But this past week was kinda weird, so I've opted to inflict you with a condensed account of it. Which, of course, will include glimpses of my pathetically mundane and depressing life.
I'll wait a moment until your shrieks of joy die down.
At least I think it was joy.
Last Monday, an unexpected breath of spring made an impromptu visit to Tennessee. The temperature soared to 70 degrees (Fahrenheit), accompanied by strong southern winds.
I had planned on driving to town (I'm desperately low on supplies again) but a bad migraine headache thwarted my plan (is there such a thing as a good migraine headache?).
Anyway, I savored the day. Opened the windows. Let the cats out on the porch. Made some iced tea.
Yes, iced tea.
Figured I go to town on Tuesday.
Tuesday came, along with relentless, torrential rains. The mud was deep, the roads were slick. There was no way in hell I wanted to drive to town.
Even on sunny, beautiful days I get anxiety attacks driving to town.
I'd go on Wednesday.
On Wednesday the rain was worse. Crap, I'll go on Thursday.
Things were flooded by Thursday. The only place with more rain than Tennessee is Vietnam during the monsoon season.
I considered building a pontoon.
Friday was out of the question (that's today). On Thursday night an Arctic cold front blew in. Temperatures rapidly dropped.
No problem At least my furnace was working. And my electric blanket. And the space heaters.
Just as I was relaxing, there was a power outage. I spent the cold, black, agonizingly long night in bed - shivering with the two cats.
It was snowing by dawn. Eventually the power came back on. We had heat again.
This morning, around 7:00 a.m., I crept outside and took photos....for your viewing pleasure.
View from the front porch
Front yard
Glimpse of my car
Front porch
Back yard
front yard again
Bosco
Unfortunately, my view is worse right now. We are getting slammed with snow. In other news, I saw a red fox out my window at 8 am today. Probably only the 4th time in my life that I've caught a glimpse of one. They are gorgeous animals.
ReplyDeleteThe novelty of snow definitely wears off quickly when you're getting slammed with it. Fortunately ours will melt fairly soon.
DeleteI've never seen a red fox. When I lived in Texas, a brown fox got into my back yard. I couldn't figure out how he did it, since I had a six foot fence
Trees are so pretty in the snow! Your Bosco looks like my Mari. Is he pure black? I don't know...we may have you beat on the rain and flooding here in Western Washington. I'm thankful to live on a hill.
ReplyDeleteBosco is pure black and he is huge. His father was also a VERY big black cat. I had Bosco since the day he was born. He was such a sick kitten that I didn't think he'd survive.
DeleteThankfully, I live on a hill, too. That's one of the things I like about this property.
Mari is a small, sleek black cat. My younger daughter adopted her, then went to Korea to teach for a year. No one would take her except me. I intended to give her back, but we fell madly in love with each other. That was 6 years ago:)
DeleteWeird, yes! We're experiencing some of the same weather patterns; in fact, yesterday morning when I let the girls out it was a balmy-weird 75*. An hour later, all 'H' broke loose. Another fitful night with the weather radio and helmets at the ready. I've a high-school chum living near Fayetteville who's experienced 7"-plus rainfall in the past few days. Just curious -- do you have a thermal sleeping bag for those unexpected power outages.
ReplyDelete"Balmy-weird" is definitely how the weather felt on Monday. The haze and strong winds made it feel like Texas. I no longer have a weather radio, but I did when I lived in Springfield, Missouri.
DeleteUnfortunately I don't have a thermal sleeping bag. The power outages always scare me, since everything here runs on electricity. I miss having a fireplace. A wood-burning stove would come in handy, but installation is a pain.
Hi friend,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to rely you how entertained I am by your blog! I enjoy how you turn the trials and tribulations of life into humor. It really is the best medicine for sure.
♥️♥️♥️♥️Susan
PS Happy you are back on the grid!
Susan, I'm always delighted when my humor is appreciated and I'm glad you enjoy my blog. When I write, I'm merely thinking out loud - or talking to myself.
DeleteThanks for stopping by - and I really hope you'll return.
They do say Great Britain gets the snow after you. I sincerely hope we don't, I am enjoying the rare sunshine.
ReplyDeleteValerie, I think our snow will melt before it gets to you.Keep enjoying that rare sunshine, and take care.
DeleteFrom 70 to snow--whew! So glad your power came back on! We have snowflakes today and it's 11 degrees right now. I have a headache, still on Musinex to try to breathe, and had to cancel Gramma Day again this weekend due to feeling generally too miserable to get dressed. Jackrabbits are squabbling over the bird seed and Annie is sound asleep. A nice quiet day to rest and watch TV--again. ;) Could be worse. I hope you make it to get supplies!!
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that the power outages always happen when I need it the most. I think the very sudden cold weather had something to do with it. The rapid change in temperatures always makes me feel rotten.
DeleteWow, 11 degrees is really cold! I feel sorry for the outdoor critters. I'm glad you and Annie are cozy. I wouldn't feel like getting dressed, either. It's best just to snuggle and watch TV. Take care and keep warm!
love the snow photos. it is beautiful to see your trees dancing in the breeze covered in the glittery white stuff. breathtaking actually. i like snow as long as i don't have to drive in it. then i get a little crazy. weather here was weird too. one minute 60 the next 30. last week had snow and ice and snow. it melted and tonight its snowing again. migraines are the worse. all you can do is ride them out. hang in there until you can get supplies. glad your heat came back on. you can take comfort in that. take care.
ReplyDeleteThe weather has definitely been weird everywhere lately. The drastic fluctuation in temperatures always makes me feel lousy - and often encourages my migraines. I enjoyed seeing the snow. It never lasts long here in TN. Today (Sunday) is in the 40's and it's already starting to melt.
DeleteI'm planning to drive to town tomorrow and - wouldn't you know - it supposed to rain.
We have been having winter mix or snow come through every week for so long now, that I have lost track. It is getting to be tiresome. We had some rare sunshine today,but the wind was too cold for me to be outside for very long This year our January thaw only lasted two days, but at least it didn't get warm enough to finish the thaw off with a tornado as has happened in previous years.
ReplyDeleteThe woods from your window are beautiful to see. You must see all sorts of wild critters out there. A couple of years ago,here in the suburbs,a creature started to cross the road right in front of me but got nervous and quickly ran back into a brushy area. At first I couldn't figure out what I had seen but it looked like a hairless fox, it definitely wasn't a dog. I got back home and googled it,and what I had seen was a poor,sad creature. A fox with mange. Since then,other foxes I have seen are normal red ones. I would like to get a trail camera for my back yard to see what animals come to eat the persimmons from our tree, but some other more important expense always pops up instead.
I think it would be so hard to be in a cold house for very long with no way get warm other than Cat power. I hope the weather warms up where you live pretty soon.
Here in Tennessee the weather fluctuates rapidly. Snow is rather rare, but some of the biggest snowstorms have occurred as late as March. Very often there will be late frosts that kill the spring blossoms.
DeleteI never knew a fox could have mange. That's really sad. When I first moved here (five years ago) I saw lots of white tail deer and wild turkeys, but now they're very scarce. It seems that all the hunters and loggers have scared them off. I often hear coyotes late at night, and wild dogs. The owls are my favorite creatures of the night. I love them.
I haven't seen a persimmons tree since I lived in California. They were abundant when I was a child.
Owls are amazing. Even though I'm in an old St Louis suburb, with houses close together, we have quite a few owls. One very early January morning at about 4:30 am, I heard an owl hooting, so I stuck my head out the front door to hear it better. It hooted again and I hooted back in response, I answered it a couple of more times and was about to close the door and stop when a second owl joined in.So then I started hooting back at that one, so the two owls and I were hooting at each other, and the owls' hoots were coming from closer and closer to my home, they must have been curious about the new owl on the street (me). It was getting too cold in the house standing there with my head out the door. I stopped answering them. Teasing owls is what the combination of insomnia and cabin fever can cause a person to do.
ReplyDeleteAs I googled to find out what type of owls I was hooting to,I discovered they were great horned owls, and that time of year,January, is the time of year they search for mates and build their nests. I hadn't meant to lead them on that way.
What a funny story!
DeleteWell, I hope you managed to get to town over the weekend or today maybe. The snow on the trees and grass is so pretty when its just a bit. We have about 4 feet of snow on the ground here to melt eventually...by May usually :-) I notice your grass is quite tall. Do you mow in the summer? That would sure cut down on the flying insects and woodticks etc. at your place. Wendy
ReplyDeleteWendy, I wish I had grass because it would be easy to maintain. Instead, I have acres of very high brush and weeds that grow rampantly every time it rains. I'd have to use a brush hog at least weekly. I've nearly given up hope.
DeleteThe weather has been so bad that I haven't yet made it to town. I'll try tomorrow (Tuesday).
Oh my goodness...I am so sorry its not a lawn. I wasn't trying to, I dont' know, say something rude, I was just curious. Hope you get to town today now. It's decent weather here today. 28 degrees and sunny. Tomorrow and tomorrow night, not so good. 28 below and wind chills as low as 45 below, but then it warms to the 20's Saturday and Sunday. Spring is right around the corner here in Northern MN. :-)
DeleteThe other day, i recall writing a comment to this post and then could not get the darn thing to upload. I tried copying it to try and paste it later, but then forgot about it. I hope that you have been able to make it into town, finally. The snow photos were lovely. Also hope you have heat again and thank goodness for the kitties and electric blanket.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I checked your blog earlier today and saw an Oscar post which I planned to comment on, but now it’s gone missing. I agree that the Hollywood of today is nothing like in the 1940s-1960s.