Monday early.

It was a 3 dog night.  I may need to hit the dog shelter again.

Polar vortex (cold snap) with a little wind (50mph gusts) reduced visibility (white out) and panic ensues. Schools closed all over. When I was a kid, I had to walk the 5 miles to school barefoot uphill both ways. Mom let us button up the jackets. Uff da.! You betcha.

Ground blizzard-light snow, blowing briskly You can see everything except the ground. If it's bad, maybe not your feet. Fun to drive in. Literally, driving between the phone poles because the road isn't visible. At night, your own headlights will blind you, but the stars can be beautiful. The fun part is the finger drifts grabbing the front tires.

Actually, I don't remember schools closing for cold, unless a boiler had gone out or water lines were frozen. I can remember Mom telling us to dress warm ( the drive way was a 1/4 mile walk), and if we complained, she told us to dress warmer. (Old guy talking now) We lived in rural MN. I watched the school bus get stuck once in the middle of the road. The plows had been through-one pass- and where the road went over a culvert, the rails had made a high pile. Buses flare wider at the passenger compartment, a point the driver forgot. The front end went in fine, but the flared part wedged the bus solid. Kids bailed out the back door.

We dressed for the weather. Rubber boots over shoes, heavy socks, long underwear, flannel or wool, heavy coats, hats and gloves or mittens. Tennis shoes were for gym class, sandals were for summer beach wear, and hats prevented frostbitten ears, even though they mussed hair. Warmth trumped style, cause looking cool had a different meaning.

My favorite snow plow driver left about 20 ft of heavy snow in my clean driveway this morning. If the temp gets up near zero, I may try to start the blower.

Auggie was into snow zoomies yesterday, trying to get Piper to play. Piper almost played with him, then had second thoughts. But she gets more accepting every day. She has groomed him (or tasted), and is not food aggressive at her bowl when the glutton tries to steal her meal. Piper prefers Auggies puppy food, he prefers anything he can get.

I guess we have really been lucky here in Western Ma.  We'll get several days of bitter cold and then it warms up to snow before getting bitter cold again.  Today it's at 30, but, that;'s our high and the temps will drop all day as we get 2-4 inches of snow.  Still, not much snow.  Then, back to single digits until Friday.  This is one weird winter.

So, the holidays are past, the death day is past and the birthday is past.  Sincerely hoping that I can get my emotions back in order now and just do what I need to do.  I really dislike my emotions taking over and running the show, but I guess sometimes you just have to let them.  Still.......

For the first time in WEEKS I'm going into the week with good sales so I won't have to spend the week scrambling for  more for this week and can actually work ahead.  Phew.  Major relief there.  Makes a huge difference in my outlook for the week.

OK off to start the week.  Everyone, please stay warm and safe!  And Doug, you might want to wait until the weather clears for that 3rd dog trip!

Morning! Doug we have been in a cold snap but not nearly as bas as you. Today when I let the dogs out it was 30!! When that feels nice you know its been cold. I've decided I won't be warm until July. My dogs were doing zoomies in the snow this morning too, they really love the snow. I'm just trying to get though I think caught a stomach bug was down all weekend and still not doing well I might have to give and see my dr. ugh Hope everyone out there is doing well on this Monday! Stay safe and warm everyone.

Downton abbey was pretty blah last night but I loved Sherlock! The drunk scenes were hilarious. Did anyone else watch?

Not much going on here today. I am counting the days until spring but the 10 day forecast never gets the windchill above zero. It's icky.

I need some new easy meal recipes.

Got my oil changed on Saturday and ended up needing a new battery. I really didn't want to get stranded in this weather, so took care of it.

For fun I slid through an intersection on my way home Saturday. I wasn't going much more than 20 mph, touched the brakes when the light turned red, and kept right on going. Thank doG the car on the cross street saw me.

Local weather says high of zero today, low of zero. Doesn't leave much room for improvement.

The wind is blowing pretty good here but sun is shining.  :)  

Julie, I've never watched Sherlock but last night I was flipping through channels and watched a little of it but it was almost over  so didn't make much sense to me.  I was kind of lost but it looked like a good program.  I'll have to watch from the beginning next week.

DH is looking for a new truck.  Not brand new but newer.  His is a 2004 and it's getting time to say goodbye.  I've already got sticker shock looking at prices.  ack!

Tina, I 'm glad you didn't get hit.  

I was sick as a dog last night and hardly slept.  I went to lay on the couch and Rex went with me. When I did drop off to sleep, Rex would come over and lick me in the face.  He's sweet but sometimes I  prefer a dog that isn't.  

Sending plenty of "feel better" vibes to you both, Jackie and Michele.  

I could use some easy weeknight recipes, too, preferably relatively healthy ones.  If I won the lottery, I'd hire a personal chef that did all the meal planning and prep so we'd have some tasty healthy meals ready whenever we want them!

Doug, I had to chuckle at your description of how you dressed for the weather as kids.  I remember doing the same in CT (and our winters were mild compared to yours!).  We went to the bus stop (or walked to school) with nothing but our eyes showing.  

Tina, sliding at a stop sign or traffic light is so scary!  I'm glad no one was coming the other way.

Glenda, given the kind of loss you suffered, it makes total sense that emotions will take over sometimes.  You shouldn't feel badly about that.

I recorded Sherlock because it was ending at midnight, and that's just not a good idea when our first alarm clock goes of at 5AM.  I can't wait to watch it tonight!  I just found out the other day that the woman who is playing John's fiance, Mary, is his real-life girlfriend.  I knew she looked familiar -- and I finally remembered she played a detective named Louise in a Mystery! series a couple years ago called "Case Histories" (based on the excellent books by Kate Atkinson).  

Busy, but fun weekend.  Saturday I spent the day in Corvallis with my former coworker and another friend - had a nice lunch then poked around the cute stores downtown there.  Yesterday we took Ruby for her first beach visit.  It was sunny and 60 degrees -- totally unusual for January here!  I'll see if I can post one of the 3 photos I took.  She was overwhelmed by the sights, smells, and sounds.  She was zonked out in her bed all evening!

Path to the beach:

DH taking Ruby to water's edge:

Tracy, those pics are absolutely stunning.  However, they really make me wish I was somewhere WARMER!

If I could wave a magic wand and make you appear here, Glenda, I'd do it.  Maybe it's just as well I don't have a magic wand today -- the grey skies and colder temps are back.  I know we desperately need rain, but boy is my mood better when we have days like this past weekend.  Anyway, I'll put you on "magic wand stand-by" for the next bit of freakishly sunny warm weather than comes our way!  

Oh, please do!  Maybe you should put poor Doug on that list too!

Agreed!  I'll see if I can find a super-duper magic wand that's especially designed for transporting several people from frigid climates to warmer ones.  It could be kind of an iDog exchange program (and it'll be valuable when folks are sweltering in the summer and want to come to humidity-free Oregon for a break)!  

We have friends that live in Corvallis.  Spent a week with them  Never seen that many pine trees at one time.

That is a beautiful part of the world.  We took the Empire Builder and had a great trip.  Not enough snow, though.  How do you fish in winter?  You can't walk on that water or cut a hole in it.

The Empire Builder . . . I assume that's a train?  I bet that was a route with gorgeous scenery.  Did you go to the coast or other areas during your stay?

There's definitely not much snow in the valley (where Corvallis is).  But there's plenty of it in central and eastern Oregon at certain times of year.  In fact, Mt. Hood has snow on it year-round, and there are even folks who ski in June/July if conditions allow. Can't say I know anyone who ice fishes, but maybe it's possible in other parts of the state in January or February.

Definitely a lot of trees here -- but they're mostly evergreens.  We just don't get the same autumn foliage effects here since the variety of deciduous trees is more limited than in New England.  I miss that tremendously!