April Days

We got a LOT of rain on Wednesday! We got 2.8 inches which was a record for Kalamazoo for 2nd April. It's raining again as I write this. 

I did manage to get out yesterday. The water levels at the lake were quite high. I imagine they would have been higher still if someone hadn't cleaned out the beaver deceiver a few days before. What is the beaver deceiver? It's a pipe that goes from big Asylum Lake to Little Asylum Lake. As it's running water the beavers like to block it up (and also that's the way the water flows so all the leaves and debris tend to clog it up) so to try to combat this a pipe was laid and enclosed that is supposed to continue the flow of the flow of water. It doesn't always seem to work and needs to be cleaned out. The water level did fall a bit when they cleaned it out but with all the rain the level is high again. 

It was cold yesterday when I went for a walk. The wind was blowing too which made it feel colder. 

A small puddle, just because I like puddle reflections 

The second and third photos show areas which are usually dry. They were filled with water. 

The beavers' lodge also seemed a bit wet

This part is usually dry. It was filled with water. 

Today I went for a walk and though it was below freezing the wind wasn't blowing and, for a time the sun was shining. There was a beautiful sunrise.

The water hadn't gone down by much. 

At home today I did a bit more work on the porch. It's my project for the month. I want to get it cleaned off and make a space where I can (hopefully) sit and enjoy when things warm up a bit. For too long it's been a total disaster - so much so that I'm not even going to share a photo! I am slowly getting there. It's just a matter of sorting through things, getting rid of things or finding new spaces to put things. The story of my life!

Tomorrow, well, it's raining, and it may/may not rain in the morning. I will be going for a walk but whether early or later depends on the rain. I'm going to do a little bit of work on the porch, a little bit of sorting in the house and a bit of relaxing. 

Do you have plans for the weekend? 

December 1st

Wow. It's coming to the end of the year. Sigh. Ups and downs. But that's a topic for another post. 

Today was...blah. It rained all day long. No walk. No bird watching. On the plus side I did get quite a bit done. It still seems as though I still have so much to get done before I leave for daughter's in two weeks. I have started a bag of craft and other things I want to take with me to keep busy. I'm also planning on getting a lot of photography projects done. I have lots of photos taken, it's a matter of organising them and such. 

On the Christmas front I'm way ahead of what I usually am at this time. Hand up. I'm a procrastinator and usually always leave things until the last minute. I actually have some wrapping done. Shock. Gasp. On my weekly chat with my sister, even she couldn't believe it! I have some of my shopping wrapped up. Not all of it, but a good chunk. The beginning of next week I plan on getting more wrapping done and to (another gasp) make a list of what I have left to get. That last week before Christmas, when I'm at daughter's, will probably be the most stress-free, relaxing Christmas I've had since I had children lol. 

How is your prep coming? Are you a procrastinator? Do you do a lot for the holidays? 

I suppose because we never had a lot of money - either growing up or when we were raising our own children - that Christmas was the one time we could have extras. I still do it that way. 

Photo for the day - well, I actually didn't take one today! I did take this holiday decoration the other day at the shops. I really liked it, was interested and thought maybe I would put something out in the garden. UNTIL I saw the cost of it! 99.99!!! Even with 20% off it's too much. I thought it would be about $20 lol!

What would you expect to pay for something like this? 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get out for a walk. The weather doesn't look great. Sigh. No sunshine. Maybe more rain. Rain or snow on Sunday. Grr... I hate Michigan when it's grey all the time in the winter. 

I'm going to do a bit of sorting and then I'm going to work on getting some things together to do while at daughter's house. I have some cross stitch projects I want to put together. 

What are your plans for the weekend?

Rainy Weekend

The weather has been terrible all weekend! I managed a little walk by myself yesterday but hubby and I didn't even go out today. It's rainy and dull and not worth bothering. Instead I stayed in and at least attempted to do something other than curl up in my chair and read (which is exactly the sort of day it is)! I went up to craft room and spent a little trying to create. I hope the week brings a little sunshine. I feel uninspired to take a lot of photos so tried to be a little creative in my photo taking of my crafts.

What do you do on rainy days to keep your spirits up? Is there some way you like to spend your time when there are several days in a row with rain or bad weather?

Raining Again

Yuck. I thought I would wake up and it would be dry. Maybe a little sun. Nope. Raining. Sigh. The roads and rivers definitely don't need it. Some of the local rivers are bursting their banks. I don't imagine I will get a walk in today. That must mean I should probably do some housework lol. I was going to sort out all the cans and bottles in the garage and take some back. Here in Michigan we have a bottle deposit. Son usually takes them all back but hasn't for a while. I think the weather is getting us all down. There are a lot of them in there so maybe I'll take a bag or two in.

Couldn't walk under the bridge Wednesday due to the water. I suppose it will be worse today. Hope it dries up soon!

Ice yesterday morning. It's another week where we've had a variety of weather. Does that mean Spring is coming? I hope everyone is having a good day. I was thinking I could work on my cross stitch too but there isn't a lot of light. Bagpuss is coming along but very slowly. 

Rain Again

Well, the computer seems to be doing okay, but it also seems that when it does its upgrades things seem to slow down. I think I'll have to save for another. Of course this happens just after I used some of my saved money for a plane ticket to visit daughter next month. Still, I'd rather visit her!

The weekend wasn't too bad. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. You never would have believed it was late October. Sunday was looking a bit iffy so we adjusted our plans and took a walk somewhere else rather than where we had decided to go. Luckily it stayed dry until we got home in the afternoon. Now the rain has settled in and we're under a flood watch again for the next couple of days. I'm going to go do the food shopping, tidying up and then I'm going to sort out photos to add to the albums that are coming along nicely. I might even finish my shawl! Only a few inches to go lol.

A couple of photos from yesterday. We had to walk up some sand dunes, but the view at the top was worth it. I hope everyone has a good start to their week!

Will It Ever Stop Raining?

It has rained all day today. Not just little showers, but huge downpours complete with thunderstorms and loud bangs. It hasn't stopped all day. Not an exaggeration. It has rained so much there are flooded streets in town and the American football game at the local university has been cancelled as the pitch is under water! So far we've had more rain today than we got the whole of last month. Sigh. I hope it stops. I was hoping to go for a walk this morning, but it wasn't to be. Tomorrow doesn't look a lot better either.

I did venture out to pick up middle son's dry cleaning that I'd dropped off earlier in the week and to visit a new grocery shop that had opened in town. Trader Joe's. It wasn't too bad. I managed to find some crumpets which - to be honest - was the whole reason for the visit! They do seem to have some more vegetarian frozen food though I'm trying to stay away from too much frozen food.

The rest of the day has been spent Skyping Mum, chatting to daughter, reading, working on my album and doing a bit of knitting. I find it difficult to get up much energy on a day like this. Thankfully it isn't too cold! I hope everyone else is having a drier day than mine!

I'll be dreaming of sunny Autumn days!