Snow, Snow, Go Away

It's snowing again. So what else is new? It's been several years since we had a winter like this and I figured we were about due for one again. December and January were not bad but February has really socked it to us. Leroy has used his crawler to push snow more this winter than he has for a long time.

Yesterday I saw the drift that had covered the bird feeder had gone down enough to allow the birds to feed again. (I didn't pity them enough to dig it out.) The snow that fell in the last 24 hours drifted overnight and this morning the drift behind the house is taller than me (that means it must be more than 4' 10") and the bird feeder has disappeared again.

Lester Moyer, the Berks County weather "authority" predicted in his almanac that we're in for the granddaddy of them all on March 7. He is feeling pretty smug about his accurate preditions of the previous storms but time will tell if he's right about March 7. All I know is that spring has never failed to arrive and this will eventually have to go away. I am ready any time now.

Wat Skul Did U Go 2?

I'm mounting my soap box to rant and rave about the murder of spelling. I heard several people talking about the way teenagers are spelling these days but I did not know how bad it was until I saw some of it for myself on Facebook.

Text messaging has developed a whole new English language. I understand the reasons why words are abreviated when texting but that kind of spelling is unacceptable anywhere else.

i'll c u 2moro

i cnt see strate

u makee me laf

a prty fun day at skul

I have a good Greek word for that kind of spelling. YUK!!

I'm sorry but that kind of writing is NOT cool. It is a slap in the face of your teachers and an insult to your own intelligence. Writing like this on Facebook or anywhere else is as sloppy as walking down the street with your pants sagging so low your underwear are in plain sight. When I see such spelling I want to scream "What school did you go to?"

People who at least try to spell correclty have enough trouble as it is. I have gotten invitations from excellent hostesses saying "Your invited" or, even worse, "Yous are invited." (That should be "You're invited.") One of these days (Lord have mercy!) I'm likely to get a graduation invitation saying "U R invited." If that happens, I think I'll decline. Anybody that can't spell better than that has no business graduating! And cheers for high school teachers like my sister who refuse to accept such writing on assignments!!

Those of us who write as a hobby or occupation work hard to express thoughts clearly. Spelling is an important part of conveying the message. One wrong letter in a word can change the entire meaning of the sentence. For example: "Hitler shot himself in the bonker." That o in bunker changes the meaning of the entire sentence.

Do yourself a favor. Be "uncool" and learn to spell words correctly. You will spare yourself a lot of embarrassment and improve your image. It doesn't show much intelligence when you write Wat skul did u go 2?

Charlie Bit Me

This week YouTube is five years old. Here is the #1 most-watched video ever published on YouTube. I think it is hilarious because it is so natural and true to life. I couldn't find the link to embed it in this blog but clicking on this link will bring it up for you. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/hdcyt?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/0/_OBlgSz8sSM

Roses!

I spoke too soon! Leroy went to the flower shop today and brought home a half dozen roses for me. The years I get roses for Valentine's Day are few and far between so that makes them extra special. Why did he get white? Just a whim. He was going to get red ones but when he saw the white ones he decided to be different. He must still have that rebellious streak in him that was there in second-grade; while everybody else was combing their hair for school pictures he messed his up just to be different.
At any rate, the white roses have a place of honor on the table. Roses aren't necessary but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy or appreciate them when they appear. (And I won't be sweeping the floor with them.)

Happy Valentine's Day

Love never goes out of style but the ways of expressing it change with the years. This is a valentine that was among the things we bought at Leroy's aunt's sale a couple years ago. It is the size of a name or calling card. One end of the design lifts up to reveal the sender's name. The name printed under the picture on this one is Aaron G. Weaver. I don't know who he was but I'm sure the ladies in his day were impressed with this little card. I just think they are cute old things that give us a window into valentine's days of the past.

So what are you doing for those you love on Valentine's Day? I'm planning to make a Sweetheart Salad for the day. "The way to a man's heart . . ." you know. What am I getting from him? I'm not expecting roses. I'll get those in June when I pick them from my own bushes. I get practical things---like a new sweeper. Mine died last week and I really needed a new one. You can't sweep the floor with roses!

1-2 Punch

As you probably heard on the news, the winter gave us two blizzards back-to-back. We were still contending with the remains of the first one when another one socked us again yesterday. There was about six inches of fresh snow when we got up in the morning and it snowed all day, sometimes at the rate of 4 inches per hour.

Gerald's clinical was canceled but Leroy went to work as usual. He figured he'd go in at least a couple hours and maybe plow some snow around the warehouse. Well, before noon he decided it is time to go home. He managed to get in but not without getting stuck when he was nearly home. The snow plow just happened to come by while he was struggling to get out. The guy on the plow pulled him out and plowed a path to the house. Thank you very much!

The wind kicked in around noon and added insult to injury. Around 3 in the afternoon Gene called and asked Gerald for some help. He got out ok with his Blazer but got stuck on the way home about a quarter mile from the house. It took 2 1/2 hours, the help of the neighbor men, and Leroy's JD crawler to get him home. He finally got in at 7 p.m., caked with snow and half frozen.

I had invited the neighbor men for supper because their wives (my cousins) are in Thailand visiting the daughter of one of them. I thought I was doing them a favor but they did us a favor by helping get Gerald home. It's a blessing to have good neighbors!

The wind is still blowing and we are snowed in good and solid. After last night's caper no one even wants to try get out. Being snowed in isn't the worst thing that could happen. We've got oil in the tank and the electric hasn't even flickered once. As long as those things hold out we are comfortable and life continues. Winter is in the second half and there has never been a year when spring did not eventually arrive. This too shall pass.

Cocooning

The great blizzard of 2010 is winding down. The snow has stopped but the wind is still doing its thing. The snow began about the time it got dark yesterday and by this morning we had about eight inches although it is hard to tell with the way it drifted. Once again, the areas south and east of us got more than we did. I am not complaining!

Leroy got up at 5:30 this morning and saw a car was stuck in front of our garage. He went out and brought the two guys in. They were on the way to do the milking for the neighbor and called him to come with a tractor or something to pull them out. Before the farmer got here another lady came in saying she was stuck too. So we had an earlier start than I was planning for a snowed-in Saturday morning.

The plow has opened the road and we can get out although I wouldn't try it unless it was absolutely necessary. My Canadian brother will laugh at calling this a blizzard but it is the most snow we've had so far this winter---or for the last several winters for that matter.

Here is the drift in front of the garage at the house.

Leroy's John Deere crawler comes in handy when we have drifts this size. And it gives him an excuse to play with his toy.

I was pretty much figuring on being snow-bound all weekend. The jury is still out on tomorrow. I guess it depends on how soon the wind dies down. Once in awhile it is nice to cocoon from the world for a day or two.

Life Cycle

I was going through some of my stuff when I came across this note I scribbled a couple years ago. I do not remember the source.

When we are under 12 we count our age by half years. "I'm 6 1/2 . . . 10 1/2. . . " etc.
After 12 it's "I'm 12 going on 13 . . . . 15 going on 16."
Then we:
Become 21
Turn 30 (like it's sour milk or something)
Push 40
Reach 50
Make it to 60 and
Hit 70.
At 80 we live one day at a time; we hit Wednesday, hit lunch, etc.
When we reach 90 we minimize our age by saying, "I'm just 90."
And at 100 we come full circle and go back to counting by half years. "I'm 100 1/2 . . . 101 1/2 . . . " etc.

I remember feeling quite grown up when I was ten and had two numbers in my age. My dad said, "It will be a long time until you have three numbers." I have a long ways to go until I have three numbers and am back to counting by half years!

Scrapbooking

This is the time of year I try to get my scrapbooking done. I'm not a professional scrapbooker with piles of name-brand supplies. I have a few simple basic tools, stickers, papers, etc. All my supplies fit in two drawers in my desk. I make my pages on the computer using 8.5 x 11 paper. That makes it impossible for me to attend scrapbooking parties where women work on pages together but it is the method I prefer because I do a lot of writing on my pages. My own handwriting tends to run either uphill or down and I can get more words on a page when I type them. To me, the writing is more important than all the embellishments which do not tell anything about the picture. It's more important to me to have my books to tell a story than be works of art.

I've been plugging away at scrapbooking since right after Christmas and am half way through the general pictures from 2009. Today I was updating my Friends book, putting in the pictures we got in the 2009 Christmas cards. I also have a book for each of our children which I update annually. I hope to have everything up to date by spring.

I have stacks of books of pictures from my whole life, both of our families, trips we took, and family history books. I've spent a lot of time making these books and sometimes I wonder if this is a worthwhile use of my time. These scrapbooks mean more to me than anyone else because I can remember all these things and places. What will happen to these books after I'm gone? Who is even going to want them? They would probably go on the quarter pile on auction. But I guess I'll keep plugging away at it awhile longer. If they don't mean anything to anybody else, maybe they will be good company when I'm a lonely old lady too feeble to go out and do anything else.