Why would you dedicate an entire day to a groundhog? Supposedly, Puxatawny Phil comes out sees his shadow (or not) and goes back in for the rest of winter. No matter what, Spring is still 6 weeks away. I saw the groundhog on TV this morning and he didn’t look too happy to be out of his burrow. Cannot blame him. It is icy, and cold around here and we’re supposed to get at least 3 more inches of snow tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to spring — except for one thing. At that point the ground hogs really will come out of their burrows and start eating my garden and the battle for the plants and veggies will begin all over again.
Baby, it’s cold outside!
We’re having an ice storm today. The trees are getting more and more burdened with their loads of ice. A branch just came down somewhere on the property making a huge crashing sound. Must have been a big one, though we cannot see it from the windows. Hopefully there will not be too much tree damage — we have enough firewood.
The new deck railing is collecting icicles too!
Happy New Year!
Wherever you are — and whatever you are doing — have a happy new year!
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to you all !!
Deck nearing completion
The deck and railings are done! Hooray. Doesn’t look too inviting right now with the snow, but I can imagine great times out there in warmer weather. Staircase and stair railings are to be completed before the end of the year!
Decking
The decking is finally all on, just in time for a coating of snow and ice. We need some railings, we need the final section of stairs and some final finishing details. But we almost have our deck back!
Stairs to nowhere
After two months on the job, almost all the new windows and doors are in (except for one sliding door on the lowest level). Two new ceilings, one new wall, one new sillplate under the front door area, lots of painting — and the indoor work is almost done. The carpenters are back on the deck project and yesterday built these stairs to nowhere. Actually they go to the landing, but the next set are needed to get to the deck level. Then the railing posts will go up and clamps will go down that hold the decking down (no nails or screws in the decking surface) and the decking will go on. It is so good to be in the construction phase again after so much destruction and re-construction for the past three weeks.
I know why they call it Fall
The leaves are quite pretty here, but a gentle breeze started baring the trees today. The Japanese maple is still hanging onto some beautiful red leaves.
Reflections
My sister’s dog, Spike, is watching a squirrel or the birds at the bird feeder. I was sitting to the side and captured him “touching” his reflection in the glass door.
Ready, Set, Blow!
There are two new wind farms between my sister’s home in Des Moines, Iowa and my Dad’s in eastern Nebraska. During the drive today, I was totally amazed at how fast this one had gone up in Walnut, IA. It was not there during our early August trip. It is not in production yet, so all the windmill heads are pointing in whatever direction they were when assembled by the men with the large cranes.
When operational, wind farms are absolutely beautiful — with all the heads facing the same way and slowly turning in the wind — generating electricity and putting it out on the grid. Huge cross-country power lines are located near this field — a necessity for the wind farms to be feasible. There are 67 total windmills in this area with 35 more to be built before the end of December of this year.
