Ice Cream Cones and Flowers

It Must be Summer

If we are eating ice cream cones at a little table on the street, and flowers are blooming in the yard  -  it must be summer, right?

This is quirky freaky weather and we are all lovin' it.  It was at least 80 degrees today, and normally we would be having a snow storm.  Even if we have cold weather and snow, it can't last long now.  Every freakishly warm day takes us that much closer to the real thing.

One of our adventures of the day was to run out of gas.  Now I know where "empty" really is on my gas gauge. We were more or less out in the middle of no-where, but with the help of some pretty big hills, we managed to limp/coast into a gas station on the southern-most edge of town.  No problem.  You know what I always  say  -  if you don't want a little adventure, you'd better just stay home.  We made it back, safe and sound, and cuddled up on the couch to eat crackers and cheese and watch Wallace and Gromet for the hundredth time.  Fun.

Basil, Ginger, and a White Bird

Project of the Day

Middle Granddaughter has been going to spiff up my herbs and spices for awhile now.  Yesterday she was off school, so that was the project of the day.  I love how they look  -   all the bottles are alike and the colors are so warm and earthy.  Nice.

There was a white bird flitting around the neighborhood yesterday and today.  It isn't unusual to see sea gulls here, but this had us stumped.  It had some black on the tips of its wings and a little rusty color on its underside. When it came close, it was obvious that it's a robin.  Of course I googled it and found pictures of robins that looked just like it.  Apparently it has a condition called leucism.  That means it is missing some pigment in some feathers.  It's not an albino.  So  -  there is my science lesson of the day.  If you aren't completely bored to death yet, and would like to know more and see a picture of a leucistic American robin, here you go.

For some reason, I keep thinking "the white bird flies at midnight".  Is that from a movie  or something  -  I can see someone like Peter Sellers or Leslie Nielsen saying it. Where did I get that?

The racoons were looking in the bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning.  I wish they wouldn't do that.

SNOW

A Very Snowy Saturday

We had about ten inches of snow over-night and it is still snowing off and on and blowing.   There are 26,000 households in our area without power. We are not one of them, but the power lines are very heavy with snow here in our neighborhood  -  makes me a little nervous.

It was predicted that a snowstorm would hit us about 5 p.m. yesterday, and a little after 4:30 it began to snow.  We haven't had much snow all winter, so everyone was pretty surprised that it actually happened.

What is it about a winter storm that allows you to give yourself permission to do nothing?  Even if you had only indoor things planned  -  no outside activities - you (or is it just ME) suddenly decide you don't have to do them.  It's okay to sit and watch it snow, read, watch a movie, eat eat eat   -  do anything other than what had seemed important to get done today.

Critter report.  It was a mouse.  A very small mouse.