And the winner in the best comedy is....

My back yard... roughly 48" of ground cover. Not including the six inches we got overnight.

Cripes.

On Tuesday's weather forecast, they said we could have snow showers on Thursday with less than one inch accumulation. On Wednesday morning, they predicted one to two inches accumulation sometime after midnight Thursday. Last night they said two to three inches "likely".

Well... the snow started before 10:00 p.m. It snowed most of the night, and it's a minimum of five inches tops.

What is God's favorite TV comedy?

The Weather Channel.

The pain tolerance of a Mack truck.....

If I still had a German Shepard, this one would be mine.

So a few weeks ago I took a spill on my wet bathroom floor. Got some beautiful bruises out of it... colors turning many different shades. (Hey! What color will it be today?! Oh... so that must be what "puce" is... who knew?) Anyway... sore and a little stiff. I do like always... I just deal with it and forget about it. (Something I've discovered is coming to be a lot easier the longer I "push 50") I had my checkup in Marshfield and everything is all GOOD!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAY!

I spent most of this week at Dad's house. He had Doctor visits, gas is too expensive to drive back and forth every few days... what can you do? Quite simply... stay at Dad's. While I'm at Dad's, I'm trying to get the remainder of the fall cleaning done. (Yes... I know it's almost spring. Couldn't convince me of that right now... there's got to be at least two inches of new snow since I got home tonight.)

Where was I? Oh yeah... spr... I mean "fall" cleaning. I was doing laundry (always a painful venture for me) ironing, (I detest ironing!) washing dishes, chopping ice... the list goes on and on. I'm getting fairly sore, which doesn't mean much. But it was bothering me that doesn't usually happen. I was starting to think to myself, "Self? Are you turning into a big wuss or what?" As I'm getting out of the chair yesterday I actually moaned and pressed my side which was really hurting.

Dad says, "What's wrong?" I say, "Man, my chest is driving me nuts! It really hurts!" He looks at me and says very dryly, "Do ya' think it might be those broken ribs of yours?"

I look at him thinking, "Huh?" and then, "Oh yeah! I forgot!" When I went for my checkup they discovered that I had fractured two ribs in my fall! I hadn't given them a thought! Dad just shook his head, I laughed and said... "Yep. Dan was right. I do have the pain tolerance of a truck!" Busted ribs! Who knew!? I was actually a little relieved. I was starting to think I was getting soft in my old age.

One of those moments where you just go, "Whoa...."

It's after midnight once again... this latest snowstorm dropped close to a foot of new snow. I can no longer see the houses across the street. I can't even see the road, save for a glimpse through the opening of a driveway.

It's dark, but not completely. I am guessing that there is a full or nearly full moon out tonight. The snow has stopped, but the light of the moon behind the cloud cover has an amazing effect on the night sky.

It's what is often referred to as a, "gun metal gray" but it's more than that. It has dark areas that look almost purple with shades of blue and indigo. Other areas are shiny... giving an almost silver look, much like the edge of a sharp knife. All of it reflecting off the thick covering of the purest white.

I slip my coat and boots on and just stand on my back porch for awhile. I can see my rabbit under my car. The ambient light reflected off the crisp, clean snow outlines her clearly. Looking at the tree and shrubs in my backyard... the expanse of lawn... covered easily in perhaps as much as three feet of snow.

I notice tiny indentations upon this breathtaking landscape, they are merely bunny tracks atop it's glistening surface. I draw in the cold air and exhale slowly. "I am getting cold." My mind tells me, I asked for just one minute more...

Finally, I've got it, my description of the sky above me... the lightness and the dark... the colors not often seen. My sky, my yard... the almost eerie absence of sound... the smell! The absolute freshness!

I realize it's as if the northern lights have slipped into our realm, but they have frozen in place, rather than dancing about. I am humbled by it's beauty... awed by it's power... it is the best the universe can offer...

And it makes me feel quite small....

Good Night...

Breathtaking....

From our last storm...

The snow is still hissing against the window... outside the front door, there are diamonds glinting as far as the light from the porch illuminates....

Four inches already and only half past 2:00 a.m....

How radiant and mystical it is...

Until you have to shovel.

It's all that stinkin' rodents fault...

Okay, so technically this is a chinchilla...Chinchilla, rabbit, groundhog... rodents all!

Yeah, that stupid groundhog says "More winter!" Me? I'm goin', "Where's the .22?"

So, luckily I went down to Dad's today and heard about this huge winter storm that is supposed to dropping four to TEN inches of snow overnight then it's supposed to go sub-zero and high gusting winds dropping us back into the highly dangerous wind chill numbers.

Cripes.

So I was able to get stuff done for Dad, get some of my basic survival things like two gallons of milk, tuna, crackers, tomato soup... all the yummy, "makes staying home, homey". I would've freaked out tomorrow if I would have woke up to blizzard conditions and only a half of a gallon of milk in the house!

According to the weather report it was supposed to move in sometime around midnight and it's amazing that as I'm writing this I can hear that faint hiss of the snow hitting the window next to the desk. It's hard to gauge how much we've already gotten.

The other day I figured out that the snow banks at the end of my driveway are at least 5'8" high. I'm 5'10" and I can just barely see over them. I haven't seen snow accumulations like this since I was a child. Everywhere you look there are snowbanks high enough to sled down!

I have always thought that the snow just seemed bigger because I was little. But no, there just haven't been the snowstorms like we had back then. (Cripes... I'm not gonna be 50 for six more months and I'm already doing the, "Back then..." crap! Shoot me now.)

It's offically Valentines Day.

Big hairy deal.

You know... even when I had, quote-unquote, Valentines in my life... Valentine's Day still sucked because they were jerks! I tend to enjoy the anniversary of the Valentine's Day Massacre. Nothing like a bloody tale of bad guys and violence to wash out all the sicky-sweet sentiment of a made up holiday.

Up yours Hallmark!!

HA!

Man... I gotta' go to bed... I'm getting on a tangent here!

Time slowed to a crawl... of a semi-frozen river of molasses!

Ludie

I had to take my computer in for repair... so far things aren't much different. It's probably operator error. Who knows?

That by itself probably wouldn't have been too bad, I was supposed to have it back before the end of the week. Didn't turn out that way though. No computer and because of the horrendous, bitter cold, I was forced to stay inside for FOUR FRICKING DAYS!!!

Seriously, I thought I was going to go nuts! I read four books until I was bored to tears... I can pretty much recite the dialoge, word for word, of a couple of my DVDs.

I am proud of the fact that I did get all my laundry done but the reorganization of the linen closet probably wasn't such a great idea. Live & learn, eh? It'll get there soon enough.

Tomorrow is "bloodwork" day. It was originally scheduled for Monday but I had to change it because of the weather. It's a fasting lab and the young lady changing the appointment was really concerned that I wanted the appointment for no earlier than 11:00 a.m.

I had to explain that for me, A) Even if I could be awake earlier, I would not be in any shape to drive, and B) As long as I could drink water, I would be fine. I don't eat very often in the morning anyway. I thanked her for her concern though... she was so sweet about it!

That being said, I should hit the sack. I'm pretty tired and I want to get up just an hour before so I don't have to deal with the whole "not eating or drinking" thing. I did tape a note on my coffee maker to remind me I can't make any before I leave! HA!

Coo rook coo coo coo coo coo! Coo rook coo coo coo rook coo!

How's it goin' eh? It's a Strange Brew day....

I need more valium.