Category Archives: Weather

Snow Fun

We finally got enough snow for our Grands to enjoy sledding on their driveway.

JJ told me he learned how to turn the sled, too.

Meanwhile at our Country Bungalow we enjoy the views from inside.

We try to figure out what animals are leaving what tracks in the snow.

When our kids come to our place they pull around on our drive before they park by the front door. This next photo shows the fun result their truck tires made. This is what I see from our office window.

Double hearts!

Are you enjoying a winter wonderland?

Speaking of Groundhogs

A while back this unwanted groundhog showed up on our property and we did not enjoy the thought of a colony moving in and making underground cities here. As cute as he is, he had to be eliminated.

It’s time for Wednesday Hodgepodge and we are starting with Groundhog Day! Thank you, Joyce.

1. What area of your life feels like you’re stuck in a Groundhog’s Day loop, doing the same thing over and over?

The only thing I can come up with is that once all our morning and afternoon activity is over we tend to sit down in front of the ‘box’ and go into relax mode. We don’t have any regular evening activities to attend these days.  Winter darkness contributes to this. We’ve talked about instituting a reading hour or two instead of doing a lot of watching. We usually retire between 8pm and 9pm so it isn’t hours and hours of TV…but still.

Does it bother you or is that just how life is in this particular season? 

Being in the winter of my life and retired this does not bother me. I do welcome any interruption to the regular evening mode and am ready to venture out when the calendar calls for it. I am happily active during the daylight hours. 🙂

2. Something that makes your heart skip a beat?

The Aurora light shows we had last year made my heart skip!

Holding our newborn children and grandchildren, a beautiful sunset or sunrise, an eagle soaring, any wildlife that suddenly appear in our back yard, our grandchildren’s hugs, a phone call from a loved one, a favorite worship song/hymn, hearing God’s Word expounded, a prompting of the Holy Spirit.

3. Do you wear your heart on your sleeve or are you more of a closed book? Elaborate. 

I don’t think either of those describe me. I’m generally up front and direct and ready to tell the truth. I’m not an overly emotional person unless you attack my loved ones.

4. According to Prevention Magazine, these are 25 of the best foods for heart health-

wild salmon, sardines, liver, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, oatmeal, blueberries, coffee, red wine, green tea, soy milk, dark chocolate, raisins, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, whole grains, apples, oranges, grapefruit, avocado, avocado oil, olive oil 

Which five do you include in your diet most often?

Avocado, walnuts, almonds, oatmeal, coffee

Are there any foods on the list you simply cannot abide? 

My body does not react well to green tea so I avoid it like the plague.

5. What was the last piece of furniture you bought?

The last piece of furniture we bought was a new desk for Greg.

Is there a piece of furniture you need/want to purchase this year? 

NO

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Saturday was the annual Awana Grand Prix and our Grands vehicles did well, My 2 Cents, and Finger-ma-Bobber.

The Grand Prix helped us get out in the late afternoon and evening and change up our Ground Hog Day Loop, woohoo!

Here is a photo I love, taken on Monday and texted to our family group of our DIL and our Granddaughter. It’s still winter, y’all!

Happy February Hodgepodgers!

Snow and Winter Cleaning

We are finally getting a few inches of snow here in Colville. It was a great day to stay inside.  The inspiration came to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen cabinets, trim and the ledge that runs around the upper part of our kitchen filled with tchotchkes.

It is a very good feeling to have all the dust bunnies and the grime cleaned. I’m ready for a white glove inspection.

Spring will take us outdoors to take care of things we didn’t do in the fall so winter indoor cleaning will work nicely for us this year.

Welcome February!

Puzzled

I bought this puzzle in honor of our coo sighting in Scotland. It was a very difficult puzzle.

We finally were able to finish it the end of last week with the sad realization that a piece was missing. We’ve looked everywhere and all the floors in the house have been vacuumed so that is that. We remain puzzled as to where that missing piece might be.

JJ came over on Monday and he helped me finish a 12 days of Christmas puzzle. Oops, I didn’t take a photo of the completed puzzle. It was refreshingly easy after the difficult Coo puzzle. JJ also organized the Little People nativity.

We had snow on Tuesday night into Wednesday that turned to rain and melted all the snow off the main roads.

We are pretty well set except for our Christmas meals. We have our cut of meat ordered and the menu set. I’m hoping to bake some cookies that I have the ingredients for, too. How are things in your corner?

A Hodgepodge Full of Cliches!

We made it to our little Country Fair Parade on Saturday morning. We were only sprinkled on and didn’t get wet…just sprinkled. ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.’ Our Grands were able to gather a bunch of candy as the different participants in the parade threw the treats to the sides of Main street. Our Fire department starts the parade off with their sirens and such and that is why Addy and JJ have their ear protection on! ‘Better Safe than Sorry’

Onward to our questions of the week…

Yikes! It’s the last Wednesday Hodgepodge for August! Thank you to Jo, From This Side of the Pond, for the questions that ‘give us a run for our money‘.

1. What is one cliche you think is nonsense?

‘Easy as pie’, for me, is nonsense. Getting the pie crust just right and making a great pie without a ‘soggy bottom’ is not easy for me. I wasn’t raised with a pie baking mom so making a pie has always been intimidating. That said, I do appreciate my pie making friends and their great pies with the crust being just right!

What’s one you think holds truth?  

‘Ugly as sin’ Sin is ugly and has caused all the trouble we’ve ever seen in our world or will ever see. So thankful that God made a way for us to be out from under it’s condemnation! That way came through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for our sin. Colossians 1:13-14: For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

2. What’s the last thing you broke and how did it happen? 

Recently, I knocked a stemless wine glass off my little side table and it shattered and traveled to many places unknown. The glass did not have wine in it, it was empty which was a good thing! It was a cheap variety of glass, too, not a Riedel, (if you know, you know). ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk’

3. Are you a fan of s’mores? Have you had a s’more this summer?

Not a fan and no I haven’t had a s’more this summer.

Last thing you ate that you wanted to ask for ‘s’more of’? 

A Scone with lemon curd. ‘One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s poison’

4. A mode of transportation you’ve never tried? Will you someday? 

I’ve never tried a Hover board and I will never try them. I’m at the ‘it’s too easy to break a hip’ stage of life! ‘Don’t Play With Fire’

5. Believe it or not, next week’s Hodgepodge lands in a brand new month. What’s your happiest memory from the month we’re bidding adieu? 

My favorite part of August was when Josh and Laura came for a 4 day visit in the middle of the month. All the gathering moments together were sweet and it’s always good to spend time together ‘face to face’.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of Josh and Laura, they celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary this past Sunday.

This is what I posted on Facebook about them…
Thanking God today for your twenty third wedding anniversary Josh and Laura!
We are so thankful to God for creating each of you and bringing you together, the very best of teams. Your generosity and caring hearts have helped so many. Your niece and nephews’ lives have been enriched with your love and care and generosity! May God continue to strengthen you in Him and with each other and in the ‘Body of Christ’! We love you, we love you, we love you!
Pops and I will take you out for dinner in Scotland to celebrate…soon!!
Happy Cliche Hodgepodge y’all. I hope to get around to most of you this week. Wow! Labor Day weekend is just ahead of us. Put on those white shoes and celebrate those remaining days of summer!

Last Saturday

Saturday morning the 17th of August we hit the Rotary Trail at 9am.

JJ was determined that Uncle Joshie would get him a Cat Tail from the trail.

The Battle of the Cat Tails!

Father and son #1. Our 2nd son was working this Saturday.

After our walk Greg and I headed home while the rest of our crew headed up to Bayles Mountain. An outing on the water was planned for after Dan’s work hours. That post is coming soon.

The Rotary Trail runs along and through the golf course and it is beside the high school and our little Colville airport. We noticed this huge craft at the air field. We’ve had several air resources around to help with the fires in our region.

Back to the current Saturday we had a nice amount of rain overnight and a lot of wind. There were many power outages around our county. Thankfully we weren’t part of any outages. Hopefully the storm aided instead of created more fire danger. The Fair is in town since Thursday and runs through Sunday. Greg and I went to the Fair on Thursday morning. Boise Cascade, a local company, pays for the first 1200 fair goers on Thursday and we were 2 of those 1200! There is a Fair parade this morning and I’ll meet up with our Grands for that. Other than that it will be a quiet Saturday.

Mornings around here are feeling more and more like Fall. Enjoy your last full weekend in August.

Soft and Quick

Our soft quiet snow was nice while it lasted. The 5 inches we got has quickly melted. Some people just 5 miles from us only got an inch. Our kids on the other side of town got 3 inches. Now we are in the drip drip drip melting stage.

It’s always fun to scientifically document the snowfall. 🙂

Praying for our friend who used to blog, Pam. She is having brain surgery today.

I’ve prayed for many friends who I have met through blogging.

Philippians 2:4: “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

In Like a Cat?

We’ve had some varied Winter weather here the last few days. Thursday and Friday the skies were blue with pretty white clouds and very cold. This is the view we have as we get close to the highway traveling from our home.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. Psalm 19:1-2
Grateful for our views where God has planted us for this season of our lives. Thank you, LORD.

March has not come in like a Lion and I hope it still will go out like a lamb.

This photo is looking back driving towards our home from the highway.

Saturday we had a change in the weather and got some wet snow that started to stick for a while.

It all melted off the plants and posts and bird houses by Saturday evening.

I might have spoken too soon about March coming in like a cat instead of a lion because this morning we woke up to another 3 inches of fluffy snow! And now we have 5 inches!

We have some busier days ahead in March, especially with Easter landing on the very last day of March this year.

How does March look for you?

What’s Your View Hodgepodge

Joyce, From This Side of the Pond has new questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge to inspire the Thinker in us.

I love this view from August of 2019 when a few of our MGCC (Mennonite Girls Can Cook) friends came to camp in our front acre for a few days. Such a fun time of eating and fellowship together.

1. What kind of thinker are you-doer concrete thinking) analyst (analytical and abstract thinking), orator (logical thinking) inventor (imaginative thinking) or original thinker (creative)? What makes you say so? You can try this little quiz (link here) to help with your answer. 

I scored the highest in Doer/Original Thinker. Get er done people! 🙂

2. Do you own a crock pot, air fryer, and/or instapot? Do you leave said small appliance sitting out? How often do you use it/them? Favorite thing to make in one of these? 

Just a Crock pot. We had an instapot for awhile but I gave it to our kids because it mostly sat in the cupboard. Crock pot is in my pantry. I use it infrequently. I like to use it for a roast or for Carnitas.

3. What’s something you hold a strong opinion on that matters not at all in the grand scheme of things? 

Coffee should be black and unadulterated. No flavored coffee for me, please. Freshly ground, too, please. And strong, please. Make it strong. Is that a strong enough opinion?

4. Describe the view from your window. 

When we were looking for our retirement home in 2018, one of the desires I expressed was to have views out my windows that did not include a neighbor’s carport or any building in close proximity. I’m so grateful for our views. This is our kitchen sink window view. We see trees and mountains and horses and barns in the distance. Sometimes we see haystacks or rolls of hay. Frequently we are visited by deer, turkeys, quail, barn swallows and occasionally we smell a skunk. Just to keep it real we also get that foul smell in the air sometimes because there are lots of cows around us. It reminds us that we live in the country.

5. Do you have a favorite brand? Explain.

Toyota. We love our Toyotas. Our Toyotas have served us well and lasted a long time. Our Toyota Van was the first brand new Toyota we bought in 1985 just before Katie was born. Our 1992 Toyota Corolla all track was such a great car in the snow. We gifted our used Toyotas to our kids and they served them well, too.  Our 1999 Camry was gifted to Katie and Andrew. Katie and I drove it across the U.S. from the Seattle area to Camp LeJeune, Jacksonville N.C. in 2014 to set up an apartment for K & A upon Andrew’s return from Afghanistan. That car made it back from Jacksonville with Katie and Andrew after Andrew’s service was completed and they used it until 2020ish.  That Toyota was then gifted to our Grand Nephew who lives in Southern California. Unfortunately it was totaled in an accident last year. Our Grand Nephew was not injured in that accident and it was not his fault. In total we’ve purchased 5 new Toyotas. We also purchased 4 used Toyotas. Currently we still have our 2007 Camry and we have a 2019 Toyota Highlander.

On our cross country trip in 2014, our first stop from our home in Kenmore for the night was in Bozeman, Montana. When we woke up and looked out the window we saw the car covered with snow. That was not something we anticipated. We put our big girl pants on and soldiered on with God’s help to our next stop in Rapid City, South Dakota.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Seajack 6 pentax-001

This is the rear view mirror of that 1999 Camry looking back on the highway during our epic journey across the USA in 2014. It was fun to look back and remember this trip with my daughter with all it’s twists and turns.

Sunshine Makes Us Smile

I finished this latest puzzle just in the nick of time before we needed the dining table for our dinner last Friday night. This was a fun puzzle to do. Garden scenes for each month of the year. There was enough variation in the patterns that it was easy to find where the pieces would fit.

We finally got some dry hours with sunshine breaking through on Wednesday the 7th and the grands enjoyed traipsing around their yard!

It made them giddy. Sunshine can do that to a person.