Winter Storm Warning

In north Texas we do occasionally get winter storms. They aren't what our northern friends and family are used to, but they are winter storms, non the less. Ice is never fun, to walk on or drive on. But, that is what we get a lot of. This is what we had on January 28, 2009.
After much work, by the two of us, Jeff was able to drive his car out of the driveway and make the slow trek to the store, to get it opened. See the blank spot? All the white around it was about 1/2 inch of ice. Thankfully, we have a gravel driveway, to add traction.
After he left, I thought, oh what is my car like?? So, I very carefully walked over to the Chevy Blazer. Here it is. The front grill had icicles!
Then the rest of the car was a thick sheet of ice. So, I decided to let the sun do its thing and walked back in the house. Yesterday's high, was to get above freezing and I wasn't going anywhere on icy roads anyway. We had called off our spinning group gathering, a very hard thing to do. :)

Here is the view of some of the woods from my front porch.

This picture of icicles is on the back deck.

Then the grass! Let's not forget every piece of grass, had its own individual coating too.

As the sun came up, came the promise of a good day and a beautiful blue sky with the sparkles of ice.

We did stay safe, which is a major concern. We found out that a customer of ours fell and was in ICU over night. The doctors were hoping to move her to a regular room today though. Thank you, Father God for Your care.

Nature

About a week or two ago we had some really horrendous winds here. The mph was enough to blow over the table on the deck and the umbrella and stand with it. I went into the kitchen and was fixing dinner and looked out the back window and saw this. This little nest was hanging on by a thread! I hadn't seen it there before and with the tree being right outside my window, I don't think it had been. It was truly amazing to me to see hit hanging there as the tree was swaying back and forth.

Then a couple of days later, I started hearing some banging on the bathroom window. Now it is

20 feet in the air, so I was really curious about what was making this racket. I went and looked and there was a tiny bird there, knocking on the window. When I moved closer to look at him, he turned his head to see me and didn't fly away. When I talked to him he listened and then left. He did come back many times over the next hour and I saw him stretching his neck to see me when I walked into the room. Note to self: This is why you don't get a lot done, you are distracted by cute little animals.

Well, I told the man about it and he was like, ho-hum. So, I went on. I got out my camera and had it ready to take a picture the next time he came by. My visitor kept coming each morning. Then he came on Sunday. He had changed his routine a bit. Figured out he could see into the house at the front door. Well, Jeff FINALLY saw him. He was perched on the "spider stick" in front of the window by the door. These photos were taken by me, through the window next to the front door. He sure is a tiny little guy.Haven't figured out what he is yet, but that is one reason to take the picture and post it here. Maybe someone else will know. :)

The spider stick is a long stick that we use to knock down spider webs around the front door. Spiders are good to have, but we are trying to train them not to build their webs, in front of our front or back doors. There is the whole of the woods to do that, even the side of the house or to the side of the front door, not in front of it. So, that is how the spider stick came into being. We scoop up the web and spider and move it or else we will have to walk through it and that is not a wonderful concept.

Anna's Shawl

Well, Christmas has come and gone and so has New Years, for that matter. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a Happy New Year!

In our home we go straight from Christmas to a string of birthdays, with the first being Anna's on Dec 27. I try to make items for people's birthdays, so I am not so crunched at Christmas, but of course, with so many birthdays being between Dec and February, I am kind of crunched anyway. But, it is OK and I love to knit, so we muddle through somehow. LOL!

Sometimes my knitting comes from a pattern already written and then sometimes the pattern I use is my newest design. Which is Anna's Shawl? A new design. She asked for a black shawl and I must say, she put it in a way, that didn't put any pressure on me. She just asked that if I wanted to make her something sometime, she would like a black shawl. Yipppeeeee! I had a shawl idea in my head, but hadn't taken the time to start making it. Most of the time when I am designing something new, I make it at least twice, sometimes, 3 or 4 times. So far this shawl has been 2 times. I used the Ashford Tekapo yarn. It is such a great yarn to use.