Happy May Day - POTW - Week 18 - Spring

April showers bring May Flowers.

So that means we should have buckets hanging from our doors for May Day full of flowers but this is all I have in my garden. 

But remember last year on this weekend we had 7" of fresh snow...... if you don't believe me check out my post from last year here.  

Happy May Day to all, if I could drop you all one of these sweet May baskets on your doorstep tomorrow I would but one...... I only have this many flowers in the garden and two.... it's cold and rainy and I might melt, and three...... I have to go to work.  :( 

Sky

The late afternoon sky has been giving us quite a show lately.  Tonight the rain clouds were heading out and the sun was breaking through  making it look like a hole.

After the storms

The winds have hit us once again.  I swear we live in a wind tunnel when it's bad weather.  Tuesday morning as my alarm is going off at 4:43am (yes those 2 minutes make a difference) the radio is saying there are storm warnings for the following counties...... TAYLOR.  Yep only one county is under watch, I look outside and there is nothing happening.  They've been wrong before so I get up to head to the gym.  The warnings keep coming.... strong winds, hail, thunder, lighting.... oh well what's the difference if I'm home with the storm or at the gym.  I back out of the garage and look at the sky.... hummmmm that don't look very good but I'll try it, I haven't been to the gym for a week due to my audit and much needed vacation so I really wanted to go.  I am driving into the dark sky and my cell rings, it's Gayle from the gym.... she says they are all heading home they don't want to stay there and risk the cars getting hail damage.  So I turn around and come home.  Now I try to exercise at home but the text messages keep coming in about how bad it is by Gayle.... nothing here yet.  

Then it hit and it hit hard.  I wandered from window to window to look out and see what was happening.  I thought maybe a few times I should be in the basement or at least move my face away from the windows but I didn't.  I can't see a thing outside the windows with the rain and wind, the stuff that is blowing around is unbelievable, we might find our patio furniture in the neighbors field if we're lucky.  Now the lightning is so bad how am I going to take a shower?  I waited until the lightning was a little bit less frequent and then showered real quick, I've already been struck by lighting and they say it doesn't strike the same thing twice so I should be safe, right?

After the storm and before I went to work I took a little walk to see the damages.   1st tree with a huge limb down, and hammock flipped around a bit.

Everything from the porch was on one side.

Another limb

The scar on the tree, there is another one just like this on the other side.

This limb came down and flew about 8 feet from the tree.

It also took down my flower crab tree right at ground level and split one of our cedar trees in three pieces.  It's been clean up around here for 2 days and then another storm hits again last night.  Two of the trees that are standing can no longer stand up straight, they are leaning over.... not sure how long they will be standing.

Guess they weren't wrong with the forecast this time :)

Memorial Weekend - Saturday

Today started out okay, no sun but no rain either so I got started on some painting jobs well that came to a halt when the rain started and didn't quit.  So I cleaned the house and made a fabulous lupper (lunch and supper) for us.  John and I pretty much eat when we're both hungry and sometimes that doesn't happen until like 3:00, so lupper it is.  I'm loving the new Bud Light Lime-A-Rita.  It's so good and in such a fun can, if you know me at all you know the package is what sells it for me.  Make the can green and pretty and I'm sold.  John likes to spoil me with a salt rimmed glass n/ice and it taste even better.   

I'll be showing you some Jazzed Up Junk during this holiday weekend and throwing stuff in between now and July 25th so stay tuned.  If you didn't get to last years sale you can't miss this one.  More stuff, more fun and of course reasonable prices.  Here is last years sale.... here or here or here or here or here.  If you like that you'll flip over our stash that's already waiting for the sale.  

Rainbow

tonight after the storms there was a beautiful rainbow but it was still quite dark.   I took a couple photos and my phone was buzzing in my back pocket...

text - do u c the gr8 rainbo?

me - I do I am taking pics of it

text - we were going on 13.  Looks like the pot o gold is in yr yard

me - no $ here but beautiful pics are bein' taken

Cold Waters

It might be warm outside but that water has to be super cold.

Beautiful January Weather

We have been having some amazing warm weather this winter.  Today it was in the 40's and the sun was so bright and warm.   I'm sure it's going to change but for right now I'll soak it all up.  I do love the snow so it's a bit of a love/hate relationship that I have with the bare ugly ground.  If I want warm temps I'm gonna see ugliness for a while.  So the challenge is to find something pretty enough to photograph during this January thaw.  

Sunset again

The sunsets have been so pretty lately I just can't resist.

Advent Day 3

Today we had the most beautiful snow storm, it was warm with big flakes and nice packing snowman snow.  We ventured out of the house for a burger, stop at the in-laws and back home.  When we got back home I tossed a snowball over the truck and smacked John without even knowing where I was throwing it.  hee hee hee good thing he puts up with my reindeer games.  He's shoving the patio and I'm wandering around outside with my camera.  

I used my flash so I could light up the close snowflakes and kept my ISO at 6400 (as high as it can go), my shutter speed I kept as low as I could hand hold for my 50mm lens which here it is set at 1/40, and my fstop at 1.4 to get enough light in the camera to see through the darkness and capture the lit up porch which is about 60 feet away from me.   My flash was also pointing straight ahead since I didn't have to worry about anything being directly in front of me, except of course the snow that was falling. 

For some reason one photo just isn't enough for me anymore.  This was in the back garden with the same setting as above but the flash pointed at the ground to bounce back up onto the chairs, fence and tree.  With the white snow it really bounced and didn't take much to light objects up that are also white.  This photo is begging me to sit there with a fire in the pit, drinking hot chocolate, and just enjoy the snowfall.

Sleeping outside

September 29th 2011..... my mom would have been 80 today.  80...... I can't even imagine that.  In my mind she'll always be 61 and I'll never have the vision of her getting older.   So to honor mom's 80th birthday my sisters and I went to the bar after work and had a Manhattan.  That was mom drink of choice, she wasn't a big drinker but when she had a drink there was no messing around with fu-fu sissy drinks.  The bartender whips one up, we all take a sip..... we have her add cherry juice......another sip...... we have her add bitters......... now it's a Man-fashion......another sip....... add a splash of 7-up...... another sip........... Let's pass this around the bar and share with everyone else.  We tried, we really tried. 

Happy Birthday Mom

After the couple drinks with my sisters I have date night with John.  We shared some supper and listened to an amazing singer.  His name is Brad Emanuel and it you ever get a chance to see him it's a must.  We listened to him until 1:30am.  So now with 1/4 of a Man-fashion and a few 64's in me we head for home.    I drove so I put the key in the door, unlocked it, gave it a pull and nothing.  I unlocked it again, I must have had more to drink than I thought, nope door doesn't open.  Of course John thinks I'm doing it wrong (like I haven't ever unlocked the house door before) so he tries, nope doesn't work for him either. Well the deadbolt is locked, Adam got home before us and is so used to being the last one home that he dead-bolted the door.  Now in case you didn't know, years ago we got broken into while we were sleeping so when our doors are locked that's it, you aren't getting in unless you break a door or window.  Waking up to a robber walking around in your house, coming up your stairs is enough to scare you forever.  So there is John and I standing in the garage freezing and I'm crabby and he's giggling.  Really John.... giggling?  Where is my husband, my husband doesn't giggle about things like this.  I have to pee really bad, I'm tried and cold.  I call Adam's cell phone.... nothing.... I call the house phone..... nothing.... I text Adam..... nothing..... I call him again.... nothing..... I beg him on the answering machine to wake up and let us in..... nothing.  

John - "I guess we have to sleep in the garage"  

Me - "What?, really?, but I have to pee"

John - "unless you want to sleep outside, we aren't getting in"

Me - "But I have to pee"

John - "you'll have to pee outside"

Me - "OMG"

We get into the garage and there is my craftroom upstairs that has turned into John hunting room that has a futon with the mattress not on it.  The mattress is in the other room and I'm too tired to put it on the futon so I drag that heavy beast to the room and put it on the floor.  Now for blankets, I have 1 quilt that is from when I was like 5.  John and I have to share this thin little quilt and no pillows.  Oh and did I mention there is no heat up there.  John says we could sleep downstairs where the heat is but we'd have to sleep in lawn chairs.   He turns the heat on anyway hoping that it would rise and turns the lights off..... it's pitch black up there and I'm still trying to get the bed ready to sleep in.  He comes with a tiny little flashlight that he found in his truck.  We both lay down and then since I'm so mad I get the giggles, I can't stop and we laugh for about 10 minutes.  Thank goodness we could get into the garage, sleep happens but I'm not sure how since my teeth were chattering so loud.  I wake up at 4:45, my normal getting up time and I have to pee so bad that I again have to go outside.  By now I am frozen and so is John but we have another hour to go.  We finally hear Adam start his truck and we are scrambling to run for the house.  I get a text from Adam..... 

I'm sorry :-(  

Now how could I be mad at that?

Our house never felt so good, our bed was never that comfortable and the blankets were never that warm.  I am getting that room set up for sleeping along with plenty of blankets and pillows, you never know when this will happen again.  

Fall Wonder

Spring is coming

It's taken a long time but spring colors are starting to pop.  The first two colors to show themselves are green and yellow.  After the rain we have been having the green is really bright.  

I'm finally starting to not be tempted to throw a brick at the TV screen every time I heard that commercial 

"Look outside it's grow time".

April Showers brings.....

weather fit for ducks.....

Bringing Spring Inside

Can't have spring and flowers outside so I'll grow them inside. 

Where is spring?

I've been pretty lazy about posting everyday so this is me trying to get back into my POTD no matter what random photo I decide to take that day.  You might roll your eyes some days wondering why in the heck did I waste my time, but this is something I enjoy and it really gets my creative side thinking.  So here's me hopping back on the wagon or sled for this time of year. 

I bought this yellow rose at the grocery store yesterday just to have a glimpse of spring in the house and then I wake up to snow this morning..... urghhhhhh. 

How long is it going to take to melt 6 feet of snow?

Not to depress the rest of you but this is the post from last year March 6th....  click here

Snow Day

The alarm goes off at 4 AM and John looks out the windows..... "I don't think you're going anywhere today"

Are you kidding me?  He goes out to check the damages..... yep we are snowed in by 4-5 foot drifts right in front of the garage doors and along the end of the driveway.  Maybe they will blow away within the next hour so John calls in and we go back to sleep waiting for my alarm..... 45 minutes later and they are still there.  Now I am not a person who ever calls in sick, I did it once and that was 2 days after I had my appendix removed and even then I went in for an hour meeting.  I don't like calling into work, I despise it, that is not me so this is going to be a very long day.

At about 8:15 I talk John into trying to shovel a path and getting one of the trucks out to slam a path through the drifts so I can get to work.  He of course will do anything for me and knows that I will not let him enjoy his snow day if he doesn't try.  So he shovels me a path to walk through to get to the open part of the driveway over to his truck.  Such a nice guy :)

We load up in his truck and take one slam at the drift and it's over the roof of the truck and there we sit.  I ask him to back up and keep slamming it, we're bound to break through.  Ummmmm that wasn't an option since the drift was the entire length of the straight part of our driveway.  We put the truck back in the garage and I'm officially stuck at home..... a snow day.

Here is the drift in front of my garage door and it's as wide as the apron.

Here is John trying to shovel a path through so we can get my truck out.  I told him to stand up straight so we could see how high the drift was.......

He says "I am standing up straight".  Okay that's a big snowdrift.

Later this afternoon the FedEx truck slows down at the end of the driveway, pauses and continues down the road.   They were not about to even chance it...... "OH NO, I want that delivery, it's a photo order".  So John hikes out to the beginning of the snowdrift and then climbs through it as the FedEx truck is coming back down the road and stops to hand him the package.  He comes back in the house with snow covering the entire length of his legs and says "I hope you're happy". 

My snow day was okay, but I better be able to get to work tomorrow or I'll have to have words with Miss Mother Nature. 

Mr Adorable and Snowflakes

The last few days we've been waiting for the doctors to decide what they are going to do with John's dad.  He's been sick for quite awhile and Tuesday they decided to keep him in the hospital and do surgery on Wednesday.  Wednesday got here and Shannon, the caring granddaughter that she is was there checking in on them from time to time to see what was happening.  She is our angel in the medical field and if there is anything grandma and grandpa look forward to when they have to go the clinic or hospital is Shannon's visits to check in with them.  Well Tuesday night they shipped him off to another hospital in the ambulance and it was one more night to wait and find out what was the problem.

Wednesday comes and they are going to take out his gall bladder and search for the gall stones that have disappeared inside him.  John and I take off Wednesday afternoon for a quick customer visit near the hospital and then spend a few hours in the waiting room with his mom, brother and sister-in-law.  The stories that we heard from all involved in Tuesday's events were not joyful stories during the evaluation so when the surgery was taking longer than expected we started to pace the floors.  The doctor came out to tell us everything went well, he tried to wake up before he was done and the gall bladder was rotten and needed to come out.  They would come back to tell us when he was going to be taken to his room.  I found a closet of puzzles and games so after a full game of dominoes and 2 puzzles we finally got told we could meet him in his room.  There were 3 nurses that were bringing him back to his room and setting him up.  The one nurse came out into the hallway and said....

Nurse - "he is adorable"

Us - "what?"

Nurse - "he is so adorable"

Us - "Gilbert Hemmer and Adorable have never been used in the same sentence ever"

Grandma - "can you come home with me"

Oh My Goodness we laughed so hard at those nurses, they all thought he was so funny, happy, adorable, polite.... now if only they would give you that happy juice when they are doing the evaluating process the other doctors and nurses could have see that side of him.  I have to think back to when I had my appendix attack and laid on the bathroom floor for 8 hours and when John finally convinced me to go to the emergency room I was none too pleasant to the poor nurses and doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with me.  No matter what's making us hurt or how old we are we probably aren't the most happy patients until the happy juice is flowing through the IV. 

He was doing well today but will be spending another night with the nurses, hopefully they have the same relationship by the time they release him :)

So since I didn't take my camera along for a photo of Mr Adorable you get a snowflake that I took by turning my lens backwards on my camera.  It's really hard to hold the camera still, my body still while shaking in the cold and keeping the lens square on the body of the camera when held backwards but this photo shows some details that you don't usually see in snowflakes falling from the sky.

Needing Spring

-14 @ 4:45AM

Where is that dang groundhog?  He says spring is right around the corner, yeah right!!  If I could only see the corner behind all those snowbanks.....

More daylight

I'll take whatever daylight I can get and it's getting longer, not by much, but at least I can see the sun after work. 

Busier than a .....

Three Legged Cat in a Sandbox.....   Just think about that for a moment, now that's busy.