Capture the Moment

What do they call it, a Polar Vortex???  I call it pure misery.  I understand that we live in the Midwest, and we have cold winters, but where did all this wind come from?

 

This was my drive home late this afternoon.  30 mph winds and drifting snow.  I couldn't resist stopping to snap a photo.

 

And this is me standing out in the wind and blowing snow trying to capture the moment.  A very kind man slowed his truck and pulled his window down to see if I needed any help alongside the road when I was taking photos on my drive home.  I just gave him a friendly wave with my camera and he continued on his way.  I couldn't help but think......does that man understand my passion to capture the moment with a camera?  Or, was he thinking, ohhhhhh that crazy woman!

What......Mushrooms?

Look at this.....now we're growing mushrooms from a box.  Ha!

 

Bike man soaked the entire box in water for 12 hours.  Then put the box on a plate and put it in a sunny window.  The mushrooms have to be misted twice a day.  Wow, we're now growing little mushrooms!  I'm guessing we'll be eating these tiny beauties in a couple weeks.

 

It was just plain cold today with a 15 mph wind blowing.  Feeling more like January weather.  Wanted to snowshoe out on the lake, but just couldn't make myself walk in subzero temperatures. Even the cats just laid around today to stay warm.  Geez Aiden, do you think Manny could have a little room on the couch? 

Trying To Be Postive

Bike man took these photos on Friday.  Our snow/ice storm on Thursday left us with snow, snowdrifts and lots of ice on the roads.  Of course the bitter cold weather proceeded this storm, so that's what makes it so hard.  The icy roads are here to stay until the weather warms up.  When will that be?  Not really sure. 

 

I did manage to make it to work on Friday, however, my car doors where all frozen shut and one of my wipers on my car broke so Bike man kindly drove me to work....thanks honey!  I just have to say this was one of my most stressful weeks with a combination of bad weather, work-related problems and a damn monkey on my back!  On a positive note, I will look forward to a brighter week ahead.  I have so much to be thankful for.....

Sometimes a bad week just calls for a couple of slap happy movies.  Laughter is so healthy.

Winter Won't Stop

My commute home late this afternoon was slow and careful.  Arrived home and walked down to the lake to see if Bike man and Michael were catching any fish.  While down on the ice we kept hearing a gunshot type noise, followed by tree limps snapping and falling to the ground.  The heavy weight of the new snow made for a difficult situation today.  Anticipating loosing electricity tonight.  10-16 inches are forecasted to fall today and tonight.   

It's All About the Squeak

On the road this afternoon to an appointment at the eye doctor and then a quick stop at our favorite cheese factory.  Who can resist fresh squeaky cheese curds! Yes, freshly made cheese curds do squeak when you eat them.  I'm not sure why, so I need to Google that and find out the science behind the squeakiness.

 

The one thing we love about this cheese factory is that the farm, where the cow's milk comes from, is right next store to the cheese factory.....really.  And, the farmer does not use rGBH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) or preservatives in their cheese.  Nice.  I love living in Wisconsin.

Again

More snow today, but the best part?  We had temperatures in the upper 20's.  Very nice.

Walked down to the dock late this afternoon and found these animal tracks.  A dog?  A Coyote?  We don't have many neighborhood dogs that walk around on the lake ice, but the tracks looked really fresh .  Just not sure what it was that visited us today.

 

One of my chores to complete after arriving home this afternoon was to shovel the 50 steps leading down to the lake.  Thankfully, it was easy shoveling.....maybe 5 inches?

 

Once again Bike man had to shovel the snow off the house roof, along with snowblowing our driveway.  This is getting to be a really long winter and we still have the entire month of March to deal with!  Hopefully, we'll see some melting over the next four days.  Temperatures are forecasted for upper 30's and I'm soooooo looking forward to the reprieve of comfortable temperatures. 

Travels

 

Spent Saturday with my nephew, twin sister and brother-in-law.  The weather was perfect!

So, I helped my sister pick out new eye glasses.  Lynn and I don't get to spend much time together, so our trip to the local mall felt like old times when we use to go shopping together in high school. 

Before we ended our shopping, we had to check out the dog show at the mall.  This big boy was so laid back and friendly.  Do you see that big pink tongue?  Well, blackie had to give me a couple wet kisses on the cheek.  Despite all the drooling, he was still a pretty cool dog. 

 

The highlight of our day was enjoying some wood fire pizza at Red Eye Brewing company.  It was so nice to spend time with Lynn & Pat.  Bike man attended his two-day water conference, so everything worked out really well for both of us.  Now we're ready for our next snow storm....here we go again!