02/09/15 start???

Our high today was ONE.  Seriously??????

Seeing as how my DH was born on a Friday the 13th, I always consider it a lucky day, but way to go Tina, spotting a big bill!  And congrats to your DS.  Mine finally is up for a really good job....fingers crossed.

Nice sunny day.  No temp, though.  0.  May not go for a run at the WMA.  Sky was out on his zip line for a while.  Just sitting watching the neighborhood.  The temp doesn't seem to bother him.

I am making a night stand.  First try at indoor furniture, not counting the bookcase made from planks and concrete blocks.  I may have to get more bandaids though.   This is the beta copy.  Cheaper wood, mistakes to hide, changes to meet what I want it to look like.  Blood stains.  Spent most of yesterday on assembly, will probably finish assembly today.  Paint tomorrow.  I had to use hand tools for some of the work.  Hand plane, dovetail saw.  Lots of sweat in those tools.

We got more snow here...I figure shoveling is the exercise of choice (necessity) this winter! Tons of wind today and wind chills are well below zero. Doug, I think we got MN weather!  The weather people were kind enough to remind us that the average high for today is 40 degrees.

Love the pictures of Sky/Junior! I've used a Halti and have found it was a good choice for some of my dogs.

Jackie--daffodils?! I'm heading south! I'm glad Charles is feeling better.

Winter....BAH HUMBUG!!  Another 8 inches when we got up this morning.  Lots of fun shoveling with an 11 below wind chill!

DS and I got the deck cleared off today too.  The drifts were up to my thighs.  And, I'm the little short chick (5'4";) with a 32 inch inseam!  Our windchill tonite may be -40!  Yikes!!!!!

Memo to Old Man Winter.....ENUFF already!

More snow. Will try to add a few pictures below. 

The first picture is from the road--you can almost see the pick-up! The second picture is the pile of snow I created from shoveling the driveway. It's about as tall as I am (5'6";). OK--off to watch the Westminster show!

Wow, Kate -- I'm sure you're getting pretty darn tired of so much shoveling, but the sight of all that pretty snow against a gorgeous blue sky, and the water in view makes me wish I were there!  Just gorgeous.  I know it's not so pretty when it starts melting and gets dirty and sloppy and you just want it GONE, but until then, it sure looks inviting for a brisk walk (with plenty of wool layers, of course!).

On this side of the country we're having the other weather extreme.  Yesterday we broke a temperature record in our town -- 66 degrees.  It was actually HOT when I got in the car after it had been parked in the sun while I was in the office all day.  My friend and I took Ruby for a walk after work, and she was panting quite a bit (we're all not quite used to the sudden warmth).  Daffodils and crocus in many yards along our walking route, and plum trees showing more pink color each day.  I know the ski resorts are truly suffering here this year, and I bet we'll have water restrictions this summer due to so little precipitation this winter, but boy is it making January and February easier to get through!

Still sub-zero temps here. Glad I don't have to shovel my roof, though.

Oscar has his dental cleaning tomorrow. He will be quite unhappy because he will not be getting breakfast.

Hope all of you are well.

Tracy, I'm totally jealous of your flowers.

We have wind chill forecasts of -30 to -40F tomorrow.  I plan on sleeping in, then seeing if Irish Cream helps.  No intention of running the dog tomorrow, but may have to get one of us drunk to stand the other.  I had him out with a training dummy in the deep grass today.  Put some pheasant scent on the dummy and let Jr find it.  He had a blast.  He would generally underestimate the distance and have to hunt around for it. Then pick it up and bring it at a dead run.  A little gentle talking and he would give me the dummy for another throw.   This could just work out, if my shoulder stops hurting.  I may be getting old. Did I mention the college co-ed holding the door for me.  That is a red flag.

My night stand is just about done.  Looks good.  But I know where every flaw and mistake is, and what I did to hide them.  Lessons learned, blood spilled.  Next one will be better, with fewer mistakes, better wood.  Amazing how expensive wood had gotten.

Looking at the snow bank photos brought up memories of Hancock Michigan and the wonderful year we lived there.  We moved.  Hard to believe people live there voluntarily, and I live in MN.  There are good roads out of the UP.  Anyway, about another month of winter, two months of the possible snow season.  The end is in sight.  For those of us in the interior.  You folks on the right coast may be seeing snow for a long time.  Good luck.  Beer helps.

Up here in Maine our temps have been -15to- 25

Where in ME are you, Dan?  We lived in Portland and also Bangor.  My step son and his wife are in Bangor, and my MIL was in

Lewiston when she passed away in 2010.  Northern ME is really cold!

Last time I looked it was 8 degrees here, with a windchill of -19.  Heading to -12 as the actual temp tonite.  Am really ready

for Spring.

Pitchers and catchers reported--that means spring is coming, right??? It's snowing again here; supposed to turn to rain/sleet/who knows what. It's heated up to 32 degrees, so it must be a heat wave. They say we broke a record with -5 this morning. We've had a sun a couple days, so the piles seem to be shrinking. I tried to find the storm drain that's near our property (to dig it out/un-bury it) but I can't find it! I'll have to put some kind marker out there when I can find it. Checked the roof again and the wind has done its job--blew almost all of the snow right off.

Doug, we'll want to see pictures of the night stand.

The seed catalogs are arriving in the mail--it's somehow reassuring to start to think about the garden.

On a sunny but cold day, I had Jr retrieving a dummy to hand enthusiastically.  He loves toys, and is usually waving one in your face to play with.  Either chase or tug.  But fetch seems to be coming on.  GS has a hockey game today.  We are heading to Minnetonka to watch.  They grow up so fast.  Seems like just yesterday he was  barely able to move in the hockey armor, and now he skates like a demon.

Gorgeous night stand! I know you know where the "mistakes " are but it looks great to me.

I don't think Jr. has enough toys...ha! Does he get them all out when he plays? Mine love to do that--and will then play with one or two.

LOL!  Theo does that too.  If I could just teach him to put away his own toys!

The nightstand is absolutely lovely!

Yet another night below zero.  Sick of winter....

New kitchen install on Monday, granite measured on Wed, , maybe a week until it's done.   Dropped one set of overhead shelves yesterday.  Opened up the space between the kitchen and dining area like an open concept house.  Really made the area look big.  New units going in that space will have glass doors on both sides and will leave more room between the hanging shelves and the peninsula  under it, in an attempt to keep the open feel.  I love my saws all.  I used some muscles that I haven't used for a few months.  Little stiff today.  Still got one set of wall cabinets and all the base units to rip out.  Need to put valves on the stove gas supply and the sink pipes.  All it takes is money.

Cold weather.  Well below freezing for a while now, but the roads are clear and dry.,  Just a few more months and we are in mud and mosquito season. Uff da!

Brown county sheriff just posted all lakes in his county as unsafe.  Thin ice. Vehicles going swimming. I firmly believe that no ice is really safe, and I won't risk my truck for a fish.  A small fish.

Sky has his Obedience 1 graduation Monday-it's a mercy pass.  May have to get  a GD for him.  He is so good at home or in the field, but just goes nuts when at class.  If it warms up enough Monday, I'll get him a really good run at the big WMA-lots of hills to climb-and maybe he will settle down a bit for class.