Thank You, Durwood,

... for getting me my big, red snowblower 10 years ago and thank you, LJ, for keeping it in running order every year.  It snowed here today--big time.  It started with little icy flakes this morning and quickly matured into big robust snowflakes that piled up at over an inch an hour.  I waited until the snow had slacked off but before the plow came to go out to snowblow the driveways and up toward the neighbor's.  I do that so that when the plow does come down our side of the street there's a little less snow for it to shove into the end of the driveways.  It makes a difference and only takes a couple extra minutes.  





For most of the day the birds kept tucked in out of the snow but this Downy Woodpecker had to come for a seed snack.








Look at the tops of the aluminum trash cans where I store the birdseed.  Talk about a muffin top.


 

I looked out the kitchen window and had a laugh at how the snow had piled up under the perch on the birdhouse on the fence.  That's the birdie tree next to it, totally covered in snow.



The furnace guy came to do the annual furnace tune-ups.  The company called a couple months ago to say that it was time and today was the soonest I could get two appointments back-to-back.  The service person was a nice Hmong kid who really knew his stuff and was polite and friendly.  I'm so glad that we bought furnaces and air conditioners from Van's Heating because everyone from the phone scheduler guy to any service person we've had has done an excellent job.  And that's the end of tonight's commercial.


ACJ and I were supposed to meet to write at The Attic this afternoon but it was just too slick and snowy out there so we postponed it until Friday.  I worked a bit on the read-through of The Seaview manuscript but mostly I knitted.  In the afternoon I worked on the Keltic Beanie.  I'm afraid I'll run out of yarn so I'm knitting faster--as if that helps.



After supper (a fried egg with poblano peppers, scallions, and WW sausage and cheddar sandwich on a bagel thin--yum) I knitted on the Zauber Orange Sock trading the double-pointed needles I started it with for a bamboo circular needle and then a metal one with sharper points.  I do love a pointy needle.  I have both patterns on the Knit Companion app so I'm not juggling paper patterns or stitch counters.  Very convenient.



23 January--Tropical Obsession.

Nola sat gingerly on the softest place she could find, a little patch of sand caught in a depression after the last storm. Today the sea was nearly calm, well, as calm as it gets on the windward side of this scrap of an island. After last night's argument she had slid out of bed, dressed in the bathroom, and driven away before the sun had sent more than the thinnest pink fingers of light to paint the clouds. Her headlong flight had carried her up the leeward coast to the petroleum depot and then down the hill into Rincon nestled in the angles where ancient waves carved a hollow. Only a few dogs were stirring as she silently cruised down the main street of the town. Once she passed the grammar school and the soccer field, she squinted into the sunrise and turned off at the barely visible sign for Boca Oliva, her favorite wild little bay. The waves that pounded this piece of shore were born off the west coast of Africa and met no other land in their journey to these unforgiving cliffs. She loved the days when waves pounded into shore with a booming crash and flung their edges skyward to patter down in suicidal blasts.

Today's toss wasn't really a toss.  Every time I went downstairs to show the furnace guy something, turn off the lights he didn't know how to turn off, or get a different knitting needle I carried up a tote of Mom's photos so that when TW and AJ come on Saturday they won't have to haul them up.  I'll be ready.  (had a cup of the soup for lunch today, it's good) Tomorrow I have my second session with the trainer at the Y.  All I really want is for her to lead me through the workout routine she gave me at each session so I know how to do the exercises and can remember it.  Part of me wishes I hadn't gotten more sessions because I'll work harder for her than I do on my own but if I want to learn it and be fitter it has to be done.  Buck up, self, stop being a whiner.

--Barbara
 P.S.  The teapot's not leaky, it was condensation from under the lid.  Whew.