12 Below Zero Here in Pennsylvania

January 22nd - Saturday - 12 degrees below zero this morning - drifted snow everywhere

You can see from the pictures that we are running out of space to pile the snow by the garage. Yesterday when we went out to shovel our driveway of the six inches of newly fallen snow, our grandson, Shawn was just pulling into the driveway with his truck and snow blade. Lou and I were glad to see him, he made quick work of the drive and even took some extra time and helped finish up the hand shoveling. He was on his way to help out many other people on his list and Lou and I put on the finishing touches only to find out the wind was going to blow hard out of the north and fill it up again, so we did what was necessary and came into the house and decided we didn't have to go any place yesterday and made plans to finish the job today.

I closed up the blinds in the rooms that faced the north and had a fire in the fire place and spent the day enjoying catching up on magazines and a couple of cleaning projects.

I found a pillow in a magazine that I liked and thought it was pretty expensive. It was made from felted wool, of which, I have many colors ready to sew with, so I asked Lou if he could draw the sheep for me, and sure enough, he could and did, so I have it all ready to stitch on the felted black wool. Susie and I had started doing this several years ago and I really enjoyed doing it, in fact, I finished one project last year while we were traveling.

I also came up with a baby blanket pattern to make on circular needles. I wanted to make one for Krista, but have been waiting for her to find out if it were to be a boy or a girl and now that we know it will be a boy, I will await her color scheme and this will make a nice project to work on in the RV while we are traveling. My mother had always made all of the baby blankets and now that we don't have her with us, I will give it a try with knitting one. Guess if I can knit afghans, sweaters, socks, mittens and such, I should be able to do a baby blanket.

I have enjoyed doing the scarf for my coat, that I will be taking to Florida, in

the evening while we enjoy a movie. I have to admit, Lou's idea of winding two skeins of yarn together make this scarf so much easier and it is going much faster, but the needles are some that were my mothers and they are metal and I had gotten used to bamboo and that stitches slip off very easily, so I have to be very careful.

You will note the picture of the female pheasant. This morning when I cleaned off the front porch and walk, I noticed "large" bird prints, but thought perhaps a crow and dismissed the thought, but this afternoon, I slipped out the front door with my camera to take a picture of a drift and there she sat, so I was prepared. She was all settled down in our burning bush. Lou hasn't seen her yet, as once again, he is at his friends house working on that poor old tractor again.

Seems to be the time of the year for bad things to be happening. My brother had the misfortune of having a pig go between his legs and before he could get off of the pig, the pig took him for a ride and took him into a drinking fountain in the barn and broke some ribs, so he is in some serious pain. Thankfully, his son is able to help him with the chores, as the bales of hay and straw are heavy to lift with broken ribs. Families are great things to have close by when we need them and they are always so willing to help us out.

Everyone stay warm and be careful of the icy spots.

Cold Weather - Catch up Time

January 17th - Monday - Sunny 3 degrees this am

We were up early this morning, as Estee had a follow up doctor's appointment in Mansfield at 9:00 am. Her doctor found that she still has an UTI after two weeks of treatment with an antibiotic, so we are going to continue treatment for two more weeks. He did a complete physical and we went over all of her blood work. Lou and I are very pleased with his exam.

Sunday after church, we took Michelle out to breakfast to tell her goodbye, as she was on her way back to Elizabethtown College, we certainly have enjoyed having her home for the month. I had baked her some cranberry muffins and cookies for her to take back with her. The car was packed full.

Lou and I have taken advantage of this cold weather and have caught up on a few odd jobs that have gotten put aside. He has caught cold, so I didn't want him going outside until we get antibiotics into him and get the cold under control. Lou took a lamp that my father made years ago and replaced the three way switch and now the lamp works perfectly. I repainted to large herons that stand in my pond in our back yard and currently they are drying

in my hobby room. I hemmed a pair of slack that I purchased several years ago. I had ordered a yarn winder some time ago and it arrived and we had a good time winding up the yarn that I am working with, then Lou asked me if we could wind two kinds of yarn together and I didn't know, so we tried it and sure enough you can, so now it will make knitting my current project a little easier.

Finally, I was able to convince Lou that it would be good for him to take Estee and his book and have a nap before dinner, it nearly took an "act of congress" to get him to the bedroom, but he finally did lay down until dinner was ready.

While he was resting, I went out the front door, got the trash ready for pick up in the morning, replaced a light bulb on the outside of the garage and fed the birds for morning, so if we have the bad weather that is supposed to be coming, we are ready.

We have about decided we are not going to go south until after the middle of February. Our pastor and his wife are going to have a presentation of their two week trip to the Holy Land on the 13th of February and we want to be a part of that.

Pennsylvania Farm Show and Snow

January 12th - Wednesday - Snow - Windy - Cold - School and Square Dancing Canceled

Lou and I were up early Monday morning and met the bus at Benedicts and were off to the 95th Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, PA. My father always said the week of the Farm Show was the worst weather of the whole winter and I am beginning to think he was absolutely right. It was rather icy as our bus ventured out and thankfully we had a very cautious bus driver and we arrived safely. What a crowd we encountered. We were able to find a seat in the large arena and watched the opening ceremony which was very interesting complete with the Pennsylvania State Police on horseback and a sampling of each event that would be happening the rest of the week.

After the opening ceremony, Lou and I made a quick tour of the exhibits and the animals that were to be shown. Those of you that know me know where I headed first, the sheep and the horses and the alpaca. Then we went along to view the long horned steers, cows and then to follow our noses for some food.

On our way to find some tasty food, we passed the butter sculpture, which is always interesting. While standing in line for a great milk shake we saw one of Lou's grandsons waiting for the same thing so we had a chance to chat with him and later on we had a chance to chat with Lou's youngest daughter and her husband. All too soon, it was time for us to catch our bus back home.

We stopped at Country Cupboard for dinner which is always a delight and our dinner companions soon became friends with many things in common and friends in common also. We drove home in snow and bad roads and were met with a car that was snow covered and once home, we plowed through the snow to get into the garage.

Lou and I have gotten our exercise this week. We have used the snow blower and shoveled snow every day this week and today we awoke to six inches of snow. We have about decided that we may way until spring to go south, may be that long before we can get the RV out of the barn.

One good thing - Lou's friend's tractor has been repaired and he has plowed snow with it!!! Praise God!!

Reviving Old Lace

January 6th - Thursday - 3 degrees this Am with bright sunshine

This has been a very busy week for Lou and me. Monday we thought we would have to take Estee back to the doctor, for additional lab work, as her doctor felt she had pancreatitis, but after talking with him, she really had no symptoms that should accompany the virus, so we are going to wait a week and see what happens.

Tuesday, Lou was back at his friend's house helping with the tractor, a job that must be completed before we can leave for Florida. After the points and plugs were installed the tractor started and ran like a charm which actually surprised every one, but they found a leak in one of the hoses, so this afternoon, he is back up there replacing the hoses to the hydraulic system. Hopefully, this will solve the problem, as we are supposed to get snow tonight and his friend need the tractor to plow snow with.

Wednesday, was my breathing studies, of which I think went pretty well, I did well until they gave me medication to open up my pathways, then I just wanted to cough, as I wasn't able to take any of my medications in the morning before I went for my studies. We went square dancing last evening, and I opted out of wearing the little short skirts and enjoyed the warmth of my sweater and long pants and knee socks, as did most of the other ladies. It was good to see several couples out that we hadn't seen in some time, of course, several of our couples have already left for warmer climates.

Today was my appointment with the neurologist regarding my migraines, and Lou and I were both very impressed with him. He spent a good hour with us and went over many things with us. Several things are going to be changed, basically he is happy with the progress as we are and hopefully we will continue to see improvement. We know there is not a known cure, but improvement is a plus.

I am in hopes I can get our home cleaned up tomorrow and we have tickets to go with Benedicts to the Farm Show in Harrisburg on Saturday, and as soon as the weather warms up again we will get the motor home out again and get it finished up and get it ready to travel south. We have several jobs to get done prior to leaving, and we are working out a travel agenda, are planning something different this year.

The picture that I posted is a picture of the pillow cases we will use in the motor home. The wide lace on Lou's pillow case was hand made by Lou's mother many years ago and discarded and the lace in the shape of a "wedding bell" was made by my mother in 1973 and I removed it from a white pillow case I had kept and sewed it on matching pillow case for the motor home. Lou and I thought that would be a special touch for the new motor home and our new sheets.