Crafts and Water...

Friday, February 26th, and Saturday, February 27th, were days to finish projects. I took my laptop upstairs and kept it on the breakfast table all during the ice and snow storms. Friday, I finally took it back to my sewing room in the basement. It took a bit to clear all the things I had placed on the desk, but it felt good to get that back under control again. I spent the afternoon making Emelia's little poncho. 

Saturday I spent time making Raelyn's poncho.

I sent pictures to Katelyn who is happy with them.

Andie posted this picture on Facebook. It captures perfectly the place we are at regarding Covid-19. People are getting vaccinated. Andie teaches school. She just got her second shot. I enjoy her humor at this 'time for your vaccine if...' meme.

Saturday our granddaughter, Aubrey, posted this picture of Nelson on our family Facebook page.

Aubrey said this about the picture: This little one came up to me saying "Momma, I miss them. Momma can we go see them? Can they come over?" This just melts our hearts. Love little Nelson. 

Today is Sunday, February 28th, and it is a rainy day. It rained last night throughout the night. With all the ice and snow we had, our ground is saturated. As a result, we awoke to a creek over its banks. Here are some pictures to show this flooding.

The first picture is looking from our deck down our hill to the creek. The water is all the way over the flat that runs along the creek. This flat area is about the width of a football field.

Claude knows me well. After we finished our sacrament meeting and our study time, we both looked out the window to see the creek had risen more. Claude looked at me and said, "Would you like me to drive you down to the bridge to take some pictures?" He knows me well. We did just that. This picture is facing the bridge with the water just starting to cross the road on our side of the bridge.

The next three pictures are looking to our right at the west side of the bridge.

This picture looks to our left on the east side of the bridge. The fencing encloses a waste water measuring station. Beyond the fencing is a clump of trees in the middle of the picture. On the other side of those trees is a dam. You can't tell there is a dam as the water is completely over it.

This picture is further up the east side of the bridge.

This picture was taken from the street in front of the 5th lot down the hill from our home. The row of trees in the river should be outside of this side of the creek. Also, the Steyn's fence is completely covered on the left end. 

This is the creek between the Crum and Steyn homes. The trees in the middle of the water should be lining this side of the creek. 

A little excitement with water today. We are fine. We still have electricity and the fridge is full. We can survive for quite a while if needed. I truly believe the water will all be down by tomorrow.

Two Very Different Days...

Wednesday, February 24th, Claude and I woke up and discussed what big thing we each wanted to accomplish that day. My goal was laundry interspersed with reading and crocheting. Claude had a big goal but I don't remember what it was. My bad!! Claude said, "OR...we could watch some more Psych all day." We opted for Psych. I did crochet between loads of laundry. It was a very, very laid back kind of day.

Then came Thursday, February 25th. I had my annual exam with Dr. Lyon at 10:30am. This is required by Medicare to maintain Medicare coverage. I seriously would probably not be good at doing the annual exam, even though I know they are a good thing. I really don't care to go to the doctor unless there is a concern. In truth, this appointment should have been in December. I thought I scheduled it at my December 2018 appointment, but, alas, I did not. So it caught up with me in February when they wouldn't refill my blood pressure medication without an annual exam. I really like our family doctor. 

They always weigh you when you arrive at the doctor's office. My weight was about what I weigh at home so I felt good about that. Well, not good because I wished I weighed less but happy because doctor office scales are always 5 pounds heavier than my home scales. This time they were in close alignment. However…isn’t there always a ‘however’…when I got on the scales they had my weight on one side of the digital display and on the other side of the digital display it read "LOL". When people send text messages, they use lots of abbreviations. I truly don’t use them so I only know a few. LOL means Laugh Out Loud. So, I literally got on my doctor’s scale and it gave my weight and said, “LOL!!”. I chuckled all the way to the room for my checkup. The nurse checking me in and asking all the preliminary questions assured me he thought it meant the scale had a low battery. He also mentioned his mother reads LOL as Lots of Love. I like that. 

I had a good checkup. They took all kinds of fluids for testing and I don’t know those results yet. I had three areas of my body that I have concerns about. One is my right hand experiencing great pain when I crochet. I will stop and let it rest for a day or two before I start again. Dr. Lyon says he believes it is arthritis. Our old friend ‘Arthur It is’. Okay, he gave me a prescription for a pain med I can take only on the days I want to crochet and it should give me relief so I can crochet things for my grandmonsters. 

The second is my lower back is giving me a lot of pain. Now, it has to be a lot or I would not complain about it. It usually happens during the night in the hours just before time to wakeup come, I can’t hardly roll over, can’t find a comfortable position in which to lay and I have a hard time getting out of bed and walking. Again, he feels the culprit is ‘Arthur Itis’. 

The third area is my throat. I have been taking a high blood pressure medication that is actually two medications in one pill. The second part of the prescription can cause you to cough a lot. I have done that and told Dr. Lyon about it December 2019. Now, I not only cough but I am having a hard time swallowing and experience an itchy pain as the food goes down the esophagus. Dr. Lyon changed my blood pressure medication to something else and told me if I don’t feel a change in two weeks to call him back. He may need to put a scope down my throat and stretch my esophagus. I'm telling you, the 70th decade of my life is full of aging issues. My mum-in-law, Bonnie, has had this done several times already. Not a biggy. Just another little thing that happens as we age. I’m telling you, 70 years old is not being good to me!!

After the doctor I took a treat bag to the nursing home for Papa and filled the birdfeeder. It was great to see Papa through the window and get a grin and a wave. The treat bag contained the new Liahona (a church magazine). He was grinning and pointing to it. Clearly he was very happy to get this magazine to read. 

I spoke with Kathy Jones when I dropped off the treat bag. I asked if they were getting closer to allowing in-person visits. She said they were working on the particulars and would be sending me a letter soon to tell me what to do. These visits will not be daily visits like I did with Papa before the corona virus. They will only be for about 20 minutes. I won’t be able to hug Papa and that will be very, very difficult. Lord only knows I could use a Papa hug in the worst way possible. But Papa and I will behave ourselves and that will come in time. We have our second vaccine on March 12th. That should help to qualify me to get in. The nursing home can now also give those quickie virus tests with results in 15 minutes. So they could give me one of those also.  I don’t know how quickly this will happen. But I was happy to know it is in the works. 

I went to Frankfort to buy fabric. We don’t have a fabric store in Georgetown. Katelyn sent me a pattern with a request to make her girls some fleece ponchos to wear when they are in their car. So I purchased fabric for those and will make them tomorrow. I sent pictures of my choice of fabrics for the girls. Katelyn is purple with Frozen pattern. Emelia is pink with Paw Patrol pattern. I will sew on Friday.

I drove back to Georgetown to pick up my four new prescriptions at CVS. Alas, they only had 3 of them filled. CVS put in a request to the doctor’s office to resend the 4th prescription. Then I also called the Dr. Lyon's office and asked them to please resend, apologizing for the inconvenience. Ugh! I paid for my 3 prescriptions and went on about my day.

Next I had to wash my car. The lines were short this day and I got in line and waited my turn. My car was filthy from the ice and snow we have been through. Felt good to get all that off as there had to be chemicals to treat the roads in all that mix and that doesn’t need to stay on the car. 

Claude was in town so he met me at Zaxby’s and we ordered dinner at their drive-thru and ate in their parking lot. Then he was off to do his other errands for the day and I was off to Kohl’s to shop. 

Claude gave me a gift card for Christmas which I had not used it yet. So I shopped till I was ready to drop. I carefully purchased so I would use the entire value of the gift card. When the lady checked me out, she gave me an additional 20% off. I still have $15 left on the gift card!! Plus, she gave me some Kohl's Cash. I haven't even looked to see what that might be. Guess that means I’ll have to shop again!!

I drove back to CVS and they had filled the 4th prescription, so I picked it up.

Home I headed on the new by-pass around Georgetown. Whew!! I was now ready to curl up on my love seat for the evening and crochet some more on that baby afghan. Four more rows and then crochet the edging around the outside to finish.

About a week ago my cousin, Sue Fisch, posted a picture of her father, my Uncle Clifford and his wife, my Aunt Billie, on Facebook. It was a picture of them in a pretend jail. I remembered a similar picture of my parents in a pretend jail and wondered if they had taken pictures of each other. The background of each picture lets me know they were not taken at the same time. However, I find it amusing to see this brother and sister, who loved each other very much, in a pretend jail picture with their spouses. The first picture is Uncle Clifford with Aunt Billie. The second picture is my mother, Virginia (June), and my father, Vernon Lawrence. 

Another things that amused me this week was a meme on Facebook. It said, "My favorite childhood memory is having energy!" After my doctor visit, I would whole-heartedly agree!!

So, Wednesday was very laid back. Thursday was exhausting for someone who has stayed home most of the time for a year. A lot of driving for someone who really hasn't driven very much. Monday and Wednesday I drove myself. It feels like life is trying to get back to some form of normal. Whatever normal will be?!?!

Cars, Kindles & Something Beautiful...

Sunday, February 21st, I tried to get into my Buick. The door would not unlock when I pressed the button on the handle. As long as the key fob is on me or near me, just pressing the button on the door handle should unlock the door. I walked to each door and to the trunk door. None of them would open. I took the key fob out of my purse and shook it at each door. Still nothing. I am sure I looked very amusing to the guy in the car across from me as I did this routine. Fortunately, Claude was driving and had not come out yet. When he came out with his key fob, the door opened just fine. I had a bit of this happen over a period of time. So it didn't totally surprise me and I was sure the battery in the key fob was now dead. 

Monday morning, February 22nd, my first chore was to call Dan Cummins and get an appointment for my car. It was in sore need of an oil change and to have the tires rotated. I also included new batteries for my car key fob and for Claude's car key fob. The appointment was for Tuesday, February 23rd, at 3:40pm. I talked with Claude and we determined we would both drive in and have dinner in Georgetown. This would keep me from sitting in a waiting room. That is not a problem except for the concerns about the virus.

Claude had trouble with his Kindle before we went on our trip. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has several apps that we use. The main one is the Gospel Library app. It quit working on Claude's Kindle. He tried removing it and reinstalling it. It wouldn't let him find the app in the Google Play store. Ugh!! He spoke with Kindle. They explained that his version of the Kindle Fire no longer supported that app. He would need to buy a new Kindle. Claude decided to wait until we returned from our trip.

When we got home he ordered himself a new Kindle. It arrived Monday, February 22nd. Claude opened that box and started to set up his new Kindle. The problem. It would not stay on the Internet. I have been having a hard time with mine staying on the Wifi signal. It wouldn't stay on the Internet long enough for Claude to download any of his apps or the Gospel Library. To say this was frustrating is truly an understatement. We decided while in Georgetown on Tuesday, we would spend time at the Church using their Wifi and see if our Kindles would work with that. As disappointing as not being able to get his Kindle set up on Monday was, it was tempered by a plan for Tuesday.

Tuesday, February 23rd, I spent my morning crocheting. Claude left for Georgetown before me. His plan was to go to CVS and get some medical things he needed, then grocery shop, then pick me up at the car dealership after I dropped my car off. I left for Georgetown after Claude and went to the nursing home to drop off a treat bag for Papa. I tried to find a place to get my poor car washed. The lines were unbelievable. I got myself a soda and sat in a parking lot till time to go to the car dealership.

Claude picked me up after I checked my car in. We drove to the Church building and sat outside. Claude's Kindle found their Wifi and stayed on it. He was able to download the Gospel Library app and open all the items he uses on that app. My Kindle still would not hold on to the Wifi signal. Not sure what in the world is the problem. We got a text from the car dealership and drove back to pick up my car.

Claude left me at the dealership and went to Jimmy John's to order us dinner. I asked the man in the service department about starting my car when the key fob battery was dead. It was nice to be able to get back into my car with the skeleton-like key, but I still needed to be able to start it to drive home. He walked me to my car and showed me that, even with the battery dead on the key fob, I could place the fob down in one of two places and it would catch a signal from the car and start. Yeah!! 

I drove to Jimmy John's and parked my car behind Claude's Jeep on a side parking lot. We would enjoy our dinner in his Jeep. Claude figured out that he could get on Lowe's Wifi from the Jimmy John's parking lot. He did that and downloaded other apps to his new Kindle. 

It was a roundabout journey. But he now has a functioning Kindle. We have to determine why our devices will not hold a signal. The router shows that the Internet is connected and good. The devices, including our lap tops and printers, will often fall off the Internet. We'll get it figured out.

In the midst of all this need to get things fixed and right, I found this beautiful flower in our bathroom today. It is my 2016 poinsettia. With all the darkness over the last couple of weeks with ice, sleet and snow (in what a friend described as ice, sleet, snow lasagna), it kept our bathroom dark enough for the leaves to begin turning red. I love it when this happens. It is like a beautiful reminder that, even in the midst of trying times, there is beauty and things to be grateful for. 

We Made it Through Three Storms in One Week...

Monday, February 15, 2021 we sat in out home listening to the sleet click on the side of the house. At times you could look out the window and it looked like we were having a really good rain storm. Alas, all those drops were little pellets of ice. I decided to spend my day curled up on the sofa crocheting. We watched some more of our Psych television series as well as clearing out some things we had DVR'd. We interspersed this with watching the news for just the weather. 

A friend posted on Facebook that her son and his new bride were moving into their apartment that day. She was wondering if anyone had an air mattress they could borrow until they got their real bed. We had one of those. She gave me her son's phone number and I called him. He came to Sadieville in the morning before the ice made the roads bad and picked up the air mattress and I loaned him a set of sheets and pillow cases. We asked him how the roads were and he said at that point I-75 and the main streets in Georgetown were okay. However, our Hwy 32 was like it had never been cleared or treated. Our street, Eagle Bend, was in good shape and had been treated. It was nice to help someone a little. Can't imagine moving in this weather. 

After Brendan left, Claude and I put on warm clothing and headed out to move the ice that came during the night on the driveway. We finished up and Claude laid down some rock salt to help with the second round of storms. 

The sleet started again in the afternoon and continued into the night. I read on Facebook where my relatives in southern Louisiana had ice and snow. Family in Texas were posting pictures of snow in their yards. Our son in Michigan was getting snow. This was a massive storm that went from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to Michigan. That is a lot of territory. Absolutely crazy.

Tuesday, February 16, 2021, the Scott County kids would have their 6th day of NTI. I, on the other hand, awoke after my dear hubby. When I got to the kitchen, he had made biscuits. Knowing he purchased buttermilk to learn to make biscuits from scratch, I asked if he did them from scratch or if they were canned. They were perfectly round and the size of canned biscuits. He confessed that they were sort of homemade. He said they were Jiffy Lube biscuits. Then we both did our old people laughs. Our son, Jake, lives in Chelsea, Michigan. There is a Jiffy Mix factory there. These were Jiffy Mix biscuits. But Jiffy Lube biscuits is really funny.

About 11am we got into warm clothing and shoes to go shovel snow. We opened the garage door and started from there. Claude stepped out first with a broom to go over and clear the front porch. He stepped on the mound of snow and turned to me and said, "That is not good! I stepped on this and I didn't even sink into it." This simply meant that most of what we would be shoveling was a 4-inch+ layer of ice with a sprinkling of snow on top. I started clearing out behind the Jeep. Claude finished the porch and shovel a shovel-width path down to the street in the middle of the driveway. It didn't take me long to realize this was a big deal to shovel. 

My mind reflected back to a few years ago when we went to Key West for our anniversary. The day we were leaving Key West, Lexington got on foot of snow. This closed down the Lexington Airport, which is what we were flying back to. We got a flight to Atlanta from Key West so that we would have a better chance of getting a flight to Lexington from Atlanta when one became available. By the time our flight made it to Atlanta, I realized I was very sick. We got dinner and then back to the hotel in pouring rain. I curled up in our bed and shivered like crazy. Claude went out in the rain to the Marriott hotel next door and purchased any meds he could find. We knew we had one full day at this hotel. By the next morning, Claude had whatever it was I had. We spent the day in bed feeling miserable. We had a flight out the second morning to Lexington. We made it to Lexington and then to the Kroger in Georgetown where I bought Papa whatever groceries he usually got. Then to Papa's apartment for me to put away groceries, refill Papa's meds and Claude to work on Papa's driveway with a foot of snow in it. After that, we got to our home about dead. But we had a driveway that needed attention. I needed to be able to get out in case something happened with Papa. At that point, completely drained of energy, we determined that we really only needed to shovel out a path for one car. We shoveled half the driveway and went to bed. 

This day as we shoveled, I remembered this and told Claude we were only going to concentrate on the half of the driveway behind his Jeep to the street. If we got that done, we would be good to get out if we needed to. That is exactly what we did. Lesson learned from several years ago. 

Claude went to clear out around the mailbox and then worked from the street up the driveway. I continued working from the garage down the driveway. When we got to this point in the picture, we paused. Claude looked at me and said, "Does this make you think we are like the Transcontinental Railroad trying to meet up?" We paused for an old people laugh. Claude is definitely a Utah boy and grew up a few miles from the Golden Spike Monument.

We finished that half and then went inside to warm up. How good to have a nice home in which to be during this weather. 

The third round of snow and possibly more ice was to start Wednesday and go into Thursday. Yippee!!

We spent Tuesday late afternoon and evening listening to the sleet hitting the house. I stuck my head out of the back door to the deck and took a bit of video of this sleet bouncing off the little table on the deck and sent it to the local news station, WKYT. 

We received a lovely card in the mail. It was from Agatha Fertitta. She owns Fertitta's Delicatessen where we ate our Muffy sandwiches in Shreveport, Louisiana. Then we proceeded to leave without paying. Our first ever UNintentional dine and dash. I sent her a note of apology with more than enough to cover our meals right after we got home. She received that note and sent me this one in return.

It felt very good to know we were forgiven for this error in judgement. I made a quick trip to the basement to pull out my old high school yearbooks. Agatha Fertitta was one year ahead of me in high school. We will definitely go back if and when we ever make back to Shreveport. 

Katelyn sent this picture of our sweet Raelyn working on her ABC's. She looks so diligent in getting it right. And, she looks very left-handed.

Wednesday, February 17, 2021, we had some sunshine in the morning. However, the weather told us to we were under a winter weather advisory from 7pm Wednesday through 7am Friday. Up to three inches of snow was anticipated. The kids were now on Day 7 of NTI. We had neighbors who posted on our neighborhood Facebook page that I-75 and the main streets in Georgetown were passable. Again, he confirmed that Hwy 32 didn't look like anything had be done to it. We have to drive Hwy 32 for about a mile and a half to get to I-75. We decided to take a leap of faith and go to Georgetown. I made up a treat bag for Papa. We drove in for that and also drove through Panera to get a salad for our meal of the day. Then back home. It felt good to get a treat bag to Papa. Bless his heart. 

We were happy to get back to our warm home. We were going to snuggle in and wait for Round 3 of this storm to hit Sadieville. This weather map was posted and pretty well shows the remarkable weather we have had during this week of storms. There are so many people without electricity. Texas has their own power grid and simply can't keep up with the need. We have family in Houston that had frozen pipes that burst in their garage. Family in Louisiana without power. People in southeastern Kentucky that have been pummeled with more ice that we got twice and now would have inches of snow on top of that ice. To get to the power lines in rural Kentucky, they often have to trek through the snowy slopes to get to the line. It is a grueling experience for the residents and the workers in the power company. I kept watching out the window to see our snow start in Sadieville. I went to be without more snow falling.

Thursday, February 18th, we woke up to more snow on the ground. Not sure how many inches but we probably got our 3-4 inches of just snow. 

Katelyn posted pictures of Miss Emelia watching a television show. She appears to be doing a peek-a-boo thing. 

In the afternoon we shoveled the driveway. Well, we completely cleared the half of that was had already been cleared a couple of days before. Then we cleared the snow off the ice on the other half of the driveway. We were hoping that the ice would eventually melt of its own accord. The first picture is near the garage door showing the depth of the ice. Claude put his size 12 foot by it to give some perspective. The second picture is shows the driveway with half with only ice that has to melt.

Hayden was anxious to watch the other two Lord of the Rings movies on the big screen. We told him we had to watch the weather as we would not be driving over on ice or snow. It appeared Friday would be a clear day allowing for some snow removal and maybe melting. Saturday would also be clear with rain coming on Saturday. I checked for options at two theaters near the Marx family. I gave those options to Claude. He picked his top three. I sent the top three of Claude's picks in order. Hayden chose the third. We would be off on Saturday to watch Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King back to back. Hayden is one happy grandson. 

Friday, February 19, 2021, we determined a good day to stay inside and off the roads so road crews could clear. We had breakfast together and then I typed Papa a letter and worked on my Blog. Claude cleaned the kitchen and set up to watch Robert Duvall movies.

In cleaning the kitchen, Claude took out the drawer in which he keeps the potatoes. This drawer used to also have the onions stored in it. However, Alton Brown explained potatoes and onions should not be stored together and Claude made sure they were separated. Honestly, I can't remember the reason why. For all the years of me running out kitchen, I stored them together and we are all healthy. Anyway, I digress...Claude took the potato drawer out so he could pour out the onion skins still in there. As he looked to the back of where that drawer was in the cabinet, he found a lot of stuff. It appears a lot of napkins fell from the drawer above and were resting behind the drawer for the potatoes. 

The afternoon was spent with Robert Duvall (Lonesome Dove, Open Range and Broken Trail) and crocheting and reading.

Saturday, February 20, 2021, we had sunshine! Well, we had some clouds. But there was a bit of sunshine and it was most welcome. We had a date with Hayden to go to Tinseltown Theater in the evening. 

We first drove to Lexington to go to Hobby Lobby for me to get one more skein of yarn. Then back to Georgetown to drop off a treat bag for Papa. 

I was prepared to fill his birdfeeder but also well aware that, if the ice was still there after a week, I was not going to risk a fall to go to the back of the nursing home. How grateful I was to get there and find the walk to the back shoved and clear with ice melt pellets on it. Yippee!! I filled Papa's birdfeeder and then peeked in his window to find him sitting on the side of his be eating lunch. He smiled. I told him I filled the birdfeeder. This is mostly hand gestures with me yelling. He doesn't hear the yelling but he got the hand gestures. He told me he noticed the birdfeeder wasn't there and was wondering where it went. Now he understood I had it sitting on the ground to fill it. We blew kisses and waved. It does my heart good to see him smile.

Lunch was at Cook Out Burgers in Frankfort on our way to get Hayden. We got to LaGrange and checked into our hotel room. Then we went to the Marx home.

Bailey wanted to show us something in her bedroom. She had tacked the big red scarf with a picture of a turtle in the middle to her wall. We brought my guitar and the package of guitar strings downstairs with us. Claude would restring my guitar that Bailey is using to learn to play guitar. Hayden shows us a video of his Tuba/Euphonium concert. His High School has had an award winning band for years. This school year and the end of last school year they have really struggled to find a way to keep the kids playing with all the rules and restrictions for Covid-19. The tuba and euphonium section of the band were able to use a local church to record a 28 minute concert. It was so good to hear them play. Grateful for all these educators working so hard to make this happen. 

Then Hayden, Claude and I were off to Tinseltown. We had tickets for the 4:20 showing of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. There was a good bit of time between that and the next movie. We went to the lobby and purchased food that was as close as we could get to a meal. All seating has been removed from the lobby of the theater, so we found a counter and made ourselves a little buffet. 

I'm not sure this was acceptable but we had to leave the theater so they could clean it before the next movie. This worked out well for us. As soon as the sign was on that seating was okay in the theater for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, we went back to the theater sitting only a few seats down from where we sat the first time. We had a great time watching these two movies on the big screen. As we drove back to the Marx home to drop Hayden back, I asked him if he was a happy young man. With great gusto he declared himself very happy. It is so fun to share these little bits with the Mini's. Claude restringing Bailey's guitar and watching movies with Hayden. Good times as a family. Oh, and Claude made Rice Krispy Treats and took them to the Marx home, so Andie was also very happy!

We made our way to our hotel for the night and slept in this morning, Sunday, February 21,  before returning to Sadieville. We have enjoyed a quiet afternoon. I curled up on the loveseat in my sweat pants and winter sweater and finished reading a good book a friend recommended. It was by Debbie Macomber titled "A Walk Along the Beach". Not a heavy read at all but enjoyable. I believe I shall read the book Claude found about the Knights Templar next. Those guys fascinate me.

Time for a nice evening with the hubster. 

Weathering the Weather...

It occurs to me, as we are about to get the third round of storms in a week, that we have been weathering the weather since before we left on our trip. We plotted the trip for our 51st anniversary before the actual date of our anniversary because I had a strong impression we need to go if we were going to go. Last night I checked the Weather Channel on television and learned that Houston, Texas is actually going to be receiving ice and snow when we do here in Kentucky. If we had waited to take our trip, we would be sitting in a hotel room because of ice and snow in the deep south. Goodness. Happy we traveled when we did. 

We left January 28th. We get news alerts from our local newspaper, the Georgetown News-Graphic. They let us know that on January 30th there was a winter weather advisory. On January 31st there was another winter weather advisory with the possibility of 1-inch to 3-inches of snow during the night. On February 1st we received an alert there was no school, a real snow day for the kids, no NTI (Non-traditional Instruction). On February 2nd the alert said No school, No NTI, Icy roads. February 4th, the day we returned, the alert was for light rain. We returned home in the rain most of the drive in Kentucky. We dodged a bullet as the weather on our trip was fairly good. We had jackets we wore and coats for the swamp tour, but we didn't get rain on us when we were being tourists. It rained around where we were but not on us. Richly blessed. I love seeing the blessings in the events in our lives.

Friday, February 5th, was a cloudy day with a high temperature of 39 during the day and a low of 26 at night. It was cloudy. I spent the day getting all the laundry done from the trip. Claude surprised me by getting up earlier than me and going to the post office to pick up our mail with a stop at Hardee's to get me a biscuit and Mello Yello. Such a nice guy. Think I will keep him around. In the afternoon we put together a treat bag for Papa. Claude went into Georgetown and dropped the treat bag and filled Papa's birdfeeder while I kept washing those clothes. 

Claude received a neat gift from his sister, Lynette. She knows her brother well. He was very happy to see this unique gift.

Saturday, February 6th, we were grateful for weather that held off. It was Bailey's 14th birthday observed. I would spend the morning labeling pictures from our trip. Claude fetched the mail from our mailbox. We had a letter from Nissa, our daughter, with a picture that Nelson, her grandson and our great grandson, colored at her home. I tried to scan it but it is all yellow on a white piece of paper. Just doesn't show up. Nelson was coloring sunshine. This is one of the happiest creatures God ever placed on this earth, so sunshine from Nelson is a perfect picture!

The day before we left for home while in Memphis, I received a text message from Hayden, our grandmonster. He found out they were going to show each of the Lord of the Rings movies at an AMC IMAX theater in Louisville. He wanted to know if we wanted to go. Translation, I want to go, I know you love these movies, would you take me with you. The concern was it was showing on Friday at 7:15pm. That would be our first day home and we were ready from a break from traveling. After multiple text and questions and answers, we settled that Claude and I would take him on Saturday to the 3pm showing. Before that we would go to their home with pizza in hand to have dinner with the Marx family and give Bailey her birthday presents early. It was a plan and the weather cooperated.

I suggested to Bailey that we have Steve0's pizza. She was hoping that was what we would do. As we drove over, I called to order the pizza for us to pick up and take to their home. Found out that SteveO's didn't open until 4pm. Plan B. I called Hometown Pizza and placed a pickup order. We could still have pizza. 

These are pictures of Bailey opening her gifts. She is opening a guitar instruction manual and DVD's from Great Courses, her box of Girl Scout cookies, a box with things to do with cooking including two recipes from Claude and one recipe each from my mother and her mother, Bailey's great and great great grandmothers. The last gift is from Claude and it is magnets me made with a card he colored.

We took Hayden to see Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Rings at the AMC Stoneybrook theater in Louisville. It is an IMAX theater. As many times as we have watched these movies, we really enjoyed this experience and left looking forward to the next weekend when they would show the next Lord of the Rings movie. 

Sunday, February 7th, we had a high of  30 and a low of 19 degrees. We stayed inside and watched Zoom Sacrament meeting and did scripture study at home. It was a welcomed quiet day.

Monday, February 8th, would start out sunny with a high of 44 degrees. Then the cold front would hit and we would get light freezing rain followed by a little snow on top. This was Bailey's actual birthday. 

The Griffith family from Church made valentines for the residents of the nursing home with a special one for Papa. Claude and I went into Georgetown early enough to pick those cards up and deliver them with a treat bag for Papa. We would get salads for dinner from Zaxby's and take them home to eat. We beat the freezing rain and were ready to stay in as long as we needed.

I took this picture just before we went to bed of the light shining through our tree in our front yard. Clearly there was ice on all those bare limbs.

Tuesday, February 9th, our weather alert let us know that there was no school due to icy roads. It would be the kids first NTI day. There was also a weather alert from 1am through 7pm Thursday. I had an ophthalmologist appointment on Wednesday. I was concerned about driving on those roads. I changed that appointment until March. I really believe my eyes will be okay till then. 

This day we received word that one of our neighbor's son had died. It was very sudden. He was only 36 years old with a wife and two children. These are difficult times and losing someone that you love without warning is extremely taxing emotionally. Prayers for this good family.

I had Claude drive me to the post office early so I could mail a package to the Ropers. Then we went to Hardee's for a biscuit before sequestering our selves in our abode again. 

Katelyn sent us this sweet picture of Raelyn making a valentine in her pre-school class. Please note that she is using purple colored squares to glue on her valentine. She does have a great gramma Sandi gene coursing through her veins!

I was able to take these pictures of our ice with snow and then more ice on top of that. Please note that all of these pictures are taken from the front and back doors of our home. I am not as steady on snow and ice as I once was.

Wednesday, February 10th, another alert from the NewsGraphic. This time there was NTI Day 2 for the kids. We were told to expect a wintery mix during the day with snow in the evening. The high this day would be 30 degrees with a low of 20 degrees. Then we got a second alert for a winter storm warning from 1:52pm to 7pm on Thursday. Grateful I moved that ophthalmology appointment!

Thursday, February 11th, the alert said NTI Day 3 for the kids with a high of 28 and a low of 19 degrees. Cloudy and cold all day. Yep, they were right on target. 

 

What does one do with a day like that? One gives in to the need to curl up and stay warm. One goes to one's basement and retrieves the boxed set of Psyche television shows. Then one curls up in front of the television with a crochet project and enjoys the warmth of one's home. 

While checking Facebook, I came across this lovely thought and shared it with Jake, our English major son. Jacob said, "I liked it but it made my head hurt."

I also ordered a pizza dinner to be delivered to this good son. Cottage Inn Pizza is getting to know me and exactly where that pizza should be going. Jake was happy to receive this treat. 

The Ropers sent pictures of their family. The first is Emelia watching ice hockey with her dad. Drew genuinely looks happy with his situation. Good dad. Our littlest great grandmonster is getting bigger!

They sent this picture of Raelyn enjoying her first Valentine's party at pre-school. The teacher must cover the other children's faces, this time with hearts, for privacy purposes. Raelyn in at the back eating her ice cream. She does love pre-school.

Friday, February 12th, the kids had NTI Day 4. The forecast was 34 degrees for a high and 22 degrees for a low. It was to be cloudy all day. For some reason, Claude was sure Friday was our anniversary. It really was Saturday. We had decided to go with Claude's impressions. Good thing we did as that was the best day to get out of the house. We think, since we were married on Friday the 13th, that might be why he had that stuck in his head. Anyway, it was for the best as Saturday was awful.

We left before 2pm to go to Georgetown. I needed to pick up a refill at Dr. Fine's office. I took these pictures as I walked down the grass to put a letter in the mailbox for Papa. Mind you the grass now is a thick layer of ice around each blade of grass. But it is still more stable that walking on concrete covered in ice. I do like the pretty pictures though. Especially that red berry on the bush covered in ice. We had a friend who posted a picture of his drink with icicles from his home as stirrers in that drink. Making the best of our ice box situation.

Then we went to the nursing home to leave a treat for Papa and to fill that birdfeeder before the next round of storms came. To fill that birdfeeder, I have to go down the sidewalk in front, around the end of that wing of the nursing home and up to the second set of windows on the back side of that wing. Clearly the nursing home was not clearing snow and ice from this portion of the sidewalk. I managed to get down the end of that wing on the grass. Trying to find a place to get across the sidewalk which had a 2-inch sheet of ice on it was another problem. Once I was on the back of that wing, I could walk against the wall where no snow had come. Filled the birdfeeder and waved to Papa and blew kisses. Then I had to figure the best way back. I walked back along the wall of that wing of the nursing home. When I came to the end, I realized the roof overhang kept the snow and ice off the mulch in the flower beds along the end of the building. I walked there. The mistake with that was that the mulch made a hill down to the sidewalk, neither of which was anything but a sheet of ice. Hum... I slid down that hill of ice and walked with one foot on the icy sidewalk and one foot on a thin line of snow along the sidewalk to a clear place in the sidewalk. I was ever so thankful I didn't fall in any of those gyrations. 

Then we made our way to the Scott County Public Library. We had appointments to get our first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. We would get the Moderna version. You have an appointment to come anytime between 3pm and 5pm. We got there at 2:30pm and the parking lot was just about full. We went on in and they had a room full of people they were already vaccinating. It was well laid out and moved quickly. You must sit for 15 minutes after the vaccine till you leave so they can see if you have any bad reaction. Even with that 15 minutes of sitting we were in there a total of 30 minutes start to finish. Back in our car at 3pm.

Into Lexington we went so I could stop at Hobby Lobby to pick up one more skein of yarn. Then we had our anniversary dinner at Montana Grill. This was the choice of both of us and it was delicious.

Claude had a few items he needed so we stopped at Meijer's and Claude got groceries while I waited in the car. Then we made our way back home. 

Once home we enjoyed a telephone call with Jacob. It was a nice was to end our anniversary date.

Saturday, February 13th, was our real for sure anniversary. I spent my morning doing the laundry while make a photo album of pictures from our trip to post on Facebook. This time, Claude got his Facebook post about our anniversary done before me. I had tried to make that album a couple of days before. For some reason, it will not now let me save the album and post it later. All that work simply disappeared. I tried a second time Saturday morning and was doing great until I saw a flicker on my screen and all the work was gone...again! I told Claude, "I have tried this twice. I will try it one more time. If it doesn't work, I must come up with a Plan B." I was successful that third time. It was 172 pictures...but still. 

We had a fun video chat with Katelyn and her girls. While we were on our trip, Raelyn was missing us. She said she wanted to have a video chat with us. Katelyn explained we were on vacation and she would have to wait until we got home. Raelyn looked at Katelyn and said, "They are NOT on vacation." Katelyn assured her we were and Raelyn then explained, "They are not one vacation because the are not here!" In this precious 5-year old's mind, we only take vacations to come to Michigan. During the call, Raelyn wanted to show how she could be the Statue of Liberty. She picked up Copper's (the dog) chew toy and went to the toy room to get a book. Back to the living room she came and Katelyn got this picture for us. Katelyn actually took a screen shot which had Claude and I in it. I am only posting the part with Raelyn. Too cute!!

Some years ago, Claude gave me a bowl with a nickel in it for each of our years of marriage. This year he gave me a card with the next nickel. Then he had a 'flash of intellect'. He issued an eMail challenge to his kids. Claude had gone through all the change we had in the house looking for a nickel with the year of each of our years of marriage. His eMail to the kids had a list of the years he needed to complete his collection. Their challenge is to find those. The one with the most wins...get this...$1!! Almost immediately we had a response from Katelyn who works as a bank teller and assured him she would begin her search the next time she was at work. He had not thought of that! Then we heard from the Marx family who actually returned his list with a huge portion of those nickels found. Such a fun exercise for our family. Claude now believes he may have created a monster...ya think?

The saddest things was we did not get to go see the next Lord of the Rings movie at the IMAX theater with Hayden. We were looking forward to that. But Friday we had our Covid-19 first vaccination and couldn't do it then. Saturday we had sleet hitting the side of the house and didn't want to be on roads for 4 hours to get this viewing done. It is sad but we will blame this weather!

Sunday, February 14th, finds us waiting for the snow to begin. It could have freezing rain before but we are right on the line between freezing rain and snow, so we'll see. We have enjoyed our Zoom Sacrament meeting and our scripture study. Claude has had another Zoom meeting where he taught a lesson. Claude has had a nap. I have written to Papa and taken that letter to the mailbox before precipitation starts. I have written our missionaries. I am finishing the Blog. Claude will make hot turkey on toast and mashed potatoes topped with gravy for dinner. 

Claude and I talked about the amount of time we spend together these days. It is pretty much all the time. Even if one of us has a chore to do outside our home, the other seems to tag along. We decided it often feels like we are in the movie Groundhog Day. 

The alert is for a winter storm warning from 7pm Sunday through 1pm Tuesday. The NewsGraphic said three inches expected. The weather man on the television have said 4-inches to 12-inches. Who has any idea? The Man up above. Our job is to be prepared. We are. Plenty of food. Clothes are all clean. Generator at the ready with gasoline to keep it running in case we lose power. We did with the last big ice storm for five days. We know to be ready. 

Life is good. We will weather the weather!!