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.

Happy Birthday Celebration

January 28th - Friday - 24 degrees with three inches of fresh snow

Once again Lou and I got our morning exercise by shoveling the driveway, a job that we both enjoy doing. This is a pleasure to do with a blacktopped driveway. The majority of the shoveling is just walking the snow-shovel across the drive and throwing the snow off to the side. The gentleman that originally paved our driveway instructed us in the best way to shovel the drive to keep it from icing over and Mr. Fay knew what he was talking about, as it has never iced over by doing it his way. I shall always be grateful for his advice.

I have been a bit late getting the pictures of the roses and the cards posted, as Lou was gracious enough to share his cold with me and I now am reaping the rewards. Dr. Nespola has placed me back on Prednisone, Augmentin, Claritin D along with the rest of the meds I use for my breathing and sleeping is something I just think about with the huge amounts of Prednisone and if this keeps me out of the hospital, I am all for it.

We still haven't received the registration for the motor home, so we aren't going to be in any hurry. Actually, I am enjoying getting a few extra things done in the house that got neglected last year, lots of drawers cleaned out, files gone through, have helped Lou go through lots of his things, so we have used the time to our benefit and try to do extra things each day.

For my birthday, which was Sunday. The day was started out with a beautiful card from Lou, that he had purchased from my favorite card shop,

with a very special note and a gift of jewelry from him. We attended church together where I received many cards from our church family and after church we went out to dinner at one of our favorite places, Lamb's Creek Inn, and the owner, Nell sat beside us so we were able to catch up with her which is always a nice treat for both of us. Just as we were entering the restaurant, my grand-daughter, Michelle called me on my cell phone to wish me a happy birthday, she had just returned from church, she is the gal that is attending Elizabethtown College.

Susie called in the afternoon, she had sent a card with a gift certificate at my hairdresser, which was perfect timing, as Lou and I both had appointments on Wednesday. Susie and I had a nice chat and caught up on the news of the week and hung us and Krista called and said that she had baked me an apple pie and she and Steve would like to come down and spend the evening, so we put the coffee pot on and they brought the pie and ice cream down with a gift bag filled with goodies, mostly all my favorite Mary Kay products that I can keep in the RV, so I don't have to pack up the ones I have at home. Good thought! The card she gave me was really cute, you can see it in the picture, the cow, stating she lost her recipe for birthday cake, hope you like pies.... Jerry and Joanne sent me up a beautiful red scented candle to put in the motor home, but I couldn't wait, so I trimmed the wick and lighted it and the aroma is wonderful Baked Apple Pie, went right along with Krista's pie.

The next day a box of roses were delivered from Scott, they were beautiful. Two dozen assorted colors very tight buds that are just beginning to open,

this was a very special gift, as my late husband always bought roses for all of us "girls" for all occasions and I guess Scott remembered. In Ohio, when Al would drive home from work, he would drive past a florist and in front of the florist was a dog house and a "Snoopy" dog sitting beside of the dog house advertising "dog house special" for $1.00, so whenever Al would see that sign he would stop and buy the special. The girls would find roses on their pillows, and I would find them on the counter or in a vase all trimmed, we were all very spoiled. We always had fresh flowers in our home and after we moved to Pennsylvania. Al planted roses and I means lots of them, I think Lou and I counted 54 bushes. This year I was sick and couldn't put them "to bed", so Lou, bless his heart, methodically placed oat straw in and around 54 bushes to see them safely through the winter so all of us could still enjoy Al's roses again this summer.

Thank you family for making my day special.

Saga of the Pheasant Continues

January 25th Tuesday - Much warmer 20 degrees this morning with one inch of new snow.

You will note from the pictures our pheasant hen has stayed with us. I have put out a dish of sunflower seeds mixed with oatmeal and raisins and it seems that she likes all of it.

You will note that she wears very fashionable glasses. No one that I have talked to understands this; however, I remember when I was a child and living on our farm with my parents and raising broilers by the thousands, Daddy had a choice of having our baby chicks de-beaked or having them come with sun glasses all with the purpose of preventing the chicks from picking each other and drawing blood. My thought is that this pheasant was raised by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the idea that it would be released in the wild for hunting purposes in the fall and this was a lucky gal that escaped the hunter.

We have seen her fly back to the woods on occasion, but last night when we left for Bible study we noted she was snuggled up next to the house under a low bush and she was still there this morning. Lou is going to get some straw from the barn today and put down for her, as we are due for a snow storm tonight.

From the way things look she spent the night there when it was 22 degrees below zero on Monday night. She probably is safer and warmer there than in the woods across from the house. We have been enjoying watching her and we can walk out on the front deck and she just sits and watches us.

Lou and I have been taking advantage of this very cold weather, yesterday I spent the majority of the day, update medical records, getting them ready to travel, even had to update Estee's, but have them all done and ready to go.

Lou had to take his friend and his truck to the garage today, he had an accident so he had to have some body work done, and now the tractor needs more repair work done and it is tax time, for his friend, so need to start to think about that also.

I made home made pulled pork barbecue and a potato salad this morning for out dinner tonight with this heat wave, thought picnic food might taste good. Even made a delightful jello dessert.

Now it is time to get some lunch and want to work on some paper work this afternoon. Must get ready for the snow storm tomorrow!!

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.