Monday, March 21, 2011

 

Springtime tomorrow/ March 20,2011- still snow on the ground

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Mostly in the 20`s Fahrenheit at night and in the 30`s to 40`s days, but days are getting longer and sun is shining brightly out today. 39 degrees F now, colder out then it looks. Been above freezing the past three days, so the snow banks are gradually decreasing. Across the road there are a vew small patches where the grass and dirt are showing. Today is the first day of spring. Weather should start warming up more soon.

Started some of my garden vegetables in the house yesterday- green peppers. three kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, zuchini squash, plus a couple flowers ( sweet peas and morning glories to plant by the side porch). They should be large enough to plant outside by the time the last frost is out of the air. Here we can`t plant a garden until after Memorial Day (May 30th). Also bought other seeds to have them ready when planting time arrives. Hope this year to have more for either canning or freezing for next winters use.

Still praying for grandson Shawn to someday get back the use of his legs. Been 8 months since he crashed his new motorcycle (July ). I know the longer times goes by, the less chance there is, but have seen miracles happen in the past, so am not giving up this soon. He is getting more discouraged every day. Things should improve soon when he can get outside more often.
Also still saying a prayer for my great granddaughter Lacey Mae who is still in the Albany Hospital preemie ward. She is now 7 1/2 weeks old and so far is doing well. She only weighed 2 pound, 4.4 ounces at birth, now weight 3 pounds. The one time I put my finger in the palm of her hand she tightened up her very tiny little fist around my finger. She has been very active, moves her arms and legs a lot and one time last month I noticed her trying to get her fingers into her mouth. When the nurse heard me saying she was trying to suck on her fingers, she gave her a small pacifier which she sucked on for quite a while.

Working hard trying to keep up with all the new babies. For many years I have been knitting the hooded baby sweaters that zip down the back. Made them not only for my own grandchildren, but also for many nieces and nephews babies, plus a few friends babies. Did two more , one pink, other blue, for the new great grandchildren born last July and Halloween night in October last year. Have three more almost finished, one for the newest great grandson born on March 1st, which I first heard was going to be a girl, later learned a boy. Had a pink one almost finished when I started making a blue one. Before finishing this one I received an invitation to a nephews daughter`s baby shower. Not taking any chances this time, so making a red sweater to use for a boy or a girl. Told a daughter that from now on I will probably be making all red sweaters. Got the zippers sewed into the blue and the red one this morning, then just finished embroidering a cat on the front, next will be the flowers to add above where the grass design is. Maybe I will keep the pink one and finish it for the great granddaughter to wear when she gets big enough and healthy enough to leave the hospital. Getting harder and harder to hold the knitting needles, so wonder how much longer I will be able to keep making them. Can no longer hold a regular sewing needles to hand sew in the zippers and hard getting the thick thread under the sewing machine zipper foot to sew it on the machine. Managed to sew two zippers in this morning on the sewing machine.
Three more flowers to do and sew up the back of one hood. Then one needs to be sent out to another state, the other for the shower this coming Saturday. Then hoping my hand get a rest for a while. Hope they like them as much as everyone has in the past.

As I look at the 2 Ameryllis blooming on my window sill and have 2 more starting to bloom upstairs until I find more room downstairs to place them, I am reminded of the brother we lost last year. He used to have loads of Ameryllis plants. When I first started growing them it was with three plants that my brother had given to me many years ago. Then oldest daughter Linda gave me one - think was for Mother`s day quite a few years ago. Today must have around 20 plants since they keep making more babies. Gave away a lot of them over the years and some animal ate a few of them last summer when I had them resting on the ground near the back porch. Have been sitting them there out of the direct sun for years without a problem before. The first plant this year only had two large blossoms, second one has three blossoms opening. Wonder what the other two plants will have and wonder how many more plants will bloom this year. They are usually about three years old before they start blossoming. By the time some get too old, there are usually more already oldest enough. So have them blossoming every year so far. I often wonder how much longer I will be able to care for them properly. They need a rest period every winter and should be placed in a cool, dry, fairly dark place, so I carry them all upstairs every winter and lug them all back down again every spring. Takes a lot of trips up and down the stairs. I expect to keep doing it for as long as my arms and legs are able.
Had a lot of memories I intended to write about, but they will have to wait till another day.

Here it is a few hours later and the two sweaters- red and blue ones are finally finished.
March 21, 2011, First ameryllis plant with the two blossoms is finished blooming, the second plany has the three blooms over halfway openedand now a third plant sits in the window waiting for the blossoms to open to see how many this plant will have.
A bit colder out again today and snowed out all morning, has now stopped, so more snow to be shoveled. Spring started yesterday, so it should warm up before much longer. As my mother used to say, it can`t warm up till the snow is out of the air. Hope that happens soon.
Sitting on my table is the beautiful large poinsettia plant I received from my S-I-L on Christmas Day and it surprises me that it is still looking great. Largest one I have ever received before and can`t remember ever having one stay so pretty for so very long. Almost two weeks ago another daughter told me she was surprierd how great it looked then, because hers was already dying. Maybe it has something to do with the coolness in my kitchen/ dining area, or that it gets watered nearly every day, or maybe because it sits out of the sun. I have another smaller Poinsettia plant in bloom that is two years old now, the third plant is nice and green with no red flowers on it. All came from the same S-I-L over the last three years. This year my daughter ( his wife) told me she didn`t want one this year as he usually buys them for her, I think for his own mother and for myself. They know how much I love flowering plants.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

 

winter Feb.26, 2011 snow picture

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Winter of 20010-2011

Sunday, February 27, 2011
Been a long time since I have added to my blog and much has happened in that time. After losing my third and last brother on August 20, 2009 less than a year after losing my second brother, and then my Aunt in May of 2010, her husband (my last Uncle) had died between my brothers in 2008 and she just never did well without him after 67 years of Marriage. Also lost other relatives in the last couple years. I think the worst thing about getting older is losing so many loved ones. I am happy that I still have my three sisters, one older, two younger, but still miss my brothers and parents and other loved ones.

Since all this happened something soo painful happened. One of my grandson`s was in an accident with his motorcycle. He had just traded in his old bike for a larger one for his Birthday. This happened on September 21st, 2010 and left him unable to walk. We are still praying for a miracle to give him back walking abilities as he was only 20 years old at the time. Here it is 5 months later and he is still in the wheelchair. Dr`s do not give us anything for hoping, but I do know miracles do happen, so we haven`t yet given up.

After all this, came another heart breaking event. Another grandson`s wife had their baby daughter in distress and to save the baby, the Dr had to do a cessarrian at 26 weeks. Baby only weighed 2 pounds 4.4 ounces and was rushed off to a Hospital 50 miles from home - they have a better preemie care ward than our local Hospital. That happened on Feb. 4th . So far , the baby is doing good and we are praying for her to continue doing good. Can`t mention her on Facebook as her father does not want any pictures of her, or talking about her there. I feel safe mentioning her here in my memory blog since the family never reads it, so he will never know. I just want to keep the dates here in my own memories which I print off for family to read in the future. So if you happen to be reading my blog and also belong to Facebook, please do not mention this to anyone there. Thank you. They already had three sons, this is their first daughter.
Woke up this morning dreaming about my mother and her birth father , who I was never lucky enough to meet since he died when my mother was still in High School. Isn`t it funny how a dream can seem so important when you first wake up and sometimes you cannot even remember the full dream later in the day. Her dad was in charge of the boat travel that went up and down the Barge Canal near where I grew up. He operated the barge ( boat) and controlled the opening and closing of the Locks on the barge. I remember the only thing my mother had that had belonged to her Dad was the small gun he kept for safety while doing his job. After the death of my last brother , who had remained living in the home place, I am left wondering what became of that gun. I am left wondering if someone in the family has it, or if it was sold when closing out the house. Either way, owning it today would be illegal, but still I wonder who has the last memory from my grandfather`s life. Hard thinking of my mother`s special gun not being kept safe within the family. One of these days I should solve this puzzle by asking the ones who first starting checking out the home place before I was there. Wish it had been placed in one of our local places where other history items are kept for show. l am sure they could have gotten a special permit for showing it and know it would have pleased my mother to know it was being well taken care of.

Now for our winter weather this year- 2010-2011 winter months. We broke our old record for how cold our area gets. In 2005 we had a cold record of -25 F, we out did it this month by getting down as low as -30 F.. Seems likle every year our winter`s are getting much colder. Two days ago we had another snow storm- this time it added 12 inches to our already snow amount. Last night we received another 4 inches to add to the already very high snow banks. Problem is the banks are now soo high we are having trouble finding someplace to shovel new snow to. Even the large snow blower is having a problem throwing snow over these high piles and my front yard looks like just a high high bank of snow. Crazy looking out my kitchen window and seeing the high bank without even getting close to the window. Have managed to keep the snow a ways from the house, but who knows for how much longer if we keep getting these big snow storms. Took a picture of the snow in my front yard yesterday, then we added on 4 more inches over night last night making it even worse than in the picture.
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Well, here it is already Tuesday, March 08, 2011 and I still haven`t posted my last write up yet.
We got another foot of snow overnight Sunday and into Monday. We keep wondering where we are going to put the next snow and now we are expecting even more on Thursday. Been one cold snowy winter. Hardly any snow on the ground at Christmas time, but we sure have made up for it since.

Now for some better news. I have another new great grandson born yesterday in the state of Virginia. Sure would have liked to have been there to greet the beautiful little one, but too far away. I had a new great grandson and a new great granddaughter last year and so far I have another great granddaughter and now also a great grandson already this year. The others live closer to home. My family just keeps on growing. Isn`t is something how your heart can always find room for more amd more to love? I have such a wonderful family. I feel so lucky.

Started knitting a pink baby sweater when we thought the new baby was going to be a girl. Had it all done except for sewing on the zipper when learned it was going to be a boy. So, here I am working hard to get the blue sweater finished. Everyone seems to love these sweaters. Have been making them for many years- for the grandchildren, plus for many neices and nephews babies over the years. They are hooded sweaters that zip down the back. Have made them in many colors and sizes. My arthritic crooked fingers seem to act up more when knitting than when crocheting, but for sweaters, I think the knitted ones are better. I know the day will come when I will need to stop knitting, but not ready to give in yet. I will be 80 this year, so I feel very lucky to still be able to do all the things I do. My daughter who lives next door to me sent her son over to shovel my driveway yesterday. This morning I learned why. She had seen me shoveling around my back porch and the outside cellarway and was scared I might have a heart attack from working so hard. This snow was heavy from all the rain we got before it turned to snow. She said she never left the window till I was done and when i first finished she couldn`t see me and got scared till she saw me on the porch. My grandson had just stopped to visit his mother. I wish the kids wouldn`t worry so much. My only wish is that I can still be on my feet , living here a in my home, doing things I enjoy doing for as long as I do live.
I am looking forward to warmer weather when I can again work in my wood shop. other winters I worked out there all winter, but seems much colder this year even with the heater. I guess I get my love for making things from my beloved Dad who was a mechinist at work, a mechanick at home, plus he was great at repairing and making items when necessary. I don`t know how he ever found the time for all he accomplished. When I look back, seems like he was always working on something. When I find something complicated, I think-What would my Dad do- he wouldn`t give up, he would find a way. That keeps me trying. There are times when I wish he was here to tell me how to do something, he often knew faster or easier ways. He taught me so much while growing up, then after I married, he continued showing me how to do things, starting with how to prime the well pump, how to re-set the burner on the fuel-oil heating furnace and how to clean it. We bought a new furnace since then and I have never worked on this one. I leave it to a serviceman who comes every fall to clean and adjust it for me. Back in 1994 we had carbon monoxide poisioning from the old furnace and that time my husband went into a coma and we felt blessed he got better. That convinced him to get the new furnace. After he had retired, I left the furnace work up to him. We never knew the furnace had gotten that bad till it was almost too late. I still thank God for giving him back to us for another 8 wonderful years.

Sun is shining, but still quite cold out. Went out to fill the bird feeders on my back porch again. Need to do it every day lately as I have many pretty birds coming to eat at the feeders. I started tossing some sunflower seeds onto the ground for the squirrels to hopefully keep them from destroying more of my feeders. The squirrels sure are destructive animals. They even tried chewing through the house boards up under where the porch attaches to the house. Think they were looking for a place to crawl in and get warm. Another thing for me to repair when nicer weather arrives. A friend told me to buy safflower seed instead of sunflower for the feeders as the squirrels don`t like safflower seeds so probably will now stay away from the bird feeders. Hope it works, so far so good.
Well, this isn`t getting the sweater knitted, so guess I will check to see what new e-mail has arrived, then try to get more done on the sweater.

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