As Our Life Goes On

It was sunny and bright but very cold today. We brought more wheelbarrows full of wood around to the front porch. It may be difficult to get through the yard when the predicted snow and ice hit our area.  The candle lanterns and extra blankets are ready. It was good to see the pavement on the driveway today. The sunshine improves my mood even though it is cold. A walk around the yard helped me to gather some vitamin D that one gets from being in the sun. The second picture shows a deer path that is out back near the wetland areas. They go from home to home searching for food. The snow cover is still heavy.

We burn wood in an airtight stove that is mounted in our fireplace. It does keep us very warm and the radiant heat is very comfortable. When the stove is opened to add wood or for an ash clean out a certain amount of smoke and ash dust flies into the air. This has discolored the walls and ceiling in the end of the room containing the stove. A twice over scrubbing did not return the ceiling or walls on that end of the room to an acceptable looking clean for my tastes of cleanliness. This has prompted me to consider painting the ceiling a darker color and the walls a similar but lighter color. This will have to wait until Spring. The picture above is not the area over the stove. That area was just too ugly and dirty to show. The textured plaster on the ceiling probably intensifies the effect of the dirt. I shall keep the lights down low until Spring so that I won't be able to see it so well. Perhaps I will pick up some paint color chips to plan ahead.

Where are those important things that I so carefully put away? The place that I stored them would make them easy to find on another day. There are noises from the old wardrobe in the back wing. Could it be a ghost or spirit that takes and hides these things. Some day while cleaning a distant closet or space the things will be found and and put in their proper place. Caroline

The path to our woodpile continues to fill with snow as each day we have a new dusting that can amount from 1 to 4 inches.  This pile of firewood is some distance from the house. Spiders, snakes, rodents and other creepy crawlies tend to take up residence in the woodpile so it is better to have it a bit away from the house. The snow depth is still over 12 inches in some places in our yard. I had to lift my feet quite high to get through those areas. That was good  invigorating exercise for the day. The sun did not shine but the day was warmer so the walk was not uncomfortable other than having the fine snow creep up over my boots.

The icicles that are protected by shrubbery are not dripping even though there have been warmer temperatures today. They reflect my mood today also. More snow and colder temperatures are expected this weekend. We are very grateful that we have not had the heavy snows that have been experienced the Northeast part of our country. It was a good day to stock the refrigerator with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. We tend not to eat enough of these important foods during the Winter months. A fresh raw veggie plate might be just the thing to serve with our evening meal.

The long string of dark days has not deterred the black and gray squirrels from chasing each other through the cold snow. They furiously circle tree trunks during the chase and play keep away in the treetops as their mating season goes on. It is a wonder that this squirrel had time to sit and eat.

What happened to this day?  Early rising did not get me the worm. The sun did not shine to light my path. Darkness will soon arrive. I feel happy anyway. Some days are like that.

There are plenty of deer living in our neighborhood. The nearby woods, farm fields and inaccessible swampy areas make it great wildlife habitat. This group of three traveled through our yard late in the day just before sunset. The glow of the the sun made the snow appear to be blue in some of the pictures. The larger doe appears to be the mother of the two smaller deer. She is displaying some affection as she licks one of the smaller deer in the second picture. The doe was very watchful as the smaller animals cleaned up the sunflower seeds and shell corn under the bird feeders.

Rowdy was the kids first dog. We chose him from a litter of border collie mix pups that were advertised in the paper. When we moved to our own home we realized that we could finally have a dog for the kids. We had lived in 9 different rentals before moving to the location where we live now. None of them allowed pets. He had that herding instinct that border collies are noted for and was constantly trying to round up the kids or anything moving through the yard. We had him for 7 years. He was a very special animal and a gentle first pet for our boys.

  I really did not feel like stepping out of the front door to take this picture so I took it through the window. The thermometer is on the sunny side of the house and shows a temperature that was about five degrees warmer than it actually was at the time the picture was taken. One of our friends gave us the weather stick for Christmas a couple of years ago. It really works. When it is wet and rainy the stick points downward and when the weather is fair and dry it curves upwards. The balsam fir sapling works quite well to show the humidity in the air. It seems to be in a rather neutral position today. It is called a natural barometer by those who sell them.

Here he is again. Mr. Plowman dug out the small tractor which already had a little plow attached. It actually started so he plowed out the half foot of snow with the little vintage tractor. It is a hassle to get the big Ford tractor out of the barn so he was really glad to have this alternative plow working. The snow was fluffy and lightweight and it was easier to plow that some of the dense heavy snow that we had earlier this Winter. The single digit temperatures made the plowing more difficult. Layers of bulky thick clothing, a mask, insulated gloves and a hat disguised the identity of the plow operator but I'll bet you guessed that it was my husband Russ. It will be very cold for the next few days so finding jobs that can be done inside is my goal for this weekend.

It appears to have been a nice warm day on Memorial Day of 1972 in Kent, Ohio.  These Wolcott Avenue neighbors were able to catch up on the neighborhood news while waiting for the parade to pass on the way to Standing Rock Cemetery. Children sat on the curb and in lawn chairs on the edge of North Mantua Street in Kent with their parents and grandparents . The parade would be coming soon!

Rue Plant Cold cloudy days fail to inspire me.  Today is one of those.  My thinking  seems cold and clouded also. Some things remain undone.  I need a bit of sun.

These three young cousins ages 4, almost 3 and 3 enjoyed waiting for the 1970 Memorial Day Parade in Kent, Ohio. They waited on Mantua Street near the end of Wolcott Avenue which was the street where their mothers grew up. They carry the American flag to show their patriotism and respect for those that the day honors.

That hill across the lake is in Vermont. Whitehall New York Our 1991 vacation trip to Whitehall in New York not only yielded great scenery and interesting sights, we also made an incredible buy at a thrift shop. We stayed at a cabin that was owned by my husbands dad at the Southern end of Lake Champlain. He called his place THE ROCK. The lake is very narrow at this spot just before it goes into the locks in town. We did not see Champy in the lake but the roar of the engines from the tugboats pushing the barges and large recreational boats going into and out of the locks in town shook the cabin night and day. A busy railroad track behind the cabin in a cut through the rocks added to the shaking and noise as the trains traveled through and blew their whistles when they got to the road next to the cabin. The land on the other side of the lake is in Vermont. We did venture into Vermont during our stay. During one stop for lunch we were asked if there were any trees in Ohio. The quer

There was no bike and hike trail below the hill in back of our house when this photo was taken in 1992. Our oldest granddaughter was a little over two years old. She enjoyed walking behind our house with her grandpa.  She lived in New York near Buffalo at that time.  She will be 21 years old this year. Hopefully she will have fond memories of her visits to Ohio when she was a child. The fuzzy picture below was taken when we visited her during the same year at Easter time at her other grandparents home in North Tonawanda, NY. She has grown into a beautiful young lady who now lives in Atlanta and attends Georgia State University. Her sister was born the year after this picture was taken. More family pictures will be shown in a later post.

Evidently this wild cherry tree is full of the type of insects that Pileated Woodpeckers love.  It was shown in a previous blog but my husband told me to go check it out again. There are many more large holes in a line extending up the one side of the tree. The snow cover has made it difficult for many animals and birds to find food. The woodpecker has found his favorite lunch spot.  The weather is very cold and the forecast is for more of the same. My trek through the snow to take a picture of the tree above was good exercise but I did not take my usual walk all around the yard. Watching the birds and squirrels come to our feeders is relaxing. We ran completely out of sunflower seeds and shell corn today so it will be slim pickings for the birds until we buy some more.

It will be many months before the wrens come back to claim this wren house. The day was dark and overcast and snow flurries fell throughout the day. The only thing that is really positive about today is that it brings us one day closer to Spring. The tiny birds sit outside of our kitchen to sing and the melodious tunes are so soothing.

The sunshine made this day much more tolerable. It was cold but somehow the sun just made it seem warmer. I used this day for catching up on lots of work that has been let go. You can't see the dirt on the floor as well when it is a dark day so today some of the dust and dirt had to be cleaned.

Russ was not at all happy about having to get the tractor out again to plow the snow. He plowed out the drives of the twin 85 year old neighbors, Harry and Harold,  first then finally got to ours. He waited until late in the afternoon. The snow has not stopped but maybe it can be swept away tomorrow. The lake effect snow coming across Lake Erie is not supposed to let up for a while so we are hoping for the wind to shift a bit and send this white stuff another way. It is also cold and windy so being out there on the plow is not very comfortable. BRRRR!!!!

I have lots of bath towels and I rotate the use of them as they come through the wash. The towel above is actually less than a year old. The strings started appearing on the surface after the first washing and the edge was frayed when it came out of the dryer yesterday. This towel will be cut up and used as a dust or scrub cloth. I have to say that I have a few "survivor" towels and wash cloths around here that are probably over 30 years old. They are worn on the surface but they have not "stringed out" or frayed on the edges. They are just thin. I would have to think that the towels are being made to self destruct within months so that they will have to be replaced. The towel above was purchased at a nationally known department store that supposedly sells better items. The store sends out $10 gift cards for free so I actually got the towels on sale half price for $5 each with a card so they were free. A person would think that a store with such a great reputation

This afternoon I got on the phone to talk to Dell computer tech support because my DVD drive was not working or even visible on the computer. After listening to some very loud music my tech support person finally answered.  If you have done that you pretty much know how the rest goes. He had to get access my computer to fix the drive. His only solution was to download a driver. That did not work and it was not fixed after about an hour of trying. He then said that he would transfer me. The person that I got on that transfer was not the right person and they gave me a phone number to call. It was Dell support again. I got a female tech person this time. She said we had to share a session again so I gave her access to the computer. She actually had the right solution and after she deleted a couple of registry keys it was working. Total time with her was under 10 minutes. Men Tech 0/Women Tech 1 I returned the non-working humidifier that I bought yesterday and just did an even e

  I just bought the second humidifier that I have bought within the month. The first one had to be returned because the motor developed an extremely loud noise within a week of buying the cool mist type of appliance. We could not listen the the radio in the next room without turning it off it was so loud. Walmart is very good about returns. Today I bought a new warm mist humidifier. When I loaded the water and turned it on nothing happened. Nothing was not exactly what I was expecting but the quality of new goods seems to be such that I should have not been surprised. I am drying it out and tomorrow it is being returned. I am a bit tired of crappy stuff!

In the 1940s and 1950s there were certainly no packages of chicken breast tenders in the grocery store so that all family members could have this tender part of the bird. We were a family of 5 until my sister was born in the early 1950s. Money was tight and if we were having chicken for our dinner it was only one small chicken that would be divided 5 or 6 ways. The chickens were not the large breasted chickens that have been genetically engineered for today. Mom and Dad kept chickens at our home on Wolcott Ave. for a while but the whole chickens were mostly purchased at the grocery store. My mother would always boil the chicken first so that she would have broth for making soup. It would be disjointed after boiling. Sometimes she rolled the parts in a bit of flour and browned them in a pan. Most of the time they were just boiled and served with the skin on. I seldom got a breast. The drumstick or thigh were usually still available by the time the platter got to my end of the table

Count None But Sunny Hours is what the little sign on this garden ornament says.  There have been few sunny hours to count lately. We are in a very cold dark period. This weather is not unusual for Northeast Ohio this time of year. More snow covered up the ground last night and more snow and cold are on the way. I need to think more positive thoughts.

It has been a snowy and very cold day. Catching up on inside chores seemed like a good idea so most of my efforts have been spent doing just that.

Once every two years or so the electric company sends tree trimming crews throughout the city to trim trees that may interfere with the electric lines. There is little to no care taken in how they prune these trees. The last picture shows a tree that has suffered pollarding. They just cut it straight across the top. There are a few sprigs growing near the flat top holding a squirrel nest. We have considered cutting this one down. The first picture shows that tree again in the background and another tree that is further from the lines. It has been severely cut back in a rather crude way. I don't think that the branches would have ever grown over into the lines. I often wonder if these employees of a nationally known tree trimming company laugh as they trim along the street and leave these trees looking so ugly. I think they do. They have committed tree murder in my opinion. We have an arborist that trims our trees. This year we will lose a couple of large old Siberian Elm trees th

When you do automotive work yourself you can run into unexpected roadblocks. It was time to replace the exhaust system on the 1981 Chevy Suburban. A leak from the rusty parts had made a louder and louder noise in the last few weeks. More than likely there were fumes from the exhaust leaking into the vehicle. The many calls to car parts stores yielded no results for many of the needed parts. Therefore some things had to be fabricated by welding found parts and pipes together. Some pieces were found by calling a neighbor who does some work on cars. It took quite a few hours of welding and fitting but the new system is installed. Mr. Fix-it, my husband, is proud of his work and glad that he was able to save the cost of taking it to a shop to be repaired.

Pileated Woodpeckers A pileated woodpecker can sure tear up a tree when hunting for food.  These very large birds are colorful and they have a loud woody woodpecker style of call. The bird must have found this declining wild cherry tree in our yard chock full of its favorite insects or grubs. Click on the pileated woodpeckers words below the pictures to read more about them.

Most of the snow has melted off in the last few warm days. The ground was unfrozen before the melt but the cold nights have caused the soil to heave and freeze and the water in the wetlands below the sledding hill and on the other side of the bike trail has a thin coating of ice. Families walked along the bike trail as there is no longer any snow on the blacktop pavement.  Yesterday was dark and rainy from time to time from early morning until sunset. I need the sunshine to stay healthy physically and mentally. I took a few walks around the yard in the crisp air to absorb the rays.

The fungus on the dwindling wood pile has an interesting form. Making resolutions for the new year is not my thing. Actually I don't make too many resolutions during any other time of the year. Failing constantly causes distress. Distress can make you ill. So living each day and striving for a normal existence is all I care to do. HAPPY NEW YEAR