Tuesday January 16

[Shirlv]

Morning All, 30° 2” of snow on the ground and presently sleeting. A good day to stay indoors with independent Garfield, the cat. Family has left for work, always a concern on slippery roads. Now that the holiday is over we have settled into a routine. There is less demand on my chores and finances so am bored. Since we have different food considerations I have started having dinner earlier and family has a slower pace later dinner. There are two grow lights on plants which they appreciate and so do I. The lights have turned my sitting room sunny. lol. Just watched Garden Answer and making a terrarium might be a fun project. Edith’s friend is begging me to take some of her African violets so her husband doesn’t divorce her. Looks like we are all dealing with cold weather so stay warm and safe.

[OregonLuvr]

Morning Shirl. I think we are all getting back into some sort of routine. I have a very different one in the winter months than spring and summer. Much more lazy in the winter. I think sun inspires me, cold, gray, foggy, rainy not at all.
When I went to bed last night around 9 our internet was down. Since my entire house runs on internet I was reduced to watching antenna tv. It worked just fine for the short time I watched it. Woke up at 4am....then Emma woke up and started hopping all over the bed, put a wet toy right in my face. Tried to turn over for a while but she was having none of that. So I got up, couldnt turn on the lights as internet was still down....I had to do it manually, go figure. So made coffee, took the dog out and fed her and when I sat down to turn on my hotspot on my phone computer connected to my Spectrum router instead and the green light was on....wahoo back in business. Seems the outage was all over Oregon, parts of N CA and WA. But whatever it is fixed now.
Since I have been up forever think it is time to get some breakfast. I am thinking bacon this morning, yup that sounds good. Now the dilemma is pancakes or eggs with it....hmmmmm

[Irmi]

Good morning Shirl, Karen and all that check in!

Shirl, when I was working, since I was the first person in the office at 5:00, after my brother/boss got there an hour later, we would make the decision to close for the day due to heavy snow or ice. I would let him know how the roads were since he lived on the premises and walked to the office. I don't miss that. Karen, the warm weather and sunshine keep me motivated, too. Like you, I always try to do several things in the motorhome/casita done everyday. Today I'm washing the bed linens and did a load of laundry for the two previous days. After dinner, I wash, dry and put away the dishes. If I look around, there's always something that could be done such as dusting, sweeping, whatever. I hope Carol and Bill have safely settled in their hotel in Mazatlán.

I woke up to 67 degrees this morning and got in my morning walk. After Steve got up, I put the bed linens in the washer and now they're in the dryer. We put our toad in the shop yesterday because the front passenger tire had a slow leak. We went to pick it up this morning to find out that tire had a cut in it and all four tires are dry rotted, so we're having them replaced and will pick the car up this afternoon. Early tomorrow morning, our temperatures will plummet into the low 40's and into the mid to high 30's. We won't be nearly as cold as much of the country is, but that's cold for central FL. We're trying to get back to healthier eating and having large salads with our dinner. Hopefully I can lose a few pounds before my next doctor appointment.

Stay warm everyone.

[BarbaraRose]

Good morning gals!

Am just hunkered down under my warm fuzzy blankets in bed yet. My new humidifier has this place in a fog this morning! It works really well! I might have to turn it down some at night tho. Even Romeow was a little damp after sleeping at the foot of the bed near the humidifier!

Am still congested but my cough is back to more of a dry cough. Will get the L-Lysine today so hope that makes my throat a little better. I am sure it is pretty raw with all the coughing and hacking I do in the evenings when it gets worse.

Romeow is getting a little possessive of me now. He has been so affectionate and sweet with me lately but this morning Sophie jumped up on the bed and he attacked her! She came back up later after he got off the bed to eat.

No putters golf for me today. Just not feeling up to that yet. Hopefully next week. Just not up to speed yet on energy. I am getting tired of hanging out in bed or watching TV, so I will probably get to my to-do list today.

Saw on the weather channel last night about the big snow storm going thru the southern states. Crazy weather all over! I think January is making up for November and December as far as winter weather goes!

I just got a reminder this morning of my age! I yanked out a chin hair that was over an inch long!

Have a good day and stay warm!

[OregonLuvr]

For those of you not on Facebook or missed this Liz gave me an update,
Response to my post from Liz
Apparently I totally missed this post. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. They do make a difference. Susan Martineau Lavigne, I had a double mastectomy with no reconstruction…keeping it simple. Cancer was confined to the ducts in the right breast, no spread to lymph nodes. All gone, no more treatment needed. I am home recovering and healing. Follow-up appointment is Feb. 1 together drains out. I feel good, very little pain

another response
Thank you, Karen and all. Prayers have been and continue to be answered. I am home recovering well. Cancer is gone, no more treatment needed. Just healing of the incisions now. Still have drains in place until my follow-up appointment on Feb. 1. Not allowed to do much until then. Promised my daughters I would behave myself.

[BarbaraRose]

Thanks Karen! That is great news about Liz!

[Bethers]

Thanks for the update, Karen. Yay for good news.

It's our second day of so very cold. I'm glad I turned off the water and drained my hose. Here it is noon and we're up to 33 degrees, feels like 22. Tomorrow the winds are supposed to be gone and temps will start back up. So I'm sitting under my lovely electric throw, reading and watching TV and drinking hot chocolate. I'll throw a few little projects in but am not going to the unheated tt for a couple more days lol

By the way, the directions say to keep pets away from the electric throw as their "digging" could cause damage. I understand. But as soon as I put this over me Ty comes to either lady on or under it, too. Since he has dangerous claws I'll watch for behavior that can damage it. He's next to me curled up on top right now.

[Acadianmom]

I hate freezing weather. I don't know how anyone lives in the North. My power went out at 9:20 last night and didn't come back on until almost midnight. My neighbors on the highway had power but I'm on a side road with only 4 houses. We are not high priority to fix the power. I was getting ready to go in the motorhome and turn the generator on. My house is well insulated and didn't get too cold for a while. It got down to 19 degrees and is only up to 28 now. I would like to go to town but would like for it to be above freezing. I don't think that is going to happen today. The noon weather report says it will be colder tonight.

My internet was off and on last night. I think the problem was the freezing rain. This morning I tried to put something in the big trash bin and the lid was frozen shut.

Karen, thanks for the report on Liz.

Martha

[Colliemom]

Afternoon all. Sun is out at the moment, but it is a chilly 8° with a Wind chill of -12. My HVAC tech just left after doing g my yearly inspection/service of my boiler. I have hot water baseboard heat. . No snow for us these past couple days, as Wind has shifted to SW and lake effect heade to far NW corner of the lower. We have enough for now. With what came Dow last Tuesday and over the weekend from Gerri and the lake effect that followed, we have between 18-20 inches on the ground. Businesses and snow sports field loks are happy. Snowmobilers were out in force on Saturday. Lake effect kicked in big time on Sunday and sometimes I couldn’t see neighbors house across the road. I was out mid morning before it kicked in abpnd blew out both drives. Temp was in teens as was same yesterday. But I was dressed warm so didn’t mind it. Yesterday I took dogs to groomer, swung by store, had lunch out, then came home and ran the blower around yard a bit and another pass over the drives to clean out last of weekend snow and catch up so to speak. Then back to get dogs later.

BJ, you asked the other day if I get my Winter gear online or local. The answer is both. The fleece warmup pants I wear during the winter, I get at our local Meijer store. They are in the men’s dept., but are unisex. They keep my legs warm all Winter. My ski bibs I wear over them when I am out with my snowblower, shoveling snow or walking the dogs, I got at one of our local sporting goods stores. My fleece jackets and pullovers are from LL Bean and those really warm coats I mentioned are from Refrigiwear.com. Winter hats and gloves I can buy local. Windproof is the key to outerwear in Winter. I also have a pair f YaxTrax Diamond Trax studded cleats on my boots for when I walk the dogs in the had pack snow and ice on the roads. One of my favorite pair of footwear is LL Bean Snow Sneakers. They are above ankle insulated sneakers. Warm and just nice for running errands, etc.in Winter or even late fall. I highly recommend them for anybody who just wants a warm pair of shoes per se for being out in cooler or cold temps, but don’t really want to wear regular boots. You can find them in the LL Bean webpage. Martha, good idea to have cancelled your campout. Bit too cool for that.

Seems like everybody’s experiencing cold weather right now. Annie, your “fire” sounds nice. Karen, thanks for posting the post from Liz. Really good news. I too was thinking of Bill and Carol this morning. Sharon, glad your furnace is working again. Barbie, glad you are feeling a bit better. Martha, you mentioned those of us living in the north and cold weather. It’s like everyplace else. You bloom where you are planted. You grow up with a certain type of climate and it’s part of your life. No different really than those of you who live in the south being used to your weather. Our blood is thicker too, so we can deal with cold winters. There’s probably more outdoor things going on in winter than summer in a way. Like somebody posted on FB one day , at least we can play with snow, we can’t play with rain.

Don’t remember what else I read past couple of days. Suffice to say I am keeping up with all of you. Had to believe it’s mid January. I need to get at my to do list. It’s all minor little things so won’t take long. Also debating about hiring painter to do my kitchen. I want to do two bedrooms and bathroom yet this winter. Right now I8m having fun Diamond painting, but will get to the room painting before long. Can paint a room in a day after it’s prepped. Still have plenty of Winter left yet. Off to Diamond Paint.

[BarbaraRose]

Well, nothing motivates a person to houseclean faster than a call from their real estate agent wanting to show the house!!!
I told him he would have to wait until tomorrow to show it because it is a mess and I haven't felt good enough to clean it for awhile. The showing is now for noon tomorrow.

So I have been working my butt off cleaning! Want to clean it really good and disinfect it well. Don't want Covid germs floating around. I have the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen cleaned and floors mopped. It is 4pm now so I think I will work on the yard and deck now, then the porch. I can do the living room after the sun goes down. I have to work tomorrow morning so I need to get this all done tonight.

I am gonna be wiped out tonight for sure! Hoping to get to bed by 11pm.

By the way, I am in shorts and it is in the 70's...just sayin'.

[Bethers]

Good luck, Barbie!

[asirimarco]

Hope someone is still up. I'm about ready to go to bed. I posted about our trip and what we did today, Can read it here. https://travelinginrvandlivinginlasvegas.blogspot.com/ We are both happy but tired. I will take a few days to catch up I think. It was in the low 80's here today, but gets into high 50's at night. Bill is very happy and feeling good so far. It is late so will get ready for bed. Actually just looked at watch and it is only 7 o'clock. Thought it was at least 9!!!

[Bethers]

Oh Carol, so good to hear from you. Traveling can be exhausting. Like you it's been a long time since I've flown and with all the new regulations I'm sure I'd be lost. I loved all the pictures on your blog post. I think you're going to have trouble only staying a month. Bill definitely looks like he's in his happy place. I hope you get a good night's sleep. You are missing the worst of the cold up here, I believe. So you left just in time to miss the worst.

[BarbaraRose]

Carol, glad to hear things are going well so far. Maybe if you do this again next year, you could rent a condo or similar and stay longer. Would probably be cheaper than a hotel.

I finally got my place all clean and neat by 10:30pm. Had to take a lot of breaks due to getting tired easily. But got 'er done! Just a few things to put away in the morning. It is nice to have a clean place again.

I ordered some Nature's Miracle Urine remover that came highly recommended for removing cat urine odors. Got that delivered this afternoon. After blowing the dust off the deck and hosing some of it off as well, I sprayed that all over the carpet and chair cushions, and even the carpet in the porch (just in case). Hoping that works! Hosed off the patios and driveway too. There is always more to do than you think there is.

I am feeling sad tonight. I realized yesterday that two of the stray cats, Spooky and Gray Kitty, have been AWOL for awhile now. I asked Gloria if she has seen them since she feeds them and they usually hang out on her deck, but she hasn't seen them either. I am worried they either got taken by a coyote, like Lily did, or something else got them. That is 3 gone now. Only Shadow is still around, as well as a very skittish orange cat. Gray Kitty was really a sweet friendly cat. He will be missed.

I better get to sleep soon since I need to get up early tomorrow. My lower back hurts tonight as well as my knee with the torn meniscus. Have the heating pad on my back. Should probably take some Ibuprofin.