First "snow"

Yesterday we had snow! The first of the season for us. It was enough that the schools had a 2-hour delayed start.

We have lived here for nine years and this is still hilarious to me. We had barely enough snow to cover the grass. I don't remember ever having a delayed school start when I was young. You either went to school or you had a snow day. And it certainly took more than a dusting to make that happen. Snow in the south is handled much different than what I'm used to. When it snows here, everyone stays in their house and everything closes down. Just the mere mention of the "S" word sends everyone running to the store for bread and milk. ??

The first winter we lived here, it snowed a lot. By any standard it was a fair amount of snow. The first storm dropped four to six inches. Our reaction - get out the snow shovels and start clearing it off. It wasn't until I had been out shoveling for awhile that I realized something - no one else was out in the neighborhood. Turns out nobody here had snow shovels (I did hear later that one neighbor was using a spatula to clean off her front porch). The procedure for snow management - wait until it melts.

Here's a few pictures from early yesterday morning. I apologize for the darkness. I had to take the photos early as the snow disappeared here as soon as the sun came up.

Extinct instinct

I wrote earlier about my four-legged personal trainer. She's still trying to do her job and get me out walking, but the colder weather has made me more stubborn. Forseeing that this was coming, I joined the local Y about a month ago. My thinking was that I could do weight training there as well as walking on the track in cold weather. I am still doing Zumba once a week and I still walk with the dog on moderate-weather days. It's actually been working out well. I enjoy having a variety of activities. However, it has made me wonder....

Why do we have to work so hard to stay healthy? It takes a lot of planning and effort to pull this off. Sometimes we're successful and sometimes we're not. What happened to our ability to instinctively do what's best for us? It's gone. We don't always eat real food, we aren't always as active as we should be, and yet it can feel so natural. Is this an early step on the path to our own extinction? Survival of the fittest is taking on new meaning.

Fallish camping

Gosh, I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted here. Sometimes time just disappears. Last weekend we did some camping. We had been wanting to do some fall weather camping. It was fall, even if the camping wasn't exactly what we had pictured. The campground wasn't all bad, there just wasn't the piles of leaves around we had imagined.


The homestead.

The view from our front door.

Regardless, I was happy that we were all able to get together and spend some time just hanging out together. It was a welcome lazy weekend. They say that home is where you hang your hat, and it doesn't much matter where that is.

Dude. Cool...

appliances, that is. We have had a deep freeze and beverage fridge in the basement for eons. We're not sure of their ages, but they have to be each at least 25 years old. They have certainly been faithful and put in their service. In the interest of hopefully more efficient energy use and updating things before they die, we did freezer/fridge shopping about a month ago. Gathered prices, looked at models, decided what we wanted...then did nothing.

Today I suggested that we go to the store and actually purchase the new stuff and set up delivery. Quick, easy trip. We already knew what we wanted, so this should be a no-brainer. We finally get the attention of the sales guy (he was much busier trying to sell some higher-end stuff). We tell him what we want and that we'd like it delivered. Well...we don't normally deliver these 'cause they're sitting in our storeroom in back (and you're not spending nearly enough). Delivery will be around $110 and we might be able to get there about Tuesday. Hmmm... OR, he says, you can rent our flat bed truck for $20 and take them home yourself right now. Well, THAT certainly sounds like the better deal. We only live 10 minutes from the store and the rental is for 75 minutes. No problem!

We dash home and start the moving process. We very soon find out that old fridge is MUCH heavier than we though. Luckily, our neighbor Phil was out working in his driveway. He had offered to help if needed (wonder if he'll do that again) so we sent Amy screaming over there. We need help! After much finaggling and rearranging, rope use, and grunting, we (all four of us but mostly Wayne and Phil) got the old stuff out of the basement and the new stuff in.


Hmmm...rectangular peg through a square hole. How did they (the poor movers) get this down here, anyway?


Take off the doors, take out the shelves, take out anything that's not glued down. Take off the handrail. Clear off the stairs. Take off the hallway door.


Fridge is out. Hopefully the freezer will be easier...


Fridge inerds (and some well-hidden mouse-stored acorns) strewn about the lawn.

Our new yard art. Some would say we now fit the NC stereotype.

The new ones in place, looking all shiny and sleek. I sure hope they live up to our expectations. We all know...they don't make things like they used to. Wonder if these will last 25+ years.

Mega thanks to Wayne and Phil for orchestrating the moves and to Amy for reassembling/putting things back in place afterward.

P.S. We went over our 75 minutes and had to pay for an extra hour.

:-)

Chicken and other animals

The weather here has turned markedly cooler the last couple days. Using the oven and stove add welcome heat to the home and the body.

Tonight that meant "drunk" chicken, roasted vegetables, and homemade applesauce.

Some fall-like mums helped to round out the table.

Oh, BTW, the reconstruction project is now complete. The animals have all been discharged from the infirmary. We will, of course, continue to monitor closely for any relapses and address accordingly.

Sharing and fairness

I'm getting a cold. Amy's cold. Headache, sore throat, and a cough. When the girls were little, we taught them to share. Who knew then that would sometimes be undesirable. Oh well...At least we taught them well. But, I will likely not be staying home from work tomorrow. It's rather confusing, but with my benefits, I only earn sick time at 2/3 the rate that I need to use it. The same for my vacation time. For example, I earn 60 hours of vacation a year. That's three weeks for someone who works part-time 20 hours a week. But...since I work part-time 30 hours a week, that's only two weeks for me. We earn at the same rate, but have to use at different rates. Anyway, bottom line, I have to ration all my time off. Vacation and sick time. I'm not sick very much, but I currently only have two days' worth. Sick days are usually saved for GI issues or fevers. I hear and read a lot lately that we should listen to our bodies and take care of them, but we're not really allowed to do that. Not fair....

Awhile back I watched the movie, "Sicko." According to that, if you work in France and you get sick, you stay home. Period. No sick days. No allotted number of days. You don't take your illness to work and share it with everyone there. You're sick, you stay home. That's it. Not fair....

So, I remind myself of the same thing I often remind others....Life is not fair.

To thine own self be true

This is something that has come up before around here, and now that Amy and her friends are preparing for college, it has come up again. I always thought/believed/was raised to think that you should do something with your life that you like. Hopefully that's also something you're good at. Apparently this isn't true for everyone. I know we all have different priorities, but... I just can't understand choosing your life's path based on potential salary. Or popularity of the profession. Or because it's what everyone else thinks you should do. Sure, money is important, but should it have that much control over our life? I know there are people who think we are crazy to "let" Mary be an artist. But...that's who she IS. There is no "let" about it. She seems very confident and happy with her choice. And I am very proud of her. Amy is now trying to decide on a college major/career. I hope that she, too, will follow her heart and do what she likes...whatever that is. I just don't understand sticking kids in a career because it's what's the parents have decided is acceptable...