Last Day of March - Spring has NOT arrived in Minnesota

I'm still here in Minnesota. I fly back to Michigan on Sunday. It's the last day of March and I don't think that Minnesota has heard that it's supposed to be Spring. We had freezing rain this morning and now we are under a Winter Storm Warning with snow expected. It's been a lazy day for us here in Minnesota. We have been relaxing at the house. Yesterday we went out to shop and I think it wore us both out! Shopping isn't my most favourite thing to do, but there is a lovely craft store here and lots of charity/thrift stores. I'm not a clothes person but I really need some lightweight trousers to hike in. I did find a couple of pairs that will do for the spring time! I'm really happy to pay a lot less than full price for some really lighthly worn trousers. 

While out yesterday we did stop by the Mississippi River so I could take a quick walk. I was hoping to get some photos of the river, but the snow was so deep off the path I didn't want to end up in snow up to my knees! While walking I did see three eagles sitting in the trees along the river. I have seen - and photographed - quite a few eagles this week. They seem to be everywhere around here. I know there are at least two nests at the Wildlife Refuge near where daughter lives, but I'm not sure where this threesome had their nest. There were two adults and one juvenile. I managed to catch a sort-of photo of the grown pair together. I know they are full grown as their heads are completely white. Their heads turn white about 5 years old. Females are larger than males. 

The pair together. 

One by itself. 

I've had a good visit, but I am sort of looking forward to going home. Spring is Springing in Michigan and I don't want to miss the returning birds! I miss husband of course too. 

I can't believe it's the end of March! I have to make plans for April. I am certainly looking forward to the warmer weather that is hopefully coming. It was 0F/-18C here the other morning - that is TOO cold!

Snow and the Sun is Shining!

I've been dog sitting all weekend while daughter and her husband have been away for the weekend. It takes energy managing these two dogs lol. One, Sasha, so cute, wouldn't come inside! She ended up sitting outside in the snow for a couple of hours. She is a husky and her coat is made for the cold, but still. She just did not want to come inside. I think she was missing them both. She woke me up at 4.30am this morning wanting to go outside. Uck. Daughter and her husband are back now so I shall have a good night's sleep - hopefully lol. The dogs stay with them downstairs while I am upstairs and my door shall be shut tonight. 

I did drive myself to the local wildlife refuge for a walk on one of the trails. The wildlife drive is closed until the snow disappears and the dirt road dries out a bit, but there are trailheads nearby that you can walk on. The roads are clear, so I drove myself to one of them. The trails were obviously snow packed. I think there must be a least a foot or two of snow in some places! Yesterday it was above freezing, and the snow melted a little. I had to really watch where I was putting my feet as one wrong move and I'd be crunching down a snow hole!

It really was lovely though - look at that sunshine! 

Tomorrow, daughter and husband are going back to work. Daughter works from home so she shall be here in her office. I'm going to take her car and check out another of the trails. There will be some good places to walk when we come and visit in May and hopefully the snow is all gone!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Made it to Minnesota - Check in

It was a long old drive yesterday, but we made it back to Minnesota. It's still very snowy here! As we travelled through several states there wasn't a lot of snow, but the closer we got to Minnesota there became a coverage of snow and then quite a bit! 

The Christmas ornaments around daughter's street have yet to be taken down from the gardens as they are buried in snow! 

It made me laugh! This is one from their garden. 

Walking one of the dogs. The roads are clear but you can see how high the snow is on the side! It's really quite amazing. Daughter says it's because it's been quite cold and the snow hasn't had a lot of chance to melt!

We went out for quite a long walk today and to the shops to pick up some food for me. I am dog-sitting from tomorrow afternoon until Sunday evening so daughter and her husband can have a couple of nights away for his birthday. I shall catch up on blogs and such then. 

Beginning of Another Week

It's not been a bad weekend. Yesterday was a little tough. My sister went to Mum's bench and took some flowers including a bunch from me. I can't wait to go back again and sit on her bench. She really loved going to Felixstowe and sitting in the sun. Not so much when it was windy lol. I am hoping to go back for her birthday this year. 

So nice of her to do this and send the photos to me. My niece and her husband both sent messages as well so that was nice. 

I have been enjoying daughter's visit. It's nice to have her near. On Wednesday we'll be travelling back to Minnesota, and I'll be there until April 2nd. Apparently, they have about two feet of snow on the ground. It finally looks like spring temperatures are coming to Michigan this week! I won't be around to enjoy them though lol. 

This is Sasha. She's one of their huskies. So adorable. She pulls such funny faces. 

Snowy Saturday

Thankfully daughter and SIL made it okay. They said the weather was pretty clear until they got close to us and then there was some horrible blowy snow. Understand totally what they mean. Husband and I went out today and it was horrible out! So cold and snowy and windy. It was rather strange as one minute we'd be driving along with blue skies and sunshine and the next you couldn't see a car length in front of you! 

I took a little video. It's a time lapse one. Husband was driving. 

We went to the lakeshore to see if there were any waves, but it was really bitterly cold outside and too cold to spend long out there. See temps below. 

Daughter and son-in-law got in late this afternoon. We took the dogs out for a walk, and all got really snowy. I think the worst of it is behind us though where they live in Minnesota is forecast to have a snowstorm around the time we go back. We are keeping an eye on the weather and will adjust as needed. 

This is Sasha who sat nicely for a phone photo. Koda didn't want to cooperate. 

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow!

Ups and Downs

It's been a...challenging couple of days mentally. Mother's Day (UK) is coming up this weekend. I can't believe it will be the second one without Mum. I've been thinking about her a lot lately and it makes me feel like being on a rollercoaster of emotions. I don't suppose going through menopause helps either when my emotions feel all over the place recently. I miss her. I suppose this time of year is a struggle for a lot of people who are missing their Mums or don't have them in their lives for one reason or another. There's lot of adverts around and mention of Mums and frankly it hurts. I was chatting with my sister today and she said she tries to opt out of any Mother's Day emails. She also mentioned how difficult it is for me when there are two Mother's Days (UK in March and US in May). I used to send Mum something for both. It's difficult over here when most people don't understand why I'm feeling a little sad. 

Anyway, enough of that. After ups and downs, daughter and SIL say they are coming this weekend so that's something to look forward to. I am pleased to see them but hope I don't bring the mood down. I think there will still be moments. 

On a things-that-make-me-smile note, I saw the beavers on Thursday. It was sunny but chilly. I stood and watched at least three (maybe four) of them. So lovely to watch. I took a little video early in the morning and managed to catch one. 

Also took a few photos of them. Here's one. 

Today was horribly rainy and snowy. I didn't take a walk. We're under a Winter Weather Advisory for ick snow. So we shall see. 

As always, thank you for the comments. I do appreciate and read them. 

Tree Down

I just remembered to post before getting into bed lol. I'll reply to comments tomorrow. 

I finished the things on my list today. I went for a walk this morning. It was really quite cold. 17F -8C when I went out. I bundled up and it was a double glove and handwarmer day! It was beautifully sunny though. When I stood in the sun it actually felt quite pleasant. It did warm up later in the day and melted most of the snow in the garden. I wonder how much will be left on my walk in the morning. 

Tomorrow, I have quite a lot of housework to do. I'll go for a walk in the morning before the rain comes. We're due rain tomorrow afternoon and Friday and snow on Saturday. Definitely coming into spring lol. 

I'm off to bed. Quite tired. Didn't sleep well last night, but managed to stay in the bed and didn't end up on the sofa lol. 

Oh I almost forgot to report. There is a tree down!!!

It was Tree C

It fell two days ago!

I did pretty well with my list today. Pulled my back a little but seems to be better after a nice warm bath and some just sitting still. 

This morning I went out for my walk. It was colder than I had expected. I was bundled up. Long underwear, two pairs of gloves and several layers on top. It was quite dull when I went out but got sunnier later on. I didn't take a lot of photos, but here are a couple. 

As you can see there is still a bit of snow around from our last storm. It is supposed to warm up tomorrow and then rain on Thursday and Friday and then back to snow on Saturday! 

I had trouble staying on track today. I did get the things done on my list and my normal household things done, but anything else - ack - I ended up trying to find camping reservations for summer and ended up getting distracted for about an hour and a half! 

I made myself another list for tomorrow and shall try to get those things done. 

Some good news - Daughter and Son-in-law (touch wood) are coming for a quick visit this weekend. As you may remember, they couldn't come at Christmas due to the weather, so they are planning to come for FIL's birthday this weekend. I am really hoping it will all work out! Son-in-law's father hasn't been well lately. He's been in the hospital and should be going to a rehabilitation centre for a couple of months today. Daughter says that she will come even if SIL can't. I am planning to go back with them next Wednesday for another week and a half to spend some extra time with daughter. 

Something to look forward to!

Weekend

Had a pretty good weekend. The sun was shining on Saturday, and it was a little above freezing. We went out for a nice walk and had a pretty good time. Sunday was just the opposite. The sky was completely a solid grey colour and there were snow showers. We went out for a bit as we had to drop off a replacement debit card to our middle son who lives by the lakeshore. 

There were lots of people fishing at the piers on both Saturday and Sunday. We couldn't believe how packed it was! On Sunday husband who is way more sociable than I am talked to one of the fishermen. Apparently, it is Coho Salmon season, and they are near to the piers. I could understand them being out on Saturday - as I said the weather was nice, but Sunday. Brrr. 

Some of the fishermen/women on the pier

Fishing from the snowy beach. 

It's the beginning of another week. The son who lives with us is more than tired and just a little (understandably) grumpy. He had to work all weekend - ten-hour days - and is now on nine-hour days. Ugh. 

It was snowy again this morning, but the roads were clear so I went out for a walk. Stopped and picked up a couple of things, got a couple things done at home. Pretty uneventful. 

I'll be back tomorrow. I really thought I had posted on Saturday lol. Must have just dreamed that I did!

Today

Well, it did snow. Maybe 5-6 inches. It was wet and heavy snow. The trees were heavy with snow and the roads were covered until it got to daylight (notice I did not say until the sun came up - it wasn't visible) and then the roads turned to slush. I actually procrastinated (is that a surprise?) bundled up and watched the birds for a while. They were fun to watch. Husband got off work early as he had worked over the other day. He said the roads were just wet so then I went for a quick walk. I felt better for it. It was pretty, but it's tough to walk through the snow!

On my walk

And in the garden

One of my chipmunks was out in the garden today. He has a hole in the ground - he must have dug his way through the snow! I did throw him peanut.

Did I actually get anything done today? 

I have almost finished working on the problem area I was working on. Actually, I have sorted through it but am not completely happy with it, so I'm going to take another quick look tomorrow and see if there is anything else I can reorganise or get rid of. I did not get up into the craft room. I did work on another problem area I want to tackle. On the plus side, I did manage to take another look through a bookcase and get rid of another eleven books! If you've been reading this a while, you know how tough I find it to let go of books. 

Tomorrow we are going out somewhere. Not sure where. It's looking like the best day of the weekend as there are forecast snow showers for Sunday. 

Hope everyone has a good weekend. 

My good intentions to post yesterday...well, by the time I remembered I was in bed. Lol. I was so tired I didn't want to get out again. Sigh. It didn't last long. Husband was snoring up a storm and I ended up on the sofa. Again. Sigh. 

Anyway, I did get a lot of the boxes sorted yesterday and put a bunch in the recycle. I think I can probably let go of more but for now I'm pleased of what I did get rid of. I have a couple of other things on my list to get done tomorrow. It's supposed to snow. As I am writing this - ten at night - the snow is coming down fast. I don't want to go driving in it, and I had a really long, good walk today so I plan on staying in tomorrow (if the snow is bad) and getting the other things checked off my list. I'm halfway done with one of those projects and the other shouldn't take too long. I am hoping to also get up in the craft room and start on that. It's a real mess. I've been using it as a dumping ground again recently and I need to clear space so I can actually craft!

A couple of phone photos from my walk today. As an added update so far none of the trees featured in my one post have fallen so far. Tree C does appear to have some more chewing on it though!

Tuesday

After yesterday's fall my arms are feeling a little sore, but otherwise no lasting effects. My car is also still light free. I went for a walk this morning, a little more careful as I walked in the mud, so I didn't take another tumble. It was a little chilly and windy, but it was sunny, so I won't complain! It looks like there might be some snow on Friday so I'm making the most of the sunshine while we have it. 

Today wasn't a lot more productive than yesterday. Sigh. I did manage to get another post done on my project. I'm pleased that I'm still plugging along on it. I got the normal Tuesday housework done. I did start some sorting, but then realised I was running out of time before the guys came home and put it all back again. 

I have started a list of what I need/want to get done. I think as it's supposed to be fairly mild 46F/8C I'm going to work on getting a whole bunch of recycle boxes that are currently on our porch sorted, broken down and put in the recycle. I've been saving a bunch, so I have them to post the things of Jane's that I have up for sale. I'm down to the last of large items, so I won't be needed a lot of them. Our recycle will be picked up this Friday. I want to begin to tidy up the porch so that it will be ready to be used once the weather gets better. The porch is a screened in one. Husband puts up plastic protection over the screens in the winter so the snow doesn't get in. When the weather gets warmer the protection comes down and we can sit out there in the cooler evenings and enjoy the fresh air (and not the bugs!). One of the things I do like about American houses is the screens they have in windows. It's nice to be able to have the windows open and not worry about bugs or flies or mosquitoes.  So that's the plan for tomorrow. I will let you know the progress tomorrow!

Photo today - a lovely Pileated Woodpecker I saw today on my walk

I don't like Mondays...

Funny start to the week. 

Some background - on Saturday at the end of our morning out the check engine light came on in my car. We had gone over some pretty deep snow. Husband, being cautious, didn't want to take it out for our Sunday Adventure so we took his van. His workplace has a mechanic that outside people and employees can hire so he decided to drive my car to work this morning to see if the mechanic could hook the car up to the machine and see what was wrong with it. Apparently everything is electronic these days. The car seemed to be working fine, but it's better to get it checked out. Anyway, husband gets to work and there is no power! He turns around and comes home as it won't be back on until noon. A local car place opened at 7.30 so husband decides to take it to be hooked up there and see what the diagnosis was. He drove it up the street and the light goes off! 

I ended up going for my walk. Husband's work electricity came back on so he went to work. Hoping the car acted up because we drove over that tall, packed snow. Apparently, the mechanic can't diagnose the car if there is no code tripped! So, fingers crossed the light will stay off! It's driving fine. 

On my walk I slid in the mud and fell over. Nothing hurt, just wrenched the arm I'm having trouble with a little more. Thankfully I saved the camera I was holding too! 

I think the beginning to the day threw me off. I had made plans that didn't include a car or a walk or doing my food shop. I suppose at least I did those and the basic housework. 

Weekend Adventures

It was quite snowy Saturday morning when we did get up. About 8 inches of snow. We didn't go too far but we did manage to get out. It was #1day12pics for my online camera club. Every first Saturday of the month the goal is to take 12 photos to document your day. I usually end up just doing a theme. That's my goal. It's one of the projects I hope to complete again this year. My theme was going to be Signs of Spring, but quite frankly they were all buried or covered in snow so instead I went with Snowy March Beginnings. 

I made two collages of the photos I chose to include in the project

It was lovely and snowy on Saturday so that was nice! The temperatures warmed up enough that a lot of the snow has already gone. It was nice and sunny and mild today too. 

We went a little further afield today. To a park we've been to before but not recently. Husband wants to walk more and there are trails there to walk on. We had a lovely walk. There wasn't a lot of snow around up there - they didn't get as much as us - and as I said it has warmed up nicely that last couple of days. We saw two eagles. We were really pleased to see that they had rebuilt their nest as the previous one was brought down (I think the whole tree!) in a windstorm a while ago. 

Unfortunately, first thing the trail was a little icy and husband fell. He didn't break anything, but is feeling quite sore! I'm sure tomorrow he'll feel even worse. Yikes. 

While I was out today I looked for reflections in puddles. I made another collage.

Back tomorrow!

Friday - Did it Snow?

Thanks for all the comments on the last post! I shall let you know which one falls first. They all looked the same today. 

That Midwest forecast I posted rang a little true today. The snow that was predicted to start at 10am didn't. It didn't start at 11 or 12 or 1 or 2. It must have started about 2.30pm. There's about 5 inches on the bird table from what I can see. As I look out of my window before writing this (10.49pm) there are two deer out there trying to dig through the snow and eat the seed that has gathered on the table. 

As the snow started this afternoon the birds were out in numbers trying to beat the rapidly falling snow to get some food before sheltering for the night. There was even a rabbit out under the table. For most of the winter they have been coming out at night - to stay away from prey I suspect - but this one was out this afternoon. 

I did manage to get out my walk today. It was okay. Cloudy and windy and we didn't see a lot, but the exercise was good. I came home, did the usual and texted with my sister. We always check in on Fridays. I listed a few more lighthouses on Ebay. I am almost done with them now. 

Not sure what weekend plans are. I suppose we shall get up in the morning and see how the roads are. It will be above freezing tomorrow so the snow won't be around too long. Hopefully we can get out somewhere. 

Today

Got up this morning and went for a windy and cloudy walk. I'm glad I spent time to enjoy the sunshine yesterday. I stopped at the shops after my walk. Tomorrow is still looking like there will be...something weatherwise, not as early as predicted, but I went out and picked up a few things I needed. Did my housework, read a bit and that's the day ended. 

The days seem to be flying by. Sometimes I blink and the day is over! Tomorrow I should be able to get in a walk before any of the weather comes, so I shall be getting up my usual time and heading out. After that I'm coming directly home. Husband is off work early tomorrow as he had a late day earlier in the week and there is no overtime allowed. He's loaded up the donation boxes in the back of his work van and will drop them off on the way home tomorrow, so they are out of the way! 

The Winter Storm Watch for tomorrow has turned into a Winter Storm Warning so stay tuned, I suppose lol. 

Photo for today - on my walk there were three trees that look like they are being chewed on by the beavers. I'm taking fun bets on which one will go next. What do you think? 

a. This one is right in front of the beaver lodge. It was first chewed on last year, but has new signs of chewing on it now. 

b. This is to the right of the Beavers' Lodge. The chewing is all new. 

c. This one is on the other side of the lake. It's been consistently chewed on for about 10 days. 

Which one do you predict goes first? 

Back tomorrow...hopefully

March 1st

 I had a lovely walk today. I went by myself as my friend had an appointment. It was cloudy at first, but then the sun came out. It was fairly mild and the birds were out singing. It was really quite beautiful. 

Here's a few phone photos

Look at those lovely blue skies 

Looking up

And here's a little video I managed to take of the Red-Winged Blackbird singing his heart out 

I came home, did a bit of housework and then actually sat out on the back porch for a little bit. The sun was shining and it was feeling quite warm. I wanted to make the most of it because it's downhill from here lol. We are expecting another storm on Friday - maybe snow, maybe ice, maybe a mixture. 

I saw this on someone's Facebook a while ago and it made me laugh

Back tomorrow!