Snow

Our first day of snow came yesterday, as I mentioned in my previous post.

This picture was taken when it was snowing the heaviest. You can see the large flakes in this picture against the pine tree. Of course, you can maybe see them better if you squint and look at the picture with your nose pressed against the screen. lol

There is another picture further down at the end of this post, of the snow-covered ground. It wasn't much, but since the snow remained on the ground this morning, it does qualify as our first snowfall. It wont last, our temps are supposed to rise back up to the 50s by next Monday.

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I want to brighten up my blog again. I'm getting tired of the dark green. This could take awhile since the CSS is so lengthy, and of course, I am only one person. So, not saying that it will happen overnite, but it will eventually. I can say though, that I do not want to go with a stark white. That is just too bright for my eyes.

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Empty Easel has some great articles slated for this week, mine is scheduled for this coming Friday. Take a stroll over and check them out!

Right now, it is time to "make the donuts"! 'Till later...

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It's Earth Day! Silence in the Thicket ;-)

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Ready for Winter?

Temperatures are dropping steadily, rain is coming more frequently and one of these days, not too long from now, the rain will become snow.

It's been a busy time behind the bushes in the Twisted Thicket these days, getting ready for the long winter ahead! I have many new things to show you that will be making their appearance in my Etsy shop begining on Wednesday, October 1! I may give you all a sneak peek here on my blog tomorrow.

You know how we are supposed to be moving to AZ? We still are planning to, however, it seems that the forces that be are working against us for some reason. Everytime we start to make headway, something happens to delay us once again. This pattern holds true still to this day.

This weekend, my car bit the dust. Not an accident, although it could have resulted in one. On Saturday, my car was running fine until I went to leave the parking lot of Pets Plus (where I get my dog food). I got in the car, started it up, and the motor sounded horrible--sputtering, choking, and not wanting to idle at all. This store is quite a few miles from our house that we get to by taking a back road through the woods. Not able to go over 25 mph, we finally made it home. The people on the road (hilly & many curves) behind me were not too happy and I tried to stay on the shoulder as much as possible. So many times I thought my car was going to die right out. We finally made it home though and my car's been sitting in the driveway ever since.

I've narrowed it down to a couple things: the computer or the fuel pump may be shot. If it is the fuel pump, it will be less expensive to fix. If it is the computer...well let's hope it is the fuel pump. *sigh*

So, here we sit. No public transportation, and everything is a good ways away from where we live. I cannot believe how many things have been going wrong lately...yet we are still hanging in there! :)

I'm off to the bushes to work on some more goodies for you all!

Have a great day!!

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Remembering

Today is a very cold, grey, and gloomy day. Days like this always bring me down a lot. It is one of the reasons we are moving south to a much sunnier, and warmer, climate.

Anyway, while I was sitting here this morning I played some of my old favorites on YouTube and came across Peter Gabriel singing with Sinead O'connor, which then lead me to find one of my favorite songs by Sinead: "Nothing Compares to You".

This song is SO powerful and her voice is amazing. No matter how often I listen to this song, it still brings tears to my eyes. If you have ever lost someone you love it really hits home.

For some reason, most of the videos of her song on YouTube have been muted. I also have a video of her singing this live (also on YouTube).

Hope you enjoy this song today.

I'll be posting a bit later, the progress on my Steampunk Gourd that I wrote about in my last post.

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Wild, Wild Snowstorm!

This is taken in complete context from my Weather Channel Desktop Alert. I've used bold text where it states what snowfall amounts we can expect up here where I live. It is unbelievable! We haven't had a storm like this since I was a little girl (many, many moons ago)!

When this storm started we had barely any snow left on the ground in my yard (it is spring, you know. :) ), other than a few "snow snakes" left from the melting snowbanks.

Check it out! I'm going to go take a few pictures of the yard now [12:18 am], it is mostly ice and sleet with snow starting to fall on top of it. Through the duration of this storm, which ends Saturday night or Sunday, I will take more pictures so you can watch it build up with me. :D

To those of you in the southern and middle states that are also affected by this storm, please be safe, I'll be thinking of you all.

Here's the storm report I mentioned above:

Some Severe Weather, But a Wild Snowstorm

9:08 p.m. ET 4/10/08
Tom Moore

The threat of severe weather will continue from parts of the South up into the Midwest but the overall scope of severe weather has fallen well short of expectations from earlier in the week.
Strong to severe thunderstorms, with a few tornadoes, are likely across northeast Missouri and eastern Iowa. Another area of concern is from southwest Indiana to western Tennessee. Large hail and danaging winds will also accompany some of these thunderstorms.

The most remarkable aspect of this storm will be the snow when all is said and done. A widespread area from Nebraska to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is in for 6 to 12 inches of snow, along with gusty winds. Some areas will encounter blizzard conditions with near zero visibility. Snowfall across parts of northern Minnesota may reach 12 to 18 inches, while parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula could end up with 2 to 3 feet of snow by late Saturday.

Heavy rains are causing widespread flooding over the central and southern Mississippi Valley. Rain totals have locally reached as high as 7 to 8 inches in south-central Missouri and northern Arkansas.

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Peace!

The theme at Inspire Me Thursday is currently "Peace". This universal sign of peace turns 50 years old this year!

Growing up I drew many variations of the Peace symbol on just about everything around me. Recently, I created this necklace with a shard of gourd and burned the Peace symbol onto it. It sure brought back memories.

I grew up with the Peace symbol all around me. After all, I am a babyboomer. There were peace signs on everything you can imagine; vans, cars, necklaces, bracelets, watchbands (those fabulous wide leather bands), posters, beach blankets, jackets, shirts, and more! They were a prominent piece of art during the Vietnam war that silently showed your hope for the war to end and bring our loved ones home safely.

This is another necklace that I created using a piece of gourd and my woodburner.

You can find both of these necklaces in my Etsy shop, simply click on the photos to go there now.

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Since the last time I posted about a winter storm here, we have had a second one and today we are under a winter storm warning again (for the third time)! If it was the middle of winter, we'd have well over 3 feet of snow by now on the ground. This new storm, destined to hit tonight, will be bringing upwards of a foot of new snow plus ice to give it that extra nice touch. :/

All for now, have a wonderful day!

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Refreshing the Soul

Sometimes we just need to take a break, get away, relax in an unfamiliar place, even if it is just for a couple of days.

This is precisely what I did just this past weekend. There have been so many things happening in my life recently and many changes. Sometimes we [I] need to take the time to relax in order to continue forward.

I took a much needed mini vacation with my youngest and drove to the city where my son and his wife live with their two young boys (my grandsons). We had a wonderful time. The weather was superb--it couldn't have been a nicer spring weekend. We got to meet some of his friends and had a cookout along with a small bonfire later on that evening. Everyone was so nice, it felt almost like I'd known them for as long as they did.

On Sunday, my son took me for a ride in his truck and showed me some of the places he frequents when he is not working out of town. He showed me his favorite fishing hole on the river. I taught him how to fish when he was very young and I'm proud that he still enjoys the sport and has also taught his own sons how to fish. We went to a bar that he likes and introduced me to the owners there. While we were there, I played a penny machine and won $50.00! :) We also went out to the edge of the lake (Michigan) and looked at the lighthouse. We were going to walk the span of rocks (breakwater) to get out there, but it was too windy. He showed me the older homes in the area (I absolutely LOVE older, turn-of-the-century homes), and many other interesting sights.

Before we left, he treated us to a brunch of Farmers Omelets and thick, toasted homemade bread. They were delicious!

We arrived back home about 5pm, exhausted ... I was in bed by 8pm. I felt like such an old lady going to bed so early. haha

Now though, I feel pretty good. I really needed to get away, even if it was just for a couple of days...Sometimes we really need to take the time and leave our space to refresh our souls.

Have a wonderful day and week ahead!

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Spring Cleaning; Let the Games Begin!

March 31-April 1, 2008 Snowstorm, originally uploaded by avision4.

It was after midnite here (central timezone), when I was standing outside on my front porch in my stocking feet taking a few shots of the snow and ice. This photo shows the ground after it had been snowing lightly since around 2pm on March 31.

This next photo was taken early in the morning about 7am on April 1. The snow total was just over 13".

And below...here is what it looks like today, April 2.

It is 40 degrees right now (12:40 pm central time). The nice thing about a snowstorm in the spring is that the snow doesn't hang around for long. :)
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Much to my daughter's dismay, I have started spring cleaning my entire house this week.

This afternoon we are washing the walls in the living room and freshening up the windows with my lighter curtains and drapes. Furniture is being moved around and some will be on it's way out the door too.

It's a perfect day for these tasks, the sun is shining brightly and it is nice and warm. I may even open the screen on the front door and get some nice fresh air in here too.

All for now, have a great day!

[If you like, you can see additional photos of this storm in my Flickr album
Two of the photos (in my Flickr album) show one of my HUGE White Pines with the boughs touching the ground. These boughs are normally about ten feet off the ground, if not higher.]

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A Good Sign!

I finally found a fix for my template!

Well, actually it is basically a new template. I found this blog post , by Pam Blackstone of "Random Bytes" this morning and have been working to customize it for Twisted Thicket. So far, so good! What do you think??

Now that I have found a template that will suit TT's needs things should move along very well.

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In for a super-hot week! Temps in the high 80's and 90's with no rain expected until maybe the weekend. Not looking forward to it at all. We need a new cord for our old air-conditioner and cannot use it until we get it replaced. :(

Early yesterday evening, we had a few unexpected storms pop up out of nowhere. The photo above is of a double rainbow, out above my front yard, that I caught on my camera.

Time to create!

Have a great day!

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Seal the Hatches and Hold On Tight!

Well, today we are under severe weather watch starting with very high winds this afternoon, severe thunderstorms late afternoon and possibly isolated tornadoes. At this time, our winds here are already whipping things around with 22 mph gusts. They are calling for winds in excess of 45 mph after 1 pm.

The picture below, is of my pine trees that are right next to my house. This pic was taken after a snowstorm last year, but I wanted to show you just how big my trees are! You can't even really see my house behind them. When we have high winds, one of these tree's branches have a tendency to pull on our phone line and sometimes knock the computer connection right out. They also lose many branches.

This post will be very short. I wanted to write something more and may later on, but right now I have to get outside and tie things down, plant my new Petunias and then straighten the basement and shop up in case we have to hanker down there later on.

As soon as I finish up and as long as my computer line doesn't get knocked out I will post more here.

My youngest got me Petunias for the front yard, and I'd love to show them to you all! They're so pretty!

Be back as soon as I can!

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