Snow, Ice, blah blah blah

We have been having quite a lovely week here in the Land of Snow and Ice. The temperatures have warmed up to just below freezing. The snow is falling ever so gently onto the already snow-covered land, and the ice-covered driveway. Ice cicles are hanging like daggers off the snow and ice covered gutters. Large, ice covered tree branches are littering the yard. And, now those lovely little snowflakes are suddenly getting larger. And heavier. And denser. 


YUCK.

I've heard rumors that another storm is on its way. That crazy groundhog was said to have not seen his shadow. So, I was expecting melting snow, not more snow. I think he's lying!


We had a lovely ice storm on Tuesday. We had bought a generator for those rare occasions when we might lose electricity. (Back in '05 we were without electricity for an entire week!)  Hubby had just returned from the gas station with gas for the generator. He said, "If we don't lose electricity tonight, it will be a miracle." So, we started locating all the candles, matches, flashlights, and extensions cords (for the generator), just in case. 


I started making a batch of popcorn. (I don't know why, but we always want to make popcorn when the lights are out. I guess we think we're going to the movies!) I put the pan on the stove. The lights flickered once. The lights flickered twice. Total darkness. No popcorn!


It did give me an opportunity to play around with my camera:

We didn't rush right out to start the generator, because it was getting late. We had a gas stove (not the cooking kind) for heat. Amazing Daughter made her bed on the couch, and we used the generator long enough to get air in our lovely air mattress. We stayed roasty-toasty all through the night.

In the morning, still no electricity. We heard that the transformer exploded and burst into flames, so we figured it would be a while until the electric came back on. Hubby got the generator going, and we started unraveling extension cords and plugging in the freezer, fridge, and most importantly, the coffee maker!

Hubby gave me special instructions to "Look down" when I'm walking, because I have a tendancy to forget about things, and he didn't want to be scraping me off the floor. 

All in all, we weathered the storm pretty well. The electricity was off for 17 hours, which seemed like a walk in the park compared to a week. 

As I look back out my window, I see that the snow has stopped. At least for now. I think I see a robin hiding in the bush. Even though I now know that those little critters stay here year round, I still look at them and say, "Spring is just around the corner!"

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Has Spring Sprung??

I'm very excited to report that Spring is on its way! This winter has seemed to go on and on and on, and it is still JANUARY! 


The reason I am feeling slightly optimistic is because I happened to see three robins the other day!! Hubby and I always have a contest to see the first robin, and this year I am the without-a-doubt winner. If you want to read about last year's contest, click here. I have never, ever seen robins this early in the year, so I am hoping against hope that it means spring will be here sooner than later!

Not my photo. Found it from
blog.duncraft.com

This year, Amazing Daughter and I were in the car together. I looked in a tree and saw two orange bellies. I yelled, "I see robins! I see robins!"  She doubted me, claiming she saw nothing. A moment later, I saw another one. (We were on an empty snow-covered street, so I told her to back up so we could get a better look. I wanted to be very sure I had seen robins because I planned to do a lot of gloating to Hubby!) 


She backed up, but couldn't see anything. I kept pointing to the tree, with no leaves, thinking, 'how hard is it to see a robin?'. She couldn't see it!  I kept pointing. "There! In that tree!"  


"Which tree?"  


"The one with the robin in it!"  To be fair, there were two trees, side by side, but only one tree had a "blob" in that that looked like bird!  


Thankfully, the robin was in no hurry to leave. (The poor thing was probably frozen, and wondering who's bright idea it was to come back to Ohio in January!)  He stayed long enough for Jennee to finally see him, and provide confirmation that we had indeed seen robins!


So, here's to SPRING! May it get here SOOOOOON!


(And, now I have to tell you that I just learned that robins very rarely leave to go South for the winter! Most of them stay in their Northern homes all year long! We don't see them because they are busy hiding in brush and eating berries instead of hopping around on who knows how many inches of snow digging for worms! I'm not sure how I feel about this news. I think I'm kind of disappointed. All those visions of robins coming back for spring have just gone *poof*!)

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First Sign of Spring!

Oh, there's so much to do, so little time. After a week, I've FINALLY been able to get back online. First I have to check my email and delete the 300 "messages" I've gotten, then on to Facebook to see what everyone has been up to. And then to blogging...but do I blog or respond to the comments? I want to thank everyone who has left a comment, and I promise to visit everyone, it just may take me a while.  In the meantime, hopefully, my computer will quit being a pain in the neck...

I am happy to say that Spring has not forsaken us, and I am confident that it will soon be here. The reason I am confident is because I saw a flock of robins yesterday.  They were all on top of the eight inches (roughly) of semi-white snow.  Our family always has a race to see who can be the first one to spot the beloved robin.

There is a little bit of controversy surrounding the self-proclaimed winner, who happens to be Hubby. I have actually proclaimed myself to be the winner, but Hubby disagrees. So, here is my story, and I'll let you be the judge.

Hubby and I were both together in our truck running an early morning errand. I didn't get my coffee, but Hubby was sweet enough to fix me some, and brought it along. Hubby knows that the only way I like coffee is when it does not taste like coffee. My way of fixing coffee is to add heavy cream until it turns a nice caramel color, followed by some hazelnut syrup (sugar-free, of course. I don't need the extra calories!)  Unfortunately, I am out of both heavy cream and hazelnut syrup, so I'm putting up with just having dry, off brand creamer.  So, hubby hands me my coffee. Before I take a sip, we're chatting it up, and I mention that it's probably too early for the robins, since the ground is covered with snow. I said, "They probably take one look at the ground and head back south until it all melts."

At that point, I decide to take a sip of the coffee that hubby has so lovingly prepared for me.  (It's in a travel cup, because when it comes to liquids and vehicles, I'm worse than a kid.) So, I push back the little tab and notice it is the right caramel color. Good job, honey. Then I innocently, and unsuspectingly, take a sip. Something is happening to my mouth, and I don't quite know what is wrong. (OH. MY. GOSH. I'm thinking)
My mouth is all kind of puckering up. I can't speak. I smell the coffee. Do I smell.....vinegar? What? I'm very confused. My brain isn't working. My mouth isn't working. And, that is when I spot them. An entire flock of them bouncing around on top of the snow.  Suddenly, I hear Hubby saying, "Robins! I see robins, and I saw them first!"

NO! I finally get my mouth to work." I saw them first, but I couldn't speak, and what in the world did you put in my coffee???"  He just laughs, "HA HA. I saw them first, and I said it first. I win." I maintain that I saw them first, so I am the winner.  He then calls my mom, because he especially likes to beat her in the robin race.  We relentlessly argue about it for the next 15 minutes, proclaiming ourselves the winner.

Oh, so are you wondering what he put in my coffee?  You'll never guess in a million years.  We had some leftover wine, and yes, he did put wine in my coffee.  How much, you ask? I asked the same question. "Oh, not much," he said, "maybe just about a fourth of a cup."  Needless to say, I did not drink the rest of my "coffee".

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