Winter blues

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had it. The last storm did me in. We got somewhere in the neighborhood of 12" or more and very strong winds. Gramma and I were at the annual NRA banquet in town that night and on the way home we had blizzard conditions. Never drove faster than 15 mph. Scary.

I can no longer see the bale feeder from the front window. I'll have to use the bobcat to make a path to the bird feeders so the little birdies don't starve. I was unable to clear the driveway with the snowplow, cause the snow was too deep and too heavy. Had to use the bobcat for the first 1/3rd or so before the plow would work and even then it wasn't easy. I know, "stop whining" right? Longest, coldest, snowiest winter since we've lived here. And now it's back in the freezer again.

In other news, we have never had a squirrel bother the bird feeders before, but when we did, it was a black one. Cool.

Here's a pic of some wooden trucks my B-I-L Stan made. Pretty cool huh? When I first saw the pics he sent I said I wanted to buy some for our grand kids, but after he sent these I realized that they wouldn't last long around any of our grandsons except maybe James, so I'll just keep these to look at. Awesome job Stan. Took Gramma to the airport today. Two weeks in Detroit. Yuck. Oh well, that's two weeks I won't have to put the toilet seat down. Of course it'll take at least a week or so for me to remember. Anywho we'll sure miss her. Be good, be careful and be sure to keep your bird feeders accessible. Ta.

BIRTHDAY!

Today is our "FDL's" birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE! You sure picked a good day for it. Our thermometer read 27.9 degrees below zero this morning. Coldest so far this winter. Supposed to warm up now. Yeah right. Anyway, we hope you have a great day and we love you.

Mom and Dad.

In other news, here is the last jar of syrup.

It's sitting next to the one thing that is was made to be put on. ICE CREAM. Not pancakes or waffles or other undeserving foods. Knock, knock you puddin' heads. Oh well, doesn't look right now that there will be any syrup this year. The snow is deeper than last year and I really struggled getting sap at the beginning. I also cook it down with propane and the price of propane has increased fourfold just in the last month due to a shortage and the cold weather this winter. People are having a hard time getting it to heat ther homes. I'll have to look into making a wood boiler. Anywho, that's about it. Be good, be careful, be warm and be sure to stay out of Georgia for the next few days so you don't get caught in the 1" to 2" blizzard.

Winter

Saturday Gramma and I stopped at Ted and Sue's to drop off 10 lbs. of hamburger which we accidentally received. (This is another story which may or may not be told) While we were there Sue asked if we tired of winter yet. Gramma said she was and I said " no not yet". Well, as of today I have officially changed my mind. Winter sucks. Being without the bobcat has created some challenges. It's not easy starting a 40 year old diesel tractor when it's 20 below zero. You have to plug in the tank heater and then make a tent out of tarps and poly and then put a heater under that and let it run all night. I won't even mention the other problems.  (Are you shedding a tear yet?) Anyway the parts for the bobcat are supposed to be in tomorrow, so hopefully it'll be going by next week. Then we can get the tractor fixed.

The snow is level across the dog pen and the deck from one end to the other.

Here's where I got the plow stuck today. First time I ever slid off the driveway. Had to get Gramma out of her office and into the other truck to pull me out. She did it, but she laughed at me. :(

Here's one of our big puppies.

Here's the other one. I think they're getting tired of winter too. Anyhoo that's about it. Be good, be careful and be sure to keep your plow truck out of the ditch. Here endeth the lesson. Ta.

The Bayou, Aliens and UFO's

Hey, did anyone miss me? No? I didn't think so. Well, shortly before Christmas I went down to Smith Bayou to help them turn the other half of the garage into a bedroom. We also put new siding on the outside too. Everything went well and they finished it after I left and did a great job. They also sent a bad case of poison ivy home with me so, I just want say how much I've enjoyed that.

Here's the older kids ready for the Christmas program at church. They clean up pretty good huh? The program was all music and it was really good.

Here's the whole gang with their old Grampa at Bass Pro. I like to go there and see stuff, but man is it expensive. Anyway we had a good time.

We finally found out who's been making the "Crop Circles" in the snow and it turns out it's not "Aliens", just some deer. Gramma was worried.

We did however find something really strange in the snow by the driveway. As I was letting the dogs out one night, I saw a strange red glow down by the west edge of the driveway. So I armed myself, grabbed a flashlight and went to see what it was.

This is what I found.

This is with the flash on. 

Here it is on the garage floor. A drone. Called our son and he said to call the Sheriff and report a crashed small aircraft. He also said that next time I shouldn't pick it up just in case. Anyway a deputy came out and then another one came out also because they said everyone was curious to know what it was. No camera on it and we decided it was someone's lost toy. An expensive toy. So the next day I was at the neighbors shop and showed him a picture and he said "Hey, that's mine". Turns out he was flying it around his place just before dark and it just took off way up in the sky and then just fell back down. He looked for it out in the swamp between our places, but never thought it would get all the way over to our place. So he was happy. $600.00 happy. Anyway that's it for now, I'll try to post more often. Until next time, be good, be careful and be sure to control your aircraft at all times. Ta.