Pops of Color

I've been enjoying this colorful potted Gerber Daisy that's now brightening up our front room. Thanks to a thoughtful friend who brought it to cheer me up during my recovery. Everytime I look at it, it cheers me. These are such fun flowers I just wanted to share it with all my blog peeps. I love the extra pop of color it brings to the living room.

The nice warm weather has really made headway with melting the snow around here. You can see there's just a bit left in the front yard. There's more than this in the back, but at this rate it won't last long. Lot's a wind today means some of the moisture of the wet, soggy ground will dry up also. I'm loving it! Did you notice the decidedly greenish cast to the ground? It's not just all browns and grays - that beautiful green is starting to pop up!

Here's an update on my progress on the 'Squares' quilt. I am starting to sew the blocks together. So far they are attached in pairs. I tried to mix them up as far as colors go as I was sewing the pairs together. Looking at the color distribution, I think I may need to still do a little more shuffling. I love the random pop of colors from pinks, purples, aqua, orange, greens, etc. There's a lot of color here. They are all black center squares to anchor each block and give some sense of unity to all that randomness.

I am pleased with the overall look of this project. It is made from 2 1/2" strips cut from scraps. They are mostly small prints, tone-on-tones or solids with just a few bold pops of color from that large daisy print. There are enough squares here to make it a full size quilt - 64 squares all total. At this point I'm considering a black border around the perimeter with another bright, colorful border just beyond the black. I'll make my final border decisions once I get all the squares together. If you're curious, check out some earlier photos of this quilt's progress here, here, and here.

Seeing Green Again!

All-right!! It is so encouraging to see this snow melting away! Here's a shot of the front sidewalk. The large clay pot to the right with its second tier planting basket was completely under snow this winter. It only peaked out a time or two when the sun or the wind beat down or blew away the snow.

We took a short drive today to check out the view of our new landscape, sans snow. There are patches of green across the yards along the dirty, muddy streets and sidewalks. How great is that!?! In another week or two it will look even better. I'm looking forward to that.

We had the opportunity to visit with our older son this weekend when he came home for a visit. That was nice to see him again. It was a long time since he was last home; we really enjoyed our family time together.

I've calmed down since my last post and managed to work it out with my email account. So yep, I have access once again to my email. Plus, because of the wonders of Microsoft and its new system I also now have another new email account. I have the feeling they'll be phasing out the original hotmail accounts in favor of their newer program. Guess that means I'll have to start using the new account one of these days.

More Snow in North Dakota

We woke up to another white winter wonderland. It started snowing last night and continued throughout the night.

These photos were taken this morning around 10am. As you can see, the snow was still falling as I was taking the photos. It has remained snowing all day. The wind is currently blowing snow around as well.

Weather reports indicate there was between 12-16 inches of new snow today depending upon which side of town you're on. It was 16 inches at the Bismarck Airport and 12 inches south of town. We're very close to breaking the record for total inches of snow in one season. We are at 98.5 inches now with the record at 101 inches in one year. Reports indicate we'll break that sometime during the night.

My younger son came home for the weekend. He planned on leaving early this morning, but now will try to leave tomorrow morning if the roads are clear. Since this storm is heading the same direction he wants to go it will be a wait and see scenario as to when he'll be going home. It looks like he'll have to travel further north then east to by-pass most of the snow covered roads.

Concerns with the flood waters rising again are in the news. They say it is a blessing this moisture came as snow and not as rain or it would be flooding right now. It is supposed to warm up later this week, so the potential for flooding is still there. It may just be delayed.

My husband and son were busy outdoors snow blowing and shoveling snow from our driveway and sidewalks. They also worked up and down our street to assist the neighbors with their snow removal. While they were outdoors, I spent time cooking up spaghetti and a carrot cake and doing a bit of clean-up in the kitchen.

These snow pictures show off the yard so different from what it normally looks like. It's hard to see over the piles of snow in some places. I have a large clay pot in the front that showcases an extension to plant at too levels. Last week's slightly warmer temps made it somewhat visible for a short while. Now with this snow it it completely covered once again.

I suspect it will be quite some time to wait for all this snow to melt. Hopefully it warms up gradually and more of this moisture is absorbed into the ground, more than what runs off directly into the river.

Thankfully we have not lost branches from our trees. I noticed there was one very large broken limb hanging, but entrapped, among other branches above the end of the driveway. I don't know if that happened last night with this snowstorm or a storm earlier this winter. Our lilac bushes are fairly well covered in snow, but seem to be okay.

Updating Links

I spent some time tonight updating links on the sidebar to the right. I love to check in with other bloggers and have acquired quite a list of favorites. Those listed here are some I enjoy visiting most often. There are lots more in my favorites that I check out from time-to-time. It can take up a lot of time to stay up on other blogs, but I usually find something uplifting and refreshing after visiting a few each day. I am planning on updating my own blog more often once I start working my own business. I'll also be working on a website to feature some of my products. That should keep me busy as I begin to devote more time to building a customer base.

There's not a whole lot new going on to blog about for now. I'm still recovering from my recent illness, working to regain my strength. The weather has been very "wintry" lately. We were just being teased by those few days of warmth recently. The flooding here in North Dakota has affected many here in Bismarck and across the state. A federal disaster was declared today. While I've been recuperating from being sick my husband has been busy filling sand bags the last several days. He's feeling tired out, but is glad he's participating in the effort with so many other volunteers. We made the national news broadcasts. (To all my family, we are fine.)

We are all looking forward to spring and having the grass and garden plants start growing again. I have a green indoor plant on the kitchen table. It reminds me spring will come . . . it's just around the corner.

With all the snow we've had this year it's no wonder the flood water has risen so high. There is still so much ice jamming the rivers and causing it to back up across the riverbanks. They cut the flow of water at Garrison Dam, but probably cannot do that for long since they are not generating electricity when they do that. Those cities further down stream will be seeing a lot of water coming their way over the next month or two as well as this ice is cleared and the water can flow downstream more. They used dynamite to blow up the ice jams (4 ft thick in some areas) two different times today and another scheduled for the morning. They had Blackhawk helicopters from the National Guard dumping huge buckets of salt across the frozen river jams to help clear and open channels to increase the water flow. It's the same big buckets they use to dump water on forest fires in the dry heat of summer.

The amount of snow to melt this year means we'll be enjoying higher lake levels and water levels this summer. That will be good. It's just the current crisis to get through with flooding for now. I am glad our house sits higher like it does. We are not having to deal with it directly here at home. It is involving and affecting lots of businesses and people across town. The mall was closed today, the schools were closed, many businesses were closed, many streets were closed. What a time of it!

Yuck!

I hate being sick! I missed some days at work last week, and again this weekend had a relapse. I'm missing work again today. Getting extra sleep is definitely helping. Getting on an antibiotic helps, too.

I took this photo of a chicken planter on the back patio a few weeks ago. The snow was bright and sparkly with the sun shining that day. Now this planter, half buried in snow and in the shadows of the shed, reflects the way I feel this weekend. I've been going from feeling like I'm freezing cold to burning up the last few days. Even tucked under four blankets I could hardly feel warm enough, only to be followed up with throwing off the covers being too over heated. Yuck, yuck, yuck! Being sick is the pits.

I've enjoyed all the snow we've had so far this year - because I like snow. But I have to admit I stood by the window looking out yesterday and . . . I am longing for warm weather and green grass. I really look forward to a change of seasons. Warmer weather, getting over colds and sinus infections, seeing the grass turn green and a few new flower buds -- yeah, I can't wait for spring!

Filling my Head with Programming Info

I've been spending time filling my head with info on building websites. I had gotten away from studying my programming material. Now I am trying to refresh my memory on what I learned with classes last year. I picked up a couple programming books a couple months ago. Getting back in the swing of things in this direction has been interesting. How easily one forgets things!

The current book I'm working through is starting off okay. I'm remembering stuff from classes -- that's good, but hadn't realized it was being lost. I'm sure it is a lot like riding a bike. Once I start to get back into it, it should come back easier.

We are supposed to be hit with some cold, icy weather tonight and the next couple days. Forecasts are predicting we'll get about a quarter inch of ice build-up before the snow starts. I will likely spend the day at home tomorrow. I don't want to chance getting out on the road if it's not an emergency. I had a few errands I could do, but will wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Today was a nice, relaxing day. We slept in a bit, watched some cable TV shows and ate a leisurely meal late this afternoon. It was a tasty beef gravy with veggies over rice. Yum! There's still more left over for tomorrow, the fridge is stocked and I've got plenty to keep me busy here at home through the coming storm. Hopefully it won't be too severe.

Piled High

I left work today and it was still light outside. How refreshing THAT is . . . to get off work and see the sun still shining. How wonderful that it was nice and warm along with the sun. Our temperatures were back up to 30 degrees. It was wonderful to be so much warmer. Of course the sun out and warmer temps combined to melt some snow and made it a bit slick with ice when it re-froze once the sun went down. The news reports tell of 40 car accidents and vehicles in the ditch. Even so, I look forward to having it warm up like this.

I thought I'd be able to get some good photos of the snow we've got piled up around the house since it was so nice and sunny. Unfortunately by the time I drove home, let the dogs out, and changed my clothes it was already getting dark out. So, the photo reflects that. Perhaps I'll get some better shots tomorrow. This is the view walking out on the sidewalk by our house. How's that for a big pile of snow!?!

44 Below!! Lot's of snow!

This is the coldest day I have ever experienced! It is 44 degrees below zero today in the city where I live. Wow!

My car did not start this morning so I took my husband's truck to work. When I went to go for my lunch break the locks were frozen and I ended up walking to get a bite to eat rather than driving. Okay, it was a short walk; I changed my plans and just walked across the street rather that going further. My dh came and picked the truck up later in the afternoon. By the time I was scheduled to get off work my hubby came to pick me up. Yeah! a nice warm vehicle to get into rather than having to let it warm up. Apparently we are 2 degrees away from breaking the all time record since they started tracking this sort of info.

Brrrrrrr! It's cold outside!

Our poor little chihuahuas have been very good about going outdoors and getting back indoors REALLY FAST! I had to go out to help our older female, Sugar, to get up the back stairs. She was having difficulty moving with her little feet getting so cold and frozen from the snow packed sidewalk. Poor little girl!

We've got some good news in the forecast for the next few days. It's supposed to get to 20 to 26 degrees over the next several days. It's going to feel like a heat wave out there. I'm looking forward to being above zero for awhile!

We've also got record breaking snowfall this year. Yeah! I love snow! But I'm hearing everyone talk about having enough already. I'm just grateful that the lakes and rivers will be full this summer. That will be such an improvement over the dry summers and low water levels we've had now for so many years. I guess I can agree we've probably had enough for while, but I do like snow. It's so bright and clean and pretty coming down.

Thankfully we decided to purchase a snow blower last year. We've certainly been making good use of it this winter. News forecasts inform us we only need another 41 inches to break the all-time snowfall record. That's likely to happen because we still have the rest of January, February and March to go before spring comes. I'll see if I can get some photos of the snow depth to post over the weekend. We're running out of room to pile it with the snow being so deep. I think this last week was another five inches. We've got about 4 to 4.5 feet of snow piled up along the sidewalk next to the house. I can still see over the top of it, but it is starting to feel like tunnels we're walking through. It's not that deep all over, but the drifts are pretty high!

My sweet hubby got up on the roof last week and pushed most of the snow off so the weight wouldn't be so overwhelming for structural soundness of the house. This past week they closed the Wal-mart store in Minot because of safety concerns with the amount of snow on their roof. So far it's been closed at three days they've been closed while safety engineers determine how safe and sound the roof is. Wow! That's lots of snow!

The streets are seeming so narrow now since there's only so far to push it to the side. Many places around town it seems we're down to one lane of traffic with the piles of snow on either side and cars parked out on the street making the roads even narrower. Aah, the fun and excitement of living along the northern prairies!