Yes, please

58 and partly cloudy, on January 21st? What shall I do? I think I shall take some time for me and sit on the deck with my latest cross-stitch project.

Yes, the kids came outside for a bit. Hamlet still doesn't know to stay on the deck. It's going to take a lot of, "Deck! Now!" and sticking him in the bedroom for 20 minutes to get the point across that we do not leave the deck.

I put up the bird feeders. The picture window is a good place.

I'm going to try moving it to the right on the window which should make it harder for squirrels to jump into.

I don't own a step ladder so I had to bring the full ladder to the front to mount this. I won't fill it completely. Let's see if this works. Now to put up the north window feeder.

This one had been hanging very tight to the glass so, obviously, the squirrels knocked it down. It took a bit to find all the suction cups in the winter debris. I washed the thing out and repositioned it.

This is more off to the right than it had been before. I think it might have been too close to the pine tree. We'll see how long it takes them to find it.

When I came in, after being outside for a couple of hours, stitching, this was the living room window.

I'm fairly certain this wasn't squirrels.

As much as I like this concept, I don't think this feeder is working anymore. I thought the suction cups had a good seal, but I'm not convinced they do. I've had this feeder for a long time. I think I should just add it to the give away bag and get a new one for this area. Maybe a pole with a hanging feeder would be better. I have plans for this flower bed. A pole would work better.

The temperatures go down from here to the next weekend when we're back to what would be considered 'normal' for us. I enjoyed my day out and so did the kids.

Beverage:  La Croix Berry Seltzer

Deb

A Case of the Thaws

It's been lovely the last two days.

There's been a whole lotta melting going on. Almost all the ice in the birdbath is gone. There's usually a January thaw and we've had it.

Given that last year, at this time, we had received close to 2 feet of snow, I enjoyed the nice weather. Mija and I went out on the deck for a few minutes, rather, she followed me out while I took out the garbage and the recycling. Our deck visitor hasn't been seen in over a week. There is no sign that she's been anywhere near the house. I'm trusting that she's got a family who loves her. The house will stay on the deck until mid-spring, just in case.

I've started new RA meds. The Enbrel, started before Thanksgiving, just didn't seem to work. I've been given samples of Humira to try. This is an every other week shot. I can't say that there was an immediate change to my life. When the weather is bright and sunny and cheerful and mild, I don't notice that I have aches and pains. My biggest complaint is the chronic fatigue, not swelling of or pain in my joints. I'm supposed to get some relief, some energy back.

Sitting on the top deck stair in the warmth of a mid-January sun made my RA seem a million miles away. I'll take it. I still don't get as much done as I'd like, I wear out too quickly, but mild January days make that aspect much easier to bear.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Cold Morning

-2 air temperature. With the wind, it's -30. It's a beautiful morning moon.

Beverage:  Dunkin Donuts tea

Deb

Are We Done Yet?

On purpose, I choose to live in an area where crystallized water droplets form in the lower atmosphere and decide they are going to have a party on the ground where I live.

For the most part, I enjoy winter. I like to be out in it, within reason. I like to walk in the December snows before Christmas. When Carole was younger, making snow forts was lots of fun and the occasional snowball fight as an adult is not to be missed.

But, I tell you what, when everyone on the block knows this guy by sight, because it so happens that he's assigned to our street, and he waves at us out there with our shovels, perhaps there has been too much frozen precipitation in the month of January.

The water content of January's snow has been very, very low so getting up to four inches off the front steps or the back deck does not need to involve the shovel.

Yet, as "easy" as this is, it's still rough on the body when you have to do it twice a week. As much as I tell myself that this is exercise, my body is screaming obscenities when I get done.

I had a rheumatologist appointment last Friday. Prior to seeing her, I have to fill out an assessment sheet. They use this to track how well a patient is doing. The ebb and flow of RA is reduced to a number. That number can then be used to decide if a stronger drug regimen is needed.

I hurt. I just do. I have kind of resigned myself to always having an ache or two. I will always, now and forever, be stiff getting out of bed. It will always, now and forever, take me 10 or more minutes to get going. But the achiness and pain of January seemed to be deeper than the usual achiness of RA. It was comforting to find out I was not alone.

My doctor said all but 2 of her patients had complained about joint stiffness and pain. The beauty of winter notwithstanding, the cold and all the shoveling has caused inflammation which makes us hurt. Although my assessment was a couple points higher than last visit, it doesn't mean I need to look at a stronger drug. It means that winter has been hard on people with joint problems. She said she can't prove it and there is no literature to document it, but she suspects the cold constricts blood flow to joints and that reduced blood flow causes joints to stiffen. She put me back on prednisone for the month of February, just to get through what looks to be another tough month of snow, followed by cold.

After leaving the office, I stopped by the grocery and then by CVS but the prescription hadn't been received. They would call Dr. Francis' office and have it ready on Saturday. But Friday into Saturday was to be a day of more snow, so I went nowhere on Saturday. Sunday dawned bright and clear. With a heavy sigh, I set about clearing the deck, front steps and up to and around the Jeep. The snow was light and fluffy so I decided I would simply clear the drive, all of it, including the driveway apron. When that, and the sidewalk and the deck and the front steps were all done, I hopped in the Jeep, drove to CVS and picked up the prednisone. 

The ache is now in my very lower back, down by my tailbone. The prednisone combined with an aspirin helps me sleep at night and part of the pain goes away. I'm still stiff in the morning, probably more than usual, but my legs don't hurt and they did when I went to see Dr. Francis. I was thinking it would be nice to have a week of no additional accumulations, to let my body heal, but that is not to be. This morning, in spite of the weather predictions that I would be on the 3 inch range, I trudged through this to get to the Jeep.

The knowledge that I need to shovel again to take the garbage and the recycling to the curb has me nearly in tears. I would happily send all of this to California. I know there is nothing I can do to change weather patterns, but that doesn't ease my sense of hopelessness and my body's almost instinctual reaction to start the aches now, before the shovel even touches the snow.

And it's only February 5th.

So, what to do? I get up at the office and walk around for 10 minutes. That helps. I have a couple days off upcoming. It's supposed to be partly cloudy and no snow. That will help, but before we get to that part, there is another major snowstorm coming which could dump 8+ inches on my location. We're approaching 60 inches, 5 feet, of snow this winter.

I tell myself that this is normal. We have become so used to dry, snowless winters, due to global warming, that we forget what it's like to have to move the frozen water from one section to another.

I'm more acutely aware of the effort to keep the walks and the drive clear. It's for me as much as it is for Tony, my Oberweis delivery guy, and the mailman. Yet, because I hurt, the addition of another foot of snow on top of what we have reduces me to tears. I had to start today with Dunkin because I couldn't think of another way to cheer myself up. This is one year I will be extremely happy to see spring arrive.

Beverage:  Dunkin' Donuts tea

Deb

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The second polar vortex of the month has arrived and with it comes snow overnight and crystal clear days which will leech all the warmth the city is able to trap during the day into the night air. We love comparing "how cold is it by you" and the weather people get their undies in one huge knot over "dangerous wind chills".

The first vortex came with a dumping of snow.

That was a bit tough to deal with. I cleared the deck and the front steps and cleared a path to the Jeep and to the mail box. The rest could sit. An aspirin later and I was fine, tired, but not achy. That's how it's been all winter, so far. I take an aspirin before I go to shovel and that seems to prevent the aches I might usually get from ever occurring. My rheumatologist reminds me that aspirin was the choice of doctors for a long time to treat arthritis. Therefore, as long as I go slowly and take the occasional aspirin, I'll be fine.

I just shrug at the cold weather warnings. See, this is what winter is up nort'. We have snow. We have cold. Sometimes that cold gets below zero in places. It's bracing and the star gazing at night in the winter just cannot be beat. Man, you can see the underside of God's throne. I'm convinced of it. I think that's part of the Milky Way right there and, if we're really lucky, the Northern Lights put in an appearance. I remember them dancing across the northern sky when I was a girl, undulating waves of green. Dad used to wake me up, if I'd gone to sleep, and come watch them from a northern window. Living in Chicago doesn't allow one to see them owing to light pollution and the fact that they aren't visible this far south.

But, there is a very real danger in the cold if you aren't prepared. Wind exposed skin will freeze within minutes at the temperatures we've had during these cold snaps. Blood vessels constrict and reduce blood flow to the extremities first; hands and feet; to protect the core where the vital organs are. Continued exposure causes the water in cells to freeze. Those cells die and take the skin with them, creating black patches where dead skin is. It's not pretty and looks like third degree burns. So, keeping wind exposure to a minimum is paramount. But what if you don't have an attached garage and have to go from the back door to the Jeep? Well, I write a friend and ask if she had some foresight that others didn't.

My friend, Terry, knit me a scarf and fingerless gloves for Christmas.

They are a light gray and complement my slate gray winter coat. I would not use the gloves in this cold because I want to keep my finger tips warm but the scarf. Let's see. So far, I have worn it a total of 7 days. It's about twice as long as the scarves I crocheted so I can double wrap it around my head and neck. My crocheted scarves were really for the neck, to be wrapped around and employed with a hat.

Terry has a knitting club she goes to and I wonder if these were made as part of the club. I love it. I very nearly made a scarf for myself but couldn't decide on the yarn and, by the time I'd finished my last scarf, I was kind of sick of making them and needed a break.

It's part of my ritual on these frosty mornings, grab the scarf and wrap it around my head and sides of my face over top my ear muffs, toss the ends over my shoulders and put on the coat. That scarf isn't going anywhere once I put my coat on. No frostbite is getting to me, even if I'm outside shoveling the walk. The only thing I have never, ever figured out in all my years of living where winters are cold, how do I keep from steaming up my glasses.

Beverage:  Asbury's Afternoon Tea

Deb

Tipping Point

This might be my tipping point. It's another snowstorm whose trajectory the weather people got wrong. I had just widened the front walk from the one on Thursday. They were saying, as late as 4 p.m. last night, that my area would see no more than 4 inches of additional snow. What do you think?

It was lovely yesterday with temperatures hovering around 30. That's why I went out to widen things out. Shoveling, the hour's worth I put in, was a breeze. I figured I could get out this morning, as long as I went early, and 4 inches wasn't going to put a damper on travel.

The drive to the grocery was slow, but the lot was cleared.

Carts were being rounded up as quickly as inconsiderate people just left them instead of putting them in one of the cart corrals. There weren't many people in the store at 9:30, which was good for me since I had to go slower than usual owing to forgetting the list on the kitchen table. I remembered everything except the chicken bouillon cubes and the cat treats.

Then, I had to head to the pharmacy. There had been a phone call about a prescription refill but I wasn't sure, looking over my medications, exactly what was being refilled. Since I have everything on auto refill, it was probably something important.

The drive east was not fun. The roads were mostly plowed but not clear, as you can see. And under that snow was, in places, a thin sheet of ice. I kept my distance from the car in front of me. I'm in four wheel drive but that does not guarantee complete instant stopping if there is ice.

From the pharmacy, I headed to the office to get paperwork to work on at home tomorrow, should the boss call us off. As I neared the building, the car in front of me, same distance as in the photo, slammed on the brakes and went sideways into the snow heaped on the roadside. I was able to pump the brakes to slow but I started to skid. Letting up off the brakes and applying a bit of gas, I came out of the skid and was able to slow to a stop before hitting the car. I watched in my rearview mirror as a Chevy Suburban hit the brakes and went sideways. I braced for impact that, fortunately, never came. That driver stopped, let me go around the car in front of me and we both continued.

I wasn't planning on going anywhere else after swinging by the office but decided my slightly shaken nerves needed cocoa.

Patt sent me a Starbucks card for Christmas and Starbucks is a block from the office. It's easy in and easy out. Hot beverage in hand, I headed home.

Right now, I ache, all over. I fear this amount of shoveling, and I didn't even approach the driveway apron, has been too much, particularly this close together.

Eric has been by to blow out the sidewalk. I haven't seen Kelly to inquire if he would blow out the driveway apron, although it wasn't too bad when I headed to the grocery. I could live with it if it never gets cleared until later.

In spite of it being picture postcard pretty, I'm weary of it.

I don't want any more shoveling snow. A couple inches is okay, but this dumping is going to make me very tired. I have friends who would love to have some snow sent their way. If I could figure out how to get it to you and it would still be snow, I'd do it. Better yet, come on up here and get it yourself. I have two shovels.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Not A Blizzard

It's gorgeous right now. The sun came out an hour ago and I love how clear everything looks.

It's like it was outlined.

Yes, that's a lot of snow. On Monday, we were informed there would be a "small" weather system moving through the Chicago area. The snow would start around 6 p.m. If you lived north, near Wisconsin, you could expect to see around 5 inches of snow. If you lived in the middle, where I live, there would be about 3 inches coming. I guess I should have realized on Tuesday, that this wasn't going to be what was predicted when it started snowing at 2; really snowing, the kind of snow fall that makes everything look like you're viewing it through waxed paper.

I tried to stay somewhat on top of it. It was very dry snow. You cannot make snowballs or forts or men with this. So, all New Year's Eve and throughout New Year's Day, I would go out and sweep the snow off the deck. The shovels, which sit by the back door, weren't needed. It was so light, I just used the broom.

But, it never stopped coming, all day. I'd grab the boom whenever I was in the kitchen and go sweep. I couldn't tolerate being outside in just my slippers and street clothes so I never completely swept off the deck. I swept the deck at 9 p.m. and, at 11 p.m., when I was getting ready for bed, it was covered again.

The humpy pile at the upper left corner is where the birdbath is. It wasn't snowing much at 11 p.m., so I gave the deck another sweep and went to bed.

Well, this is more than 3 inches, but, because it's lightweight, I'll be able to head out the driveway in the morning and deal with it when I get home. Imagine my consternation when I awoke and saw the amount of snow on the deck was double what I'd swept up. I started shoveling right after eating some breakfast, but I realized that there was more than I was going to be able to handle in an hour. The temperatures are to tank here overnight so I didn't want to let the lack of paths sit and have to try to shovel in worse cold so I took today off. Ironically, at the beginning of December, I considered taking today and tomorrow off. I have the days to use up, but we are so busy, I didn't feel I could. Mother Nature made sure I got a snow day.

I have to go slow. I'm just slower than others, even with powdery white stuff. This is not a race to see who can clear the drive quickly. This is just to liberate things, like the Jeep, so I can carry on with life.

It's quite pretty out, even when it's snowing buckets and you have to move this stuff from one section to another. The recycling can is a good indicator of depth.

I like the ring on the top of the compost bin. I should try to find the lid for this thing, but I know the squirrels love it when I toss seeds into the bin.

I shoveled to the Jeep and got that swept off and dug out. Dug out is kind of a misnomer. With the snow being so light, it's easy to just shove it out of the way. But there's a foot of it out there so I did have to scoop and throw, scoop and throw. Once I got the Jeep cleared off, I looked down the drive and felt tired.

That yellow bit to the left is my glove. I was using my cell phone camera at this point as the other camera's battery had died, of course. I decided this was as much as I would do at that time. I needed to rest and not overdo it.

A nap with Pilchard and I was refreshed to tackle the next phase, the front. My plan was just shoveling two tracks down the drive to the apron, eventually, in the afternoon, shoveling the apron. This next phase would shovel past the house, create a path for the mailman by the mailbox, shovel the front steps and part of the front walk.

I need a new mailbox, but I've said that for several years now.

Thankfully, I can just shove this snow to the left or right.

I felt good so I started shoveling one tire track to the street. My neighbor, from across the street, came over with his snowblower and offered to help. He blew out the driveway apron and widened the sidewalk from my one shovel width to one and a half. I shoveled the other wheel track and the front walk and I was done, at noon.

I repositioned the Jeep so I can drive forward in the morning and I'm good. This went so much faster than the great blizzard of February 2011, when I didn't get out until Sunday evening. Mercifully, it's not to be windy so none of this light, powdery stuff will blow across the drive. Eric, who lives down the block from me, came through at 12:45 and widened the sidewalk all the way. He also blew out more of the driveway apron, specifically at the street where there was a small lip from the plow.

As I was finishing the front walk, the mailman came by. He thanked me for shoveling a path when he handed me my mail. "Neither snow nor rain..."

And you'll be wanting to know how I feel. At 1:30, I was quite sore. I'd felt okay, great even, when shoveling. I know to lift with my legs and not my back, but my knees and hips are areas where the RA is. It was painful so I took another nap after taking some aspirin. I need to go to bed at a decent time tonight so make sure I allow for some tossing until I get comfortable.

So, I have survived the snowy start to 2014. I'm good with snow now. It doesn't have to deposit any of this on us for the rest of the winter. I'm good with this much. It can gradually melt over the next couple of months and then, in March, be completely gone. The neighborhood kids have had a great time helping shovel and being pulled around yards on sleds. The street isn't as clear as one would like but these guys have been at it since 1:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve. There's a lot of overtime in this storm.

In another irony, the word of the day today is "graupel".

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb