So, how much snow do we have?

We have so much snow that I am surprised the mailman will still deliver our mail. We had to dig out the mailbox, as you can see. Everybody in the neighborhood is dealing with this problem.
I've seen a few people who have put a five gallon bucket out for the newspaper. One solution for the mail that I really like is this one -

This neighbor just bought a new mail box and set it on top of the snow. Their 'real' mailbox is about 3 feet closer to the house, buried in the snow.

We have so much snow that our projected water needs should be met for the summer, and then some. We have so much snow that we are wondering if our roof will collapse. You can see the ice dams in this pic.

We have so much snow that we are trying to figure out where to shovel the snow.

We have so much snow that it looks like a drunken cake decorator overdid it when frosting the pine trees. ( you can see the top of the railing on our back porch in the left corner of the picture)

We have so much snow that the neighbors are meeting in the street (when we need to take a break from shovelling our driveways and walks) and wishing we all lived in Mesa, or other points south. Sunday's snow totalled about 24 inches, after you count the 6 new inches that were on the ground when we woke up on Monday morning.

I'm trying to be a good sport, but really.....

Today's snow storm (the 3rd in a week) has dumped 12 plus inches on us. Church was cancelled.
I am quite tired of this stuff. Could we have a vote and have spring come next week?
You can see in this pic that myDH is shoveling snow up and over his height (he is 5-11).
This next shot shows the front yard, you may remember our yard stick that has been measuring snow. Good thing it is a four foot long yardstick. You can see that a regular 3 foot one would not be showing up anymore!

Green Thumb Sunday - African violets, an antidote to winter

We are getting another storm o' snow today, it's good to have African violets to enjoy when it looks like we may have moved to Iceland or something. (This is the third storm this week, we will probably get another 1o inches. )

This is a pretty deep pink violet, and I am looking forward to its' blooms.

Happy GTS !

Show and Tell Friday- Christmas revisited

Today is show and tell Friday. Head over to Kelli's blog, There is No Place Like Home, and see what everyone else is sharing today!

We only have a few nativities that we put out at Christmas time. The one I want to show you today is our newest one, my DH found it at a local thrift store, and it is really fun.

One of the things I like about this nativity set is the adorable faces. I don't know if these were handmade, or bought somewhere. The green-tone of the glaze is unusual, but I like it a lot.

Overall, I'd say DH did well on this purchase. This will be something we will enjoy every time we get it out for the holidays.

President Gordon B. Hinckley, 1910-2008

This pictureof President Hinckley is from the Meridian magazine:

What a great man President Gordon B. Hinckley was. It is stunning that he has passed away, even though he was 97 years old. I am glad he is with his wife again, and I hope to never forget the inspiring example he has been. He was an example of kindness, of ‘get it done’; of ‘lengthen your shuffle’; of soldiering on. I hope I will always remember his example of service and character. He was the epitome of humility and humanity.

I was grateful to have the opportunity to be in General Conference meetings (and other events) and be part of the crowd who stood to show respect and honor to the president and prophet of the Lord. I appreciated his sense of humor as he used his cane, not to walk with, but to playfully tap people on the head. He was gentle and unassuming, but powerful in following the Lord and getting things done. I hope I can be more like him. I want to be better, I want to serve better in the church and in our home, and be able to end my life with no regrets, as he did. What a great man! He said, “I’m just trying to move the work forward.”

Green Thumb Sunday early Jasmine bloom

Well, it is a great surprise to see that my pink Jasmine is about to bloom! It is sitting in front of a window with it's larger cousin, glad to be in out of the cold. Yahoo! I love the wonderful smell of jasmine. Don't know why it is blooming so early, but I am not complaining. Happy GTS to all!

Show and Tell Friday - Why Red is better than Green

It's show and tell Friday again, head over to Kelli's blog to see what everyone else has up this Friday!

This is a little 'knick-knack' I bought at the local knick-knack shop, it was even a deal.

I see a lot of John Deere tractor 'stuff'' - I think there is some nostalgia for those of us who grew up in the country, but I like the red tractors better than the green ones.

I am a farmer's daughter. My Dad is retired now, at age 74, and even sold his tractor last year. (He was renting out a field so he could 'farm' a little bit.) My Dad's tractors were always red or orange, because he preferred Farmall and Case tractors to the more ubiquitous John Deere.

When I saw this harvest tractor, I thought of him. When I was a child, it was a special privilege to get to ride with Dad on the tractor, as he was coming in from the field. I remember him fixing it when it broke, and even a tractor race he had one day with his brother out on the road they lived on.

GARDEN BLOGGERS BLOOM DAY JANUARY 2008

Well, nothing new is happening around here, our best crop outside is snow flakes. The African violets are still blooming, purple with white fringe, the pink ruffly one, and the red-purple violet. I see a few buds on my other plants, but so far, no new colors.
The creamy white poinsettia is still plugging along, even though Christmas is long over.

My little rosemary plant is still blooming, too. I am thinking I will be able to keep it alive until I can plant it out in the spring.

I am looking forward to my two jasmine plants will bloom, but that will probably not be until March. Happy GMD!

Show and Tell Friday

Want to see everyone's show and tell? Head over to Kelli's blog, There is no place like home and enjoy the fun.

Does anybody else feel like the week runs by too fast? I can't believe it's Friday already.

This decorative jar was a gift from a dear friend of mine. It’s basically an oversized knick-knack, and I keep it on top of my dresser. I love the color and design. I

have a few other oriental type decorations that I keep there with this. We used this and other blue and white oriental-type decorations for one of our daughter’s receptions.

Just as an aside, the top disappeared after that reception. I figured it just got lost or thrown out accidentally as we cleaned up and packed up at the end of the reception. Months later, I saw that another daughter was using it as a butter dish! So I snagged it back.

Endless snow !

I've mentioned before that we've lived here in Utah (on the 'bench' at 5,000 feet) for 7 years. We've seen some pretty good snows. We need the snow so we have enough spring run-off for the reservoirs, Utah is a desert, after all. However, we've been blessed with plenty of snow these past few weeks. This first picture was taken on Christmas day, when we had a total of 12 inches of snow, over a period of a few days. (the ruler that you can see sticking out here is still out there, buried somewhere in the snow-we'll find it in the spring.) So we put a yard stick in the yard. It actually measures 48 inches instead of the usual 36. Although it is hard to see, by January 6th we had a net measurement of 14 inches. The snow tends to compact somewhat, so even though we got more than 2 inches, that is our measurement for Sunday.

We actually got about 6 inches or so that day, trust me, my achin' back knows, after two sessions of shovelling that day.

This is the yard stick showing the new snow we got this morning. At 8 a.m., we had gotten 11 inches on the driveway.

This is the birdfeeder, such as it is. I cleared it off twice today so our little finches and chickadees could get to the food.

Yeah, I can't read this, either.

Let's get in a little closer. Oh, it reads at 30 inches!!!!! Bottom line, it has snowed all day, I've never seen it snow this much here before. We spent a lot of the day shovelling the driveway, and the sides of the driveway are piled so high, we can barely throw the snow up there. We estimate we got 24 inches today. Crazy...

Here is the 12 year old, trying to knock some of the snow off of the tree.

Lots of effort, as you can see.

Happy Winter, everyone! We are hoping they are just kidding about the additional 2 - 3 inches we are s'posed to get tonight.

Green Thumb Sunday same old, same old

Not many changes for this Sunday: the rosemary is still blooming,
the poinsettia is the last Christmas decoration up, and the African violets are blooming, but looking a bit faded. These mums are the last of some lovely flowers I received earlier.
It is great to have seed catalogs to study through and dream about spring!

Check out others who are particpating in Green Thumb Sunday.

More backyard birds

We see these Stellar jays around the neighborhood from time to time. This guy made quite a few pit stops at the (decaying) birdfeeder today, between storms.
This is not the best photo, but this little bird is a fast one. We think it is a mountain chickadee. Again, anyone with more bird knowledge, please let me know if I've got the names wrong.

Stocking up before the storm...and bird I.D.'s

Today we have had temperatures above freezing for the first time since before Christmas, I think. The weather forecasters tell us it is 'the warm before the storm' that is blowing in from California. My daughter and I set up this redneck birdfeeder, a few days ago,which hasn't seen much action before today. I am italicizing my added remarks. We went to the library and checked out a few bird identifying books, and so I think this first bird is a housefinch (with the lovely red markings). You can see it is a creatively styled birdfeeder made from a shoebox and aluminum foil. The pine branches are supposed to protect the food from snow, but are more decorative than useful.

I'll try and find out what kind of birds (finches??) have been visiting, the little red headed one is a favorite of mine. My best guess on this bird with the black head, is that it is an oregon sparrow. If anyone has some better ideas, please let me know! We are not experienced 'birders' here, by any means.

At any rate, they were coming and going at a fast pace, while I tried to snap pictures through the back door (you can see the window frames in the first pic).

After I had taken a lot of pics of the birdfeeder and birds, I heard the familiar scrawtch of pheasants. They weren't about to get up on the back deck to reach the bird food, but they were out and about! I often see them in the yard.

Today I saw two (only got a pic of one), and was also lucky enough to get a photo of that one pheasant flying away.

Maybe I'll put some food out for the pheasants, too. They really are lovely birds.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY - rosemary

This little rosemary plant stayed in the 3" pot I bought it in. I don't know if it will make it thru the winter, but so far, so good. It is a nice surprise to have it bloom! When we lived in CA, we had some type of trailing rosemary that always bloomed, but I haven't had a rosemary bloom (or live) here in Utah before.

This is the view from our driveway, east towards the mountains. We have had snow fall almost every day since Christmas Eve, so there is quite a bit more, now. We are at 5, 000 feet on the 'bench', so if the valley gets 3 inches and the mountains get 2 feet, we get somewhere in between those two numbers. It is lovely. Maybe we'll go sledding today (I don't ski, unfortunately).

Green Thumb Sunday - 'white' poinsettia

I don't really grow these, of course, but I do love poinsettias. This year I have a lovely white one. We all know they are more of a yellow-y cream color, but still, it is something beautiful and blooming at Christmastime. I like the red ones, the pink ones, and the striped ones are starting to grow on me, but who can deal with those crazy purple-and-glitter-sprayed ones at Wal-mart??? not me! bah humbug to them, I say!

Christmas hoopla, Show and Tell

Edge tagged me for this. I've decided blogging is good for my family, because I can reminisce and tell stories to my heart's content, without boring them to death. I am also double tasking today, and have my first Show and Tell. You can see Anita's Show and Tell at There's No Place Like Home.
Here's the rules: List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.

1. Having a ‘white’ Christmas is important to me. I really hate winter (I think it is the duration, changing winter to just one month would be fine with me), but snow on the ground makes it feel like Christmas.
2. I ‘believed’ in Santa (and the Easter Bunny) long past the time most kids give that up. It added a lot of magic to the holiday for me.
3. I got up one Christmas and slept under the Christmas tree (Santa had come by then), but my brother and sis and I were old enough (teenagers!) that I knew they’d all be mad if I came and woke them up, so I waited under the tree.
4. One of our family traditions has been to negotiate a wake-up time for Christmas (and I’ll get in the first proposal: 9:00 a.m.!! ) with the children. After that is agreed to, the children have to come wake us up by singing Christmas carols (hey, maybe they should be bringing us breakfast in bed!!). DH and I are usually awake, and snuggling and anticipating the day before the kids come in (don’t tell them) and we make quite a protest about getting up, and tell them to go back to bed. One year, we reset their alarm clocks. That didn’t work, though.

5. Another tradition is to head to the grocery store on Christmas Eve, so the children can pick out a sugary ‘Christmas cereal’. This started when we only bought the ‘healthy’ cold cereals, with less sugar in them, so anything at all was a big treat. They had to agree on one box, so they had to work that out between them. One year I videotaped them: I remember the oldest (Edge!) doing a bit of eye rolling (she was too sophisticated for this), and little alliances being made amongst the four of them (the youngest hadn’t been born yet). Now it is something that everyone has pretty much outgrown (everyone is an adult except for the youngest, who is 12), but she thinks this tradition is really fun, so whoever is around goes with her, and pretty much just lets her have her way. (No wonder she likes it).

6. A more traditional tradition we observe is to sing Silent Night in German on Christmas Eve. (It’s not all about cereal, y’know!) We act out the Christmas story from Luke 2, with Dad reading the story. We use simple costumes, and I love this part of the holidays, and then finish with Silent Night. My husband’s family is mostly from Germany, as is mine.

7. I was in 4-H as a child, and my grandmother was our club’s leader. She helped teach me to sew, and one year for Christmas (she made something for each of her 13 grandchildren every Christmas), she gave me a few yards of fabric, because she hadn’t finished sewing for all of us yet. I was ok with the gift, and flattered that she thought I could sew well enough to make something, but mom thought it was a pretty bad gift.

8. The 12 year old has major ‘gimmie-gimme’ syndrome this year, apparently. She says she doesn’t get enough gifts. All right, everyone; all together-Roll Eyes!

9. Baking is usually a fun part of the holidays for me. This year I found out my baking powder died. I guess I don’t bake much anymore. I’ll try and post a fave recipe later. So far this year we’ve made ginger cookies (when I discovered the baking powder problem), and 7 layer cookies, with a chocolate-crusted with red and white chips variation, chocolate dipped pretzels, and a super easy, yummy toffee I got from MsGreenThumbJean.

10. Twelve hooplas?????? Couldn’t we have gone with a shorter hoopla??? Oh, well, one of my favorite Christmas songs is Oh, Holy Night.
11. This ornament belonged to my great-grandparents, Charles and Josie Bruner. They had a large family of 11 children, and I loved going to their home for Christmas, and getting together with all my 'Bruner' cousins. I'm glad to have this little keepsake to remember them.

12. One great Christmas memory was the Christmas of 1995. My oldest was home from her first semester of college; the baby was two months old. Our youngest fell asleep mid-morning, through the hoopla of opening gifts.

Merry Christmas to all! I am tagging the 12 year old, Hailey, Jean at MsGreen"thumb"Jean, Kylee at MyLittleAcre, my old friend Jean. Maybe some others. Oh, and if you haven't had a chance to "Elf Yourself" yet, go do it!

My 5 least favorite Christmas Songs

I know this is not an original idea, but I have been listening to Christmas music since the day after Halloween. (Insanity!!!!! I know … it is a combination of my 12 year old’s taste in music combined with a local radio station’s odd insistence on starting Christmas music on November 1st. I always react with a mixture of panic (oh no! it’s time to start gearing up for Christmas) and dismay (I’m putting away Halloween stuff, scrubbing face paint off my daughter’s face, and they are playing Christmas music on the radio, for heaven’s sake?). Of course, the fact that the retail stores are putting Christmas stuff out in September is freakish enough.

That makes 43 days of Christmas music listening, mostly from the ‘golden oldies’ station. I really like music, and I really like Christmas music, but there are a few that I could live quite happily without ever hearing again. And so, in no particular order, here are my five most despised, entirely insufferable, utterly loathe-able tunes:

A Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney. This is one of those ‘Beatles light’ songs that Sir Paul put out after the Beatles broke up. Too saccharine for even me.

Grown-Up Christmas List, which is sung by Amy Grant, probably other people, too. And I usually like Amy Grant, but this is just too contrived.

Elvis Presley’s Blue Christmas – yeah, I know, everybody loves Elvis. Me, not so much. But this song is especially irksome because of the back up singers, who sound like they are on some kind of vocal sedative.

Jingle Bells by Barbra Streisand. Ok, this one is too Barbra: it always sounds too driven, too manic, too much Barbra.

Last and least, is
John Lennon’s And So This Is Christmas. More proof (if you needed any more) that when the Beatles broke up, their best days were behind them). We already knew John was One Cynical Guy, he doesn’t need to remind us with this off the scale bitter-fest of a song. And yes, if you were wondering, I also thoroughly dislike ‘Imagine’.

So, my top (or bottom) 5 Christmas songs. What holiday songs are you sick to death of? Any faves?

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY African Violets

I don't remember my violets blooming in December, before. I am glad I have this on line record so that next year I can start seeing if there is a pattern. I remember thinking African violets were an 'old lady' plant. Now that I am fast headed to that stage of life, I can appreciate the fact that, when there is snow on the ground outside, I have something to tend and enjoy inside.

I killed a great many of these little beauties in years past, then became friends with Dona, who knew how to raise them, and had glorious A. violets that bloomed all the time!
I haven't reached her level, yet, but I do enjoy my voilets. She taught me to water from the bottom, and only every ten days. (I mark my calendar to help me remember, and water all my indoor plants at that interval.) It's important to fertilize with a good A. violet fertilizer (she swore by Peter's African Violet Plant Food), and to let the water sit a few days to reach room temperature before you use it on your plants. My mother says doing that also gives the chlorine in the water time to dissipate, but I don't know about that.

How do you take care of your African violets?

Green Thumb Sunday- a gift to enjoy

I have been wondering if Iwould have anything to post for GTS, and then thought I'd share the flowers my daughter and son-in-law gave me for Thanksgiving. I have enjoyed them every day. I love gerbera daisies, and the whole bunch makes me smile everytime I look at them. We'll see what next week brings. For now, I am loving the reds, whites and greens of this lovely gift.

Garden Blogger's Muse Day - December

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?

Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?

Where have all the flowers gone?

Young girls picked them, every one.

When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

by Pete Seeger

Everyone knows this song, sung by Peter, Paul and Mary, and it matches my sadness as the snow is flying and I know it is a 'long time' until I am back in my garden. It is a good thing Christmas is coming.

It is hard to believe that I have a few roses still hanging around on December first. They obviously need to be thrown on the compost pile, but I am hanging on to them as long as I can.