NICE TO SEE FEBRUARY CHECKING OUT FOR ANOTHER YEAR

Monday's short winter storm was a nasty little bit of business while it lasted.  It dumped about six inches of snow on us then followed that up with freezing rain.  I'm surprised we didn't lose our power.  The winds were just a-howlin through the pine trees.  Today's morning dawned clear and calm and luckily our temperatures had risen overnight so the new snowfall did not freeze up.  It was easily shoveled, but very heavy, and of course I always overdo myself.  But, the nice thing was that at 33F with no wind I was able to be outside without my mitts on.  Bonus:))  With temps to be at or above freezing for the next seven days, we should lose a slightly reasonable whack of snow again.  Nice to see February checking out for another year and just think, a month from now we will all be on the eve of April:)))))

OUR PARK'S SNOWPLOW WAS ON THE JOB FIRST THING THIS MORNING

 HERE'S A PARK RESIDENT TAKING HER CAR FOR AN AFTERNOON WALK

With no photos taken again today, I had to slip out late this afternoon for a walk around the yard to see what I could find.  And how nice this evening to end our day under sunny skies:))))))

MY SNOW SHOVEL  AND I WERE BUSY AGAIN TODAY

 HOW GREAT TO SEE A LATE AFTERNOON SUNSPLASH AT THE CORNER OF OUR HOUSE

 LOTSA BIRDS IN THE FRONT YARD AGAIN AND NO THOSE YELLOW THINGS ARE NOT COLORFUL CANARIES....THEY ARE CORN COBS

 BY GOLLY AND THERE'S ONE OF THOSE VERY CORN COBS NOW

 PHEEBS SPENT SOME TIME HELPING ME MOVE SNOW AROUND TODAY

Al's Music Corner:: Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty.

 IT WON'T BE LONG BEFORE WE HAVE FLOWERS POPPING UP IN OUR FRONT FLOWER BED AGAIN

 I'M JUST LOVING THAT SUNSHINE

 STRAIGHT AHEAD BURIED UNDER ALL THAT SNOW IS OUR PATH LEADING TO THE PARK'S POND

Ellen's Groove:)) 'Wow' is she ever getting good at this.  Hysteria  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An old computer joke but most of these things still apply today::

- Home is where you hang your @

- The E-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail.

- A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click.

- You can't teach a new mouse old clicks.

- Great groups from little icons grow.

- Speak softly and carry a cellular phone.

- C: is the root of all directories.

- Don't put all your hypes in one home page.

- Pentium wise; pen and paper foolish.

- The modem is the message.

- Too many clicks spoil the browse.

- The geek shall inherit the earth.

- A chat has nine lives.

- Don't byte off more than you can view.

- Fax is stranger than fiction.

- What boots up must come down.

- Windows will never cease.

- Virtual reality is its own reward.

- Modulation in all things.

- A user and his leisure time are soon parted.

- Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net and he won't bother you for weeks.

- There's no place like http://www.home.com

- Know what to expect before you connect.

- Oh, what a tangled Web site we weave when first we practice.

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Seeing his shares plummet on a black morning during the recession, the boss called to his secretary, “Get my broker, Miss Wilks!”  "Certainly, sir. Stock or pawn?”

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NASTY WINTER STORM AND WHAT THE HECK DOES 'SNOT ROCKETING MY BOOGERS' MEAN??

 A BLUSTERY FRONT YARD THIS AFTERNOON

We started the day with a nice sunrise but it wasn't to last.  With a freezing cold and icy east wind, Pheebs and I never ventured outside of the Jeep and it was a short ride we had.  I was really stuck for photos this morning so Pheebs picked up the camera and took a picture of me for a change.  I don't particularly like my picture taken or sticking my mug in the blog, but she made me do it.  Yes really.  Brace yourself!!  

 WE STARTED OUT WITH CLEAR SKIES THIS MORNING

 THESE HORSES HAVE DONNED THEIR WARM WINTER BLANKETS

 NO, THIS IS NOT A SHOWBOAT IT'S A SNOWBOAT

JUST CALL ME SCRUFFY

Finished my book, Dying To Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing by Anita Moorjani.  For the most part, I really enjoyed this book and it certainly gives one many things to think about.  The only problem I had with it was wading through a lot of the author's repetition in the last third of the book.  But, that's just me........I started a new book today called, The Last Englisman by Keith Foskett or 'Fozzie' as he is known on the trail.  This is about a fellow hiking the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border in California to the Canadian border in Washington State.  In what I read this morning he mentioned a couple places Kelly and I have been to.  Julian and Warner Springs California.  The trail actually crosses the road in Warner Springs and also runs right by a place that has a unique stone feature which you can see and read about in a post I wrote on November 25th, 2013 entitled In Search Of The Great Stone Eagle Near Warner Springs California.  In speaking of a fellow hiker the author explains a method hikers commonly use for blowing their noses... He says, "after a few days, tired of carrying an endless supply of tissues, a fellow female hiker started employing the method most of us used: holding one nostril shut with a finger and blowing hard to remove any debris from the other, and then repeating the other side.  Americans refer to this as 'snot rocketing my boogers'.  Needless to say, I thought this was a rather descriptive and colorful explanation:))

 THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE DARK-EYED JUNCOS IN OUR YARD

 DID YOU NOTICE THE LONE MALE CARDINAL?

 A JUNCO AND MALE CARDINAL ON THE LEFT WITH A FEMALE CARDINAL ON THE RIGHT

 'OH-OH' I GOT A PROBLEM!!  THIS BLACK SQUIRREL IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE BIRD STATION!!

The leading edge of today's winter storm rolled in suddenly about 2:10 this afternoon bringing with it icy cold wind gusts and blowing snow.  (freezing rain to follow)  Our 28F temps had a wind chill factor of 15F  Although the storm came up from the south, the snow blew in on us from the east.  Figure that one out eh.  Our front yard was frantic with birds and squirrels furiously stuffing themselves with as much bird seed as they could.  I was kept busy keeping all the feeders topped up.

 ICY SNOW BLOWING UP AGAINST THE BOTTOM OF OUR SUNROOM'S PATIO DOOR

 BY LATE AFTERNOON IT WAS PRETTY NASTY OUT THERE

Al's Music Corner:: Laughter In The Rain by Neil Sedaka.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A wandering monk walked barefoot everywhere he went, to the point that the soles of his feet eventually became quite thick and leathery. And because he ate very little, he gradually became very frail. Several days often passed between opportunities to brush his teeth, so he usually had bad breath. Therefore, throughout the region, he came to be known as the super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.

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"Doctor, Doctor, You've got to help me - I just can't stop my hands from shaking!"
"Do you drink a lot?"
"Not really - I spill most of it!"

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IT'S ALL ABOUT WEATHER AGAIN

 I THINK MY NEWEST VERY MUCH MOST FAVORITE COLOR IS BLUE:))

It was the first line of Donovan's song, Sunshine Superman that went through my mind this morning when a ray of sunshine slipped through our east-facing window and lovingly landed on our living room floor.  And that set the tone for the day.  Pheebs and I were soon in the Jeep and out onto the country roads.  We had us a little snow shoveling to do for some friends:))

 HOW UPLIFTING TO SEE SUNSHINE CASTING SHADOWS ACROSS THE ROAD

A SNOWY FOREST FLOOR

 A BUSH LANE

 SMALL CREEKS ARE STILL RUNNING

 HOW GREAT TO SEE THE COLOR GREEN IN THIS CREEK

With each day the Sun's rays become stronger now and it was evident this morning on some of the area roads.  Where darker-colored pavement or gravel poked through the snow I could see melting going on as the darker colors attracted the Sun's warm rays.  There were other signs of melting today as well as I watched water drip in front of the windows from the peaked roof over our sunroom.  

A SUGAR BUSH LANEWAY

 I THINK THE SAP LINES WERE RUNNING TODAY

However, Monday looks like a bad day for us with a weather statement on our site saying, 'Another high-impact storm targets southern Ontario on Monday, threatening to disturb travel with ice, snow, and rain'. 

 EARLY MORNING SUNSHINE IN THE FOREST

 PHEEBSTER TRACKS IN THE SNOW

Looking back over my post I see it is all weather-related again.  Oh geeeezzzzz, will this ever end!!  

Al's Music Corner:  Lonely People by America.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A new monk arrived at the monastery. He was assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He noticed, however, that they were copying copies, not the original books. The new monk went to the head monk to ask him about this. He pointed out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies.  The head monk said, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son." The head monk went down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original.  Hours later, nobody had seen him, so one of the monks went downstairs to look for him. He heard a sobbing coming from the back of the cellar and found the old monk leaning over one of the original books, crying. He asked what was wrong. "The word is 'celebrate'," said the head monk.

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The Marx Bros seldom spoke of their embarrassing cousin...Skid Marx.

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A traveling salesman was held up in the west by a rainstorm and flood. He e-mails his office in NY: "Delayed by storm. Send instructions."  His boss e-mails back: "Start vacation immediately."

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