Pancakes.....

 I finally decided to start making the pancake/circle afghan quilt for myself. Here are 77 circles awaiting an X to be quilted in the center of them before starting to join them together. That was 77 circles of a top fabric, back fabric and batting cut, sandwiched, sewn and turned. Sounds daunting but it really wasn't too bad. These are from my gingko fabric stash. The backside of these circles are either all black or black mixed with other colors,,,,gingko fabric, of course. Not sure how it will all look when put together but I'll love cuddling under it regardless. I would have preferred to have all light colors for the top side but I didn't have anymore yardage and I couldn't find more so the pale rust color got added into the mix. I've got all but one stack quilted with an X now, I've run out of steam sitting at the sewing machine to finish the rest..........plus I finally finished listening to Drums of Autumn, book 4 in the Outlander series so it seemed like a good time to stop.

This was what it looked like yesterday in-between snowfalls. The sun came out and melted it all off the trees although not off the ground. This morning we awoke to a fresh dusting but once again the sun has been out and has melted most of it.

Uncle

I cry uncle - enough is enough - yesterday we had tons of rain but it only melted a bit of the snow. We are expecting floods but.......

......it's snowing again this morning.....it's supposed to be raining at our elevation. Not sure if you can see those gigantic flakes in this photo. Those tire tracks are from Sam's truck when he's slid down to the road to get the mail, they now have 3" of solid ice in them and we still have a foot of snow on the ground.

This is what Bailey does when he thinks I'm not watching - he was outside my sewing room window (sorry for the screen that dulls the pic)......boy, this snow feels just as good to roll around in as the sand on the beach feels......

.....oh yeah.....this is great........

......love to bury my nose in the snow......

......and Mom wonders why I come in the house all wet........

.....did I just hear a squirrel?.............

Since today is another snow day I'll be spending my time taking photos of scarves and towels for my etsy shop and then doing some sewing. I've got a couple more audio books to listen to so I'll start one of those while working in the studio. This past week I've listened to 3 audio books and read one book in addition to weaving, knitting, spinning, embroidering and sewing........I have to admit being snowed in has its benefits............

The sun is out!!!

It has stopped snowing this morning and the sun is out - the snow is beautiful glistening in the sun. This is the view off our deck, that's Mt Sexton in the background, which is actually very close to the house. Maybe another 4-6" overnight. Is this the last of it?  I hope so although I'm quite ok with being stranded at home......unless we lose power.

Enough already

These pix are so white that it's hard to tell that it's still snowing. Yes, this is unusual for the lower elevations. We are at a higher elevation from town so we're really getting hit hard but even on the outskirts of town there's quite a bit of snow.

Yes, that's my hummingbird feeder and thank goodness we're just above freezing since I forgot to bring it in overnight. We do have some hummers that stay all winter..........I'm not quite sure how they can make it in this weather but I guess they're tougher than they look. You can see Bailey down there in his fenced yard - he loves the snow. The snow that fell off the pine and fir trees due to its weight yesterday is piled back on this morning.

And here's looking out the front of the house. We've had some major power blips this morning but so far we haven't lost power like many others. Out in the country when one loses power it means we lose water because the well pump doesn't run. As insurance two days ago I filled the bathtubs with water as well as many drinking containers.

So today is another snow day, which I'm fine with, as long as we don't lose power.

Our first snow

This morning it seems fitting that the first snow of the year is on the first day of the year. It's snowed in the mountains already this winter but this is the first snow to fall on the valley floor..........well, at least I think it's on the valley floor, we're a bit higher in elevation than the valley floor. I woke up and there was no snow, in the time it took to let my teabag seep this is what it looked like. The forecast is for snow all day but who knows if that will happen, our weather forecasters are wrong all the time except in the summer when it's sunny and hot every single day.

No resolutions for the new year here - they're just a disappointment in my life when I don't follow through. I'll do as I've tried to do this past year, be the best person I can be in 2017.  I'm sure others were up late celebrating from the sound of what must have been pipe bombs (too loud for even the biggest guns) going off nearby. The biggest booms were coming from the pot grow that runs along the common driveway for us and three other homesteads, the property is actually accessed the next driveway down the road. (I won't even get started on what the big pot grows are doing to the landscape and crime in the area) New Year's Eve is just another night for us - no big deal, New Year's Day just another day - no big deal. No, this is not a continuation of my bah-humbug holiday mood this year........it's how I've always felt about New Year's. But there is always a bright spot for the new year - time to put out the new calendars which I did first thing this morning.....I love that about New Year's Day.

I do wish you all the best in the new year, time for family, friends and many creative hours.

A White Christmas

This is what we woke up to this morning, still snowing hard......looking like we'll have a white christmas this year. Looking at the forecast for today we had decided to postponed our traditional Italian Christmas eve dinner as getting to our house will be difficult as it is, and cousin Jim would be coming from 45 miles south having to come over a pass to get here. We'll try for Saturday as the weather should be better by then.......should be.......

Now to think about what to do with my new found time since I'm not cooking today.........maybe getting a painted warp on the loom and hope the power stays on so it's not too dark to weave...........

Snow - what a novelty!

Woke up to snow this morning - not a lot but it's snow. We didn't see one flake here last winter, not one flake.........and very little in the mountains. The year before we had one snowfall and that was it. The past few days we've had torrential rain which, other than driving in it, has been wonderful. Keeping my fingers crossed that our wet winter continues to help end this going on 4 year drought. When out on the deck taking this photo I had a hummingbird buzz me, thank goodness the feeder didn't freeze......will have to watch that and bring it in at night if the temps go down...........

Now off to work in Santa's workshop..........the perfect day for it........

I got out yesterday to the weaving guild meeting....Sam driving.....nice time, yummy food for the potluck, gift exchange and bidding on auction items to benefit our scholarship fund. From the auction I ended up with a John Marshall sheer overtop (whoo hoo) and some of the yummiest lighter than air cookies. In the gift exchange I received some fun sheep socks and a woven Guatemalan band that is begging to be used as a tote handle.....which means I'll have to weave up some fabric for it in the future.

Today Sam kindly said yes to trying to scrape the ice off the bad spots on the driveway so I can get out tomorrow. The entire drive would still be packed snow had he not shoveled a layer off last weekend. Bailey supervised - he was out of the picture frame rolling in the snow.......I braved the cold out on the deck to get the picture and then went back inside to warm by the fire.

I decided to make some marshmallow pops today......lollipop sticks in marshmallows dipped in chocolate and then graham cracker crumbs.........

........smores on a stick - yum.......

 

.........then I found some fun holiday sprinkles that I mixed all together........

.....dipped marshmallows in almond bark and rolled them in the sprinkles........

......all packaged up ready to give away.....looks like they'd be great goodies for kids......they're all going to my spinning group......big kids......

.....and before I could pull out the White Christmas DVD what do I find on TV just starting but that very movie - my favorite holiday movie of all time....the holidays aren't the same if I don't watch it which is why Sam put a copy in my Christmas stocking a number of years ago, no panic time trying to find it on TV.

Today may be the day the snow starts melting - woke up to 30 degree temperature and it's now 33 and the sun is trying to come out - whoo hoo. Just in time so I can attend my weaving guild meeting tomorrow - it's our potluck holiday luncheon, gift exchange and silent auction to raise money for our scholarship fund - an all around fun day.

Did I mention that in yesterday's windshield wiper debacle that I was wearing my jammies when the snow fell in my lap?  In the freezing cold.......but I did put my boots on........

Status quo......

...... for days we've been promised temps would get above freezing, hasn't happened yet, today it was frozen fog with a high of 30. And tonight into tomorrow morning the forecast is for freezing rain.......on top of the snow........that's not melted.......one bit.......just venting.......   

Today I put together more felting kits and got them back up for sale in the etsy shop. After that I started a fire, got disc 3 of The Vikings out of the Netflix envelope and sat down with my knitting. I finished up the first sock, got started on the second, these are to go in Sam's Christmas stocking finished or not.

Irritation of the day - 15 phone calls, only 3 of them from family ( 3 is a lot for me), the rest all recordings.......and most of them while I was deep into watching The Vikings which I kept pausing in order to answer the phone.

Funny of the day - Sam asked me if I'd start up both vans as they're sitting outside the garage in the frigid cold covered in snow, the older one has an old battery too. Old van started a little slow but ok, left it running for a while - the front end is in front of the garage partially under the deck so no need to clean off the front windshield, just the back one. The new van is sitting around front in snowville where the only tracks are Bailey's, mine and assorted wildlife. I started it up, left it running around 15 minutes then went back out to turn it off. Sitting in the front seat with the door open I thought I'd turn on the windshield wipers......a windshield with 6" of snow still on it......can you see what's coming next?!  Yep, before I could shut the door all that snow was pushed off the side right in on top of my lap, in the pockets on the door and all over the floor. I swear Bailey was laughing at me. I hope you got a laugh out of picturing me doing that.........I was happy to share..........

Enough already......

Ok, enough already - the snow is just as beautiful as the day it fell last Friday, it's not all crusty and ugly, it's still fluffy, fly away and powdery.....but it's not going anywhere.....and the weather forecaster was wrong again yesterday, it never got above freezing, doubt it will today. There is hope by Friday but I'll believe it when I see it. I'm tired of hearing the water run in the sink and worrying about pipes freezing which is happening all over the place.....I'm tired of being cold.....I'm not tired of being stuck at home though, that's kind of enjoyable even on day 6.

This morning Bailey and I took our face freezing walk in a different direction, down the driveway. Our driveway is 1/3 mile long, downhill, curvy, in this picture above we've already come out of our gate and onto the common drive we share with 3 other properties, this is halfway to the road. There are some tire tracks, a couple 4WD trucks ventured out and the UPS truck ventured in yesterday although he left our package on the gate, he knew better than to try our section of the drive which is very steep and curvy. See way down the drive? That's where our road is - let's go see if it's improved....

Nah, not much improvement since last Friday - not passable for my mustang if I could make it down our drive without sliding off into the ravine - it will never be plowed or sanded, we just live too far out along with tons of other folks. There is around 2" of solid ice under the snow.

Here's the road looking in the other direction......the Rogue River is at the end of this side, maybe another mile down.....the Rogue River that has ice floating down it which never happens....I have not seen this in person as I can't get there but a friend lives on the river sent a picture of what it looks like with ice on it. Southern Oregon just doesn't get this type of weather - we get snow, it warms up and disappears - we are not used to these prolonged cold temps.

And here's Bailey sitting down at the road...he's loving the snow. Wow, look at that face, he is really getting gray, I don't usually notice it but in the photo it really shows up......I'm not ready for an old dog yet.......

And here's the sun today - up until now we've had sun and blue skies with the cold but not today, we have fog, this was taken at 10:30 this morning.

I took the afternoon off yesterday sitting in front of the fire knitting on Sam's sox while watching a couple movies. Today I've got around 100 pounds of roving to weigh into bags, label, put in inventory and get back up in the etsy shop. Need to put together more felting kits too. I've put this chore off long enough........

A different view

Nothing much happening here except finishing up wrapping gifts, one gift still left to knit, sox for Sam........But I thought I'd give another view of the snow....the never ending snow and ice on the ground that is keeping me property bound (not a bad thing) as our long drive and road are still treacherous even with 4WD. Balmy 14 when I woke up this morning so this is an improvement over the past 2 days....we're supposed to hit 32 today, above freezing tomorrow.

I took the camera on our walk around the property this morning. I tried to catch what looks like thousands of tiny diamonds glistening on the snow....moguls in this case. Hard to catch those sparkles and I don't have enough photography knowledge to know how to do better.

Deer prints in the snow, we also saw turkey, bobcat and jackrabbit in addition to thousands of Bailey's footprints.

We walked up to the top of our property - this is looking south, at the edge of the snow it goes down into a ravine and back up to that hill opposite us.

This is the view coming back down the hill looking north at Mount Sexton. At this point the turkeys were complaining bitterly as they were high up in the trees above us. I'm really thinking they don't like getting their tootsies cold as they usually come down as soon as dawn breaks, this was 11am.

I still have a couple huge boxes, I mean huge, filled with roving that needs to be weighed into bags, labeled and put into inventory, colors sold out listed back in the etsy shop. I had thoughts of taking care of this today but sitting in front of the fire watching White Christmas while knitting on Sam's sox sound much better - I think I deserve the day off......been working too hard and too many hours lately........

It's downright balmy out..........

It's downright balmy right now - it's 20 degrees........that's up from the 7.5 it was when I got up this morning. I looked over at the thermometer this morning and it looked like it said 75 - I immediately figured it had gone wack-a-do until I went to look at it closer and saw the decimal point in-between the 7 and the 5. Yeppers, it was cold.....but now it's warmed up to a balmy 20. It's supposed to possibly be 33 tomorrow and warm up more later in the week to more normal temps.

Sam hates the cold but he decided to try and shovel out his tire tracks from Friday night. He got the top layer of light snow off, the rest is a couple inches of ice. He needs to get out to work tomorrow......and he will kindly go in a bit later so he can mail all my orders and our gifts heading east. He'll be able to make it in his 4wd truck (we think) I won't be going anywhere. Once he gest down the driveway safely he has to navigate our curvy road to get out to a bigger road. See that ravine on the left hand side? Well it's steep and a long drop down....and the driveway is very narrow and long.....total length 1/3 mile but he only shovels half of it, our asphalt section - the remaining half is gravel under the snow.

Bailey's doing a good job of supervising, he supervised the entire length of the driveway.

And here he is again making sure Sam does a good job.  We've heard that some roads, in town, are clear, but many roads including sections of I5 are all still ice/snow covered. Should prove to be an interesting morning commute......for some.......but not me who will be staying in working on finishing up holiday cards and wrapping gifts so I can move back to working on my business stuff......lots of roving to weigh out, felting kits to put together, not to mention weaving to be done........

Winter Wonderland......for some......

It's a winter wonderland out there......Sam wasn't thinking so as it took him 5 hours to get home from work yesterday, usually a 48 minute drive. He sat for hours on our little section of I5, the major north/south freeway that runs the entire length of the west coast. His 4WD Tundra does great in the snow......if there aren't miles of blocked cars ahead of him. I was beginning to think he might be spending the night out there.

So this is what it looks like now, so beautiful, so serene, hard to imagine the havoc it caused yesterday and is still causing today. This morning more snow flurries and very dark clouds but within a matter of hours the blue sky and sun appeared......too bad it won't do much to help with the snow covered roads as the temps are still below freezing and this evening the prediction is for 6 degrees. But big clumps of snow are falling off the trees every once in a while.

Good day to be inside finishing up gifts and working on our holiday cards. I'm very thankful we never lost power like so many in other areas of the country experiencing ice & snow storms right now.

It's snowing.........

This is what it looks like out this morning - snowing hard, very cold, very cold this week as in setting record colds. My poor hummingbirds are still around, I have to bring in the feeder to warm up overnight and a couple times a day......not that the house is especially warm......

 

 

On Wednesday friend Kathy and I went to a new tea place in Medford for lunch, Roundtable Tea Company. I am so excited that we have a tea place in the region again - doing tea is one of my favorite things to do. Owners John and Sandra are a delight - Sandra's cooking and baking is incredible and John is an all around expert on teas. Unfortunately we didn't think of snapping a few pictures before we had almost devoured our lunch.....it was yummy.

Here is the tea station in the room we were in - the teapots tip to pour. We got a lesson on each of the teas being served that day.

This is the more casual side of the shop where you can just stop in for a cuppa and scone or meat pie rather than the full high tea - there is also an entire wall filled with all sorts of teas to buy.......and yes I walked away with the Almond Rocker tea which tastes and smells incredible. I will be frequenting this tea establishment as often as possible.

Since today is a snow day and I can't go out like scheduled I will be working on finishing up some gifts to be mailed early next week. Hoping to get to putting together our holiday cards this weekend.

Give me a break.....

It's not noticeable in this picture but it's snowing to beat the band again, tire tracks down the long driveway are covered up. Enough is enough - it may or may not snow Christmas Day but we will definitely be having a white Christmas as it won't be melting anytime soon. I am considering myself lucky - we could be at Theresa's elevation just to the east of us, or I could be Yvonne who is 5 miles up the road from me and still doesn't have power. We are prepared for another outage, tubs filled with water for flushing toilets, laundry being done right now and a new UPS battery back up for the AVL so if the power blips or goes out while I'm threading and weaving today I have time to shut it down without an issue. One of Sam's chores today is to drain the gas out of the small generator, add new and see if it starts up - it hasn't been used in years.   Gee, just noticed this picture is similar to the one I posted the other day - guess that's what happens when one doesn't step off the deck to get a different view.

One step forward, one step back.....

Things are improving here on some fronts in the aftermath of the snow storm. Power came back on this morning at 7:15 - whoo hoo!  But phone service went out early yesterday evening, which includes our very poor internet service, thank goodness for my Verizon Mifi wireless hotspot. It's been snowing again here this morning, we're hoping the power is on to stay.  I can't say enough good about Pacific Power, they've been working hard to get power restored and they've done a great job of keeping everyone informed going so far as to mention in their phone recording where warming shelters have been set up. I wish Century'stink', um I mean, Centurylink (phone/internet)would take a lesson from them on customer relations.....never ending problems with them and they're less than cordial about them. If we had another option out here we'd be using it......

Planning on getting out today to deliver some gifts, do some errands in the 4wd truck - main roads are fine, our rural side roads are getting there, our steep long driveway is treacherous. One of the errands will be to pick up a UPS battery backup for the AVL so if there are power blips and I'm weaving I have time to shut it down without the e-lift system going wack-a-do. If I had that 2 days ago before the power went out for good I could have gotten the heddles threaded. I have a deadline for this scarf warp to send it off for judging into an exhibit and the deadline is quickly approaching. They know I'm sending one item (which is done, ready to go) with hopes of two but with the way things are going it's going to be touch and go on the second item.

Now off to enjoy a nice long hot shower.......in case we lose power again.........

More snow.....no power.....

Power went out last night around 9pm, woke up at 2:30am and looked outside with the flashlight and it wasn't snowing anymore...... but it's snowing again now, I understand it shouldn't last but will be back with a vengence tonight where our little area will get slammed again. Am hoping the power comes on before then for a while. Trees and wires down all over including our drive and road. No hot coffee or tea this morning in this house unless I want to go get out the propane burners I use for dyeing and hook them up to the grill tank - not feeling that needy at the moment. Too dark out this morning to read or knit by the window. Now to turn off the netbook and mifi to conserve the batteries.......

Enough is enough......

Been snowing since this morning, luckily it started before friend Yvonne and I were to head to town to see a movie......that we postponed from earlier this week due to snow. Big heavy flakes have been coming down all day, hasn't let up at all. Highway has been closed just north of us....hoping Sam gets home safely very soon as he can get off the highway before there and travel the back, curvy, hilly roads to our house - luckily he's driving a 4wd truck, our 1/3mile  uphill driveway may be an issue. Have lost internet, gotten it back, partially lost it, got it back, fought with Century'stink', as usual, they say it's not them....but it is....I won't digress......  Lights keep blinking, have filled tubs with water for flushing toilets (when on a well if there's no power, there's no water), filled jugs with water for drinking, have candles and flashlights ready, lentil soup has been cooking in the crockpot all day, fire going in the wood fireplace insert. We have a RV part way down the hill on our property with propane heat and stove if needed although all water has been drained for winter. I guess we're as prepared as we can be....... 

 

Needless to say it was a wasted day - I wound a warp yesterday with hopes of threading the 40 harnesses on the AVL but no go today as I use the program and lift system for threading, don't have a battery back up for it yet and didn't want to chance any damage from power blips...even with a surge protector the lift system goes wacky with an outage. Tomorrow is another day.....hopefully without more snowfall......

Quiet snow......

Just when I think the snow is ending, snow falling in clumps off the trees, it gets dark again and starts snowing like crazy again. Today is spinning get together day and I'm here at home, not sure how many others made it there since so many of us live in out lying rural areas of higher elevation than town. An hour ago when the snow had stopped and the driveway looked passable I thought I might get to the post office that's close by and to spinning - I turned back around and out the window I see a blizzard again - oh well......maybe later this afternoon I'll get to the post office, maybe not.......the picture above was taken when I thought it might be safe to venture out - looking quite a bit different out there now.

What is is about hot cocoa with handmade marshmallows that makes one feel better......not to mention the cheap butter cookies that my Dad used to buy from Dart Drug back in the DC area......I have found them here at BiMart which is a store very similar to Dart Drug. That is not to be confused with a Dodge Dart, a '67 was my first car, a goofy looking car made even goofier since it had air shocks and mag wheels.....actually downright embarrassing but my father picked it out to be a sturdy car for traveling back and forth to college. That car served me well for a number of years......