Friday, April 4, 2014

Mother Nature Must Be Sleeping

I have a feeling Mother Nature is asleep at the switch.  It's April 4th, a time for tulips and daffodils and warm warm sunshine.  There should be puddles to splash in and vees of geese barking their way north.  The lake should be melting toward it's liquification.  Bing should be stomping through the snow dappled woods gathering buckets of sap and amassing them for a chosen day to boil away the water and watch the sweet amber liquid appear.  But, alack and alas, the snow is falling.  The tree limbs are laden with snow and the town plow is wending its way through our winter weary roads.  The prediction is for 8 to 12 inches and it's the heavy stuff.  Any other year, this scenario would give us the right to whine and complain and crank, crank,crank.  But this year the TV has shown us Mother Nature, not only asleep at the switch,  but angry and vicious - there were ice storms and earthquakes, tornadoes and mudslides and wildfires.  Our extra long winter doesn't compare to the devastation of those events.  So no complaining - just a wish for spring to make its lovely and long awaited appearance.           The pictures show our stained glass cardinal against the snow encased Yew tree and some geraniums started inside and hoping to go outside!

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Don;t be a Bladerune

We were on our way to church this morning and we were listening to the NPR show, "Says You".
It was their segment on guessing the definition of a word.  It's a quiz show with lots of humor and lots of intelligence that often slides right past me.  The two competing teams were given a word.  One team is given the real definition of the word and three members of the team present a definition of the word to the other team.  Two of the definitions are made up and one is the correct definition.  All usually sound somewhat believable.  The other team has to confer and decide which definition is the right one.  The two teams have really clever humorous members and they are awfully quick on the draw........I loved today's word - bladerune - I'm not sure of the spelling because I didn't pay attention right away - but I really wanted to remember it because every once in a while I run into a bladerune and it would be so nice to sum up the person with only one word - nice and concise and no need to go further.  A bladerune is a person who talks continuously and unendingly.  The person does not stop to hear your responses or to take a breath or even if you are needing to go.  He or she just talks and talks and talks.  After I heard the word, I really wanted to remember it but I know a word can slip away if you don't use it or see it anywhere.  But I tried to store it in this 72 year old brain anyway..........And lo and behold,  after church when we stopped at the grocery to pick up the Sunday paper and some on sale turkey breasts, there was a bladerune.  Bing was doing the paying part and I was standing next to the baggger.  The bagger immediately talked and talked and talked about her financial stuation, her mother's financial situation, her likes and dislikes and as I tried to empathize and agree and politely respond, there was no stopping the motor moving her mouth.  I truly admire all the very conversant people I know, people who can chat and visit and tell stories but a bladerune is not really like that.  A bladerune is unique.  I think I've only known three in my lifetime but they certainly do remain in the memory - I,m so happy to have a word to identify them.  And I must remember, God loves us all, even the bladerunes.

Friday, February 21, 2014

A Tip for the Unusually Cold Southerners

We're setting record cold temperatures this winter all over the United States.
I don't know if any folks from the south read this blog but I thought they might need some tips from us northerners on how to keep warm when the air around you isn't.  It must be so hard for people who shiver when it's forty degrees to navigate in snow and ice and to take the chill out of the bones after being outside in 20 degree weather.  I know that they will instinctively pile on the clothing and stay near anything that is giving off heat but here's one little tip that really helps keep the heat in the body.  Sure, it would be nice to keep the temperature set at eighty or more but most of us folks couldn't afford the fuel or electricity costs.  So, here's my tip:  tuck your pants into your socks.  Yep, simple as that.  It makes you look like George Washington but it really works.  Instead of cool air around your ankles, you're nice and snug from hip to toe.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

It's Still Snowing!!!

I'm finally signing in again and the cold white stuff is still falling outside.  My meandering path is mostly impassable now so I've faced our treadmill looking out the window so that I can still get some walking exercise while pondering nature.  I use the time on the treadmill to say a lot of prayers but as I pray my meandering mind moves rapidly to other thoughts.  I see the lake from the window.  The lake is frozen solid to a depth of about 26 inches and the blanket of snow is at least that too.  But seeing the lake isn't that easy from our windows because the neighbor's lakefront is full of brush and small saplings.  But, the good thing is, he said we could take out whatever we wanted to.  I love to do this type of work and today I trudged down the hill with our purple sled and logging tools and continued on my quest to make a nice clear view.  Whenever I finish  and come back up the hill to see how it looks, I find some more and know there will be more workdays ahead.  The pictures show the tools, and some of the work.  Everything looks black and white these days - that's why spring and its vibrant greens are so welcome when the season arrives.