Deer trot

Oh good grief!  I looked out this morning and there was a herd of deer grazing on my shrubs and yews.  The buck had brought a half-dozen does and about the same number of yearlings to feast on all the frosty goodness that is the sanctuary!  Shoo!! Shoo!!  Tapping on the window didn't work.  I had to resort to standing on the deck in my PJs, wave my arms about wildly and (this is what really gets the neighbors going) bark!  Sorry, but it's the only sound they really don't like.  After a couple of minutes, they bounded off.  *bark* *bark* 

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The sorry saga of the stopped up drains continue.
Click HERE for an update as the county mounts a rescue  (Monday).

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later today -- Flushed with success!! 
Click HERE for the final chapter (Tuesday).

Foxtrot

When I dozed off around 10:00 on the sofa Friday night, the temps were falliing and the wind was raging.  I roused myself to go to bed around 11:30 and glanced outside and was in shock.  Almost 2 inches of snow had fallen.  And it was falling so thickly that I could barely see across the road from the front bay window.

But there was something I COULD see. Just off the front walk was a gorgeous little fox, dancing back and forth as if looking (or tracking) something just out of my line of sight.

(Sorry for the pics.  I still cannot fathom how to get a good night shot from the camera.)

I assume it was going after some rodent that was running around in the corner of the shade garden under the outside lamp.

But to watch him/her dancing so nimbly on those slender black legs was a joy to watch.  It was easy to see how a dance came to be called "Foxtrot".

Another tradesman disaster story

I'm so mad I could spit!

Click this link for the full story over on the HOUSEHOLD ADVENTURES page.

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And about that STUPID DANGED WORD VERFICATION Captcha crap:

Dear readers - I know you're out there but I'm pretty sure you're not commenting because of the freaking "new improved" WORD VERIFICATION that Google, in it's INFINITE wisdom has foisted on us this month!  You can't read the words.  And if you're older (like some of us) you can't see them barely at all.  Try the vocal verification?  It's like listening to a train wreck and trying to pick out what people are yelling about.  Well, I've disabled this "delightful" FEATURE.  Hope this makes it easier on you all.  

I'm reading that LOTS of bloggers are turning it off.
Hey Google!  Today we'll turn off verification.
Tomorrow - maybe we'll just switch to WORDSMITH!
Meanwhile, in protest, I'm using alternative search engines like Yahoo and Bing instead of Google.

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Saturday morning.  
Click this link for a followup to the Friday plumbing disaster.  

Beautiful sky - Ugly radar

The sunrise this morning was just GLORIOUS - shot through with red, copper, magenta and gold.  What portent of weather will this signify: a lovely day?  Or something more sinister.  Quick - to the radar.

UHOH.    Looks like it's to be sininster!  By 10:00 fierce winds rattled the trees and snow was blowing sideways as the temps hovered around freezing.  Well, I'd rather have snow than sleet any day. A day for indoor activities.

First off I set off to poke around in Blogger to find how to tab into sections of a long post.

For instance, when I update an existing post, it seldom gets read because, well, readers have already been there, done that.  It took some doing but I found out how to direct you, gentle readers, to the UPDATED section of an existing post.

Remember how I posted about my home made scratch pizza last week?  Well, check out the links below: the original link and then the link that goes directly to the updated portion of the post.  This will be a boon to someone like me who likes to update an ongoing project without always having to put up a brand new blog entry.

Click this link to land on the UPDATED part of the same post.

Click this link to land on the original SCRATCH PIZZA post.

Cool, huh?

===== Later that same day =====

What else have I been up too?    A good chunk of my time was spent cleaning the front bedroom-cum-workroom.  Since the weather is still terrible, it gave me time to blog about my effort there.  Click on this link [WORKROOM UPDATE] for pics.

I've also added a post about the [GREENS BINS] in the basement plant lab.

Something different

Imagine my surprise yesterday Tuesday when I saw a flash of yellow out the front bay window.

There was a guy with a shovel apparently trying to dig up my utility pole! Wha....?  I grabbed my coat and moseyed out.    

I've got quite a few decades under my belt and I've seen tons of activity by various utility companies over the years, but I've never seen the like of this.  Logic told me what he might be doing, but I've never documented this behavior before, so I needed to verify my hunch.

"'Sup?"  I asked, approaching quietly so as not to spook him.  He explained and I had been correct.  He and his buddy were digging down 18-20" around all the utility poles on the street inspecting for soundness, then either noting if it needed replacing or coating them with a preservative and wrapping them with a collar and replacing the dirt.

My hypothesis was proved and I've managed to add a previously undocumented utility behavior in this area.  I'll make up some notes.  (Hmmm, first note - try to cut back on watching so many nature documentaries this time of year! LOL)

Have I discovered something new?  Are the utility companies evolving or is this some sort of deviation?  Have you ever seen this activity in YOUR area?   Keep alert!

In the meantime, here are some other things I've documented recently:  (click links for more info)

More KITCHEN adventures.

New stuff growing in the BASEMENT PLANT LAB.

Solar shoveling

There was about 3" of snow on the driveway from the weekend weather that needed to be removed as we are due for another 1-3" tonight and tomorrow.

Right now there is no wind and temps are in the mid-20s and the sun is bright.  So I left the blower in the garage and did a little 'solar shoveling' instead.

Using my big scoop shovel, I merely snowplowed stripes.  (I try not to actually lift the snow, just push it around if possible.)

This exposes (or at least leaves very little snow) on the blacktop.

After that, I let the sun do the finishing up.  The heat from the exposed strips will melt the remaining snow over the course of the rest of the day.  No gasoline, no noise, and no heavy lifting.

You can see here that the driveway is a little further along in the melting process than the turnaround.  But then, I did the driveway first....  (Sorry, forgot the screen, which is pretty much invisible to human eyes, turns up really good in a photo. )

There's also some new developments in the basement.  CLICK HERE.

Snowy AND blowy

Old man Winter must have objected to my comment over on the propagation page that it's been so warm he's zipping by in his Speedos this year.  Ha!   Temps have plummeted and since yesterday we've gotten 4-5" of snow.  And wind?  Lots of that, too, with gusts over 40 mph.  Check out that it's so fierce it's torn apart the landscape fabric 'privacy drapes' under the crabapple.  Wind chills are in the negs today.

Bad for outside.  Good for a nice fire.

I didn't realize the camera would also record the stereo.  LOL

Meanwhile, there was something nice in the oven.  Click the pick for more info.

Sticky situation

Oh dear.  What is she up to now??  LOL

Click the pic....

More mild weather

It snowed on Saturday, giving us 3-4" of very heavy snow.  No worries here.  Sunday was above freezing and most of it melted.  Today (again in the 40s) there is only traces of snow in the shadows.

Well, after Saturday's adventures in the kitchen, Sunday found me down in the basement in the (shhhhhh) secret plant lab.

To find out what I (and Igor) have been up to, click the pic.

Some snow. :-D

What a wonderful surprise I got this morning when I pulled back the curtain and looked out.

SNOW!  And it is still coming down steadily with no wind so everything is getting a fluffy white flocked coat.  We've received such little snow this year that when it comes I'm all smiles (unlike last year).

Even the birds seem chipper this morning at the feeders.

January delivered a miserly 11-12" of snow (all of which melted quickly)  but almost 3" of rain.  The snowblower has been out only 2ce so far.  Alas, today's snow is being followed by rain (with milder temps again all this coming week), so this, too, shall pass.

I'll have to enjoy this prettiness while I can.  Quick, back to the window!

========== later ======

Since it was the kitchen window I was always staring out at the snow, I decided to whip up something lovely.  Click the pic for details.  :-D