No Snow! No Kidding!

The wind and rain took it all away!

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Snow!

We usually have our first steady snowfall the day after Thanksgiving - and it came! It's not supposed to stick past Wednesday - but we'll see. Until then we'll enjoy it!

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Snow!

Waking up to this, and a lot of frozen coldness, fills us with excitement tinged with dread this early in the season. We could still have some warm days before our real snow begins the last week of December. In the meantime, just in case we don't have warm days, we had better hurry and finish our winter preparations.

This used to be my garden, obviously it's gone - to be replaced with a lawn in Spring. I already went through the 'pain of separation' this past summer. It was hard 'parting', but my gardening days are over!

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My Garden

Hahahaha...Actually, Bob is growing these weeds in order to weed whack them real soon....Pictures of our garden are in this blog - but, we're in for a couple weeks of colder weather which will slow things down.

Hail, Cold, Sun and Wind

Today proved the point about waiting until May 10 - 15th to plant. We had all kinds of weather today! While we wait it out there have been signs that Spring is here - at times.

Bob took these pictures tonight of the sunset, barn and our "way back", after repairing the chicken coop in the barn that some animal is trying to get into.

Frank's room above...

My seedlings finally made it into a newly cleaned greenhouse thanks to Bob - but so did the wasps!

Here's a painting project I was working on before I bulged all the discs in my neck, pinching the nerves that give my hands and fingers fine motor controls, like writing and painting. This is a Jo Sonja design and the following pictures are my adaptations. They'll be filled with St. Nicholas cookie cutters, cookies molds, rollers and recipes.

Below are my painted boxes adapted to add Bishop's Staff, Saint Nicholas' name, Bible, and three gold balls he's always depicted with. Also doing just one angel underneath. St. Nicholas' Feast Day is December 6th and is celebrated with gifts, stockings, candies and FOOD! 

Some goodies for the boxes.

xox

Back To Square One

Happy Eastertide! The weather here has been warm for us, 65 - 70 degrees, but sometimes it's windy and overcast to remind us that it isn't Spring yet. We actually BBQ'd on Easter after Mass and had what I thought was a very relaxing, if not traditional, meal.

Liz has been gathering ideas for her '21 Acts of Random Kindness' she's doing to celebrate her 21st birthday coming up. I really like this idea. She has a lot of 'acts suggestions' from friends and family, but she would love more (especially cheap or free ideas) so leave a comment here below or send me, or her, an email. 

Some 'acts ideas' are: filling all the car meters on a busy street, bringing thank you's and candy to nurses at hospital and coloring books/crayons to hospitalized kids, lots of 'paying it forward' suggestions, bring free snacks for Frank's work - already done!, and more I can't remember. Much better idea than getting drunk because now 'you're old enough' - and, actually, she told a friend she's old enough to do a lot of things, but that doesn't mean she does them...She also has a Piano Performance exam in May for her Royal Conservatory of Music program that she's studying for (and fretting about!)

Frank is plugging away at work and online classes - busy boy. Bob is working hard around the house, he's trying to pick up my slack - there are definitely things I can't do  -yet - and trying to catch up with for his campaign year 'off'. As usual, he's in really good health, good shape and so FUNNY! With Bob, as you all know, his cup is always full and over flowing - mine is usually half empty and drying up rapidly, so, he really helps me to see the brighter side of things!

Speaking of my cup: I've been sick with a stomach/head cold bug for about a week and it has made my neck/spine problems much more painful and the other symptoms worse also. So I've been sort of back to square one while waiting for this bug to end so I can resume my treatments. More later on that!

Thank you for the funny email forwards, Easter and Get Well cards, good wishes and prayers! 

XOX

Is It Spring?

Another beautiful blooming tree, this one's from Gail, Bob's sister, a block from their place in Portland, Oregon. 

We had a strange weather alert for high tree pollen in Post Falls, Idaho just the other day - strange, because it was a wet weather all day and overcast.

Seedlings are still coming up. Bob's working on a bigger - better awards ceremony for the CDA PD for this Wednesday. Frank is working hard and enjoying being 24 when he's off work. Liz is working on her '21 acts of random kindness' for her 21st Birthday coming up. I'm doing the food and other preparations for Easter this weekend. 

Happy Holidays!

Gardening in North Idaho

OK - you Californians - today and yesterday we've had sun, hail, rain, and snow - in one day! 

But, here's a picture of my garden (it doesn't show but it was very windy), and of half of my hopeful garden seedlings. Yes, I just planted seeds - and I won't plant them in the ground until around May 10th -  depending on the weather.

Grandma Alta sent this picture of her puzzle - almost done! I sent this to her as a Christmas gift, and I'm glad to see it almost completed because the weather in California is 'Springish' all over the state and soon it'll be too nice outside for puzzles.

I got this picture today of some beautiful budding trees from Bonnie, a friend in San Jose, CA.  But I've also heard from Nevada and Southern CA that there's enough really warm days for winter to be over there.

I go to my back appointments twice a week now but continue to do the exercises and weights 2x day. I ice very infrequently now. Things are getting better - the edge is off most of my symptoms except the area causing the most symptoms! If that bulging disc would pop back in place I could almost live with everything else! 

Grandma Alta sent me her friend Maggie's Corned Beef recipe which she's been using for years and Grandma and Charlie seemed to like it, so here it is:

Maggie’s Corned Beef

1 package of corned beef - cook meat as directed on the package until tender, but first throw away the flavor packet inside the wrapping.

Instead add to the water:

2-3 Tablespoons pickling spice (a must - but to your taste).  

Note – can throw the spice in the pot of water or put it in a pouch and add to the water for easy retrieval.  I’ve done it both ways. 

I also tried cooking cabbage, carrots and potatoes in the same pot with the meat but I thought the spice was too much for the veggies so have cooked ( Sherry here: bake?)) them separately ever since then, so throwing the loose spice in the pot is OK since it is not getting mixed up with the veggies. 

Cook meat as directed on the package until tender. When done, take the meat out of the pot and put it on a broiler rack or on a cake pan.  

Make a sauce by mixing equal parts brown sugar and yellow mustard.  Actually any type of mustard you like is good. Start with around ¼ cup of each and make more if needed to cover the top of the meat. Pour or spoon the sauce over the meat and put it under the broiler for a few minutes until the mixture bubbles on top. 

Take the meat out, plate it or on a wooden cutting board and slice it up thin.   It’s great cold for sandwiches, too! 

I'm going to try it. I love recipes - especially of food I can eat. Sharing recipes, and seeing weather and garden photos from all over is fun - so please send them to me and let me know if they can go on this blog.

XOX

Gardening in California While We Shovel Snow!

I guess I was hoping that California really isn't at least two months ahead of us here in North Idaho. We're just getting ready to start our seeds indoors here, but Bruce, my brother and sister-in-law Sheri live in Marin, California, and already have some of their garden planted (are those carrots!?!) and their trees and orchid  are blooming. Glad to see their tarps though - I hope they're garden bed tarps!

 More of Bruce's California garden:

I'm hoping to keep adding to these pictures throughout the growing season. If you have gardening pictures from other areas, whether you're family or not, please send them to me with or without a blurb so we can all check them out!