Well, we had all of 3 to 4 inches of snow. The storm was not as bad as predicted, but the wind blew a lot and drifted what we had. I've been going thru a lot of wood!
Because i thought it was going to get warmer and the driveway would probably melt off, i didn't go out and shovel. Really bad mistake. Yes, some has melted off. But every tire track, every footstep, and particularly the berm turned icy. I've spent an hour (in divided time so i don't get too worn out) today breaking ice and clearing the driveway. I got most of the ice off. What is left will probably melt tomorrow. But had i simply gone out on Sunday afternoon once the storm stopped, i probably could have done it much quicker and with less of an energy expenditure. That will teach me not to procrastinate!
It is pretty chilly out right now. Local report (the "local" news in LA is rarely correct) is that it is 28F with wind chill at 22, but the wind has gusted up to 32 MPH and it sounds like the wind is just getting started.
Often, when i take a week off and stay home it feels to me like i've not done much of anything. That is not true this week! I still have so many things on my "to do" list yet, but i have stayed quite busy. Not all the corners i wanted cleaned have been done, but a couple of important ones have. :)
I did take some pictures today of the fire in our stove, and the snow, and the (mostly) cleared driveway, but i don't know what Duane did with the cord to the camera to load them. So here is a pic of the snowbear my sis made last year when we got snow 2 days after Thanksgiving. :)
It has been hard the last couple of days to wake up to Duane's side of the bed empty. Yesterday i was listening to something funny on the internet (i usually work with the sound off, i find the sound distracting), and thought, "Duane will wonder what i'm listening to!" It was a couple of minutes before i realized that he was NOT in his office as i am used to.
So, i am thankful today he is returning home. And i'm thankful that the roads are now largely clear so travel should be safe. They (Duane and Elsa) are coming up later than they intended. I think Duane had a frustrating day at work, from what i've gathered. I'm thankful that i had the energy to get the drive done so it is ready (and hopefully not icy at all). I'm thankful K came by for a while today to do a really good vacuum in preparation for my sis coming. Elsa is somewhat allergic to the cats.
I'm thankful that i did NOT slide into a tree today (when i was on an icy side street). I'm thankful that N does not seem extremely upset that i'm having K to work again. (It was K's job before anyone else's, but K was in Australia for a year.)
Yesterday i was thankful that K came and did such a wonderful job on the house. I love and appreciate her so much. She is such a grace in my life.
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I don't know what is going on with me.
Yesterday i walked into the edge of a (metal) doorway & scraped my arm. Happy to say that the moisturizer i use did a good job with it & today it is almost undetectable.
Today i drove to Long Beach; the drive was just awful. Lots of tailgating, people cutting me off, then coming to a complete standstill from 70 MPH. Heart attack city. I came within inches a couple of times of hitting someone or being hit.
The migraine was back full force today, too.
Then we stopped for food before going "up the mountain." I stepped off a curb & fell, scraping up my feet & knees. This is more than yesterday's mishap. I applied the moisturizer, but when i got home i applied myrrh oil too. Tonight i may utilize the Manuka honey, as well.
We stopped for gas. Duane needed something from the driver's side (i was riding passenger) & i whacked myself in the eye on the turn signal. It was then i decided to continue being a passenger (i usually do the mountain driving). Duane has let me know, too, that when i go to town tomorrow, i'm welcome to take the Trooper (which finally has current tags) rather than his new Subaru. !
I've got a lot on my mind, skipping here, there, & everywhere.
It is cold, now that we're home. When we crossed the pass from the valley south of us the temp dropped about 8 degrees, down to about 35 F. I don't think we had snow here at home, but we could see where it had fallen on Sugarloaf & the ridge. I'm ready for some warmer weather at home! It doesn't have to be as hot as OC, but lows in the upper 30s & consistent highs in the 60s would be welcome.
I've had this page - CFS & Fibromyalgia Rating Scale - open for some time now. I wanted to record it. Up until three years ago, i've fluxuated between the 60-70-80 rating. In the past three years, i would say that i've been consistently at 40, but in the past 3+ months i've been running between 20-30-40. Twenty isn't that common for me, but 40 is not consistent thru the week. To claim it is to be overly optimistic.
That site also has an interesting article called "Finding Your Energy Envelope" under the Library section. I think i would be most likely to "pay" out my energy in coins for a visual. I think the article presents it as a virtual/visual tool, but, in the beginning at least, i think i need it concrete enough to do it in actuality/reality.
Part of the reason, i think, i'm having a harder time today is that i had my lovely "high" of passion/love of life yesterday. I'm so happy that it came naturally for me (as opposed to the past when i would refuse to allow myself to love life unreservedly). But it does exact a high price from me in energy used, & also, i hesitate to say it, but in internal (or external ?) opposition. Part of it may just be that it has not been natural for me before & so to balance it i have a day a bit more like today when i'm struggling. (Yes, i'm feeling very lonely & longing for more human contact, to be encouraged, & feeling sorry for myself or something.) But it is possible - i'm not big on "spiritual warfare" or devil stuff - but i'm simply saying that it is possible that what i'm experiencing is an attack from "the enemy."
I don't know, i just know i'm struggling a bit more today with more than being clumsy.
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. . . meaning a bit of this & that.
I woke to beautiful blue skies today. And lots of snow. Haven't taken any new pics. When i do i'll post them. But in the meantime, you can go to my friend David's Picasa Web Album & see his pics of the weather. (His blog is Sugarloaf Mountain.) He also has a couple of really good ones of birds in the trees. (I don't seem to do a very good job with the birds.) Oh, & if you like birds in the trees, check out my Aunt Wanda's Picasa Web Album. Cardinals. She's retired & being professional at photography.
We've lost 2 trees for sure now. One in front of the house is broken in half but didn't hit anything coming down. The one that fell on the neighbors was a split trunk & Duane thinks that we'll have to take the other half down. We've had some big branches come down also. Have to check the rest of the property (it is so huge, LOL) & see what has happened.
Last night about 8.45 we heard a plow come down the street. Only it wasn't a regular plow. It was an earth-mover/Caterpillar (called a wheel loader). And we needed it. This stuff is so heavy. Part of the reason for this, tho, is because there is so much snow that they are contracting snow removal to anyone who has the equipment to do it. Our weather service said we got another 44 inches yesterday. The wheel loader made a 10 foot pile of snow on the corner across from our house. Duane went out to cheer the plow on & discovered that our driveway - that he had totally cleared the night before - was up to his thighs again. ! ! ! More work for us today. He said he thought some of that was drift.
We are lucky our house is built so strong & has such a small area of top roof with strong beams supporting it. Have i mentioned (like 30 times, i think) this snow is really heavy? Duane is a bit worried about the snow load on the decks, tho. I'm going to try to clear some of the one outside our bedroom today.
There is only one road in & out of the valley open - the "back, back way" down 18 into Lucerne Valley (& it was closed for a while yesterday). The road we use - 38 into Redlands - is closed for an indefinite time due to "20 foot drifts" according to the local news. The front way is also closed & folks have been evacuated from their cars stuck on that road. We are really fortunate we came home when we did. Had we not gotten home then, i've no idea when we'd be able to get back.
This much snow is rather counter productive. Our ski slopes are wonderful now to ski on - & no one from down the hill can get up to use them!
Will post pics later. It should be really beautiful now that the sun is shining. More snow predicted for next week. But our high should be just above freezing today. The low last night was 16F.
I've been meaning to post on this article for a while now. Think i read it about a week back. The title is: He said he was leaving; she ignored him. I actually am quite impressed. I don't think i'd have the backbone to respond as she did. There was a lot of criticism of her in the comments saying that she "didn't support him" or that a loved one is suppose to "help" the one she loves. I think, personally that is JUST what she did, but what she did is entirely different from what we normally consider "help."
For another funky piece, i've found a new blog (Aging Gratefully) that i'm enjoying. I was looking at some of her back posts & came across this one: Weddings. Blew me away. I know there are a lot of different things being done these days, but this stretches my imagination a bit. (Couldn't have been done in our church!) I'm surprised she didn't rip off the wedding dress & have a sexy mini underneath, too. Totally agree with the last line written, however.
The acupuncture doc i see, Kathie, lost a lot of weight last spring & summer. She is tall & wasn't terribly overweight, but she is a positive toothpick now. I asked her what she'd done to lose that weight, & she told me "Spark People." Huh??? She wrote it down & i looked it up. I "signed up" for it back in December, but didn't start to do anything for a while. I'm not even sure what or how Kathie used it to lose her weight.
But i decided this week to use it at least to track my meals. It is often recommended that you don't make changes right away, but simply keep a food diary of EVERYTHING you eat to see where your calories are actually coming from. So, for now, that is what i'm using Spark People for. I started on Tuesday.
There are good things & bad things about this program. One of the bad things is that they follow the Standard American Diet as prescribed by the "Food Pyramid." Believe me, this is SAD indeed. Do a Google search on this & you'll find that the food pyramid is entirely political. It is by following these guidelines that America has become the sick, overweight group of people we are today. However, i can largely ignore this. But their recommendations (they think i eat too few carbs) come from this SAD pyramid.
I can set my own goals - how many total calories i want to hit as my goal each day, how many grams each of fat, carbs, & protein. (I've been low on the protein the last couple of days, too.) This calculator doesn't like the percentage of carbs & fat that i have set. But it still calculates for me.
Now, over all, the idea that a "calorie is a calorie" is false. Three hundred calories of potato chips does not equal 300 calories in a baked potato. First off in satiation. But also in nutrients. And the fat in potato chips is bad fat all around.
The fact is, i don't eat a lot. But i don't lose weight, either. I decided at first just to track my eating habits without trying to limit myself, just to see where the calories are going. I will say, this is hard to do on Spark People, because you have to "set" your goals in low calories & high calories every day (minimum & maximum you want to eat each day). I set them too low to start off with, so each day i'm "failing." Don't think this is a good way to think. (Well, now that i've said that, i went & changed it so it won't show a fail most days.)
I honestly don't eat a lot. If i were just keeping a food diary, it would reflect that. But i find "Spark People" helpful because it tracks the calories i'm consuming. (I think if i just did a food diary & an estimate of calories, i'd say, "I sure don't eat much!" but to see each food listed in calories & % of the total for the day helps me be more aware of what i'm eating & where i'm wasting calories.) To see that the Starbucks Vanilla Frappichino drink that i consume for a headache (& sometimes recently i've decided to use it as "preventive" - my way of justifying having it even if i don't need it) has 200 calories & very few nutrients, well, let's just say i'll be motivated to not go wild with this.
I don't know if this will help me to actually lose weight. My adrenal & thyroid glands are not functioning very well. I've other metabolic issues too. These contribute to the Chronic Fatigue which i fight & health issues that make it difficult to lose weight. Kathie is healthy, was healthy when she began this program. I can't think, expect, or even hope it will work for me as it does for her. But i DO find it helpful to see what i'm eating, where i'm picking up calories, & what the totals come out to be. Calories from fresh fruits & veggies are much more beneficial than calories from anything processed.
I honestly would love to lose weight. But then i'd love to be healthy, too. For now i'm going to use the tool to track what i'm eating & leave the rest - not focus on weight - for now. I have to ignore their nutrition advice. They recommended cutting calories by drinking DIET soda today! Bad, bad, bad advice. If you choose to do that, i'm not going to yell at you, but diet soda is very, very, very bad for you. Regular soda is very bad for you too. But i tend to like it. You know what? I've not had a soda since starting this tracking. I don't want those calories (& other horrible stuff like sodium benzote) in my diet. I'm not saying i'll never have another one, but this sure helps me think about it before downing the stuffl.
I need to go do something for today!
P.S. - thanks for all the comments & feedback on the last post. I do love getting comments! I need to be better at responding to them.
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That doesn't look like so much, you say? Well, this was Monday, just after the snow started. Keep on looking, the rest of these pics are Thursday when we got home, & a couple of this AM. We're going to have to get out & take more pics. It still is snowing! I don't know how we'll get the bird feeders refilled, the drift on the deck is 4 feet high!
The plows can't keep up with this. They are only covering the main highways. We got stuck at the top of our hill coming home yesterday, the plows hadn't been thru. There are R3 chain restrictions on all the roads (meaning that 4WDs have to have chains, very unusal here). Essentially, if you don't have to go out, don't. The road we came up yesterday is now closed. I'm so thankful we came home when we did. We got another 8 inches last night, so all that we dug out yesterday is now covered again.
We lost one tree yesterday, & another looks like it might go. Duane has it braced so if it does it won't fall on the house. When this is all over there are 3 trees we'll probably end up taking out. I hate cutting trees, i do, but we're so fortunate the one that went down yesterday (onto our neighbor's property) didn't do any damage. We have a 70 ft. pine in our back yard that could take out half the neighborhood (or our whole house) if it goes. It doesn't look like it will, it looks fine, but it makes us very nervous.
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Just got home. We left OC about 11.15, & made one short stop on the way up. Only a couple of places with 0 viability, for a few seconds as the wind blew snow. Made it home fine - Duane's very proud of his new little car - & got stuck at the top of our hill. The car had to sit for about half an hour while we dug out enough of 3 feet of heavy snow to put the car in part of the driveway. Snow plow hasn't been by. They say they can't keep up.
The drive home was like a winter wonderland - so much snow in trees. We got pics when we got home that i'll post another time.
We just had one of our trees go down into the neighbor's driveway. It looks like no damage done. This is really something. Power was off again today for a while.
Tired now. Glad we don't have to go anywhere for a while....
I'm so cold! Will warm up & rest. ;)
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Well, i don't know if this storm is as bad as predicted, but it is bad enough we're not going down the hill tomorrow. We've gotten 8 inches between 9 AM & 2 PM & it continues to blow heavily. By other standards, this is not a lot, but by Southern California, this is quite a bit. Our snow plows will have to work hard to keep up with it. Duane & i spent half an hour shoveling the drive & deck, & by the time we finished the part where we had begun was already covered again. This is suppose to continue off & on thru Sunday.
I've a number of birds sheltering in the tree outside my window.
It is my plan to put up our Christmas tree tonight. I'll post pics later, tho we won't decorate for a few days.
In the meant time, here are some funny pics of Mac. He decided he wanted to be on the beam overhead. He jumped on Duane's desk & then the hutch, & from there jumped to the beam. Funny cat!
P.S. - I'm severely behind on blog reading, but i'm getting around to them! If i haven't commented, i'll be there soon!
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We were fair-weather Christians this morning. We've had 8 inches of snow in the past 26 hours. We didn't wake up until 8.15 & making a 9 AM service just didn't seem possible. (Most of these pics are yesterday when the snowfall was still light.)
My ILs planned to be down the hill 
yesterday at Duane's step-brother's house for a 10.45 tee time. We woke to maybe half an inch of snow (yesterday), & they left almost immediately. All the roads in the BB valley & leading in/out of BB had chain restrictions except the road east into Lucerne & Apple Valleys (Hwy 18 E). ILs left about 7.30 & went down 18 E. They followed a snow plow down & were fine. My sis had planned to leave around 8 - 8.30 AM, but was hesitant with the snow. So they 
hung out, we watched college football (well, the guys did, Sis #3 & i knitted), & we snacked. By about 11.30 AM the snow had slowed, but it was not melting. The high yesterday was 32.7F. The low yesterday was not as cold as earlier in the week (it has been in the low teens) at 26F.
Sis #3, her friend F, & i shoveled the driveway & around her car while Duane went into town to get chains for her. Duane & F helped get the chains on & they took off about around 1 PM. They also took 18 E. She called from the bottom of the hill. That road didn't have chain restrictions & they were able to take the chains off before long. (It is the law here that chains (or cables) must be carried at all times in the winter here in the mountains, but lots of folks don't. Even the convenience stores like 7-11 carry chains & cables up here 'cause lots of folks end up needing them.)
Throughout the afternoon yesterday we had snow off & on, but it didn't seem to be sticking to what we had shoveled off. But we woke this AM to new snow & it will have to be shoveled again.
This is NOT what the forecast predicted, however. There were "slight chance of snow" given Friday evening, & i didn't expect more than what we had a couple of weeks ago which was almost not measurable & melted quickly.
Somehow i wasn't quite ready for the snow. I knew it was coming of course. We don't have severe winters here, but i just wasn't ready. Our wood pile definitely isn't ready as we haven't been working at it as diligently as we should have. But this might not stay around too long. It could melt off in the next week & not
be repeated for another month. Or it could dump 2 feet on us.
Sissy made a snow bear for us. He looks cute on the swing.
This is what he looked like this AM. Sis added the branch "arms" after i took the pics yesterday." Tho Duane took more pics.
Thanksgiving was a much smaller group this year. We had 14 total. Six were staying here at Sugarbear, & 8 at Duane's Aunt & Uncle's place. She has had as many as 23 stay there before. And that is a typical number of folks who eat there. So it was much diminished this year. We spent both Thursday afternoon & evening there, & Friday PM as well.
Here's my "little sis" dumping leaves on me. (This isn't Aunt/Uncle's house but across the street where they hadn't raked their leaves. Duane's cousin wanted pics in the leaves.)
H was the only child with us for the weekend. None of her little cousins came. But she seemed fine with it. She just chose different adults to spend her time with. She & Duane played for a long time both evenings.
Here's the whole group of 14 of us (i'm hidden behind sis, but that's ok). Sis #3's friend F is in the red shirt on the L.
Jazz was disappointed not to be served at table.
Sis & i spent Thursday AM preparing food. She did 2 pumpkin pies & an apple. I did a spinach dip & a green bean casserole. And i didn't take either of my dishes. Before the spinach dip was really hot i had some with cornbread left over from the night before. (Sis #3's friend F had made vegetarian chili for us Wednesday night. It was so good! I made cornbread to go with it.) Anyway, i was quite ill for a little while after eating the spinach dip.
I use raw milk & because raw milk generally only sours, i keep a bottle in the fridge that might be very old
. I use it for sour milk for cooking. We figure that the spinach dip hadn't gotten hot enough when i ate it to have killed the bacteria. It 
certainly cleaned out my system & 
i'm no worse for it. I used that same milk in the green bean casserole, however. We thought it would probably be fine, but i didn't want to take a chance of having the whole group end up with problems. I did eat the one i mad
e for myself (without the fried onions in it) & was fine. Also several other dishes had been made with that milk, but well cooked. Anyway, i can't eat the casserole 'cause of the onions (fried with flour) & Duane won't eat it. And i'm not likely to eat the spinach dip now, either. What a sad waste of food.
We did get to visit with friends J&J on Friday AM. We just don't see them nearly often enough.
We had a something else happen Friday. I think it sad, but Duane was very, very angry. I had parked just on the side of the street just above where the pic of all the people are standing (to the L of the pic). We don't usually park on that side. When we came out that night about 9 we found that someone had come by & thrown a couple of eggs at our car.
The driver's side window in the door was obscured.
I'm afraid i don't understand Duane's deep anger at the incident. I find it rude, frustrating, irritating, & sad. But an anger that, at the moment anyway, could kill someone i don't understand. Sis #3 reminded me that it is a violation.
What i find most disheartening, however, & i don't like to think of it, is i don't think it was done by a visitor. Meaning, i've a strong feeling that local kids often resent "flatlanders" or "outlanders" & do this to folks they think are visiting. I could be wrong, but that is my gut feeling. Duane would prefer to believe it is uncouth folks who come here from the flatland & then are rude. Because we both want to believe that where we live is in the best place on earth!
I did get it clean without too much problem the next day. Sis cleaned much of it away with snow, & i brought out a pot with hot water & soaked towels & it cleaned up without as much mess as i would expect. And, i told Sis, i'd much rather it be my car which is relatively easy to clean than have it done to my house.
H, the only child that was present this weekend, is the child of Duane's cousin. Well, actually Duane's step-dad's brother's daughter's child. Funny the way folks connect. They live in Las Vegas. H is 4-1/2 (& i can't help but think, a year older than Kaylee would be). She is a sweet child, not 
overly spoilt at all. She is a delight. (And that is surprising considering how spoilt Duane's cousin has been, but the improvement she has shown since becoming a mama always amazes me.)
This pic is Sis #3 with H three years ago at Thanksgiving.
I didn't seek H out this weekend, or really try to talk to her at all, except as i would an adult in passing. I was quite content to watch her play with others. So, it was a 
surprise to me to hear her ask her mama, "Can Kathryn help me make the card?" (Her grandpa's BD is in about a week & she was making a card for him.) Her mama told her she would have to ask me, & of course i was willing.
And, as i sat at table with her as she was making her card & later playing with her, i thought, if i only had a child in my life with whom i could spend some time, being childless wouldn't be so hard. H will not be the child i'm hoping for. We only see her about twice a year.
I wish i knew a family with children where we could keep the kids a few times a month. Then i could get in all my desires (a "fix" so to speak) of "story-reading, cookie-making, project-creating with children" out of my system. The parents would have respite & we'd have the joy of being around children even if they aren't our own.
Now, how do i find a way to have that happen? (I've checked into mentoring, BTW. It isn't as easy to set up as you'd think.)
When i took some of the pics earlier today the sun wasn't out. Wow. Sun on snow is stunning!
Now, i need to go shovel snow before long.
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I did say we only had a "skiff" of snow, right? It melted off rather quickly. That first pic looks like i did photoshop special effects on it, but it is SOOC, Duane took it thru a window that was wet. I know that this barely qualifies as "snow" especially compared to what some folks are getting, but it was our first snow this year.
And it has been chilly. Last night got down to 14F, tho yesterday the high was 48F, so it isn't terribly cold.
This last pic is cropped from one my nephew posted on Facebook. He & his sis were in the pic, too, but this part caught my eye. If i didn't know that this is Sis #2, i would swear it is my mother. The posture, the shape of the face, the glasses (Sis #2 never had to wear glasses until she reached this age & can't see to read - she's jealous that i don't need reading glasses), the hair are all my mother. Even the turtleneck & the color of the turtleneck are what my mother would wear. What is funny is that this is the sis of the 3 of us who looks the least like our mother.
Isn't it awful what life does to us? LOL
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We had our first snow last night!
But it is barely a skiff that will soon melt off, i'm sure. If we get pics i may post some later.
BTW, i meant to mention before - the ski hills here "make" snow for the ski slopes, or some of them at least. We had a cold front come thru a couple of weeks ago. I guess it was good weather to make snow. I know they do this. But it was still something of a shock to drive into town & seen some of the slopes white when i knew we had not yet had snow.
The kiddie sledding slopes have had snow for a couple of weeks now, & a few runs on the mountain.
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