Category: Family

Awoke this morning to this:

My photo memory from 3 years ago, it was 9, so it must be the time of year.

The weekend plan changed some when we realized that, 1) I obviously can’t read a calendar as Son 1 is leaving tomorrow morning early; 2) that Son 2 who lives on the coast of Virginia is getting the storm this weekend instead of us and won’t be coming after all. But Daughter and her two came for homemade pizza lunch yesterday as the icy roads in the more rural parts of the counties caused their school to be closed. I shortened her Taekwondo pants for next week’s National testing and the tournament she is in, fed everyone, we visited, then we all went for a two mile walk in 27 f temps and a cloudy day, so it felt colder than that.

Today is again very cold, but sunny and Son 1, hubby, and I set out to do a walk at the pond near us, but the road in, the parking lot, and the start of the path down looked like an ice skating rink and ski jump. We altered plans and walked a different section of the Rails to Trails Huckleberry, a 2.5 mile round trip. Part of this section goes through a rock cut where the rail used to run and the icicles dripping from the rocks were fascinating.

Though the temperature when we walked was a few degrees colder than yesterday, with the sun, it didn’t seem quite as cold.

The vegetable soup and homemade bread will still be made tomorrow, in a smaller quantity and Daughter and her two will come share it with us for Sunday dinner.

It is always delightful to have one or more of our children here to be with us, to share meals, for family visits. We will try again to get them all together at once the weather cooperates a bit more.

The ice is finally melting off. I am glad because the trip up hill to the chicken coop and back down to the house has been a threat to my health and safety for the past few days.

When we got home from our walk, enough had melted off that the hens had finally ventured away from their coop to the relative shelter of the naked Forsythia bushes. I was able to walk over to gather early eggs before they froze, without feeling my safety was at risk.

The upcoming week is going to be more seasonable with most days above freezing to the low 40’s and nights in the upper teens to low 20’s. I think there is a day of rain chance in there, but not freezing precitipation.

Hubby looked out the back window and said, “I’m ready for winter to be over.” Usually he doesn’t make that statement for at least 3 or 4 more weeks.

I am perusing the seed catalogs, making plans for spring and summer when two bee hives will be added and maybe a mushroom bed.

December was so warm and dry, January has been just the opposite and though there isn’t much snow forecast for the next 10 days, there is some bitter cold weather. Yesterday was comparatively mild, getting up into the low 40’s and we got out our driveway for the first time since Sunday, up the gravel state road that had been plowed yesterday morning, and down the mountain to deliver a birthday card and gift to the local grandson who celebrated his 15th birthday yesterday. It seems like I just drove to Florida where he was born to help daughter out in her first week post partum and deliver an Amish made rocking chair and high chair to her. I love that they are now living within 20 miles of us and we see them weekly, not a couple times a year.

The prissy hens finally came out on the hay mat I threw down for them. When I dug their outdoor water tub out to fill it yesterday, it was buried in a foot of snow that had drifted into the run. Walking on the hay mat, I now sink several inches each time I go over. Taking advantage of it being “warmer” and not windy, I cleared the wet straw from their coop. I need to figure out how to seal the drop down window on the east side for winter. Though moisture rarely comes from that direction, there is no eave overhang on that side of the coop and the weekend snow storm blew in that direction making a small snowdrift inside the coop that melted with the heat they generate and soaked their straw. With fresh dry straw in there, I need to protect it. While tossing the damp straw into their run, a few hens ventured out on the straw surface and out the gate, only to realize that it was cold and white outside the run, so they retreated back onto the straw and hay. Fortunately they are still laying eggs, though now in the quantity they did last summer.

Overnight, it rained for an hour or two and this morning, the snow pack is thin and brittle, beginning to show grass patches through in some areas. Today is much colder again and snow flurries are the moisture of the morning.

While we were in town yesterday, we supplied with milk, juice, fruit, and soup veggies as we will have all three of our children and a houseful of grands for Sunday. I am going to make a huge pot of vegetable soup and a couple loaves of bread, a pan of cornbread (because that is the only “homemade” bread on of the grands will eat) and feed a dozen or more folks dinner. Homemade muffins for breakfast, probably pizza for lunch. Daughter and her two will only be here for dinner. This will be the first time in a decade they will all be here and there are many more of us now than there were then. I am beyond myself with excitement to have them all together.

It isn’t often that I am solo at home and when it happens, the routine is so very different. I am an early to bed, early to rise soul, dear hubby stays up until the wee hours of morning and sleeps until late morning. There are certain chores I won’t do while he is still sleeping, anything that makes loud noise, like the vacuuming. The laundry room is far enough away that if I can gather the dirty clothes in the dark room, I can start laundry, but bed and bath linens must wait arising. I rarely leave home when he is not here, quite content to be the hermitess on the mountain.

And meals are quite different also. He is a born Texan, beef and starch, pork and starch are the preferences which I will usually eat so as not to prepare two different meals. I enjoy beans, bean or legume soups, potato soup with cheddar cheese, or one of the Asian inspired creations of late. In cold weather, I can eat soups twice a day and be very content, add a slice of good bread and it is even better. When together, we often go to get a newspaper (delivery is sporadic at best), run errands if there are any, and pick up lunch out, usually eaten in the car.

Because too many large doggie landmines were discovered by visiting grands under the snow and since much of the snow has melted and another round is due this afternoon and overnight, I went out and cleaned up dozens from the front and side of the house. I also brought in another load of logs as we went through most of the rack on Monday. It is supposed to be cold tonight, cold tomorrow, and frigid tomorrow night, so I want to be prepared if the heat is needed.

Linens are laundered, vacuuming is done, bathrooms are cleaned, landmines disarmed, and I even made a very quick trip to the big box hardware store to pick up inside of the exterior door mats and a long non-skid runner for the utility room as the old guy is having more and more difficulty on the tile floor where his food and water are placed. The inside the door non-skid mats are to slow the tracking of water and sand onto the hardwood floors.

When the grands were here playing in the snow, the big old guy was isolated in the utility room so as not to get stepped or fallen on by toddlers and he would park hard up against the door to the garage so coming and going had to be through front or back doors, both entering onto the hardwood. I have a boot park inside the utility room, but you couldn’t get to it.

The chickens finally came out of their coop late yesterday and this morning, but I’m guessing that they won’t tomorrow again for a day or two.

I’ll hunker down with my book, spinning, knitting, a cup of coffee or tea and watch it snow again. I think I’ll go pick greens first.