WARMER THURSDAY

[Nasoosie]

GOOD MORNING---

It's slightly above freezing this morning at 33 out there......which means my dark walk down my driveway will be mucky and very difficult. Yesterday turned out to be another beautiful, sunny, warm day, and it felt so good to be able to get out on the deck for some rays. As we still have mountains of snow here, and tons on the level still, there is no possible way for Molly and me to enjoy being out off the deck. The parking lot in the driveway here behind the house, which is in the sun most of the day, is beginning to harden up a tad, but the driveway in has just begun to turn into the annual quagmire it becomes every spring. Trees and snowbanks shelter that from the sun. A headlamp in the mornings, with the muck sucking at my boots and sometimes grabbing one too solidly to take another step, I arrive at the truck with cold, muddy feet as I invariably lose my balance when trying to take my foot out of the stuck boot to free it up, and end up barefoot in the deep, black, freezing muck. A container of baby wipes to help me clean them off, a roll of paper towel to help to dry them, and then waiting for the heater in the truck to thaw my aching feet so I can put them into some shoes I keep out there has become my morning routine----all now done by the light of my headlamp. The drive to school has also been negatively affected by the morning darkness, as the deer think it's still 5:30 and not 6:30, which is the hour they make their early-morning walk-abouts and get their drinks from the thawing ponds for the day. Last week, before the time change, this was happening before the morning commuter traffic, and now deer carcasses are laying along the roadsides, and confused deer can be seen darting across the roads trying to avoid being hit. It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature.

The good thing here is that perhaps this might be the last spring I will need to be doing this! Hopefully I might be fine in FL next year until the end of April! However, the deer will still have to try to comprehend why the humans are out in droves in the darkness that used to be theirs.

If others in my family will need to deal with this spring driveway thaw from now on, perhaps they can come up with enough money to have it fixed----the guy who looked at it said it will need to be cleared more on the sides, excavate good shoulder drainage ditches, have the crown arched to encourage better drainage, black plastic road-bed material laid down the entire length (the heavy duty rubber-like kind with holes in it to allow drainage, but not allow settling into the soft, sucking mud) and then loads and loads of small stones dumped over that followed by loads and loads of crusher run. If the driveway had more of a slope, that is if it were on a hill, it would drain and thaw much faster each year, but it is relatively flat once it leaves the parking lot. It's not an easy fix, such as having dump truck loads of crusher run added to the surface, as that would sink out of sight the following spring.

Today is a jeans day for us faculty, as tomorrow is also one because of the superintendent's day fiasco. Our money will be contributed to the High Peaks Hospice today. YIPPEE! Come on in and have some coffee and tell us about your plans. How about some spring flower pictures from some of you who actually have some color already? I can't wait to see the purple of my crocuses!

P.S.---Molly just ponted out that I have caught my first spring mouse. That should be fun to carry out to the truck this morning, along with my backpack and coffee mug!

[bikerchic777]

Me oh my oh!!! If all of that is not enough incentive to get out of there in the winter, I don't know what is We may have been a bit chilly down here in FL this winter, but nothing like what you have to contend with! The only positive I see there is how good it feels when spring does arrive And I'm worried about heading back to IA this yr in April and not May! God bless your muddy feet!!! Not much here today. Getting ready to go for my long morning walk (usually 4-6 mi) with the boys. It rained a bit last night and still looks threatening. Hopefully I can make it through my walk without getting poured on. I get too warm to leave my raincoat on. May do a load of laundry today...Whee! Guess my big goal is to get rid of this sinus headache!!! Hoping I can shake it before my big day with Liz tomorrow. I won't let it stop me, but would prefer to be headache free. Have a great day everyone!

[asirimarco]

Good Morning All from the good ole US of A. Yes we are back we're in McAllen, TX - drove the 570 miles marathon again yesterday from Queretaro, MX to TX. It's a good road all the way but cost in tolls over $110 -
Thank you for mentioning the time change - didn't even think of it. We'd have blissfully gone along all day one hour off.
Had a wonderful time in Mexico - but there always reaches a point when we want all the comforts of home. Funny thing is we can home the same date last year. I''ve updated my blog till about a week ago. But still need to do more to finish up trip.
More later.
Have wonderful and safe day today.

[bluepinecones]

Good Morning all.

Soos - That morning treck sounds awful. Here's hoping it is your last winter to do that.

We are continuing to have a prolonged unusual winter with temps way below normal. We had one great spring day about 2 weeks ago then went back to gray skies, rain, and cold. Forecast for tomorrow is for sun and much warmer (but only for a day). If the sun actually makes an appearance, I will try to get a few pixs of blooms for Soos. Buttercups and other spring things are finally blooming in spite of the weather, tho all are about a month late this year. Even the winter rye I scattered around Christmas has come up in spots. Thought it was all lost due to extreme freezes. Wild onions seem to be doing better than anything else.
My Census form came yesterday; a short one at least for now.

Nicky has an appointment with vet this AM to check his foot to be sure it is healing properly, not infected, etc. He seem to be doing fine and is putting that paw down to walk again.

No big or even interesting plans for my day. Basic survival tasks like cleaning.

Interesting trivia for the day: From Forbes, there are 1011 billionaires in the world; only 89 of them are women. Of the 89 only 14 are self made. Half of those 14 made their fortunes in China. For those of you who are Oprah fans, she is all the way down in the 400s part of the list.

Have a safe and warm day whatever you have planned.

[Echo]

GOOD MORNING SISTAHS!!!

~Yawn~ I was not ready to get up this morning. ~Yawn~ Went to bed at about 12:30am and got up at 6:30, I've been sitting here in a fog ever since and I'm still working on my first cup of coffee too. Set the pot up last night to have 10 cups for this morning, I'm thinking now that it was a good thing? I'm feeling the need. I must really need it too! I've been misspelling and typing words backwards, have to keep correcting myself.

Nothing much going on here as usual. LOL Went grocery shopping yesterday and got some meat at Safeway again. Getting a wee bit nervous about my 12v cooler as it's making some rather weird noises. Still cooling like it should but hmmm? Kelly is planing on catching a matinee movie in town some time this week, she wants to go see Alice in Wonderland really bad. She use to love going to the movies by herself as she says it's her "me" time. I'm not such a big fan of going to the movies as it bugs the crap out of me the prices they charge! Not much of a fan of TV anymore period.

We have sat and talked about getting a new canopy but we've decided not to bother with it. We've got 2 months to go before heading back to the lodge and we are just gonna keep using the smaller one. It's way smaller than the other one and we miss the extra space to move around but we can deal with it for now. This will give us a chance to look around to see what else is out there that we might be interested in. I've also found a web page that has free plans available for building your own out of pvc pipe. Just might go that way? But will have the time to think and plan. Spoke to the owners of the Lodge about the roof collapsing over the trailer we lived in last year. Was told that there was a little damage done to the trailer so that they might have to temporarily put Kelly and I in a different unit until they figure out how to and have time to fix ours. ~sigh~ Was really looking forward to getting 'home' too. I miss my oven and microwave. Not to even mention having a real handy bathroom!!!!

I had better quit here. I am having one he77 of a time trying to type. Need to pump a whole lot more coffee in me I guess. Hope everyone has a super great day and of course please remember to do so safely!!!

Love to all

[AlmostThere]

Morning,
Woke up with yet another headache. I'm thinking the new BP meds are the culprit.
Yesterday AM I talked to my Dr's nurse and she relayed that the new "happy" pills were causing my bp to spike, so I'm off them for now. Will check my pressure today and tomorrow and see if that was the case.
I went to see Shutter Island a few days ago. Wasn't as good as I thought. Kinda knew not far into the movie what the ending was going to be. I have been thinking of seeing Alice in Wonderland 3-D, too. I liked watching Avatar in 3-D. That was fun, but I agree on the ticket prices. No wonder Avatar is the highest grossing movie when the price to get in is double or tripled from when I saw The Sound of Music.
Housework is always on the agenda here. Just can't get motivated to get at it. I was sneezing and wiping my nose all day yesterday. Probably allergies.
Ok, done whining. lol Enjoy your day, ladies! Stay safe.

[bluepinecones]

Been thinking about Soos request for blooms all morning. These daffodils aren't mine but they are in my area. Enjoy.
http://huntsville.about.com/od/historichomes/ss/quietdale.htm?nl=1

[Nasoosie]

Sigh! Thanks for the daffodils, but they just aren't YOURS, and they are too far away to really see well!

But I truly appreciate the thought!

[OutandAbout]

Good afternoon all. Finished my spring cleaning, since I was forced into doing more than half anyway. Feels good. Not much planned for today, the weather will be in the low 60's and sunny, so will get out for awhile with the puppies.

My niece saw Alice in Wonderland and loved it. She is a big Tim Burton fan and was not disappointed. I don't enjoy going to the movies anymore. All the talking and moving around really gets on my nerves and ruins it for me. I usually wait for the movie to come out on DVD now.

Lenora, hope you get your meds straightened out and feel better soon.

Take care all. Linda

[AlmostThere]

Thank you, Linda.

[Ladyhawk]

Morning,
Woke up with yet another headache. I'm thinking the new BP meds are the culprit.
Yesterday AM I talked to my Dr's nurse and she relayed that the new "happy" pills were causing my bp to spike,

Not sure what "happy pills" you're taking, but sample a few different kinds to see what works best for you. I went through several before I found what truly works for me.

It's allergy season, so hopefully that's all you're dealing with.

[AlmostThere]

Hi, Amy,
I was on Celexa, lowest dosage. This morning no headache, bp was fine until I got anxious when a certain phone call came in. Then it seemed kinda high. I just left a mssg with my Dr's nurse to relay to my Dr what's happening and will see what she advises. Thanks for thinking of me.