Wednesday, December 14, 2005, 18:41
Let it Snow. . .
After we put the chains on the tractor tires Sunday, I said -- "Okay. Now that the chains are on the tractor tires -- let it snow."
Well, guess what? It is snowing. We are under a heavy snow warning. Which means we could have 10 inches by the time it's all finished snowing on Thursday. By 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 inches had already piled up outside.
Wednesday morning I tried to get the snowblower started, but of course, it didn't want to start. And there is not enough gas in the snowblower tank for me to draw some up in a syringe to squirt into the spark plug hole to try to get it started. I figured I'd better stop fooling around with the syringe before I dropped it in the tank. Then I would have to spend time with a tongs, or something, trying to fish it out. We don't have any starter fluid, as well, so that's also a moot point.
On a happier note, at least I was able to get the spark plug out.
I don't know why the snowblower always has to be so difficult to start first thing in the season, but it always has been. So why should it change now?
I will probably have to go out with a shovel after a while and clear all of my paths (to the bird feeder; around the side of the house; to the barn; to Isabelle's pasture). When it's going to snow quite a bit, I like to stay ahead of clearing the paths so there's not so much to shovel/snowblow all at once.
As I dragged the snowblower back into our walk-out basement, I tried to talk our Springer Spaniel, Charlie, into coming inside out of the snowstorm, but of course, he didn't want a thing to do with coming inside. He is always afraid that if he comes inside, I might go outside and do "something fun," and he wouldn't want to miss out on it.
I had to laugh this morning. While I was watching the news, one of the news anchors on a local station read off the school closings. "If you are a student in one of those districts, congratulations! You don't have school today," she said. Congratulations, indeed. I can just picture kids all over the area happy in the knowledge that they have a snow day off from school [in just the same way that I hoped for a snowday off from school in the story "Gertrude and Heathcliff" in my latest book, Cream of the Crop. ]
Once it is done snowing, I will have to dig the snowshoes out of the basement. Time to start my snowshoe trails, it looks like!
LeAnn R. Ralph
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Tuesday, December 13, 2005, 19:42
Shopping
I am going shopping today. Christmas shopping. And paint shopping. I have finished painting my office (WOOO-HOOOOO! YIPEEEEE!), and now I can move onto the living room, dining room and kitchen -- so I have to get more paint.
I don't want to go shopping. I hate going shopping. Especially at this time of year when the stores are so crowded. I don't mind getting my paint. I know what I want and where to get it. It's the "other" shopping that bothers me.
For the past couple of weeks, the morning television shows have been running segments on the "high" that people, especially women, apparently, get from shopping. Well, not all women, I suppose. Just the ones they surveyed and studied.
Which leads me to wonder if the women they surveyed were all wealthy women who could buy absolutely anything they wanted. I suspect that might be the case. One morning they had a lady on the show who was talking about "splurging." For her, "splurging" was buying a $7,700 diamond tennis bracelet.
Splurging?
A bracelet that costs more than the used small pickup truck that I drive to get around is not "splurging" -- it's a major investment. I would have to take out a bank loan and put the truck, my two horses and my saddles up as collateral. That's if I were so inclined to buy a diamond tennis bracelet. Which I'm not.
I don't even know anyone who would wear a diamond tennis bracelet.
I mean, really. Why would anyone want to wear a diamond bracelet playing tennis? Wouldn't it flop around a lot? And what if the clasp comes undone and the bracelet is lost? That would be my luck. I'd take out a loan to buy it, and then right away, the clasp would come undone and I would lose it. Except, of course, that I don't play tennis. I would probably lose it out in the horse pasture. Or the garden. Or while I'm walking with the dogs.
Fortunately, I'm not going to be shopping for anything nearly so expensive today, only some smaller items for the little niece and nephews.
Jeepers. I hope they're not expecting diamond tennis bracelets or anything like that. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph