Kitchen is Done and More Snow

February 27th - Sunday - 30 degrees - Four inches of Snow

Folks, in the last six days we have had 26 inches of snow and Lou has shoveled, run the snow blower and shoveled some more. Last night when he came back from the barn, after shoveling to make sure we can get the motor home out today, he said he was hanging up the shovel for the year; however, we awoke to four inches of snow this morning. He finally agreed to let me go out with him to help him clear everything off. Once again, he got the snow blower out and did the drive way, and I did the decks and sidewalks and helped him scrape after he finished with the blower and of course, at that point the snow plow decided to go past and fill in the end of the drive way. Once again, we are ready here to bring the motor home over this afternoon. Krista and Steve are going to help us get it over here. Allyn plowed in front of the barn yesterday, so now Steve will help Lou shovel and then we can get the things out of the house and the basement and get them in the motor home and then we can leave from here on Tuesday morning.

Our plans are to leave here on Tuesday and drive to Carlisle to pick up our medication for three months from the base stay there overnight and then drive to Virginia on Wednesday, and plan on being in Tennessee on Friday to visit with Al's family in the afternoon and then to Fort Campbell in Tennessee on Friday night and spend the weekend there with Spencer and

leave from there to go to my sister's home in Live Oak, Florida on Monday, but I don't know when we will arrive there.

From the pictures you can see that the kitchen is finished. I will tell you that I have now found a black lamp shade for the lamp on the antique dresser in the kitchen. I didn't think we would find one, but leave it to my husband, he found one. The house is all cleaned, even the hobby room, all windows are washed, just have the kitchen floor to do and the carpet in the bedroom and our bathroom to do and will do that after we have everything else done.

Michelle, I want you to notice the picture of the cactus, that is yours. Remember when you brought that stragley little piece home to me years ago? The poor thing has had so many mishaps and finally has rewarded us with a bloom. I was so pleased and knew you would be also.

You can also see from the pictures just how high the snow is stacked up next to the garage, and remember that we had a weekend of melting, and in many places we could see the grass. Last Sunday when Brion and Janet were here I could see my daffodils, no chance of that now!!

Probably my next post will be on the road and that will be as we have internet coverage. I had wanted to get coverage that I could carry with me through T-Mobile; however, it is not sold around here, so will have to wait until I can pick it us further south.

If anyone locally would like to see our RV, it will be in our driveway until we leave on Tuesday morning, feel free to stop by for a peek.

Twelve Inches of SNOW

February 21st - Monday - 11 degrees - 12 inches of snow

Yesterday a beautiful spring day, today ole man winter was back in full force. Lou spent his day with either the snow blower in his hand or a snow shovel. The morning wasn't bad shoveling; however, after lunch the temperature dropped and what wasn't shoveled off was frozen on, so it was harder to move off. The weatherman promises sunshine for tomorrow with a bit warmer temperature, so hopefully, the ice will melt from the driveway and all will be in good shape again.

We rescheduled our tax appointment for Wednesday, so things are getting pushed back, so it may be later than we thought when we get started for the south. We can't control Mother Nature.

I am in hopes I can get my hobby room spring cleaned tomorrow and that will be one thing off our list.

Hope I don't meet us with that famous "wood chuck", think I would have to sit him down and have a chat with him.

Motor Home Ready to Go!!

February 20th - Sunday - Beautiful blue sky - High 35 degrees

Lou and I were up early and trying to get a few things accomplished before leaving for church. We have the motor home all ready to travel and back in the barn. I have a few personal touches to add, and have purchased the items that I wanted to add and have them ready to put on board. Now to get our house and yard and garage ready to leave.

Everything for the kitchen has arrived with the exception of the curtains, I have every thing pressed and ready to place and hopefully will be able to start that tomorrow. I washed the curtains in the hobby room today and put them on the line to dry this afternoon and will get them ironed this evening while viewing a movie.

We were able to get branches picked up outside this afternoon and burned so that looks better. We found a twig wreath, that I had on our coal bin, blown up against our white board fence by Krista's house, Lou rescued it and took the Christmas bow off of it and replaced it. We took our Christmas flag down and replaced them with Spring flags, as we didn't want to come back from the south and be greeted by Christmas flags. We were hoping to get our pine out of the plant boxes, but they are still frozen tight.

Lou got all of the Clematis bushes cut back and all of that hauled away; therefore, think the outside is all ready to leave. We noticed several signs of Spring. We have daffodils showing their noses, and Krista saw the Eastern Bluebirds at her boxes this morning.

I had to go to our barn this afternoon to get Estee's extra bed to wash and put in the motor home and I found where the Pheasant has been roosting, I was thankful that she had certainly found a safe place to be safe and warm in the severe weather.

Speaking of severe weather, we are supposed to have 8-10 inches of snow tonight; therefore, we may be staying at home tomorrow. We have an appointment to have our taxes finished tomorrow, that would be a good thing, I could get some cleaning done.

We had a nice surprise today, as we were arriving at church today, Brion, Janet and Casey pulled up and they were on their way to see Brion's parents to have lunch with them and they would be stopping by our house later in the afternoon, and they did they arrived around 3:30 and we all enjoyed having a visit with them, even though our house was in a disarray, hopefully, when they are here next, it will be more like it normally is.

Just heard a new weather report and Wellsboro is supposed to have over 10 inches of snow!!!!

Getting Ready

February 16th - Wednesday - 51 Degrees!!!!

When Lou and I heard the weather report for today, we immediately called the gentleman that inspects our motor home and asked if he could inspect it today and he told us to have it there between ten and eleven today, so we went over to the barn and found that Allyn had done a marvelous job plowing the snow and ice away from the barn that we didn't have to shovel any thing, just unlock the doors and back the motor home out and we were off to have it inspected. They even washed the salt off of the motor home, so we have a clean motor home and an inspection sticker.

Lou arrived at our drive way, just as Krista was coming down, so she blocked traffic one direction and I did the other direction and Lou backed into the drive way, put the jacks down, plugged in the electric for heat and we were ready to go to work.

It didn't take long to take everything from our hobby room that belonged in the motor home to the motor home and we started putting things away. Krista brought her sewing machine down and started making covers for the back of seats to the dining room seats. I had already made the pillow to match the sofa. Estee quickly found her new acquired seat. Lou hadn't had a chance to see how the new "sleep number" bed was going to work; Krista and I thought he had gotten quiet and I went in to check and found the reason.

Lou and Krista mastered the radio system and got the stations preset, that was a challenge, but soon mastered. Krista put the microwave/convection oven together. I am amazed as how much cupboard space I still have in the kitchen with everything put in place.

Tomorrow, I want to put everything where it will be when we are actually in a spot for a week and then I will know what we have that we won't need and we can leave that behind, or perhaps what we will need that we don't have on board. Then I can go through and clean and be ready to go, then I can get our house cleaned up and we will be about ready to take off. Progress is being made. This is so much easier by having the motor home in the drive way here rather than at the barn, we can have heat and lights at all times and it is so much cleaner with the paved driveway and we can work a few minutes at a time, can use the washer and dryer, dishwasher, etc. Lots of company also and that is nice also.

Didn't mean to have Lou's nap as the first picture......

Lunch w/ Preston and Susie

February 15th Tuesday - Sunny, Cloudless Day, 35 degrees

Lou and I had an early appointment to have our taxes prepared and we had planned to meet Preston and Susie for lunch at a designated place that is about half way between both of our homes; however, our appointment was much longer than we had estimated and we were not able to leave Mansfield until 1:00 pm, so by the time we arrived for lunch we only had about 25 minutes to chat with them until they had to leave for home, as they had made arrangements, to take a friend to an oral surgeon. It was a quick "hello" and "goodbye", but always great to see them even if for a short time.

You can see from the pictures, the restaurant we chose was an interesting place and the table that Preston and Susie had chosen was under a plane which Lou admired. We had a blazing fire to enjoy and the surroundings were also very enjoyable making our lunch very special.

After our of grilled chicken salad with strawberry cheesecake, Lou and I drove to the Woolrich Store and had a wonderful time looking around and really came away feeling like we had a tour through time remembering when we all wore the original "Woolrich" coats that were made right here in Pennsylvania from Pennsylvania grown wool. Some of the wool that I grew from our Suffolk sheep was bought by Woolrich and was woven into fabric and sown into clothing right here in Pennsylvania. Now I understand the sewing is all done in China. All in all it was a wonderful day to travel and certainly was a nice day to do something different. A day enjoyed by all of us.

Happy Valentine's Day

February 14th Valentine's Day 41 degrees - Thawing!!!

Lou and I celebrated Valentine's Day by going to Head Start early this morning to square dance for them and then we taught them a couple easy steps. They were all fun to work with and all eager to learn. Us older folks are all amazed at how quickly the little folk learn. Wish we could pick up the steps as easily as they do. I know I wouldn't have to take as many lessons.

We here in northeastern Pennsylvania are witnessing something we have not seen in some time. It is called thawing of the snow and ice. A very welcome sight.

We had thought our pheasant has left; however, Lou called me this morning to come to the kitchen window and there she was filling her beak with sunflower seeds. I don't know where she had been for the last few days, but she must have found a safe haven some place.

Lou and I are off to have the car serviced and then to the mall to run errands and have dinner out and take advantage of the good roads to get a few extra things accomplished.

Border is Up

February 9th Wednesday -13 degrees - Sunny - very little windy

This morning was certainly different from yesterday, in respect, that we did not have to shovel, other than Lou did go out and shovel a couple spot that did drift during the night last evening. He did wait for the temperature to travel from the negative thirteen degrees to a positive twenty degrees to do so and that was just before lunch.

We received an additional four inches of snow yesterday which wasn't all that bad, as it was a light snow; however, the wind blew at thirty miles per hour gusts and you know that caused drifts, so finally we just gave up and left it for day light today.

I have continued with my kitchen. I have taken everything out of all of my cupboards, sorted, thrown some things away, given things away and given things to Good Will. Lou has repaired some drawers that needed attention. We are now awaiting the arrival of the new items that we ordered. The wall paper border is up. Every knick-knack, doily, napkin, dishtowel, table runner, etc. has been washed, hung outside and ironed ready to find a new spot once everything arrives.

Only had one mishap.... I was replacing the twinkle lights above the island between the kitchen and the living room going from one chair to the next when I missed a chair, and I grabbed the decorative rail that goes around the shelf it didn't hold me, it pulled apart and the little pegs flew from one end of the living room to the other end of the kitchen, was kinda funny hearing them land all over the hardwood floor. Actually sounded like a gun being shot. Lou had quite a task of reconstruction to get it all back in place. He was about finished and announced that he still needed one peg and we found it laying on the counter after we had looked under everything in our out and out search. Needless to say, I was a little sore the next day, but shoveling snow helped with the soreness.

The picture of the cows is a glimpse I saw out of the kitchen window as I was getting ready to wash our window. My brother had just let the cows out of the barn and they were going for a walk in the winter snow. Thought it was a pretty contrast in the newly fallen snow. I wonder if they know how lucky they are to have a nice warm barn to sleep in each evening.

Tonight is our Valentine Dance at Square Dance, also Chocolate Night. Lou and I along with Jim and Delores are in charge of refreshments and I have fixed homemade fudge, and another homemade candy that is made with crackers, and white sugar cookies that I have decorated, Delores made brownies, a different candy and all members bring their favorite chocolate dessert. Sound be a good night. The worse part is going to be wearing those short skirts with the below zero temperatures. The men are lucky they can wear "long johns" and no one knows!!

Our registration did come, so we just need some warm weather and to get caught up here at home. March 3rd is still a good goal.

Hair Cut for Estee

February 4th Friday - Beautiful - Sunny Day - No Snow Shoveling - 4 Degrees

Decided as long as we didn't have to shovel snow it was a good time to tackle the dog. She loves to have a bath, so that is not a problem, but was time to get out the clippers and do a "puppy cut" and Lou was able to be here to help me tackle the job and Estee was up for the task also. She now is ready to travel south with her new hair cut.

It really came at the right time, as we received a phone call from AAA today to tell us we should have our registration card by the middle of next week. Now this is when things get interesting, as just this week we decided we might just as well tackle a few hard jobs, so we tore the kitchen apart and have ordered new wallpaper border, curtains, placemats, you name it - any thing needed to completely redecorate the kitchen, still have to pick our new pictures for the wall and need to paint several antique shelves; however, it will all work out, I can take care of all of the inside stuff while Lou get the motor home inspected, taxes done, car inspected and the rest of the things on his list. We also have several things going on at church and at square dancing, so if we get out of here by the first of March think we will both be happy and not have to rush and feel stressed.

We actually have enjoyed our winter right here doing what we have been doing and going when we have wanted. We have had some great movie nights, Kris has gotten us started on a

great series that she and Steve have shared with us and we have been antique shopping, things we don't normally have a chance to do. Lou and I have tried some new recipes and have found some keepers, have gotten caught up on all of our correspondence and that is a great feeling, have planned several trips for the summer and made arrangements for some friends that will be coming in from out of town in June. Had a long conversation with some friends that are vacationing in Hawaii right now and having a great time, so it has been a good couple of week in spite of the cold and snow.