Monday, December 19, 2005, 21:57
You Know It's Cold When . . .
You know it's cold outside when you come back in and the scarf you have tied around your face is frozen to your skin. That's what happened Monday morning. It was 10 degrees below zero. Certainly not as cold as I've ever seen it. The coldest I've seen it here was 45 degrees below zero Fahrenheit a few years back. Still, 10 below is cold enough.
You also know it's cold when the snow is so frozen that it doesn't even stick to your boots -- not even when you walk through several inches of snow.
Fortunately, the temperature warmed up to 20 degrees in the afternoon, although a brisk breeze out of the west/northwest still felt like it was trying to peel the skin off my face.
Randy and I made it to his uncle's funeral in Menasha on Friday without any weather or traffic problems. We celebrated Christmas with his family on Saturday. And then Saturday evening, we drove home. It's about a four-hour drive. Talk about a "whirlwind" tour of the state.
It was while I was climbing up on my trusty chair Sunday evening that Randy asked the classic question.
"How can you have so much energy?" he wondered.
"I don't. I'm faking it," I said, as I dipped my paint brush into the Cool Whip container where I had dumped some green paint and continued working on painting the living room. I have chosen a light "minty" green for the living room. I hope we're going to like it. We'd better. Because I am not repainting it any time soon.
Sunday afternoon I got everything out of the china cabinet in the living room, and then Randy moved it out from the wall for me. The china cabinet belonged to his grandmother Merle, and it is a large and lovely piece of furniture. It is also a heavy piece of furniture, and this is the first time it has been moved out from the wall in the 10 years that we have lived here.
"I remember when Mark and I moved it into the living room," Randy commented as he heaved away at the china cabinet. (Mark is my nephew.)
"Mark said, 'where do you want it?'" Randy continued, "and I said 'right here. We're not going any farther with it than we have to!'"
I got the wall painted behind the china cabinet on Sunday, and then Randy helped me paint the ceiling over the china cabinet. We have a pitched ceiling in the living room and dining room and kitchen, and I can only reach so far!
Tonight I will wash the china cabinet inside and out, then we can move it back, then I can put everything back, and then I can move onto the next section. At the moment, it looks like a bomb went off in my living room. Come to think of it, that's the way the whole house has been looking for the last however many weeks (months?) that I've been working on painting!
As for the weather forecast, the people on television are telling us that it will be in the 30s by Christmas.
I will believe it when I see it.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Thursday, December 15, 2005, 18:59
Winter Wonderland!
When it stopped snowing last night, we had gotten eight inches. I spent 45 minutes Wednesday afternoon shoveling my paths. Then I spent another 45 minutes Thursday morning shoveling out around my truck, shoveling by the mailbox, and touching up my paths again.
The snow is beautiful. We haven't had much for wind yet, so the snow is sticking to all of the trees, especially the cedar tree by the house.
The jack pines at the edge of the yard are covered with snow, too, and I got a picture of one of the branches and also a picture of the the group of trees.
The "rock table" in our back yard is covered with snow, too, and behind it, you can see the snow pile Randy made when he cleared the driveway with the tractor after dark Wednesday night.
The little spruce tree that Randy decorated with Christmas lights is pretty well weighted down with snow, as well.
I am also amazed at how heavy the snow is on the red pine planted in the east side yard.
The trees in the woods are full of snow and make the landscape look like a Christmas card! So far, it hasn't gotten too windy, and I was lucky not to get snow down my neck when I took the dogs for a snowshoe walk this morning. As soon as the wind starts to blow, the snow will fall off all of the trees.
Funeral -- Randy's Uncle Bill died on Wednesday. It was completely unexpected. He was only 65 and passed away in his sleep. The funeral is on Friday all the way across the state in Menasha. We will be attending the funeral, and then on Saturday, we will be celebrating Christmas with Randy's side of the family. I will be "off line" for a few days until we get back.
LeAnn R. Ralph
