit flew the coop! Spending three days in the dark and cold can do that to ya! You learn to cook on Coleman Stoves, You learn to always have extra propane on hand. You also learn not to cook indoors unless you have a good source of air.

there is a horrible epidemic that has come out of this blackout. And that is Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, and it has resulted in at last count, 7 deaths! 4 in one family, and all are immigrants from Countries where cooking on BBQ's indoors is quite the norm. But then so is no insulation and no windows. In The Pacific Northwest, our houses have to be tight, to keep the cold at bay and conserve energy. Most of us know not to cook indoors on a briquette BBQ but there were some who were using Gas BBQ's inside, and that is not good either.

I knew that from all the years of camping, and I made sure that when I did cook inside, on my dining room table that there were at least 2 sources of air coming into the room.

It has just been horrible for the minority communities from East Africa and the Indonesian islands. And the ELDERLY!!! One woman called into the radio station in tears because she had just gone to visit her grandmother in a retirement home, and there was no heat, and no way to cook. These old people were freezing to death and starving because some city councilman did not think to make a contingency plan for these people! MY GOD FOLKS use your damn BRAINS!! When I heard that I just was flumoxed! I was assured that the retirement homes here on the island had either a generator or an alternate heat source and that their residents were ok, in the dark, but warm and fed.

Some of the outlying areas east of Seattle still are in the dark one solid week after the winds blew. The power lines have been devastated by trees and limbs. The majority of the people that were prepared are taking it all in stride, but it is the fringes of society that have not prepared for this and are blaming everyone for the power not coming back on soon enough. Once again we have an incidence of people always expecting a hand out from the government. No idea how we are going to PAY for this handout, but they think they should have one. I don't! They can be prepared just like I was. They can adapt, they can listen to the radio and not play computer games. (although I did go through free cell withdrawals) They can have canned food and a canopener that does not work on electricity. (I use one everyday)

People were stealing generators right out of the yards where people had their freezers hooked up. People were selling cans of gasoline for 10.00 a gallon along the road. People were lined up for MILES in line to get gas for their cars at the one or two stations that still had gas to dispense, and then fights were breaking out when the tanks went dry. PEOPLE LISTEN!!!! BE PREPARED!!!! Get those tanks all topped off as soon as they say a storm may be coming. If it doesnt, ah well, you can use it for the car.

One other thing that was brought to light is all the tanks full of tropical fish that died because people did not think of them. THey get cold too and die. one young man took hot water bottles and set them in his tank to keep the water warm. COOL!!! He used his head.

I did not get my Melting Moments baked, because the power was down, but I did get rum balls and bourbon balls and the fruitcakes baked. TOmorrow I will make fudge and wrap the few presents I did make for family, and then get back on track.



I put my tree up AGAIN!!! and now the lights on the outside of the house are out. They are gonna stay that way! Im done. Enough is enough. On to CHristmas and PRIME RIB!!! YUMMY STUFF!! Donna is coming home tomorrow!! WHoot!! Not to celebrate Christmas becasue she does not do that, but to see her Mommie!!! :)

Tim's Christmas Present got shipped here instead of to him, so Now I have to return it to Amazon and re-order it to get it shipped to him. THat way they are assured there is no contraband stuck in the book! (from his MOTHER???) ah well.

I will post again tomorrow, IF I CAN GET ON LINE!!!!! Meanwhile, all of you drive safely and have a very Merry Christmas! See you next week.

WHOO! That was fun....

When I asked OmnipotentBenevolentEmpress of the 20 Universes to update my blog and let everyone know that we all were safe and alive, I had no idea she would unleash the TROLLS instead of the Gnomes. They can both be destructive, but those forest trolls are the worst. THey hide in the branches of trees and then ride them like a roller coaster when the wind blows. I think they like the way the transformers POP and put out the sparks and the great light show when a branch arc's across a power line and shorts them out. Nasty beings they...

The Island lost power on Thursday night and some of us still do not have it on. Phyllis got hers back on Friday, and so did Bob, But I didnt until Saturday night.
I had a pallet made up and laid it right in front of the woodstove, and had everything I needed right at hand. The radio was on, the lantern was full, I had the books and the animals all close at hand. I had just hunkered down for the night and looked up just as the lights came back on. I needed them to. As I said last month, it was fun when I was younger, but when you are all alone, it is BORING!

I will write extensively about the damage that was done, and the people stories that have popped up, but tonight I just wanted everyone to know I am back on line...hopefully for the rest of the year. I could connect, but the server would not let me go anywhere. I can now.

THank you all for caring. ANd through all of that, I actually got all my christmas cards made and mailed. Aren't you proud of me?

She's Okay

In an attempt to put a stop to the endless sappyholidaymovieathon that inevitably leads to the why-won't-you-give-up-your-boycott-and-celebrate-like-nice-people phone call I put out an order for the Gnomes to please cut off the TV access to the Imperial Mum.

Well you know how Gnomes get sometimes this time of year, what with Elves getting all the attention and their garden variety bretheren being left out to crack in the cold.

Anyway, They apparently managed to blusterate the entire Island into darkness for what they tell me will be days. This was not what I had in mind and I do very much apologise for the Gnomey behavior. (I'm making them sit in front of 24 hours of taped speeches by the Shrub as part of their punishment for over reacting without fulling planning.)

In the mean time The Mom is warm and dry at her cottage. Her wood pile is stocked, her wood stove is functioning and cats are providing extra insulation where needed. (Though if there's someone resembling the Marlboro Man that wishes to further the cause of Heat generation and preservation, I don't know that she'd argue too much.)

She claims she doesn't need any food, and in fact is more worried about having to eat everything in the freezer before it melts, but Bob (definitely NOT the Marlboro Man) has promised to bring a generator before that happens. If you live near by and know where there's a stash of propane or D batteries, I'm sure she'd be grateful.

Her phone does work just fine. If anyone should feel the desire to call her, feel free to email me at ms(dot)hyphen(at)gmail and I will see what I can arrange for you.

Cheers!
The Empress of the 20 Universes

Yikes!!!!1

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A HIGH WIND
WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY
MORNING.

A HIGH WIND WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE POTENTIAL OF STRONG
DAMAGING WINDS. A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL REACH THE AREA
THURSDAY EVENING. SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE THROUGH THURSDAY
AFTERNOON...THEN SHIFT TO SOUTHWEST AND INCREASE FURTHER THURSDAY
NIGHT. SOUTHWEST WINDS AROUND 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 65 MPH ARE
POSSIBLE THURSDAY NIGHT.

A STRONG SURGE OF WESTERLY WINDS IS EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. ON
THE COAST AND IN THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA EVEN STRONGER WINDS
ARE POSSIBLE. IN THESE AREAS WEST WINDS 50 TO 60 MPH WITH GUSTS OF
80 TO 90 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THAT THESE
ESPECIALLY STRONG WEST WINDS WILL BLOW ACROSS WHIDBEY ISLAND LATER
THURSDAY NIGHT.

Well folks, If you dont hear from us for awhile, we are without power....AGAIN!!! That would be me, Phyllis and Keewee too.

I need to go out toorrow morning and bring in my umbrella, so It does not end up on top of Lea's roof. I should be fine. THe garage door may blow in, but that is all. But I seriously doubt we will get winds that high.

GOt water, got food, laundry is all done, firewood is close to the house, got matches, got batteries, got propane and even have pet food. SO we are good to go.

OH YEAH! And I still have two bottles of booze for the fruitcakes! HEY HEY HEY! I am ready! jim beam and Bacardi! Whoot!

POOF!!!

oops

I Hate putting lights on the tree, When I was growing up my Dad always did it, and they had to be JUST SO! When I got married, Jim did it, when He left, Tim did it so now I have to and I HATE IT! My Sil Sherry came over on Saturday and put the lights on my tree for me and they looked really pretty.

I still had not gotten around to decorating it, so tonight I started. I hung the large bells along the bottom, and I sat down to rest my back, and POOF! the lights all went out. HRMMMM!!! so I unplugged them and plugged them back in again, and realized that Sherry had hooked all 6 strings together, and into one plug. I found one of the connections to see if that was the offending string, and it was so hot I could barely touch it. Needless to say, the lights are now all off and will stay that way until I can get the oomph to re string more sets of lights onto the tree.

It is a real tree, and I am so thankful that I was right there, or I would have had a serious mess in my front room. No, I dont think I want to deal with more water on my floors, especially at this time of the year. So all the peace I was feeling yesterday just went right out the fricking window. I think I will go have several bourbon balls! BAH HUMBUG!!

Winter Moon...

As I lay here on my tummy late at night, I can peek over the window sill, and gaze out at the moon peeking through the bare branches of the alders out back. It looks so cold and so lonely. The night sky in December is beautiful in an odd sort of way. The air is still warm, and the land is cooling down, so light fog forms, sometimes up high, and sometimes along the ground. THe fingers of mist it puts out, look like hands of Father Time, telling the world that it is time to sleep and rest for the coming winter, and renew for the coming Spring.

We have had some really mild weather the past week, after the Siberian Express blew through and dumped snow and cold on us. I have been able to see the moon come into fullness and then slowly pare away into a half moon. I would look at it as it slowly climbed up through the trees and cleared the tops to be free from obstruction, and then soar away like a big balloon, in the misty air. Several times I have seen an ice ring around the moon. Orion has moved so that he wakes up earlier now, so I can no longer see him from my bed.

THis has been a time of reflection for me. I have been listening to classical Christmas Music, and watching every Cheesy Christmas Movie there is. I am very much into the spirit of the season this year. More so than usual. We have made a pact that we are not buying gifts for family this year, we are making them. I have most of mine done already, and I feel good about that. We are not filling stockings this year, as I am flat broke, and I dont feel bad about that. I have almost all of my Christmas Cards made, and have to dig up the money to mail them all. I really felt good about that. I have really enjoyed making them.

I have done some Christmas baking this year, and That has been fun. I have my fruitcakes soaking in rum, and I made bourbon balls this year too. I will be making my Melting Moments tomorrow, and then finish putting the ornaments on the tree. I got a small one this year, and even that feels good.

I have been reflecting on all of the things I have missed about celebrating Christmas. This year I think I am going to see all I can and do as much as I can afford to do and then just sit back in my big comfy chair with my dog on my lap, and enjoy the rest of the year. The earth is resting up and maybe we all should too. All the hub-bub of shopping and rushing and buying is secondary. ENJOY! Celebrate! Be with friends and Family and recharge your batteries. Spring will be here soon enough and then we will all be busy again.

Snail Mail Addresses please...

As most of my regular readers know, I send out handmade cards every year at Christmas. That is IF I have your snail mail. (I HATE E-Cards!)

So all of you lurkers out there and those new readers I have, please send me your home addresses so I can get these in the mail to you.

my email is dreamer(at)galaxynet(dot)com Take out the parentheses and replace the words with the symbols and Voila! My email address.

Christmas Rules...

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet
table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see
carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum
balls.




2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-
malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch.
You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who
cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if
you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat.
Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's
Christmas!




3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of
gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of
your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk
or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a
sports car with an automatic transmission.




5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to
control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat
other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New
Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do.
This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the
buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of
eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like
frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position
yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before
becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of
shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them
again.




8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each.
Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always
have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor
Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the
mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean,
have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the
party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read
tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by: My favorite
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather
to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body
thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a
ride!" --

A Christmas Story..

The Whidbey Playhouse is presenting "A CHristmas Story" this season, and even though I am not involved in this one at all, I Highly recommend those that can, get your tickets now and go see it.

I am probably the only person in the world that has only seen the movie 1 time. It is Hysterical! Ralphie want a Red Ryder 200 shot BB gun with a compass and a thing that tells time embedded in the stock, and he will do anything to assure that either his parents or Santa CLaus knows he wants it.

The tag line that keeps popping up when ever he tells anyone is "you'll put your eye out" and it goes through the whole show. THat and his little brother that has "to go wee-wee" at the most inopportune times.

Barbara and I went last night, and I laughed and laughed. THe story is funny, the actors were fine but I did not like the set. There is a lot going on in this story, and the set had to be 5 places at one time, and it worked, but it looked unfinished to me. It may have been, but I think that is how it was planned. It just needed something. No, I doubt that I could have done any better at all. maybe not even that good, but over all it was a good show.

We stopped by Seabolt's Smokehouse for dinner before hand and had their smoked salmon and chips and clam chowder. OH YUM!! Seaboldts started out as just a place to buy smoked slamon, and they have just branched out to serving self-order counter dining, and the place was packed. It was very good, and I will be going back. I know now to request more tarter sauce because they never serve enough in places like that. (Ok, so I am strange, I use tarter sauce on my fries instead of ketchup!)

THe menu had mussels (Brenda!) clams, tuna, salmon, cod, and crab. All big sellers here in the Pacific Northwest. For those of you that have never had smoked salmon, you do NOT know what you are missing. THe Mussels are grown right over there>>>>in Penn COve. And they are world reknowned! So funny too, because when I was a kid and lived on Penn COve, we would squash the mussels growing on the rocks and the piers. No one had any idea that they were actually edible. We went after the good stuff...steamed butter clams! Gads I am making myself hungry now.

Now back to seeing if I can get my stove to work... (grumble, cuss, swear!!!)

Only 21 more days of Autumn...

Just think, with all of the cold and the snow and the rain, we are still only into the 2nd month of FALL! Makes me wonder just what WINTER will actually bring.

It is now 36 degrees out there, but it is 1030PM. It got all the way up to 48 today. THe snow is all melting, the icicles are gone off the eaves, the snow is all gone off the trees and the snowmen that were built all over the neighborhood, are laying like a pile of forgotten snow in their respective yards. THere is nothing quite so sad as watching a snowman melt. Their eyes slip, their arms fall off, their hats hit the ground, and the carrots that once were a nose now look like really sick penis'!

I LOVE the snow. I love the silence that it brings, like a big fluffy blanket being laid over all the dirt and noise. Making magic happen for just one day. I love watching the juncos and the chickadees pecking through the snow on the feeders for the few bits of seed that are still hidden under there.

I love the crunch that walking on fresh snow brings. Like a giant box of Corn Starch being squeezed with two hands.

This is one of my favorite months! THe build up the festivities, the decorations, the hustle, the baking, the food, the people, the MOVIES! the songs. I Love it all.
I am planning on getting my tree up this weekend sometime, and then I will enjoy sitting there in front of the wood stove, with all the lights off, listening to Christmas Music and staring at the tree and the decorations. I have always LOVED CHristmas.

It seems really strange after being in Retail for 37 years, to NOT be up to my eyeballs in Christmas for 5 or 6 months. I think I do kind of miss it.

NAH!!!!!

Changes are a-comin'...

We have just been told that the weather system that is hitting the coast right now, will turn quickly to rain. The air has warmed up significantly from 8 degrees F last night to 34 degrees F tonight.

It did get cold! I kept Power all night and all day, but I would not count on it staying on much longer. We are having gale force winds, and with the ground as wet as it will be when it all melts, we will lose even more trees!

It was pretty while it lasted, now we will see the ugly side of it. The mud and the dirt! The road sand will all get splashed up on the windsheild, and we will have to wash our cars and filll the reservoirs.

I spent all day today inside in my snuggly robe. I did not even get dressed. I got up and built a fire in the wood stove, made a pot of coffee, and settled in to watch the birds and squirrels!

Sadie is a matted up mess right now. She will have to go to the groomer, but not until the snow all melts, and the mud dries up. She has had more fun throwing snow over her shoulder! Dumb dog! Even Lint has decided that he will stay inside for the duration.

I am so far behind in getting my things in the mail. Certain people's BD Presents came back, because I forgot to put a customs tag on it. DUH! Well It will have to go with the christmas cards now. This whole year has been a wreck for me. I am so hoping that next year will be the year of starting life over. I now have all my floors done, I have the walls painted, I have almost all of my unfinished projects finished, I have made every member of my family an afghan, so next year is for me.

I think I will reinvent myself. I really need to. Not making any promises, because I know how I am, but I will try. one step at a time. I may even put my Bio on Match.com just to see what happens! (eek!)

So right now I am laying on my tummy in my bed with the electric blanket on, the window opened 1/2 way, breathing in the fresh cold air, and typing away. Jay Leno is on, and soon I will be turning him off and turning on Classic King FM, and closing up the laptop and opening my book. I will read until I get sleepy, then if the electricity is still on, I will turn off the lamp and sleep until I wake up.

Hope you all are having a nice morning. Watch out for all the storms that are heading your way! They are nasty this month!

(OHMIGAWD! There is a model on TV right now wearing a 6,000,000 dollar BRA! WHY?)
That is just twisted!

Roaming...

You know you live in a small town when the airport closes because the one plane is frozen to the tarmac! This was taken from the road which is right at the end of the runway! When A plane takes off, you better duck!




Squash Barn taken from the OTHER side of the Prairie from the Cemetery that I usually shoot from. I love the contrast between the white and the red. I have been trying to get a good picture of this barn for years.




Yesterday while driving I was shooting from the car and this shows the hiway where the tree limbs had fallen on the wires, and they were about to fall on the road.




This just shows you how beautiful our island is. PUUUURRRRRTTTYYY Huh?

Most of the roads were still iced up and blocked by fallen trees and power lines. There are people up the Skagit River that STILL don't have power after 3 days. With record breaking cold weather this is really bad for them.

We are expecting an even worse storm than this one according to the CBS station in Seattle. Sposed to hit tomorrow afternoon and dump about 3-7 inches of snow, and then warm up and rain on Thursday. What this will mean for us, is that the new fallen snow will be heavy with water, and the trees will continue to fall and kill the power for even more people. Then the Ice storm and then the rain will have no where to go because the drains are all clogged with frozen solid snow! Could have more flooding on the mainland.

wonder what December will bring. Man I LOVE weather! I am a storm Junkie! AS long as I know I am safe and My family is too, then I love to sit back and watch Mother Nature do her thing.

I wanted sooo badly to sit out on the deck tonight in the 8 degree F cold and watch the stars, but the deck is as slick as snot and you know what happens when I head to the deck in November at night to look at the night sky! So I thought I would just stay in where it is semi-warm and enjoy. If you see any Northern Lights, let me know!

YES!!

Whoot! It snowed! ANd snowed some more, and then it snowed again. FOlks, this NEVER happens here. THe one time I remember it happening like this, it immediately turned to rain, and sunk a lot of marinas !



I bundled up, got in the car and put it in 4Wheel drive for only the 2nd time in 10 years, and damn near did not make it our of my drive way! THere was over 8" on top of my car, and a good 6 inches sitting on top of my snowman antenna ball!


antenna ball

The roads were pretty good once you got out of the COve and onto the hiway. The worst part was ducking all the falling tree branches and live wires. We hardly ever get any snow, and if we do it isnt often the wet gluey kind that this was. PERFECT for snowballs and snowmen and clinging to tree branches. I heard trees falling all night last night, but knew my house was safe.

THe scenery was absolutely gorgeous! looks like a fairy land out there. Tonight it has gotten down very low into the teens and all that wet snow is gonna freeze and the roads and trees are gonna be a nitemare! Poor Phyllis got called in to work at 530 this morning to drive the roads and make sure they were safe for the buses, and she didnt get home until 10pm tonight. I am sure she will have a lot on her blog once she wakes up.

I will post more pictures tomorrow, when the sun comes out, Then it should really be pretty. Everything will be closed, and people will be out sightseeing once the roads are drivable again.

THis is a major event for us here in the NW. We usually only get lots of rain. SO we are enjoying the heck out of this. I wish I was yound again,I would love to get out there and play in it!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

new

Rusty called me at 830 this morning screaming into the phone. "IT"S SNOWING!" I murfffed from under my pillow and stuck my nose over the window sill to see how much and all I saw was green.

"No it isn't;t!" I muttered, and she said yes it is LOTS of it, and big wet floppy flakes. It was not doing anything. SO she hung up and I re-buried my head for another few hours. The phone rang again at 1130, it was Phyllis, "IT"S SNOWING!" Once again I murrfed from under the pillow and stuck my nose over the window sill to see a few very tiny little flakes falling on the feeder.

OK, that means it is starting, so I got up to get dressed and get into Oak Harbor to get my insulin. By the time I was dressed the road was covered, so I said nope, not getting out in that, My Insurance lapsed on Friday, and I was going into the office tomorrow to pay it. SO I stayed home and watched it snow, and snow and snow! The birds were fighting over the suet blocks and scratching the snow off the feeders.

I saw several birds I have not noticed before, a tiny little olive bird that may be a warbler of some kind, and a Big thrush sized gray and olive bird. Huh! gotta look those up.

the big grey squirrels were Loving the snow, frolicking and running back and forth from the feeder to their trees. Lint refused to go out, said nope, No way am I getting my feet cold. Sadie ran out, hit the ice on the porch and slid right off the porch onto the grass. She was out until it started to cover the grass then she was ready to come in. Now I cant get her out to pottie at all. I have to throw her out and then slam the door really fast. Once out, she has fun, running and chasing snowballs, but she wont go out on her own. She came in looking like a snow-dog!

We have snow advisories posted until tomorrow morning, and should have another 1-4 inches by then. We have about 4" right now. SO COOL!!!! The bad part, is the weight of the snow on the branches is breaking them, and hitting the power lines and killing power in some areas. Keewee has no power, and she only lives about 20 miles down the island. We do though Thank Goodness.

I bundled up really well then took the wheelbarrow out and loaded it up with wood, and wheeled it into the garage. Then I built a roaring fire, and settled in to watch more movies. Did you know that snow storms block the signals from the satellites? I didn't until this afternoon. PAH! So I turned on classic King and listened to music all afternoon while I putzed with my Blog template.

I got reception back around 430 just in time for the local news, then the Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie. I laid down on the floor with all the animals and watched it with a box of Kleenex within reach. Good movie!

My tiny little Lopi Stove only takes two pieces of wood at a time, so I started the fire, and when it caught good I put one more piece in and the little thing GLOWED! The cats even got two warm! I only use 4 pieces of wood a day, and my house is so warm I have to open spare rooms to cool it down. Good stove, Tight house, NICE DAY!!!! And another one tomorrow. (I'm SO SORRY Dick!) :)

tis the Season!

snow


Why Do Christmas Caroles make me cry?  I have thought about this all day as I watched the Hallmark Channel Christmas marathon.  I LOVE the Christmas movies and the hokey Christmas cartoons, and the choir songs on all the movies.  I sat there with a box of Kleenex and a diet rite soda and snorfed all day long.  The Christmas carole that really gets me going is Silent Night.  It is and always has been my very favorite carole.

When I was a lot younger and a lot more sincere in my Church attendance, I would love the night services, with the Christmas lights on the altar, and on the Christmas Tree, and the really hokey lights criss-crossing the street on Pioneer way.  The town was really really small, and everyone waited until after Thanksgiving to even begin thinking about shopping or decorating their houses.

One of my favorite memories was sitting in the living room with all the lights out and just the tree lit, and listening to Christmas Caroles.  I was always in a choir, and I always had a Christmas show to sing in.  It has been many years since I have been in a choir.

Tonight there is a movie on the Hallmark channel called Silent Night, and that just brought the memory back again.  The song makes me cry.  I didn’t used to cry when I sang them, but now I do.

Maybe it is remembering my long lost childhood.  Maybe it is remembering the innocence of youth, and maybe it is just aging hormones.  I think it may be a combination of all of the above.  I do love the Christmas season.  

Happy Turkey...gobble gobble gobble

T'was The Night of Thanksgiving
(Author unknown)
Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep
The leftovers beckoned - the Dark meat and white
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
and Gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.
But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees...
Happy eating to all, pass the cranberries, please.

May your stuffing be tasty. May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes ' n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious. May your pies take the prize.
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.

Have a safe and Happy Holiday everyone!! FOr those of you that dont have Thanksgiving this week end, Have a safe and Happy weekend!!

Shamelessly stolen from RAIN...

I LOVE quizzes, and since Wanda stopped blogging and Leigh cut way back, I hardly ever find any any more. But today I stopped by Rain's place and she had this on her blog.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

It is funny that us out here in the pacific Northwest do not have an accent per se.
I have a tendency to flatten my A's a bit, but I have no idea where that comes from. Some of the idioms that I use, I picked up from my Mother, who was raised in Oklahoma. But she did not have an accent either. (that is either with a Hard E)!

I could tell Canadians by their eh's and some of their idioms, but for the most part they sound like us too. I was amazed when I went to Virginia and discovered that they say about like the Canadians did...A BOOT!! Course that was 35 years ago. things do change.

We had another Windstorm come through and with it more rain. We are 1/100 of an inch away from breaking the all time wettest month EVER in Washington. Yep, we are gargling here. Even Lint stops at the door and peers out carefully before he runs outside. 50MPH until about 300 then it calmed way down, but there are more storms out there waiting to be swirled in by the jet stream. I think we are in for a really wet winter. Now if it would only get cold enough to turn it all into SNOW! ah well.