The Mag 165: The School Teacher

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Monhegan's Schoolteacher, 2004 by Jamie Wyeth 

The School Teacher

I'm so pleased I did not have

A teacher such as she

With not a brain to cover up

When it's minus twelve degrees.

Line of Demarcation...Computer Malfuntion

is defined in one instance as the determining and marking off of the boundaries of something.  There have been many types of lines but I think it's fairly safe to say this is the first made with shoes.

Bev my middle sister had been staying with us a few days.  Her work ethics and drive make me look like Suzy Super Lazy.  Our den is painted flooring.  She has been "touching" up some places,  Even Maggie the Border Collie knows what these lines mean. The lines move and change as Bev paints in sections.  Maggie knows which side of the line is safe...much better than I do.

The floor is almost complete along with sorting, thinning and cleaning.  Bev has directed Hubby like a drill sergeant or a personal trainer.  This room is Hubby's room where items dropped tend to stay dropped.  Oh, not anymore!  Papers and booklets applying to equipment no longer owned are sorted and discarded.  Like tools are in the same spot.  It is simply amazing how Bev can request and it is all taken with good nature by the two males that risk pulling a back muscle when they have to pick up a dirty sock. 

Had a little snow land at our place that stopped school early one day and out completely the next.  The suddenness caught drivers off guard and there were many accidents.

The livestock were fed and wearing many layers was the only way to be outside.  Two new healthy heifers were born.  No bulls being born yet makes me wonder if we have another dry summer coming.

Predators are also hungry and have choice picked a hen a night for over a week when it was not raining or snowing..  We have found claw marks on a tree over three feet off the ground.  The dogs alert us but there has been no capture.  The dogs seem hesitant to move in on the predator.  We haven't caught the chicken thief.

The barn yard committee is discussing a solution.

When they work this problem out, I'm putting them on the computer.

Blue Skies and Cold Air

One more time, I fooled myself into thinking winter would not arrive this year.  I was wrong, as usual.  Last night was our coldest night this season and I can testify, this is the coldest I want to feel.

I prefer when Winter dances around the edges, showing her icy petticoats just enough to tease me, to show me the possibilities.  I love the crisp mornings with frost painting a sparkling masterpiece on the land.  I like when it melts and colors of brown and blond emerge and fool me into Fall again, dreaming winter will never come.

Well, Farm Girl (me), get your head out of your ash bucket and wake up!  It's February and in these parts, that means winter.  Get over it, dress warm and keep that camera ready!

Thursday's, OH, Gosh, She's STILL Whining About That Snow!

It was still a four wheel drive day as my driver took me to work.  Minus four degrees F...too cold!  In this picture it is hard to tell where the snow ends and the pond begins.  I tried to take pictures but the windows were frozen shut and my driver was flying.

Oh, the pictures I COULD have taken if someone wasn't driving forty-eleven miles an hour!  Here is my masterpiece, a blur outcropping of snow covered rocks with my hand and camera reflected in the frozen glass.

The road looked like glass and the few cars we met were going slow unlike my driver...but the sun was shining and that made it a better day.

The sun, in all its winter glory, shined brightly and make the snow look like diamonds.  The warmer weather is coming...I just know it.  If it's not here soon, does any one  have a good recipe for groundhog?

Puppy Love And Cold Feet

I would like to thank every one for all your kind comments, your prayers and the wonderful ideas for catching these scumbags that stole from us.  I shall set bear traps and cameras...but I won't let them steal my trust in humanity.  The sun always comes up and what goes around comes around.  Thank you, each and every one, for letting us know we are not alone.

What does that have to do with cold feet, you may ask...nothing, except at nine degrees F, my feet get cold.  I know that is a heat wave for some of you but for me, that's just too darn cold!  These are rocks on the house through my frosty car window.

Now, for puppy love...you know I'm weak. I go ga-ga over puppies and would have a hundred if I could...but I resist, most of the time.  Today I could not!

Could you resist this???

She, yes, she is a natural bob tail!

Mama was dropped off at some one's house,

nine puppies came.

The lady is finding homes for them.

Guess who one sucker was???  I could not resist.  I have no idea what she is.  Mom is a stock dog mix but baby is very small.  They were born around Halloween so she is around three months old.  There were four natural bobs in the litter, the others had tails. 

Now, I really need your help with this...I need a name!!!  Andrew has suggested DB for Dumb Blonde, although a very intelligent choice, I don't think it fits.  Also would like some input as to what breeds may lie within this beautiful, has-stolen-my-heart, wrong-time-of-year-to-get-a-dog, puppy.  Any suggestions??

Some One Left The North Gate Open

The sun reluctantly peeked through the clouds,

as snowflakes settled on frozen water.

The winter ballet of snowflake ballerinas

was a difficult dance to capture.

Okay, we've had our snow,

our cold,

now send me spring!

Well, Let Me Tell You...

what kind of day, uh, last three days, I have had.

Hubby was gonna have surgery Wednesday on  his shoulder again.  I worked and rearranged and borrowed help from here and there so I could be with him during and a day after his surgery.  Nurse calls at 5:30 the night before the surgery and has moved him to five PM the following day.  First this did not set very well with either of us since the artic blast was moving in, second hubby had been having second thoughts.

Let me go back two days, boy, I am organized in my story telling!  (A good friend suggested we speak with our own voice, so your gonna get the straight undeluted, unedited me!)  Hubby is emergency manager of our county.  With the snow, he was called to assist an ambulance run.  They transported a lady who lived alone that was sitting with two electric heaters blowing on her legs.  She was suffering from dehydration, hypothermia, low potassium and burns.  You could see your breath even with the heaters going.  The lady passed a day or two later.

Being the wonderful man he is, hubby was worried about people who live alone, that this could happen to others.  If you haven't noticed, people don't check on their neighbors like we used to do.  This happened Monday and had been bearing on him. 

Now I am back to where I started!  After the surgery was rescheduled, hubby mulled and chewed on it and then said, I am not going.  I said that is up to you.  He said I can't, I have a bad feeling.  So he called to cancel.

The weather hit, he has been helping with a program that has purchased propane for those in need.  He has delivered medicine, checked on people living alone, and generally has done his job well.  He could not leave the county unattended for a simple shoulder operation...I guess that is why I love this crazy man so much.

After jumping through hoops to schedule two days off, I was not about to cancel them.  I had two glorius days off, doing nothing except piddle fiddlin' as my sister calls it.  I cooked, I took a picture of an eagle, I played, uh, worked, on the computer.  I ordered a new camera.  I cooked.  I painted.  I kept fresh water out for the animals.  I did nothing.

This morning I woke to return to work. Hubby still has to drive me because our roads are ice.  I wake to  the sound of running water outside, my water pipe wrapping was not enough!  Then as we were discussing that, the stoves went out, no propane.  We are supposed to be on an automatic fill but guess we were using too much.  Hubby drops me at work, Andrew at school (yes, school, they were not running the full bus routes).  I said you do the water, I will do the gas.

Hubby finds the problem and thank goodness, the faucet just popped off so that was simple to fix.  I ordered gas and they delivered that about four thirty this afternoon.  Hubby collects Andrew and me after he has put in another day at work.

They call to reschedule the surgery since the highways were clear.  I said that is not why he cancelled the surgery.  This county is in a state of emergency and he has to work, no time for cutting. My hubby is out keeping people safe.  We will call you when we are ready.  I believe the nurse was mad but hey, I would say this is more important.

It is now Eight PM and the house is finally getting comfortable.  I shall be able to drive tomorrow Hubby tells me, but he doesn't know my fear. 

And after all these trials, I am grateful that we had the resources to solve these problems.  Many people do not.  Please check on your neighbors.  Stay safe and warm.  We are trying for zero or lower tonight.  Sure hope that faucet holds!

Sunrise In Northcentral Arkansas

on Wednesday

I thought the blurred one was just as lovely.

The hay is reassuring because it looks like we will need it all.

Every where is ice.

Ice and snow, with promise of more.

and the cardinals decorate the trees like Christmas ornaments.

I DO NOT LIKE THE COLD

I am currently sitting with fuzzy socks on, long pjs, a tshirt and a bath robe and I am still cold. Of course that may have something to do with the fact I have not turned the heat on. I dislike those winter heating bills so much, I prefer to suffer I guess.

It is forty-seven degrees outside right now which is not cold. The fact that I read it is going to be 32 tonight probably is why I am freezing.

We have a ball game today and I embrace that like I would a grizzly bear. It is too cold in those bleachers and it seems no matter how warm I dress I freeze. I am coughing and have a headache, could that all be phycological?

Please ignore any spelling errors, my fingers are numb. Also I hit spell check and it said all my words were mispelled. Ah, the joys of computer land, maybe it's cold there too.

Whacky Wednesday

Just liked this picture Marcy took when she and my nephew, Toni, were visiting a thrift/flea market/second hand thingy store.

I think, which part of my crazy life do I talk about today?

Can't talk about work, except that it is busy.

Can't talk about the ice, already did that. Will have to wait for new ice.

Can't talk about the cows, don't want to.

Horses are long haired.

Dogs are staying in a warm spot, except when I am trying to sleep, then they are barking at coyotes or deer or the wind.

I am feeling nauseous but I sure do not want to talk about that...and I'm not pregnant.

I am sitting here with my computer in the same room with my husband watching tv. Now how dumb is that? He is watching some shooting competition and I hear Standby, shooting, then standby again. I place his shooting muffs over my ears to cut the noise but STANDBY is still coming through! I have to move this computer!!!!

Wasn't gonna talk about that either!

So I guess it is time to thank all of you for helping me keep, regain, find my sanity. Thank you for listening and thank you for answering.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

How Cold Is It?

I don't want to know! If I know the temperature, I will be colder.

Don't get me wrong...I like snow and ice and low temperatures... on television. Just don't send it to the farm.

I am not one of those persons who will dress in more layers...and love it. I do not dream of a deep snow where I can go sledding, skiing, or ice skating. I do not want to join the Polar Bear Clubs that swim in the ocean in January. I do not want to pick icicles off the house, I do want frost on my windows, I do not want to break ice in the ponds nor water the livestock when it is freezing cold. I do not want to have to defrost my car or scrape the windshield. I do not even want snow ice cream.

I do not want it to be cold enough to freeze the nuts off a bridge.

I do not want it to be colder than a witch's chest in a brass bra.

I do not want it to be cold enough to freeze the horns off a billy goat.

How cold is it at your house?

This is all the snow we have and it isn't enough to count. That's all I want!

I am ready for spring!

Hoarfrost or Rabbit Frost...

I need a vote here. I am not talking dirty, just arguing with my hubby over something unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Den so loves it when he pushes my buttons!
My sister, Marcy, took some beautiful pictures of what we had always known as and called hoarfrost.
Certain times during cold weather, the conditions are just right for frost to form on objects. These can take many creative and wonderful forms, after all, the best artist is nature.
I was showing Den these pictures and he begins to argue that it is rabbit frost. He said the old timers called it rabbit frost because it told when it was safe to eat wild rabbits. I told him my parents and grandparents and every one I knew in the "old timer" category called it hoarfrost.
I proceed to google it and what did I find?? All kinds of wonderful pictures of HOARFROST but not a trace of rabbit frost anywhere.

I don't know about your guys but mine does not like to admit he is wrong. Google was not enough proof for him. So please raise your voices and let the women be heard. If I am wrong, I will admit it.

What do you call it? Help me out here...PLEASE, I need to win one!