Not the Most Graceful

I had to take a picture of this squirrel this morning. It tried very hard to climb the crooks but so far the Slinkys are staying in place and are in the way. Then it leaped from the birdbath glacier to the top of this suet cakes feeder but its feet must have been wet because it slipped right off and fell to the ground. This time it barely managed to hold on as it swung upside down and almost fell again but didn't. I really got a chuckle out of it.

It's plenty cold out there. The birdbath never thawed out and the wind blew the water enough that it made an icicle in the afternoon. I think it got up to 19 degrees today but the "feels like" was about -7 when I went out to go to supper. Brrr. I'm glad I didn't have to walk far from the car to the restaurant.

 

I got my new phone today! It wasn't supposed to arrive until the 7th or 9th, the same dates that the case is supposed to come but it came today. I am very proud that I figured out how to move the SIM card and clone my old phone onto my new one with minimal errors and backtracking. One thing that puzzled me was the first time I had them do the transfer not all of my photos made it but when I hooked them up (wirelessly) again, they did. I'm glad that they did. Whew. There are some photos I don't want to lose.

 

I don't know if this is better than yesterday's effort or not. She never did put a face on her people but I couldn't just leave us blank with just our little eyes bugging out so I used a black colored pencil and sketched in noses, cheeks, and mouths. Not bad but not great. I'm marginally pleased with the way this turned out.

 

After supper tonight at 1919, the restaurant in the Lambeau Field atrium, we went over to LC's house for presents. She liked the card of 20 pairs of little earrings I gave her along with the card good for lunch and a birthday shop. Then I traded Christmas gifts with DIL1's parents. They gave me these cool red oven mitts. Very fun.

 

Time to hit the hay. I've got the Market on Military tomorrow so I've got my alarm set for 7 so I have time to peel my eyes open before time to dress and go. G'night.

--Barbara

Creeping Ice

When I got up this morning and opened the drapes I saw that the birdbath needed topping up because the whole left side of it was iced up. So I filled the thing expecting that it'd stay liquid. Not so fast. Less than an hour later I noticed that the ice was creeping over the water that I'd just poured in. Even though it was sunny most of the day it never got very warm and the sun never touched the birdbath anyway. It's supposed to get colder over the next couple days. Yippee.

The squirrels have been very diligent emptying the suet nuggets feeder. This big fat one clung to the mesh feeder and did its best to nibble away at the dregs repelling all comers.

I was lucky enough to catch the Red-bellied Woodpecker when it found a seed in the round feeder and was just about to fly away. I like that I can see its beak open with the seed in there.

Well, I got brave this afternoon and sketched my favorite picture of Durwood and me, outlined it in black, and started painting it. I added the eyes because it was looking a little creepy with empty faces looking out at me. Tomorrow's video is the second half of the lesson. Maybe she'll show me how to give us faces.

And once again, after supper I worked on Alpaca Mitten #3. I finished the thumb gusset, put the stitches on waste yarn, cast on one stitch, and started knitting around and around the hand. The pattern says to knit the hand to 4" but I might add on a half-inch just for comfort's sake. The last pair feels a little short.

I called the sleep apnea appliance dentist's office this morning, they had gotten my info from the sleep clinic, and I could get an appointment for a consultation tomorrow morning. !!!! So I'll go see what PK can tell me about that. I chose this dentist because he was a customer when I worked at the dive shop. They were very clear that they needed to be paid up front since insurance doesn't cover it and when I looked at my dental insurance app I got the message about my phone being too old for the update so it's a good thing I ordered a new phone that will be delivered next week.

Tomorrow is LC's 11th birthday. I can't believe that she'll be that old. It seems like only yesterday that she was just a bitty thing teaching herself how to read. I guess not. Get with the program, Meemaw.

--Barbara

I'm Starting the Year Clean

NoIt only did I fold the basket of clean laundry today, I also have clean sheets, put fresh towels out, and took a shower. My cleaner came yesterday so it's very clean here. That's the way to start the new year, I figure.

I even managed to draw a gratitude journal page this evening but I forgot to put my shower on there. Oh well, no one wants to see me in the shower anyway. I have to get back into the habit of drawing one of these every day.

The next video lesson was to draw people from a photograph. I got cold feet and shifted to a Creativebug class about drawing that I felt I could do (since I've already done it). But I did cave in and checked my digital photos file on here to find a few pix of me and Durwood that I could try my hand at tomorrow. Really. I'm going to give it a shot.

I realized just before I closed the drapes to shut out the dark that I hadn't taken any pictures of the fat squirrels or the squabbling Sparrows or even the dusting of snow, so I shoved the camera out the patio door and took this picture. There was more snow this morning but it must have gotten just above freezing this afternoon because most of it melted. Sorry for the dreary picture but as you can see it hasn't been cold enough to build a birdbath glacier. I suspect that's about to change.

After supper I watched some comedy special on Netflix and then shifted to an episode of Somebody Feed Phil when he visited Seoul. I'd have tried just about everything he ate except for the really spicy stuff--and maybe the still-wriggling octopus tentacles. Although I like octopus so I'd probably give it a go. (Thanks for turning me on to that show, CS!) While I watched those I finished the cuff of Alpaca Mitten #3, knitted three rounds even, and then started the thumb gusset which I am halfway through.

This afternoon I took down all of the Christmas decorations I'd put up. It took me about ten minutes, seven minutes to fold up and box the Charlie Brown tree and three minutes to unplug the lighted present/box and remove the two jingle bell wreaths. I carried it all downstairs and put it away and pulled out a white and silver door decoration wreath that looks like winter to me to put on the front door instead. On the back door I replaced Durwood's dream catcher that used to be in his van.

In the morning I called Aunt B and my brother AJ out in Washington state. He didn't call back until the afternoon and we had a lovely chat. They're going to be in town in about 2 weeks and we're planning to get together for a little visit. I'm looking forward to it.

Did I tell you I won a bonus Group Coaching Session from Ad School? They sent out a survey in December asking for feedback so I dutifully filled it in and sent it back. I got an email last week that I'd won. And I'm the only winner! Now I have to figure out which coaching session I want to attend. It's going to take some thought.

I sent my submission to my critique group yesterday. It's about time to get back to working on writing.

--Barbara