HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY FULL MOON!
The Full Moon is Wednesday, 16 February.
Here's what happened to me on Thursday evening. I thought you all might enjoy the story.
My toaster oven is on my enclosed porch (the electricity is newer and stronger there). After dark in the evening, I walked out on the porch to make a grilled cheese sandwich ("cheese toastie") for my supper. Right after I turned on the light, I heard a long, slow howl outside the front door. It was a coyote! It only howled once, and then I heard it move through the snow. It must have been warning its mate and any young that are still with them. Coyotes mate in February here, so they're active right now. They pair for life. The howl was powerful!
Everyone have a safe and serene week!
Morning all: Just looking at photos from around the UK on the BBC UK website - that's one impressive storm! I can't believe the height of some of those waves. My sister and BiL in Lincolnshire have been keeping an eye on the large trees in their garden; niece in Newport Pagnell says it should blow through soon. .
Diane: So good to read you're done with the project, have sent in the invoice and have been catching up on sleep. Let's hope they pay quickly so you can do something really nice for yourself. You really do deserve it.
AQ: I picked up three books the other day; immediately realized that I'd already read one of them. The two I haven't read are John Le Carre's Silverview and The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum. The former was Le Carre's last book before he died - sigh. Glad you managed a little photo outing.
Lindybird: Hope the camellia and snowdrops survive the wind. Re the cruise, I assume you and OH won't be repeating the cruise if Sue opts to 'save' her deposit for next year. Or maybe she can apply it to another cruise you and OH might want to take.
As I said, daughter went home Wednesday to an ecstatic reception from her dog, who spent most of the afternoon trying to sit on her lap. :-) I shall probably be heading that way next week; granddaughter has things well in hand right now and we are waiting for things to settle so we can better plan.
Meanwhile, heard about a really unfortunate incident that occurred a few houses up on Tuesday, when a dog got out of its owner's house and attacked and killed a smaller dog that was being walked - on a leash - by two ladies with two toddlers! A huge commotion apparently ensued with sheriffs and animal control called, neighbors out in their dressing gowns, etc. because the two women with the little dog were completely hysterical. The offending dog was a pit bull (they get lots of very bad press and this isn't going to help at all) and the family that owned it had only had it for 3 days. We're all wondering where on earth they got the dog because we doubt the local shelters would have allowed such an aggressive dog to be adopted. Another neighbor with a large and mellow female Labrador told me the pit bull had approached him and his dog the day before (the pit bull's owner was present) and the Lab hadn't reacted well (maybe she knew trouble when she saw it?). I'm going to call Animal Control today and asked what they did about the pit bull since not sure I feel comfortable walking by that house if it's still around.
Yesterday went shopping for shoes - trainers to UK folks - at the big outlet down the coast a bit. Nike had lot of shoes but they looked seriously overdesigned and the New Balance outlet had some nice ones, but not in my size. As an afterthought popped into Nordstrom's Rack on the way home where I found a perfect pair of New Balance (I've had three pairs in a row) that not only were cheaper but fit well and looked like normal shoes rather than alien footwear. On top of that, the lady at checkout gave me yet more of a discount, so I'm fixed for shoes for a couple of years. Lindybird, I know you'll approve. :-)
The garden is calling....but first breakfast. Stay safe everyone.
But seriously:
Some horror stories being told already of the wild winds& their effects on buildings & transport. Trees are bending here but seem to be OK, so far.
Laughed at this:
Annette - congrats on getting some bargain shoes!! You'll feel good every time you wear them!! I just sent back some rather expensive shoes, which I discovered, I was almost relieved to find that they were unsuitable (wrong size altogether, but also, uncomfortable). My OH saw me taking them to post back, and said thank goodness for that, you have way too many shoes already! I failed to mention that a fortnight ago I bought another pair for my holidays :-)) LOL!!
Hope everyone here in the UK is safe and had no dire consequences from the storm. More bad weather is due over the weekend and possibly into Monday for parts of the country but not expected to be as bad as today. We had a lot of windy weather--strong gusts of wind with lulls in between, about 10 minutes of small hail, and a bit of rain. We were very lucky, with only a few small branches and twigs down in the front and back gardens, a couple of plant pots tipped over but looks like no real damage, and one bird feeder and the plastic dome over it were blown off their hook on the feeder pole. Even the very elderly fence panels on one side of the garden did not blow down, although Hubby was expecting it (those are the responsibility of the neighbour on that side, but they would have landed on our pots which are up against that fence).
The comments from a couple of you about housework reminded me of a very dear friend who passed away last year at the age of 94. She used to have a poem on her fridge: Come in, sit down, converse. It doesn't always look like this. Sometimes it's worse!
Specifically, regarding dust, I have long thought that no one would ever utter these as their last words: "I wish I'd done more dusting!"
Kind regards, Ann
ANNETTE – You wrote “Yesterday went shopping for shoes - trainers to UK folks”. In Aussiespeak, sneakers.
ANN – I do like your friend’s fridge poem.
I grumbled to OH about the weeds and he helped weed a small patch (very small). He seems to have decided that the back garden is my territory, well no, once upon a time, only the veggie patch. He potters in the very small garden alongside the front lawn. No fair!!! My back is aching from standing in kitchen chopping veg and making a big batch of pasties for tea and the freezer.
Having collected my “hold” library books yesterday, I had an email this morn that another has arrived.
Good Morning. I hope everyone has survived safely after what we were told has been the worst storm for over 30 years. We did get a little of the hailstones which pounded on the windows for a few minutes. I was most shocked at the damage to The Dome, also known as the O2 Arena, as its lost a lot of its roof panels- I had no idea it was so flimsy (after all, I seem to recall that it cost a great many millions to build).
Ann - Love your friends poem!