Thursday 13: A VERY Random Edition

Since we’ve had so much snow, and I’ve been staying inside so much (because I HATE snow), I don’t have much for a Thursday 13 this week.

So, it seems like a good time to share a very random assortment of pictures that I’m fairly sure I haven’t posted here before.

1.    Of course, I’m going to start off with a cat picture.  I think Mortimer looks adorable here.  

2. This was at a vacation rental that we stayed at in 2023.  I think these hand mirrors are antique (or at least vintage).  They were displayed on a wall in the bathroom, and I thought it was a great idea.  It seemed like a fun way to display a collection without really taking up space.

3.    I enjoy taking pictures of the sky, and I thought it was beautiful this particular evening.

4.    I’m not sure what these little white flowers are called, but I think they’re pretty.

5.   This hibiscus was at a vacation rental we stayed at in 2022.

6.  This was on vacation in 2021.  It was insanely humid that day, and the camera lens fogged, but I liked how it made the picture look kind of mysterious and moody.

7.  Theodore loves it when we get a suitcase out of the closet. 

8.    So does Mortimer.

9.    This was sunrise on Kiawah Island on our 2024 vacation.

10.  This was the first time I successfully built a cooking fire entirely on my own after Hurricane Helene.  I’m not the outdoorsy type, so it felt like a major accomplishment.

11.  This was when a possum stopped by the critter corner.

12.  This was one of the few beach pictures I took on vacation last year before we got sick.

13.  Finally, here's a flower picture that, according to the date stamp, I took on February 29, 2024. I'm trying to remind myself that the snow will melt and spring will eventually arrive! 

Are you also eagerly anticipating warmer weather? 

 

Maybe We’re Finally Thawing Out

Like most of you, we’ve had a lot of snow and ice lately.  I know “a lot” is relative when it comes to snow and ice.  But for here, where most of us panic at the mention of snow, and almost none of us can drive in it, what we’ve had is definitely a lot. 

From the first round.  It's mostly ice.  There are icicles on the bird feeders.

Last weekend (January 24^th -25^th), we had some snow, a lot of ice, and freezing rain.  There were widespread power outages.  We were some of the fortunate ones who didn’t lose power.  It flickered so much that we fully expected to lose it, but never did.  Nick’s office was closed for two days, and mine switched us all to telework.

Everything was coated in ice.

We had some warming and melting, but still had ice in several places by Friday.

This past weekend (January 31^st – February 1^st), we had snow and extreme cold.  I think we ended up with around six inches of snow in total.  It’s a little hard to tell because of the way the wind blew it around. 

From this past weekend.  We had more after I took this.  And there's ice from the week before underneath it in some places.

Again, we were fortunate and didn’t lose power.  It did get so cold, though, that the heater wasn’t able to keep up and was running around seven degrees colder than what it was set for. 

We did everything we could to keep the house warmer.  We hung blankets over the blinds in the windows to help insulate the house a little more.  I did some baking and made soups and chili.  We had neighbors over for soup and chili both weekends. 

My job has switched us all to telework again for at least the next day or two, which I’m happy about since I absolutely don’t drive in this kind of weather.   

Things are beginning to thaw out.  

There's still ice under some of this, so I don't trust it.

We are supposed to have highs ranging from 47 to 51 this weekend.  I’m so glad!  I haven’t left the house since January 23^rd, and I’m starting to go a little stir crazy.  I’m looking forward to getting out. 

I hate winter.  I really, really hate winter.  I started off in January trying to have a positive attitude about winter and trying to make the best of the cold, but at this point, I’m just over it.  I’m ready for spring! 

I would much rather be taking pictures of flowers than snow!

So, what about you?  Are you thawing out?  Ready for spring? 

Thursday 13: Scarves, Shots, and Snow

1.    I’m still kind of obsessed with making V stitch scarves.

2.    I finished this one for one of the neighbors.

3.    And this one for another neighbor.

4.    Both kids used their mom’s phone to text me to thank me for the scarves, and their texts were so sweet.

5.    We had our first snow for the season on Monday and Tuesday.  The higher elevations had a lot.  We were fortunate enough not to get very much.

6.    I know for most of you this is nothing, but it’s more than I like to see in November.  It’s still technically fall! 

7.    Nick and I were both off on Tuesday for Veterans’ Day, so that was the day we scheduled Charlie and Mortimer’s shots and checkups.   They weighed in at 24 pounds (Charlie) and 22.5 pounds (Mortimer). 

8.    Charlie and Mortimer are both very good at the vet and mostly just huddled together on the exam table.

9.    We’re both finally starting to feel better, but are still extremely tired, so after Charlie and Mortimer’s appointment, we had a nice, chill day at home. 

10.  Caroline had her shots and checkup yesterday afternoon.

11.  Caroline is normally NOT good at the vet.  Since it was a work-from-home day for me, I was able to give her Gabapentin a few hours before her appointment.  It definitely helped!

12.  This was Caroline’s first vet visit where no one bled.  They were able to do a full exam and even weigh her.  She weighs 12.5 pounds. 

13.  I've already started working on another scarf that I hope to be able to show you next week.  

How has your week been? 

 

Happy New(ish) Year!

You can still say Happy New Year in January, right?  Even if it’s the very last day of January?  Anyway, I hope 2019 ended well for all of you, and that you’re all having a great start to 2020.

I meant to do at least a few posts in December, but as usual time got away from me.  I had a few projects at work to finish up, and the usual holiday stuff just seemed to take over beyond that.  Here
are the highlights since the last time I posted:

An oldie but a goody:  Howard the meerkat.

We had our holiday meal at work.  It was a lunchtime potluck in mid-December.  I really like how the new job does it.  There aren’t many nearby options for lunch so almost everyone brings their lunch almost every day.  So bringing food to work and eating it there wasn’t really an inconvenience for anyone.  And I loved that it was during the workday.  It’s so much better than trying to fit in yet another event after work or on the weekend during the holidays.  And the food was awesome, which I’m sure contributed to my good opinion of it.  I got a few new recipes I’m looking forward to trying.  I brought macaroni and cheese, which went over very well. 

Nick and I went to my sister’s for Christmas.  It was just the three of us this time.  Nick’s mom and step-dad weren’t able to come because one of their cats was extremely sick, and they couldn’t leave him.  Fortunately, he’s doing much better now.  Our friend Alex ending up going to Florida to be with her family.  It was a little odd without our usual group, but the three of us still had a great time.  We’re working on putting together a second Christmas so everyone can get together to see each other and exchange gifts.

I bought a camera.   A nice one.  I’ve been toying with the idea for a long time.  I took pictures for a Realtor for a couple of years while I was going to school, and I fell in love with taking pictures.  I’ve never had any formal classes or training, but I love it, and I’ve dabbled with trying to improve my skills over the years.  I’ve never taken the plunge on a good camera, though.

One of my coworkers, Doc, has a degree from an art school and has done professional photography.  He was nice enough to look at some of my pictures (taken with a cellphone) and offered me some pointers that have been helpful.  He also said I have a good eye and have potential.  One really good Cyber Monday sale later, I was the proud owner of a new camera. 

Doc showed me a few things with the camera, and has sent me out into the world to practice.  He has promised to look at my pictures and tell me what’s working, what isn’t, and how to get them to turn out how I want them to.  I haven’t had as much time as I had hoped to experiment, but I think that will change now that the holidays are over.  You’ll probably be seeing more pictures from me.  Hopefully you’ll also notice an improvement in the quality. Just FYI, the pictures in this post are the usual cellphone pictures.

Nick’s mom sent the cats some catnip bananas for Christmas.  All six of the cats absolutely love them.  Tara loves them, which made me so happy.  Tara was a few years old when we adopted her, and had an extremely hard life.  She’s still very skittish around people.  Some days seem better than others, and lately she seems to be really coming out of her shell.  She loves the bananas so much that she came out and played with them, and even let me get some pictures of her playing with one.

Tara

 It snowed today.  It started off light around mid-morning, and then started coming down heavily.  We have the option to work at home during bad weather, so I panicked, took my laptop home, and finished up my work for the day at home.  I’m a South Carolina native, and we don’t handle snow well!  It’ supposed to get warmer this evening, so the snow should all be gone by tomorrow.  I certainly hope so!  Nick sees this as a dusting.  I see it as accumulation.   I think most of you who read and comment regularly live in colder climates, so I suspect most of you will see it as a dusting like Nick does. 

The view down our street. 

In my defense, it did snow some more after this picture was taken.

We had a Crock Pot cooking competition at work last week for a fundraiser.  I entered my macaroni and cheese.  I came in second place.  Obviously, first place would have been great, but I don’t think second place is too bad. 

Duke had surgery a couple of weeks ago.  He had two cysts on the top of his head that needed to be removed.  He also had some broken teeth that needed to be pulled.  The vet thinks he probably broke the teeth chewing hard on something.  Given everything Duke gets into, I think that’s an excellent explanation.  He did well with the surgery, and is recovering nicely.  Duke is pretty popular at the vet’s office, so I know he was treated very well.  He insisted on going around to tell everyone bye before we left.  He did manage to look very pitiful the next day, and convinced us to give him quite a few treats. 

Duke

Nothing else is really coming to mind that merits posting about.  It always seems strange to me how the end of the year seems insanely busy, but whenever I try to list what we did there’s just not much.  Does that happen to you? 

So how has 2020 started off for you?  Was the end of 2019 insanely busy?

Of course, no catch up post is complete without random cat pictures, so here are a few more for you to enjoy. 

Charlie & Mortimer

Howard

Mortimer

Caroline

Snow Pictures & A Catch-Up Post

I seem to be sticking to a pattern of posting about once a month, so here’s the latest catch-up post, and some pictures of Duke playing in the snow.

We had a major snow storm (along with pretty much the entire east coast) on January 22^nd. Our total snow accumulation was just under a foot. We also had extremely low temperatures, and crazy high winds. Nick and Duke loved it. Emma and I didn’t venture off of the screened in porch. I actually ended up not going outside for five days straight. I really don’t like snow! So of course I’m hoping that’s it for us for snow this winter. Come on spring!

I’ve changed the comment settings on the blog to require approval for comments on anything that’s more than 14 days old. The spam on the older posts was just getting out of control. Have any of you run into that problem? Any suggestions for solving it?

If you haven’t seen the movie Inside Out yet, I highly recommend watching it. We rented it from Redbox a few weeks ago and both absolutely loved it. There was a lot more to it than either one of us were expecting, but it still leaves you with the nice happy feeling that you expect from a cartoon.

Emma is still holding her own. She has been eating fairly well over the weekend, and has been a little more active and playful. There are definitely some bad days, but for now the good days seem to outnumber the bad ones.

So what about you? Have you had any snow? How are things going for you?

Southern Snow Driving

So.  The south has taken a beating from Mother Nature this week, and southerners have taken a beating from the world.  Places that haven’t seen snow in years had accumulation (which for us starts when we see white on the ground) and places that usually see some snow saw a lot of snow and ice, really fast.  It was bad.  People were unprepared, people made questionable decisions, and people drove badly.  And we have been mocked and criticized.

There have been plenty of articles and blog posts detailing why we should be mocked, why we shouldn’t be mocked, who is to blame, who isn’t to blame, who did what, didn’t do what, should have done what, or shouldn’t have done what.  I’m sure you’ve read at least some of them.  I’m not going to go into any of that.  I don’t claim any expertise in that area, but I have determined that there seem to be four distinct types of southern snow drivers:

1.        The non-drivers.  This group (which I’m a card-carrying member of) does not drive in the snow.  We just DO.  NOT.  DRIVE.  IN.  THE.  SNOW.  We value life and limb. This group consists mostly of G.R.I.T.S. (girls raised in the south), and we grew up being taught the value of staying home in the snow. 

It doesn’t matter if we have an armored tank available.  We simply do not venture out.  We buy our milk and bread when the nice folks at the Weather Channel tell us to.  We buy batteries and snacks.  And we arrive home to lock our doors and charge our phones long before the first flake swirls.   

We do not venture out.  It doesn’t matter what is going on, who claims to need us, or who assures us we can do it.  We do not venture out until the roads are cleared.  You won’t find us stuck on a highway, tumbling down an icy ravine, or ending up in a fiery crash in the median.  Nope.  We understand the perils of snow driving, and we choose to live another day by not engaging in such risky behavior.  The Yankees mock us. Other southerners mock us.  We don’t care.  We’re alive to be mocked.

2.        The cautious drivers.  This group (which is usually the one Nick is part of) consists mostly of native southerners, usually men.  They will drive in the snow.  They drive slowly, and they plan out the “best” route for getting from Point A to B.  They do not go anywhere that isn’t “necessary” and they’re often willing to take non-drivers along with them.  (Side note:  they’re the only group non-drivers will even consider getting in the car with when there’s snow on the ground.)

The cautious drivers reach a point at which they decide that the current road conditions are worse than their skill set and caution can compensate for.  They’re the ones who take two hours to get home from a place that normally takes 20 minutes to get home from.  They make it home, realize that conditions have deteriorated, and stay put until the roads improve somewhat.

3.        The four-wheel drive/powerful car/big truck/SUV/Y chromosome drivers. (Occasionally Nick joins this group.)  NOT all of the people who own any/all of these things fall into this group.  Just the ones who think that these vehicles have been sprinkled with some sort of magic fairy dust that makes them invincible.  Not all of the members of this group drive four wheel drive vehicles.  Some, just by virtue of being male, got the magic fairy dust. 

Icy roads, snow covered lane lines?  No problem!  They have four wheel drive/a big truck/an SUV/a Y chromosome.  They will be FINE!!!  They are often the folks attempting to help others out of ditches or giving everyone else a ride home.  They will drive around in snow simply for the sake of driving around in the snow.  They are thrilled to help unfortunate motorists out of bad situations. 

They have their magic fairy dust, so it’s no big deal for them.  They are genuinely shocked and puzzled that not everyone believes in their magic fairy dust.

4.        The “Superior Drivers”.  This group consists largely of Yankee transplants (note, not all Yankee transplants are like this) who believe that their having moved from places that get “real winters” gives them an edge, and southerners who believe they have been given superior intelligence and snow driving skills.  The only thing that frightens this group about driving in the snow is that (oh, the horror) there are “others” out there driving.  Other, inferior beings.

This groups believes that by virtue of having successfully driven in snow before, and/or having been gifted with superior intelligence and snow driving skills, they are far more qualified to drive in snow than any other group.   They mock all three of the other groups: the Non-Drivers for our lack of intelligence and gumption, the Cautious Drivers for their caution and timidity, the Magic Fairy Dust Drivers for their good natured attitude and belief that things other than Yankee roots or superior southern intelligence can give you the right to drive on snow covered roads. 

If this group chooses not to drive during the snow it is only for fear of what havoc the imbeciles who have no business being out there will cause.  If any accident befalls members of this group, it is never their fault, a member another group or the city/county/state/snowplow/salt truck drivers are to blame.  Certainly not a Superior Driver!

At least, these are the four groups that I think southern drivers fall into during the snow. What about you?  Which group are you in?  Or is there another group I don’t know about yet?