Mid-winter blues

Looking to capture the sunlight as it shines on my kitchen-window flowers.
Sunlight kissing the tulip's lips.

Winter plods along. It's cold, but that's normal. The strange thing is, we don't have much snow this year. Which is bad and good. Good because who wants tons of snow? (except skiers, of course). I'd rather less snow to melt when the weather warms up.

Bad - because not much snow means not much insulation for our water drainage hose (buried under the front lawn). And that means a frozen hose, so water backs up into the basement.

This water we're talking about is coming from our water softener, which drains into the sump pump. Now the sump pump's job is to pump out water before it backs up into the house. Normally it does a good job. But with ice freezing the connecting hose to the outside, there is nowhere for water to go. Like hitting a brick wall. It splats all over the basement floor.

I discovered it this morning, while going into the basement to check on the furnace humidifier. The day before, I had gone downstairs for something, only to walk into a huge puddle in the furnace room. The humidifier hose had become blocked with sediment from our water supply.

Well, I dealt with this 2 years ago, so I just turned off the furnace, changed the filter, poured a mixture of vinegar and water down the blocked hose, cleaned up the mess and turned the heat back on. All this while Hubby was sleeping peacefully.

Now this mess in the sump pump room! The only solution, for now, is to turn off the water softener. We'll just have to do without "softened" water. When the earth warms up next month, things should thaw out and our "water in the basement" problems over for a while.

I must say I was thoroughly discouraged this weekend. I feel overwhelmed (oh, I also lugged the heavy dehumidifier up the stairs, one step at a time, from the basement into the garage, since there seems to be water in there too. What is it with water in this house??).

Told Hubby it was time to move into an apartment. I just can't cope with everything on my own all the time. He just nodded. No argument. He's probably hoping that as time goes on and the nice weather comes, I'll forget all about it. Well maybe. But I think it's time we simplified our lives.

New Life...

New babies stretching towards the light...

A little one on the way.....

She's here! Isn't she looovely.....

Peek-a-boo!

A surprise in the garage! This petunia was my favourite. I took so many pics of her last summer and right into the fall. I could not let her go when the outside temps got cold. So I put her in the garage just to see what would happen. Did not expect anything. Over the years, I'd tried to overwinter impatiens, geraniums, and other annuals by placing them indoors in a bright sunny south-facing window. They'd be fine for a little while, but eventually would all die.

So imagine my delight when I discovered these 3 blooms! It's quite cool in our garage and the light comes from a north window, so I don't really understand why this plant would bloom. But never mind - I'll take it!

Squirrel antics

Trying to keep squirrels away from birdfeeders is practically impossible. I read in a magazine that if you hung your birdfeeder on a clothesline between a couple of empty plastic soft drink bottles, the squirrels would not be able to reach it. Once they put their little paws onto the bottle, it would spin around like crazy, causing them to fall off the line.

Maybe this will work!

Ah ha - this bottle doesn't turn. I think it's frozen.

Success! As if a few little plastic thingys could stop me! Ha!

Looks like the squirrel won this round. Next time I try this, I'll make sure I have 2 big soda bottles. That small water bottle didn't work. The squirrel jumped right over it, and it was partially frozen to the clothesline anyway.

Living on the Edge...

Front view... (awk - I just woke up!)

Back...({{sigh}} - do you think it will ever melt?)

Curly edges....

Notched edge....(you can barely see the notch, but it's there)

Many tall and frazzley edges....

Sharp edge....

Couldn't make it through January without spring flowers on my kitchen windowsill.

Actually, we've had a mild winter so far (keeping fingers and toes crossed). How about you?

Going "Green"...

Pulled into the self-serve gas station.
Put my credit card into the appropriate slot on the gas pump.
Pushed all the appropriate buttons (do I want a receipt? Yes).
Withdrew my card.
Unscrewed my gas cap.
Now to select a grade of gas.

Oh cool - a gas nozzle with a green handle. I'll pick that one. Maybe gas stations have decided to "go green". Now how would that work??

Tried to fit the green-handled nozzle into the gas tank opening in my car.
It did not fit.
What's wrong with this thing? Have they switched gas pump specifications or something??

Looked more closely at the "green-handled" pump and realized it said DIESEL in big letters!
Oops - no wonder the nozzle wouldn't fit in my car. It's a safety measure for people like me who don't bother to read what's on the pumps, but go for the pretty colours - in this case - Green!

Good thing too, as I'd have filled my tank with diesel gas!!

p.s. - still having computer problems and still trying to find my blogroll.

Icy stormy night..

Somewhere around 11:30 at night......sleepy, drifting, cuddled up to Hubby. Wind picking up outside our bedroom window, freezing rain knocking against the pane. A loud CRACK! Frozen tree branches hitting the roof before bouncing onto the ground.

"Who's walking on our roof?" Hubby asked sleepily.

"Santa's reindeer," I murmured, nuzzling the back of his neck.

Delicious sleep washing over me like waves. But something was nagging.

Go away!

Somewhere in the very back of my mind, I could feel something swimming through the fog trying to get my attention.

I was tired from all the Christmas busy-ness. Happy for the celebration and happy it was over.

Sleep was inviting, beckoning. Hubby was already in dreamland. It does not take him long...

The wind was howling. Did I leave a window open? Not likely in this weather. Something was still tugging at my consciousness. Would not leave me alone. I could hear "it" screaming. Screaming? Piercing shriek? An alarm? Yikes! Suddenly I was up like a shot!

No power! I should have known! That loud crack may have been a branch, but could have been a hydro wire snapping in the storm.

And no electricity meant no oxygen for Hubby. In a flash, I turned on the portable oxygen cylinder (which lies like a sleeping dog curled up on the floor beside our bed), popped the cannula up his nose and then took off downstairs to turn off that screaming alarm. I pulled the plastic tubing out of the now silent (and useless) oxygen concentrator, and reconnected it to a humongous cylinder hidden away in our dusty basement.

Fortunately, the oxygen company had just filled it the week before, so it would last the whole night through, if needed. While I was downstairs, I called hydro on the phone to find out how long this power failure would last. Then went back to bed. And changed Hubby's nose hoses (exchanged the smaller portable one for the long-lasting one).

Hubby was drifting off again, but by this time I was wired. I could not go back to sleep. What would happen if I did not hear that alarm?

I'd been taking sleeping medication over the past month, which would account for the deeper quality of my sleep; my brain sinking into sweet oblivion, instead of jumping at every little sound. But never, in the wilds of my imagination, did I think it would be possible to NOT hear that shrieking alarm.

If we had both gone to sleep with no electricity in the house, Hubby would not have woken up in the morning.

Guaranteed.

The wind continued to howl.

Once more during the night our power went off.

I connected nose hoses and machines and disconnected nose hoses and machines. And then did everything in reverse.

I did not get much sleep that night.

I Saw Three Ships...

I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing in,
On Christmas Day,
On Christmas Day,
I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing in,
On Christmas Day in the morning...

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season filled with love and peace, joy and laughter.

I took this "header pic" at the end of November on my walk around the yacht club. It was a cold and chilly day, but the sun was shining, making for a pleasant stroll. While looking out at the lake, I was quite surprised to see not only one sailboat, but three!! Who would be out on the water this time of year? Someone who doesn't mind a freezing wind whipping in their face - that's who! That Christmas song about "3 ships come sailing in" popped into my head, so I saved this pic to post now - along with the first verse of the song.

I was very disorganized this year and left everything to the last minute. Caught up in a swamp of baking, shopping, babysitting, and other responsibilities, I've hardly had time to sit down.

As well, my computer has been on the fritz for most of December. I'm not sure how much longer it will last - but such is life. Will get back to visiting and blogging after Christmas.

Thank you to all you wonderful friends who have emailed or stopped by to see how things are with hubby and me. We're fine. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness.