Category: The Seasons

Today, after a night of icing, everything warmed up and we had rain! Fog descended down over the lake, and just hovered over the snow in our yard. It made everything look very mysterious!

The puppies were not entirely convinced that they wanted to go out. Imagine having to walk though ankle deep ice cold water to get to a snow bank to do your business. I think if it were me, I would be in quite a pickle! (Bad situation!)

The puppies, however, have rallied and slip, slip slipped around out there and eventually got things done.

Hubby has been working hard in the driveway, as we had a good 2 inches of ice on it. He had to chop it, break it up and then shovel it off. Fritz, faithful dog that he is, sat there keeping his Daddy company the entire time.

My job was to prepare good hot meals for Hubby all day long, and go out with the puppies too.

It’s still raining, but in a few hours a cold front will clear the skies and our temperatures will drop from the warm upper 40’s (F) back into the low 20’s. Oh well it still is winter, after all.

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Today is also the second anniversary of Shubi’s passing. She was such a great dog and I still miss her every day. Greta and the puppies help, but…

FOUR FEET

I have done mostly what men do,
And pushed it out of my mind;
But I can’t forget, if I wanted to,
Four-Feet trotting behind.

Day after day, the whole day through–
Wherever my road inclined–
Four-Feet said, ‘I am coming with you!’
And trotted along behind.

Now I must go by some other round–
Which I shall never find–
Some where that does not carry the sound
Of Four-Feet trotting behind.

— Rudyard Kipling —

It’s snowing…again! When I look outside and I see all that deep white snow, it just boggles the mind! And it is still coming down!

Now this is not normal for New Hampshire. What is normal is about half the snow that we have already had and a fair amount of icy cold temperatures. This winter wonderland, which resembles the far reaches of our country, say Alaska, are just…not right!

Hubby is out snow blowing again for the millionth time, and the snow banks are getting so tall that they dwarf the dachshunds! One snow bank in the back yard, must be a good four and a half feet tall!

Yes, the trees are pretty and the lake is lovely to look at, but as it is only early February, I must ask the question “When is this going to end?”

I want to see the green grass again, to be able to go outside without having to bundle up in my boots and winter coat, hat and gloves. I want the sun to shine on my face, and to see things grow from the earth.

Punxsutawney Phil says we are going to have six more weeks of winter, and I am just not sure I can stand it! Imagine six more weeks of having 5-10 inches of snow every few days!

When will it end?

The year is beginning with…more snow! It started about 11 this morning and it is still snowing tonight. There must be at least 8-10 inches more of the white, wet, fluffy stuff!

Of course the puppies are in puppy dog heaven! They go out and play and play! The girls came by and took them out back sledding on the hill. I grabbed the camera and got these shots!

Emily holding Anneliese and Arnie chasing them!

‘Snow’ much fun!

Doesn’t this look fun?

My favorite picture.

Dachshunds, dashing through the snow!

Now I love the snow. I love watching the pups and the kids playing in the snow, but come on, we are getting close to the 4 foot mark for snowfall, and it is only January 2nd!

Can you tell I am a New Englander? We New England natives tend to talk about the weather a lot. We complain if it is too sunny, too warm, too cold or too rainy, not to mention snowy. In fact I believe that we only have about 5 days of weather each year that most New Englanders will agree are good.

And yet, if you try to remove us from our native land, we will complain and find nothing wonderful about the new abode. The fact is, we like our 4 seasons, we like to complain about the weather and most of all, we just like where we are.

I know I have whined about all the snow, but the fact is, when I watch the pups and the kids and the beauty of the trees and the lake when they are covered with snow, I am glad that we are…

home.

While Hubby went skiing yesterday, I grabbed my camera and went out to document yet another snow storm. It was quite beautiful, really, but heck at this point I think even those of us that love the snow are getting sick of it. In fact, we are due again tomorrow night for more snow. It just keeps on coming!

However, yesterday was a delight, just to stand there and see the beauty around me.

This was taken as the sun was rising.

Looking out across the lake.

The Enterprise apple tree in our front yard.

The snow did not last on the trees. Soon it was warm enough that the snow fell, and everything turned to slush! Yuck.

Hubby arrived home and he worked on de-icing the drive. The pups played and a pot of turkey soup simmered. Yes, it was the typical after Christmas sort of day.

We worked more on removing ice. The driveway is iced, the back yard, a mess really. Hubby worked in the drive nearly all day until we decided to go out to the store and buy more salt and some food for the New Year’s Eve celebration we will have. It’ll be just Hubby and me, but a few special hors d’oeuvres, will be served as we toast in the New Year.

Have any of you started thinking about New Years Resolutions? I have been. I have decided to make two. Just two. I’ll write about those tomorrow.

Another Year is about to end! I can’t believe it!

I woke up at 1 o’clock on Thursday morning and it was snowing hard. I had a glass of water, and went back to bed thinking that we would get the 3-6 inches of the white stuff after all. Since there was nothing I could do, I climbed under the covers and slept soundly.

Upon rising at 7:00 I found a “Winter Wonderland” outside. I put on my boots, hat, coat and gloves and walked the puppies in the deep snow. Heck, we already had 6 inches of new snow! I checked the TV and found out that the schools were closed, so I called Emily and asked if she wanted to come over for blueberry pancakes! In less than 15 minutes she was here, covered in snow, but happy not to have school!

After breakfast, Hubby went out to use the snow blower on our driveway, (500 feet long) and Emily and I sat singing Christmas carols and wrapping Christmas gifts. It was so much fun!

By midday, we had even more snow and Hubby and Em and I all had Hot-Wings for lunch.

We had an appointment for Anneliese at the Veterinarian and Hubby was kind enough to drive us. We used our big 4 wheel drive pick-up truck to get there. We were safe, but unfortunately there were many accidents in our area, including one that shut down the major highway near us.

We drove downtown to get the mail, and I jumped out of the truck and into a snow bank that came up to my knees! After that it was just one step after another into deeper and deeper piles of snow!

We came home and played outside with the puppies. Emily is always a great sport and will take a run in the deepest snow to encourage the puppies to follow her.

Emily and the puppies in the snow.

It is the evening now, and it’s still snowing. I think we are closing in on about 12 inches of snow, while Hubby says it’s about 10 inches. All I know is that there is a lot of deep snow outside and more expected tonight before it all ends.

For me this means staying in my boots until I fall into bed tonight. For Hubby it means more snow blowing duty, as we have an oil delivery tomorrow!

Snow, Snow & More Snow!!!

It has snowed and rained and iced here tonight. I think good old Mother Nature can’t make up her mind.

One thing is for sure, the roads are a mess.

Which means it’s a good time to stay home and finish our annual Christmas letter.

It was tough this year. There was so much to write about, and yet we limit ourselves to a single sheet of paper. However, Hubby’s great composition skills and my computer savvy, seemed to have put together an interesting read.

I sure hope so, as I would hate to think that anyone would get our letter and exclaim, “Oh No”!

So now Hubby will print them up and I will finish addressing the envelopes. True team work!

Maybe I can get the dogs to lick the envelopes!

Ha!

Yes, another season is upon us. I could tell that it was so, the moment I woke up this morning. The sky was that dark gray that seems to creep in, in November. The air felt dry and cool, and the leaves, the ones that remain on the trees, still shock the senses as they contrast against the morning sky.

It’s on mornings like this that I feel lazy. Part of me just wants to stare out the window and contemplate the falling leaves and the passage of another season in the year.

I ran out to get the mail at noontime, and during my travels I saw a flock of wild turkeys! Of course I had no camera, not even my cell phone! Rats! But I stopped and watched them for a moment and thought, “Yep, it’s November. The Turkeys are here”.

I returned from getting our mail and made lunch, and just as I sat down to eat I saw the turkeys coming down the hill into my back yard! Quietly and slowly, so as not to wake the dogs, I got my camera and headed out to the back yard through our guest room.

I think they came to see me. They knew just how much I wanted a good picture of them. They stayed in the yard for about half an hour and then moved back up the hill and into the woods.

Perhaps this is another reason I love living where I do. I truly enjoy certain types of wild beasts when they roam into our yard. Turkeys, birds, chipmunks, squirrels are all okay.

The skunks, moose, deer, bears and porcupines can just keep on going down the road!

I woke in the night to the sounds of high winds blowing around our home. The first year we built our home we would listen to the winds and knew that they were high, but had no way of knowing just how hight they were. So we purchased a weather system complete with an ananometer. Now we know just how quickly the wind is blowing by our house. Last night the high wind was 41 miles per hour!

Our house is at the end of a large lake, and in the summer the winds feel refreshing. In the Autumn, winter and spring, they can chill you to the bone. Needless to say I have warm hats, coats and gloves for me, and for the dachshunds, cute little sweaters to wear when their is snow on the ground.

Sunday was just chilly and VERY windy.

So, what did I do on the first kind of cold day that we have had this Autumn? I puttered around the house a bit, and then took a long nap so I am ready for the Red Sox Baseball game tonight.

Yes, this could be it. The Red Sox could win the World Series if all goes well. The fans in Red Sox Nation are all holding their breath. You see we have suffered. All through my childhood “The Curse Of The Bambino” was with us. You can read about the Curse here.

But every child knew, and at the end of every season we watched, even though it wasn’t a pretty sight to see our beloved Red Sox go down in flames! In 2004 the team broke free of the “Curse” and we won the World Series, (The World Chapionship of Baseball) but even now we sit and wait and hold our breath, not knowing if it will happen again.

I slept, I will have regular coffee with my dinner and hopefully I will stay up to watch my beloved baseball team win. If you hear screaming and crying it means that they lost this game, and we have to play another. After all it is the best 4 games out of 7 and since they have already won 3 (way beyond our wildest expectations) even if they lost this game, there is always the next game…for now.

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I took this last summer at the end of the day. We have the most beautiful sunsets then.