Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
January 31, 2015
The morning is so cold it took my breath away when I went to get the paper. It snowed again last night and the couple of inches obliterated the path and hid the mounds of snow from the shoveling in the last storm. It was slow walking to the driveway. The back steps are also now covered in snow so poor Gracie did not want to go down, but she finally did. Even now the snow falls wildly in the wind. The trees too are blowing and bending. Today is winter at its worst.
I have to go out in a bit, and I am not all happy about it. I need dog food, then I have PT and finally I need to do a bit of shopping for tomorrow and the big game. I’m making some appetizers, and I need all the ingredients. I figure not many people will be crazy enough to go out so the shopping will be quick.
I know my mother would not have let us out on a day like today. Even her multi-layering would not be enough. I can remember freezing hands and purple lips. Instead, we’d be spending the morning in front of the TV. The house would be relatively quiet. Saturday was a festival of shows for kids, and we’d sitting on the rug close to the TV, too close for my mother. She was an adherent of all the old wives’ tales about kids including sitting too close to the TV could cause blindness.
In Ghana, this is getting into the hottest time of the year, the height of the dry season. I never missed winter so much. Every day was endless sun and heat and blowing sand. My lips were dry, and my feet calloused. There was no refuge: no fans or air-conditioning. Even my house, because of its metal roof, held the heat. I used to shower and not dry off so the air would feel cooling, and I could sleep. Right now I’d be happy for that, for at least a couple of days.
Time to face the elements.
Categories: Musings
Tags: a bit of shopping, dry season Ghana, freezing day, freezing hands, snowing, TV blindness, windy, winter at its worst
Comments: 12 Comments
January 30, 2015
We just got back from 3 errands including the dump. The side roads are horrible and still snow covered. Such big piles were plowed to the corners you can’t see on-coming traffic without getting way out into the street. I slid my way everywhere. The rain is steady so I needed full wipers. This is when they should be plowing again as the rain is making the side streets nearly impassable.
The day is getting even more miserable.
Categories: Musings
Tags: rain, slipping
Comments: 4 Comments
January 30, 2015
Drab is about the best description for today. The sky is grey, and it is very damp outside. At times it is spitting rain as my mother would say. I’m okay with that as my sister outside of Boston is getting snow again: 4 to 6 inches. I’d be screaming.
Gracie can get outside through the dog door and has a patch of driveway at the end so she can do her business. The only problem is she likes to go into the backyard for her more substantial business and she can’t get there. After I let her out this morning, I saw her squat then I went to get my coffee. When I got back to the door, I saw she was gone which is surprising as there is nowhere to go then I noticed her head and one paw poking out between two back steps from behind. She had gone under the farmer’s deck. I ran and switched from slippers to shoes and then ran to the door to go help her. Well, she had already figured out to follow her way under to get out and was walking up the steps.
Water is dripping from the roof and icicles are forming at the edges. The beauty of the snow is disappearing because the day is above freezing and the rain slowly pits and erodes the snow. Nothing about today is pretty.
It’s a short post today mostly because my inactivity has made life a bit boring. I read, picked appetizers to make for Super Bowl watching, play backgammon against the computer and caught up with Grantchester, a wonderful series on PBS. I even napped in the afternoons. I suppose I could clean but that is the last desperate measure.
It’s time to get moving. Gracie and I are going to the dump for one of our errands. She’ll be thrilled: as for me, not so much.
Categories: Musings
Tags: backyard business, beauty of the snow, drab day, dump, errands, Gracie squatting, grey sky, icicles, rain
Comments: 6 Comments
January 29, 2015
I am still house-bound. My factotum got stuck in high drifts yesterday and didn’t make it. He said few side roads in his town were plowed yet. I cleared off the two front steps with a broom because poor Gracie was beside herself in wanting out. When I was done, I opened the door, and she went out and squatted for what might just be a new Olympic record. Before we went to bed, she completed her business. This morning, she went right to the front door to go out. I am feeling so much better and far less guilty.
I am beside myself. For the last two days I have been reading the paper on-line, a most unsatisfying experience. I want to be turning pages. This morning I could see the papers sitting on a tall drift next to the driveway. There are two bags, one I’m supposing is filled with the two days I missed. I can’t get to them. They might as well be on the moon.
Today is bright and sunny. It is even winter warm. The icicles on my house are dripping. I can hear them when I stand by the front door. A very, long thick one was hanging off my outside light. I tried to break it, but I couldn’t though I did manage to break off the thinner lower parts.
I was just in the kitchen getting coffee and toast. I love the smells of both. My bread is scali bread or, as I just found out, scala bread for a single loaf. It makes the best toast. My friends from New Jersey had never heard of scali bread. I looked it up and found out, “Scali bread is an Italian style of bread made predominantly in the Boston, Massachusetts area. It is a braided loaf that is covered in sesame seeds.” That hardly describes the taste of scali, and how when it is toasted, the bread turns a delightful brown and the butter melts lovingly into the bread. Definitions seldom do reality justice. Snow is precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice that falls from the clouds. How boring that sounds.
My doorbell just rang. Gracie barked, and I wondered who it could be. It was my neighbor, and she had my newspapers in hand. I am delighted. I am done here as I am itching to get my hands on those papers.
Categories: Musings
Tags: brooming snow, Butter, coffee, dog business, house-bound, icicles, newspapers, scali bread, Toast, winter warm
Comments: 14 Comments
January 28, 2015
You were probably not expecting a posting today but Birgit asked me to give you a weather up-date.
We have at least 20+ inches of snow, but the drifting from the heavy winds makes an accurate measurement difficult. Luckily, the snow ended up soft and fluffy so the dire predictions of electricity problems never happened here. The house is warm and the coffee freshly brewed.
The one big problem is Gracie and her getting outside to the yard because both storm doors can’t be opened because of the snow, but even if they could be, the snow on the steps and the path is far too high for her to trudge through which keeps Gracie house-bound. She won’t go on the newspapers I put down for her which made her restless all last night. I then had an inspiration and went down the cellar and found I could open the door and I noticed the snow was much less under the deck. The problem was Gracie won’t go down the cellar stairs. They are open stairs which scare dogs. Oddly enough, though, there are two sets of open stairs going from the deck to the yard and Gracie doesn’t have a problem going down either one. I decided to get her downstairs. She wouldn’t come to me suspecting the worst. I grabbed her collar and got her to the top of the stairs. I had to hold her body around her belly to keep her safe. Her legs fell through the stairs, but I got them back on track and kept going. All I could think about was being run over by the bins when I was taking them down the stairs, and here I was in a similar maneuver but with a dog who could struggle against me. I don’t know how but we both got down the stairs safely. I opened the door, Gracie went a couple of feet and squatted. I swear I could hear the loudest sigh of relief.
We have the same problem now, but she’s asleep so I figure she must be able to wait a bit. I’m not looking forward to the down the stairs struggle again, but it is the best I can do until Skip, my factotum, comes and digs me out.
I have a book, tasty food, warmth and a few good movies. I’ll be just fine. I hope Gracie will be too. Come on, Skip.
Categories: Musings
Tags: drifting, high piles of snow, open stairs, relief, Snow, snow under the deck, the poor dog, winds
Comments: 22 Comments
January 27, 2015
Last night I was fretful and had trouble getting to sleep. The wind howled and had that runaway train sound. Gusts blew up to 55+ miles. I woke up every hour and checked my old clock radio to see if the time was still lit. Finally around 4:30 I fell asleep. When I woke up at 8, it took a minute or two before I remembered to check the radio. It was still lit. Glory! Glory! I have electricity. When I came downstairs, I had trouble getting the back door open. I had to really push to move the snow. When the door opened, Gracie took one look out then looked at me. I could read her question, “Do you really expect me to go out in that?” I closed the door. She was relieved. I don’t know how long it will be before she has no choice but to go out. I wouldn’t mind if she went on the deck, but she never has.
No plow has yet to tackle my street. The snow is drifting, borne by the wind. My car is perfectly cleared of snow. Last night it was covered. I can’t see out of most of my windows as the mesh of the screens has caught the snow. I watched the news for a while, but it is all the same, a rehash of the weather, live shots of some poor on-site reporter being buffeted by the wind and no schools listings still running along the bottom. By now you’d expect that every one knows the schools are closed.
I am not a fan of daytime TV, but Doctor Who, the David Tennant Doctor Who, is on BBC. The Doctor and his companion, Donna Noble, are in ancient Pompeii, on Volcano Day. The current Doctor has a major part in this episode. I wonder if someone remembered him when they went looking for the newest doctor. During commercials I looked in on the Lone Ranger, a regular on CoziTV. I like how the sets transition from real outside to an inside house. When the door is opened, you can see the fake scenery outside the door. A stagecoach was being driven outside on a dirt road. When the coach was stopped, it was inside. I laughed at the prisoner handcuffed to the deputy. His eyes kept shifting back and forth. He was obviously the proverbial bad guy.
We are only about half-way through the storm.
Categories: Musings
Tags: blizzard, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Donna Noble, drifting snow, fretful sleep, Lone Ranger, no plows, outside filming, sets, snow covered screens, snow storm, wind gusts
Comments: 43 Comments
January 26, 2015
Naming hurricanes is a long time tradition, but now we have to name blizzards. Juno is the one we’re braced for now. As for me, I espouse keeping the snow at a distance. Giving it a name seems to personalize it too much.
We have been told to prepare for the probability of losing electricity. The last time that happened during a snow storm my house got down to 37˚. I can’t think of many more ways to prepare. I have food which doesn’t need to be cooked, and when Gracie and I do a couple of errands, I’m going to add tomatoes and avocados to the larder. Everything is charged though the charges won’t last all that long. I have a lantern but I need a few more batteries. Burning wood to keep warm is almost futile as most of the heat goes right up the chimney though I love the look of a good fire. My father always called a strong and long-lasting flame a Hollywood fire. I still do. The snow won’t start until late this afternoon, and by then we’ll be home, warm for the meantime and the bird feeders will have been filled, my only other chore for the day. I’ll turn up the heat to warm the house as much as I can. It will be tropical for just a bit.
When I was a kid, snow like this was perfect to build forts and caves. The forts had protective walls to keep the snowballs at bay. The caves had rooms, but we used to have to crawl in and out the door. We’d bring something to sit on between us and the snow, and we’d pretend the cave was a house of sorts. I remember bringing my sandwich and having lunch in the dining room of our cave. The best cave we ever made was huge. It was built in the pile left by the plows. We used water to ice the ceiling and walls so they’d be firm and last a long time. Eventually snow melts, but parts of my cave lasted until almost spring. It was the only snow left.
If I don’t post tomorrow, you’ll know why.
Categories: Musings
Tags: batteries, bird feeders, building forts and caves with snow, fires, huge storm, Juno, lanterns, no electricity, Snow, wet snow
Comments: 28 Comments
January 25, 2015
This morning was a small triumph of sorts. I went outside to get my yesterday’s mail from across the street and today’s papers from the driveway. As soon as I stepped on the road my shoe slipped a bit. The whole road was black ice from yesterday’s rain and last night’s freezing temperature. I took the chance anyway despite my history and shuffled over to get the mail. The small steps I was taking reminded me of when I was first learning to ice skate, when I walked in skates instead of gliding on the ice. Next stop was the driveway for the papers then I managed to return to the house without falling, slipping or tripping. That is a diary entry!
Snow is coming starting tomorrow night. This time it is a real storm with a potential of several inches so we are under a blizzard warning which includes heavy winds, the possibility of downed power lines from the wet snow and white out conditions giving zero visibility. This storm has been late in coming as the winter has been a snow bust thus far. We have had probably an inch in total. The predictions, still iffy as to the amount, have been as high as 20 inches here and 29 or more off-Cape.
I’ll fill the bird and the suet feeders tomorrow so my birds will have food. Yesterday I noticed the red spawn has a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Either way they have been chasing each other in what I think might be a pre-mating ritual. They go around and around on the tree trunks and this morning chased each other across the top of the fence. That’s all I need, baby spawns of Satan. I have to figure out how to attach the wire to keep them off the feeders. I am devoid of charity for red spawns, and they better not be expecting a baby shower from me!.
Categories: Musings
Tags: black ice, ice skates, mail and newspapers, mating rituals, red spawns, several inches of snow, small steps, Snow
Comments: 12 Comments
January 24, 2015
The road was covered in slush when I went to get the paper. I left deep footprints and could see the track of the car which had been driven down the street some time this morning. Gracie was hesitant to go down the back steps. They were covered in slush like the road. It was raining, but there had been a sprinkling of snow first. After Gracie came in, I threw de-icer on the steps. I don’t want the steps freezing. Off-Cape is getting the snow.
Today lends itself to laziness. It is an I won’t get dressed day or do any chores day. I will most decidedly take a nap later. That is not in question. I may have a pizza delivered. I don’t know. That sounds too much like a plan, and today is not a day to plan. It is a whatever happens day. Fern and Gracie are asleep on the couch beside me. They are my role models.
I cut out recipes and have a gigantic folder filled with them. Periodically I go through the gigantic folder and put the recipes I’d most like to make in a smaller folder. I have yet to make any. Most times I fall back on the familiar: my curry recipe, my brother-in-law’s chili and my uncle’s sausage cacciatore. This week I am going to make Peg’s corn chowder. She brought it down when she and Bill last visited, and I loved it. It is a perfect winter recipe, one to warm the innards.
When I was young, my mother sometimes gave us Campbell’s tomato soup and her grilled cheese sandwiches especially on cold days. I still love grilled cheese sandwiches, especially gooey ones, but mine have become a bit more sophisticated than using yellow cheese unwrapped on Wonder bread. My aunt was the first to give me one with tomato, and I still like tomato as a basic addition to the sandwich. I also like bacon, jalapeño or avocado with pepper jack. I think grilled cheese is the best sandwich to personalize. A BLT is just that. Bologna is about as unsophisticated as a cold cut can get.
A couple of Christmases ago I got a panini maker from my sister. It elevates sandwiches from a simple lunch to something far greater, far tastier. Avocado is the best addition of late to grilled cheeses and regular sandwiches. I now have an addiction to them. When I was a kid, I would have thought avocados too squishy and far too green. The rule of thumb back then was to avoid anything green. The only exceptions were green beans and unripe bananas as they had a yellow future.
Categories: Musings
Tags: avocardo, BLT, bologna, Campbell's tomato soup, Cheese, Cooking, de-icer, deep footprints, favorite recipes, grilled cheese sandwich, lazy day, mush, nap day, panini maker, rain, recipes, sleeping animals, slush, wet and mushy, Wonder bread
Comments: 14 Comments
January 23, 2015
The morning is a cold one, a frosty morning. The sun is shining but has a pale winter light which brings no warmth. Gracie has been burying her treats. Her new chew has been buried twice and is still somewhere hidden underground in the yard. Gracie’s dirty face was a giveaway. She pushes the dirt over the hole with it. I cleaned her face but she didn’t seem grateful, only annoyed.
I watched Zorro today, twice. When I was a kid, it was shown in black and white, but it was filmed in color so that’s what I see now. Today Don Diego sang to Sergeant Garcia about how strong and powerful Garcia is, a flattering lie. The song was dubbed, not something I would ever have noticed when I was young. When the theme played at the beginning, I still knew the song by heart. Like Superman’s Clark Kent, Zorro’s Don Diego hides his alter ego but the disguise is easy to see through. Though Zorro wears a mask, he has Don Diego’s voice and mustache. When I was a kid, I knew enough to suspend my disbelief, and I loved watching Zorro. I even bought and read the first book of the Zorro series by Johnston McCulley. Instead of being a distraction, TV was an inspiration which led me to read novels on which the programs had been based.
I remember when cigarette commercials ruled the TV. Dancing packs, virile cowboys, catchy phrases and movie stars hawked cigarettes. I remember, “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should,” bad grammar but catchy. Santa Claus even smoked Luckies. I figure with all that traveling, he needed a cigarette break. It would have been tough smoking as the sleigh flew.
Pharmaceuticals now rule the TV commercial world, and I chuckle a bit at how many commercials are aimed at baby boomers. They show people my age solving problems such as incontinence, erectile dysfunction, the need for whole life insurance and wearing underwear like Depends which can’t be noticed under clothing. I’m thinking my future is fraught with indignities if the commercials are any indicators.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bone burying, cigarette commercials, cold day, commercials are aimed at baby boomers., Depends, Don Diego, Johnston McCulley, reading, reading Zorro, Sergeant Garcia, TV series, Winston tastes good, Zorro
Comments: 20 Comments
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