Day with the Boys

The boys called and wanted to come over this afternoon. I was sitting at the table working on my Stampin' Up! paperwork for taxes and one by one they came over with their laptops to also sit at the table with me. It's been fun to watch them eat their way through our snacks!! Some of my friends have talked about their teenagers eating a lot so now we know what that's like! We told them that the 2 Reese's in the refrig. are off limits when Ross was looking at them. Have had fun talking with them about the Colts and the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, they'll be at college for the game.

Des Moines

We had a really nice day and night in Des Moines yesterday. Or I should say * I * had a nice day in Des Moines - Bill had an ethics class for his insurance license from 1-4:00. He has to do this class every 3 years and has been to it before - says it's BORING.

While he was in class, I went to Kohl's and Walmart and a really nice grocery, Dahl's. Dahl's has anything you could want from fresh ginger to walnut oil. I just enjoyed looking there. Now that I have someone to cook for, it's more fun. While driving around, I saw the capitol building - beautiful with its gold dome and copper covered domes at each corner of the building. The corner domes are decorated with vertical lines of gold. Wish I could've gotten a picture but here's a link to see one (scroll down to Iowa).

Des Moines has a new Bass Pro Shop so we checked it out after Bill's class. Most of you have probably been to one but if you haven't, you need to just to see one. With the name including "bass", you'd think it might be all about fishing but they sell boats, camping gear, guns and ammunition, clothing and more. This one has a bowling alley in their restaurant, fudge shop and huge aquarium with huge fish!

Then we headed to Ankeny where our hotel was. We ate at Outback, always a treat. This is the closest one to us which is about 2 hours away. This morning we had breakfast and headed home.

Sunny and Cold

Yesterday's blizzard is over and it's sunny and cold (8). This picture was taken at Peggy's after the Christmas storm. Bill says the drifts are bigger now.

He moved snow today everywhere including for other people. Seems like it didn't take too long, and the roads weren't too bad. This snow was fluffy. He did postpone the cemetery board meeting until tomorrow since everyone was digging out.


I'm working on some Stampin' Up! business and taxes again. (see Sale-A-Bration brochure to the right, also post below re: donation to Haiti)

Snow covered bales at our neighbor's house.

Colts Headed to Miami & the Super Bowl!!!

This picture of the train going by was taken a few days ago when we had fog.

We've had much whiter/blizzard conditions today (again). It's been blowing harder and whiter than I've seen since I've lived here. No school today in the area. People are saying the kids are going to have to go to school until June to make up all the days they've missed already.

Bill has been home since late morning, and people left work early to get home. Don't think Diane & family will make it home tonight. Too much drifting. Our Tues. Bible study is canceled if school is closed so I'm sure we won't have it tomorrow. The plows don't even start until the wind quits, and it's not supposed to quit until sometime tomorrow.

The ice missed us for the most part the other day but hit counties just south of us with 1" of ice. Some are just getting their power back on.

Had an exciting day of football here yesterday!!! I missed having the boys here to watch with me though - Bill could care less about football! Our Colts are going to Miami for their 2nd Super Bowl!!! Manning is from New Orleans so it's interesting that we're playing them. Their coach seems to be a nice guy like the Colts' coach. It's nice that 2 teams that haven't been in the Super Bowl over and over are playing this year!

GO COLTS!!!!!!!

There will be no other post today - this COLTS fan has a game to watch!! Besides being from a suburb of Indianapolis before moving to Iowa, we live near the hometown of Dallas Clark, one of the several great receivers on the Colts team, soooo GO COLTS!!!!!!! (Mom tells me that Indiana has been a sea of Colts blue all week)

Stampin' Up! Helping Haiti

In the past, when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers, when a tsunami struck Indonesia, when a hurricane destroyed New Orleans, and when wildfires ravaged Australia, Stampin' Up! has helped its Demonstrators make a difference.

From now until February 28, 2010, $2 from every I {Heart} Hearts stamp set (above) that you order will be donated to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. The Red Cross is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.

Product Name	Item #	Price
I {Heart} Hearts – clear-mount (block D recommended)	118571	$18.95
I {Heart} Hearts – wood-mount	117010	$26.95

We are in the midst of Sale-A-Bration - click on the brochure on the right to see the options for free product that can be chosen for every $50 order.

To order, click on the Order Online 24/7 picture (on the right) or the link to my Stampin' Up! web site (above right) and then Shop Now.

Snow Issues

No sunshine yesterday or today so these pictures are kind of dark. The first one shows what some of the firemen did at their meeting Tues. night - dug out and marked the fire hydrants in town!

The 2nd picture is of the dairy here that had the roof collapse. I was by there today. They're working on repairing it.

The guys came yesterday and braced the roof of the machine shed at Peggy's. New rafters are ordered.

Getting excited for the Colts game Sun.!! I'm already starting to wear BLUE. Saw our friend Kyle today when I was in Laurens, and his brothers from here may be flying to Indy to go to the game! Lucky guys!!

More Hoar Frost !

We have had this beautiful hoar frost (click to see prof. pictures of it & definition) almost every day for a week! Bill says that sometimes you don't have it at all in a winter. Yesterday, most of the day everything was white with frost, snow and fog - the ground, trees, air and "sky". I did go to Bible study and another apptmt. but several others didn't due to the low visibility for driving.

Today schools all over Iowa are closed. It's 25 degr. and we've had freezing rain coming down since 5 am and wind. We prepare for power outage with this (extra water on hand, laundry done, gas for the generator, groceries) but with our new house and a generator we're in good shape. If there was ever a big ice storm and lots of lines are down, we could be kind of last on the list for repair.

The City of Pocahontas, where Glenn & Amy live, has a whole city generator so they don't have to worry about it much.

Mark Dickey who put our walls and roof up is at Peggy's to fix the machine shed. We're

hoping he can get that done before ice or snow gets heavy on the roof again.

Bill was a little worried this morning about a grain bin that's open. They've been having trouble with one. This one is 3/4 full so he says they'll need to get this corn hauled to town within the next couple of days which may not be easy with this weather.

I love the sun and blue, blue sky we have a lot here. No sun today though.

Raking Snow

(see post below first) This was the beginning of the process of getting the snow off this machine shed. They (Bill, Tim & Carl) started here and cleared off all the snow to the left side of the tractor. This is the older section of the shed and the part that was collapsing. Today they did the right third. Some of you would've loved to see pictures or video of when Tim and Carl were raking & pushing snow too - but some of you wouldn't!!! After this was taken, they were actually ON the roof. I was worried they were going to get the rake or ladder into the power line that's on the left side of the shed (can't see it here)! I should've known they had the power shut off! They try to be safe. :)

(last time one of them was up in the loader on here was Tim when they were cutting down trees - this time it's Bill in the loader and Tim in the tractor)

Bill went to a Fire Board meeting tonight and heard that another shed did collapse today - with milk cows in it.

Heavy Snow on Roofs

There have been several roof collapses in the area including a dairy. Yesterday Bill noticed a problem with the machine shed at Peggy's. 3 out of 5 rafters broken so the raking and pushing of snow began - on several buildings and our houses! Will post a video later tonight or tomorrow.





Bill had raked deep snow off of his mom's roof and decided he better do some on ours too.















This is a big pile of snow in town with Glenn & Amy's old house in the background.

The forecast is for freezing rain or ?? Wed., Thurs., and Fri. or so.

Bill says they've never had to rake snow from roofs before. It's a strange heaviness. We've had the beautiful hoar frost again yesterday and today! I took more pictures today and will post them soon.

Mon. Morning

Diane needed me to be at their house by 7:15 Mon. morning when Todd left for work since she was doing the mail. Lacey slept until 9:45 and then opened her Christmas presents from Bill & me and Grandma Dunk. (we hadn't seen them yet) We gave her this thing she's working on in the picture (like father like daughter! - mechanics) She knew where the screwdrivers were and how to use it! This thing shines a rainbow on the wall and we had to install the batteries. The snowman (below) is in their yard. Lacey & I had lunch at Pizza Ranch (buffet which she said was "very good") and then we waited for her bus to take her to preschool.

On Mon., Bill used his snow blower to clear a path in the cemetery for a funeral today. Yesterday he went to an all day class in Storm Lake for his insurance license. Today he and Tim are at a morning pesticides license class. (farmers go to school in winter!)

I have a long list of people I need to make cards for from sympathy, 50th anniversary, birthday to thank you's so this afternoon I'm making them.

I've also been watching some rescues in Haiti on CNN. What an overwhelming situation there.

Beautiful!

We had this beautiful hoar frost on all the trees today! (click on hoar frost to read about it - scroll down once there) I was wishing that I had time to drive around and take a bunch of pictures! But I started a new Bible study at our church this morning. There were about 30 ladies attending! It's a Beth Moore study (Stepping Up) so we watched her video for about an hour and then broke up into 3 smaller groups for sharing and discussion.

Picked up lunch for Bill & I at the Poky grocery's deli (they have hot food choices for lunch) and then headed to a P.E.O. meeting at 1:00.

Bill and Tim hauled about 6 loads of corn from the grain bins to the elevator today. They've been clearing snow from around the bins this week so that they could get to them.

Winter Grilling in Iowa

just doesn't happen very much! I was hoping that with the new house and a good place to put the grill that I could use it quite a bit this winter. Don't think it's going to happen this year either!

Speaking of grilling, we were going to take Peggy out for her birthday last night but the temps. were going too far below zero (-17 this morning) so we thought we'd wait. I keep calling today and the place we wanted to go for a good steak is not answering and must be closed! Some places here do close for a couple of weeks - they probably head south.

Update - they are open & we're going - to The Fireside in Humboldt. It's not fancy but the food is good - and they do have a fireplace! Last time we did have very good steaks.

Snowmobile Trail

Well, this is NOT what it looks like here today. It's been blizzardy all day. We have 8" new snow. Did not see another vehicle go by our house today. No snow plow since it's been very windy all day so it wouldn't do any good. We could get out of our driveway so far but probably wouldn't get far. I took a video but it sounded like a tractor running in the background instead of the blowing wind so I won't post it.

Bill made it to his mom's this morning (about 3 miles away) to feed his dog and the cats there in her barn. She's kind of at the top of a hill. There are usually a couple of big drifts at the bottom of the hill and then all around her house. He didn't get stuck there but did on the way home - turned a corner a little too short. A friend came and pulled him out with a tractor. Heard that Diane only got the mail delivered to about 5 houses before she got stuck.

Our temp. got up to around 9 or 10 today but is already down to -3 tonight. Schools all over are closed for tomorrow, and I won't be going to my dental appointment. Going to be really cold tomorrow night. We're really glad we're not building a house this winter!

Oh!!!! This is a picture of the Three Rivers Trail that starts near our house and goes east many miles. It's a great trail in winter for snowmobilers although it's been too cold for riding this winter!

More Snow

This was the sunset last night as we went to pick up the Pilot. After the trips to Indiana and Kansas City, it was past due for an oil change.

The picture below is of the snow coming down today. They're saying on the news that the roads are not good. Diane was on the mail route today and was side swiped by a semi and later ended up stuck in the ditch due to not being able to tell where the road was! School was let out early but Diane heard that 3 school buses slid off the road.

I made it to and from an appointment in Pocahontas late morning. Can stay in tomorrow when the snow is supposed to be blowing.

Kids are Funny

My favorite magazine, Country, always has a page or two of funny things kids say. My favorite age of kids is about 3-6 when they come up with funny things and ways of saying things. Here are a few of my favorites from the Feb./Mar. issue:

Walking past a bakery, I asked our granddaughter if she'd like some doughnut holes. "No thanks" she declined. "I'd rather have the doughnuts".

"You are so soft," grandson Jack, 4, told his mother as he snuggled in her lap. "And Grandma's even softer. I don't think she has any bones!"

We told our two little boys that their friends couldn't come over to play because they had chicken pox. "Cool!" they said. "Do they have feathers too?"

Years back, when our grandson was small, I let him sprinkle on a bit of my bath talc. The next time he stayed over, he asked hopefully, "Can I put on some more powdered sugar?"

We have bright sunshine today with 1 degree this afternoon. Bill is blowing snow at his mom's to make way for the 4-7" predicted for tomorrow. I took the ornaments off the Christmas tree this morning. Bill took it apart (3 sections) after lunch and we carried it down to the basement - done!

For those of you who are stampers, be sure to check my Stampin' Up! web site (above right) under Promotions for all that's going on right now including the start of Sale-A-Bration TODAY! (free product with every $50 ordered)

Icicles

No need for those fake icicles on the houses this year! There are plenty of the real ones!

This morning it was -15 and going down to about the same again tonight. I went to the grocery for milk today and also dropped off recycling. With the sun so bright and no wind it didn't seem too bad. Snow is in the forecast for Wed.

Late Christmas in Blue Earth

I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at our outside thermometer when I got up yesterday. It was -27!

We headed north to Blue Earth with Peggy for a late Christmas. This one was to be on Christmas day but everyone in this area of the country was snowed in. This way we were able to go!

This year we were just going to do gifts for kids but Karen & Dave cheated and gave us gifts from the kids.

Matthew was thrilled to get a combine "just like Uncle Bill's! Ryanne was happy with her gifts and we were so glad to not miss hearing the funny comments from the other two!

Everyone had had enough ham and other Christmas food so Dave made his spaghetti and meatballs to go along with salad, garlic bread, oreo salad and gooey, warm choc. dessert with ice cream. Karen and Ryanne go to a cookie walk every year so they always have a pretty variety of Christmas cookies.

Bill has just figured out how to download Netflix movies to the computer and then watch on the TV so now no waiting for a new one in the mail although all are not available this way. We're watching Super Size Me tonight.

Getting Back to It

Before getting married, I had gotten in the habit of walking on the treadmill every day. I've finally gotten back to it this week. In this house, we have it in a front room and can see out to the west and south. This evening I watched the sunset and TV as I walked. Bill is on it now.

It's been right around zero all day today even though the sun was shining bright. Supposed to get down to -10 to -15 tonight.

I liked both of these pictures; one showing the tree and snow outside and one the tree and sunset.