weather topic again

Alright - I was all prepared to wake up to a frosty covered landscape. It hasn't arrived yet, though they closed schools just in case. Good idea actually. We will jast have to play things by ear as far as traveling anywhere today or tomorrow is concerned. Wow to Chris and some of you others who live in the very cold places that keep snow around a lot in the winter. I suppose that a person gets accustomed to it, and doesn't pay much attention.

At the moment it is raining outside. It is right on the edge of freezing and probably will be sleet before too long. I am scheduled for implant surgery tomorrow and am a bit concerned about whether we will get out of our drive and off the mountain tomorrow or not. I hate the rules for the night before surgery when you can't eat or drink after midnight. Will have to make sure I am full when I fall asleep. ha-ha

Okay, so how is the weather your way?

Ruby

Ruby,

Good luck and much success on your surgery. One good thing when you come home, you will have an excuse NOT to go outside.
I have so enjoyed that aspect during the almost 3 weeks I have been home after my knee surgery. Haven't set foot outside. I do have to say that he 4 walls are starting to get to me...

Let us all know how you are doing.

Gita

Man- we were all counting on sleeping in and got gypped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nothing started until this morning and now snowing steadily. No idea what our schools have in mind.
Stinks having to worry about the weather on top of doctor issues. If it looks that bad that you (T) probably won't have school tomorrw either, wonder if it 's worth your peace of mind to go down tonight and get a hotel room?
I am going to check my seed supply- there is someone on Beginner Vegetables asking for seeds

Gita- no shoveling!


This message was edited Feb 13, 2007 9:59 AM

So the surgery is still on, I know you had some concerns about that, do they have a back up plan just incase the weather doesn't cooperate tomarrow, Now I'm talking major ice storm, if that happens.

We were on notice for a snow storm today and into tomarrow but so far so good, no snow falling yet. Ruby, we sort of put up with the snow, just part of living near the Great Lakes. But the smart people pay attention to weather, and road conditions and leave early and travel wisely. If it is calling for snow the night before I get up 20 minutes early just incase. Use to be an hour early untill we build the garage, now I don't have to clean and scrape the car off.

Good luck with surgery tomarrow! I'll be thinking about you.

Chris

Ruby, good luck tomorrow. It looks like you may not be able to make it if the forecast is right. I'm posting the latest weather advisory below.

It's been snowing here all morning and I really hope the ice forecast is wrong. Especially since they're forecasting temps in the teens the next few nights.

Gita, I know you're going stir crazy but you certainly don't need to be worrying about trying to slip and slide around in this mess. Take care, okay?

Here - you can build you a snowman.
http://akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/snowman.htm
snowball fight
http://games.zeeks.com/game_snowball_fight.html?g=8965&category=0&level=0
penguins game
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/07/penguinswing.html
funny cats
http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Cats/Spy.htm

Here's the advisory
SIGNIFICANT AND DANGEROUS AMOUNTS OF ICING ARE LIKELY OVER THE
WARNING AREA. WHILE LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED DURING
THE DAY TODAY...HEAVIER PRECIPITATION WILL ARRIVE TONIGHT. A
QUARTER TO A HALF OF AN INCH OF ICE CAN BE EXPECTED OVER PORTIONS
OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CENTRAL MARYLAND...INCLUDING THE
BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREAS. OVER THE
HIGHLANDS...SHENANDOAH VALLEY AND CHARLOTTESVILLE AREA...AROUND A
HALF OF AN INCH OF ICE ACCUMULATION IS FORECAST.

SNOW WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD EARLY THIS MORNING. THE PRECIPITATION
TYPE IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE OVER TO SNOW AND SLEET BY
LUNCHTIME. THEN...SNOW AND SLEET WILL CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN OVER
MOST AREAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS TODAY ARE EXPECTED TO TOTAL TWO TO
FOUR INCHES OVER PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY AND
EXTREME WESTERN MARYLAND...WHILE ONE TO THREE INCHES IS FORECAST
OVER NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CENTRAL MARYLAND...INCLUDING THE
BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREAS. OVER THE HIGHLANDS
AND CENTRAL SHENANDOAH VALLEY...AN INCH OR LESS IS EXPECTED.
TEMPERATURES EARLY THIS MORNING WILL BE IN THE MID 30S...HOWEVER
TEMPERATURES WILL FALL BELOW FREEZING BY MID MORNING...AND ARE
EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW FREEZING THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING.

THOSE WITH TRAVEL PLANS...DECISION MAKERS...AND PLANNERS SHOULD
CLOSELY MONITOR FORECASTS FOR UPDATES. SEVERE ICING OF TREES AND
ROADS ARE LIKELY...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD POWER
OUTAGES.

Hi Ya'll - Thanks for all the good wishes. I suppose that I need to make one more phone call before the doc's office closes today. I wonder when they will be able to do surgery if I am unable to get there tomorrow. A hotel room is an option I suppose Sally, but really don't want to leave dogs and teen age son that long alone. Hmmmmmm.......let me call the docs office and I will let you know what they say.

Oh yeah Chris, the surgeon says that there should be no problem in having surgery and tooth pulled last Friday, since I am not on antibiotic, i must not have an infection. So......here we go.

Will make the call and report in later. Stay warm and dry all. Hopefully we won't have to worry much about gita shoveling, I think that she is behaving herself.

Later all.

Ruby

Sally- I bet you will get to sleep in tomorrow. Even the Anne Arundel Co. library closed early today. Glad I ran by the Crofton branch. Did you know that they have a large selection of DVDs available for three day check-out? Not just old movies, either. Cheap thrills for cold weather.

Ruby- Good luck with your surgery tomorrow. Hope the weather isn't too terrible there.

Gita- Somehow I missed the post about your knee replacement surgery. Glad to hear you are recovering!

I'm glad there has been more snow than sleet so far (here in Crofton). Yesterday I was organizing my seeds and forgot about the impending storm. Had to run to the grocery this morning. Lots of last minute shoppers there. Glad the traffic was behaving nicely. I get crazy when people in big SUVs go roaring around.

Got sent home from work, boss was worried about me driving home in the dark with this storm, glad he did, the road conditions are deteriorating fast. And it will be hard seeing when it gets dark with the drifting snow. I am "snug as a bug in a rug" at home right now. No work tomarrow, canceled taking Penny to the groomers tomarrow, just have to go get my taxes done, which is in town but that depends if my accountant makes it in to his office, his main office is south of us he has a longer drive. We shall see!

Hello Mid-Atlantic gardeners. Are you all without power? Or just out assessing the damage to your plants? Yikes! I guess I'll be doing some heavy pruning in spring. Hope my dogwood tree doesn't lose another limb. Last year's wet snow (Feb. or March? can't remember) took two large limbs off my old Cornus florida. Don't think it can sustain more damage. I will have to put it out of it's misery.

Hope Ruby is doing well with her surgery and the rest of you guys stay safe. It's a mess here.... how is it where you are?

Hi Greenkat, morning (_)D to you.

Sounds like you had a bad ice storm? We are still getting snow here. I have not seen a weater report or watched CNN to see what has happen in other parts of the world. Grabbed my morning coffee and logged on the DG.

Waiting to hear from everyone about the storm, hope all are ok!

Chris

I am doing some work from home this morning (in Sterling) and will decide about making the trip into the office (in Reston) in an hour or so. Looking out my windows (I have not stepped outside) the ice seems less than I expected. My neighborhood is Bradford Pear Mecca and I figured that I would see them splayed all over the place, but I don't really see any ice on the trees.

- Brent

Hey There Good People - I am not going to have surgery today. Hopefully they can work me in next Wednesday. I am regarding the roads too bad to put myself in danger. We have ice covered roads here. I have tried calling The Plastic Surgery Department for an hour now and they are not answering.

John (hubby) went out about an hour ago to his garage which is a four bay, detached metal building. He came back to tell me that his floor there is flooded. Poor guy. There is no telling what he had sitting on the floor that is valuable. Oh good, he just told me that it was only boxes sitting on floor and as far as he knows there isn't any thing much in the boxes.

Well, so far I am safe and have no plans to travel anywhere today. I guess that most of my morning will be used by straightening the room that we basically tore apart yesterday to put book cases in. Later I will make beef-a-roni for dinner. I need to start a donation box because I have stuff sitting here taking up space that I will never use. Lots of impulse buying sorts of things, I suppose. Oh yeah, must remember that a large amount of what I am dealing with space wise is because in the past two or so years, we have been inheriting household items from both of our parents homes. Whew! That makes me feel a bit better for the accumulation of things. ha-ha

Okay, will check back in as I take a break. I hope that everyone will stay in and safe today too. I am praying that our power doesn't go out or cable service either. What would I do???

Take care everyone.

Ruby

I am hoping a couple young men (not in school today) would knock on my door and ask if I would like them to shovel my driveway and walkway and front steps. I am willing to pay $20. I know kids nowadays want to take advantage of homebound people and rip you off. Whatever happened to plain old good will?
How much would YOU pay for a small shoveling job?

Man! I could hear the icy rain all night tinkering away at my windows and siding. It felt good to be warm and inside.

Gita

It's been many years since I've seen kids showing up at the door wanting to make a few bucks shoveling snow. I think they make more money working at McDonalds or just being handed cash by their parents.

Do you have a neighbor who could help you out, Gita?

We had sleet for hours last night but it didn't stick to the trees and powerlines, which is very good. It's snowing again very lightly right now. Our road is awful so I hope it gets warm enough to do some melting today.

Ruby I'm glad you don't have to get out on these roads today, although I'm sure you'd just as soon get this over with.

The lower branches of my dogwood are almost touching the ground but haven't snapped.... yet.

Greencat,

Those branches look like a heard of reindeer horns.
I love how tree branches look when covered in ice. Sort of fairy-tale like....

Gita

Good day to just be bug snug.
Lots of dripping outside, guess we're just above freezing?
supposedly lots of power out in this county, but not mine either.
Just put a bunch of seeds in pots, will go to journal and record. I fit all the pots into a plastic cake container, upside down, so the clear bottom is now on top. looks pretty good,; bags and plastic wrap hard to handle.
Haven't paid for shoveling, don't know. My mom does thankfully have a neighbor with only one redeeming value,(virtue? which is it?) that is a kid who will shovel for $$, (but should do it free to repay the aggravation.........)
Day 1 slushy driveway. Day two, solid ice everywhere not attended to.

For you all seed growers, I'd like to repeat again that the cheapest (actually totally FREE) and best mini-greenhouses are the largest salad bar containers at your grocery store. The higher the lid the better. Soil goes in the bottom-- or the seed starter mini-pots. Get a pair of pliers and hold a nail with them and heat it over your stove and melt/poke a bunch of holes in the top for ventilation. Voila!!! A perfect little greenhouse! If you need more air, like once the seedlings start growing, you can let the lid swing open--or cut it off entirely.
I am sure any store will let you have a few empty salad bar containers. If not, throw a piece of lettuce in it and buy it as a "salad".......:o)

I have never bothered much with seeds indoors. I don't have a place to keep them once they sprout. I may have to figure out (somehow) so I can set up a 2' shop type of light somewhere. Actually, the other night I had a brainstorm where I can do this!!!!
This year I DO want to try to grow a few things from seed earlier. Mostly of plants you cannot find in stores. I got some seeds in exchange last year and want to give them a head start. BUT--every year I try to be 'frugal" and grow things from seed, I swear I will never do it again, as everything ends up being weeks and weeks behind. It is much easier to buy plants in market packs or in 3" pots having someone else done all the watching and worrying and watering and fertilizing.

Man! The wind is a-howling tonight!!!!

Think Spring..................Think Spring...................Think Spring...............

Gita

It could be much worse. Here's a snowstorm we had a couple years ago. Good thing my DH has a tractor with a snow blower or else we would have had to put newspapers on the floor for the little dog to do his duty. LOL

Cute pup!!! I love animal pictures.

Gita - You sound a bit like me in that whatever way you decide to grow something, you wish that you had done it differently. Isn't that always the case? ha-ha

Yeah, same here with starting things from seed. I thought I was ahead on some things only to find out that actually I was behind. I had such great plans for wintersowing and haven't done the first thing in terms of actually sowing something. Last fall I got together all my containers, seeds and most of the soil that I will need. That is as far as I have gotten. ha-ha

As I write this I suppose that I ought to go a bit easier on myself and begin looking at the things that I HAVE DONE. What I might do is what I did last year. Begin a few pots inside under grow lights. I ended up with one beautiful coleus by doing that. As for the other packet of seeds, I am sure that I will find some place to plant them whether it be in pots or in the ground somewhere.

So, as of this minute I am officially taking wintersowing off of my list of things to do. It has been hanging over my head and I just haven't been motivated to begin. This has been a year full of unexpected things. I didn't know that I would be continuing to deal with health issues. I didn't' know that I would be having to put so much time and energy in to raising my teenage son, who has had a tough year. When you get right down to it, both of these are more important than HOW I grow plants.

Last year was my first year of getting in to gardening to much extent. I have always loved plants and watching things grow but have not until now had the finances to do as much as I would have liked. I loved every minute that I spent gardening last year and hope that I will be able to enjoy it as much this coming season. It is when something looms largely in the horizon and becomes a chore that it becomes NOT enjoyable.

I just thought of one more joy that I have experienced due to getting interested in gardening and spending time on these gardening boards. I have met some fantastic people that I would not have met without the gardening interest. You folks here in The Mid Atlantic Gardening Forum have become a vital part of my life. I love hearing from all of you and hearing about your daily activities. I certainly am also grateful that I have a place that I can come and share my days with too.

I feel very loved by the group and know that I would really miss having this board to come to. Oh well, I guess that I got side tracked here a bit.

I will close by wishing everyone a good day. Gita, continue to heal up now. To all of the others who are dealing with issues today, may you find resolution and peace. To those who are experiencing a calm in their lives, enjoy it.

Gita, the wind here is ferocious too. My poor biggest and oldest dog is hiding under my feet at the desk. He is the big bully most of the time and I think it is funny when he is scared by the wind.

Have a good one all.

Ruby

Ruby,

All my "lists" are in my head. I seldom write real lists, even though "the experts" say that it gives one a sense of accomplishment to scratch things off a "to do" list when they are done. To me ALL the things on my 'to do" list weigh heavy when I have not done them and know I won't do them. Then at the end I just say to myself, "Oh well, it wasn't all that important anyway" in the BIG scheme of things. Every room in my house is full (floor to ceiling) of "to do" things. I buy, I save, I hoard, I organize, etc. I sort, I box, I have plans what to do with all the stuff...........................I tell you, it is a sickness........
I also know that I am a huge procrastinator and tend to leave things until there is no more time left to procrastinate. THAT is when I get things done!

I recently read a quote by someone that stuck with me. It was in an article on "clutter". It was something like.............."Clutter is made up of artifacts of our life". Not sure I remember it correctly....

OK! End of confessions.

Gita

Good morning!
Maryland is CCCCCOLD but not windy and is sunny this morning.
Ruby, thanks for the wishes of peace and enjoyment. This forum is a unique way of communicating. As a 'homemaker' right now, I have no work friends, and am not that in touch with school volunteer friends because the kids grow and move to different schools, and have not been invovled in a church. So social life is not busy shall we say? Here I can have contact with people of common interest, without everyone's daily schedule getting in the way.

Gita- you're right seeds can be a pain. I got too much stuff....May be scrambling if they all come up. Have the same feeling that the ones I do from seed take longer to be mature in the garden. I think I read that commercial growers leave the lights on longer, maybe even 24/7 to get them ready. And to complicate life...

Just had meeting with builder about adding a bedroom. Have no idea how much money they are going to say it will cost...... first guy said $87 K and that was a reality check. We can afford something, and house is due for work, and we are small for the area, so we're not making it something way bigger than would be worth. More decisions.

Part of reason for me home is that Mom has had major health things (87 yrs old) lives by herself , and I do not want her to think she can't call me because she is interfering with my work. THANKFULLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she is doing well this winter. Took two kids to her house yesterday and shoveled. Cannot keep her in the house! when we get there at 2:30 she's on the porch, picking away. Brutal arctic wind starts up......I feel bad for her, but she wants to be tough and with us. and sticks it out...
Life would be so different now if i had chosen to live closer to her eighteen yrs ago. But that was pre kids, just hubby and we picked a house between our work places at the time. Now we have three kids and their whole lives lived here, and she has fifty years of life there ,s o neither wants to up and move. to move her here, That would cut her off from her whole social network. sigh. Shoulda-woulda coulda..........
My calm today is that the kids are off so no new homework, the sun is shining, I took all the TV remotes to my bedroom last night to 'help ' the teenager go to bed at a decent time, ......Thanks all for sharing. Sure hope nobody got a tree in their roof last night!!

Boy, didn't realize I was writing so long.
Gita, I share your illness. Got it honestly from Dad adnd am passing it on to my kids LOL
Only lists I have done are daily ones. I'll note a few things I really have to do, and maybe a few goals, and cross them off. I do this about ten days a year, the other 355 I wing it, I guess. Just started using a daily planner few yrs ago. Have tried on and off to plan the weeks food, but haven't stuck with it very well, just keeping mentally a day or few ahead.

I guess that's right, my unfinished sewing etc are artfacts of the times in my life when I did those things.

Gita, you're sounding pretty perky, girl. I hope you're feeling as well as you sound.

I'm am card carrying member of the clutter club too. Feng shui books have been an inspiration and say that by removing the old things you don't use you open up space in your life for new, good things. I swear that works. LOL

Sally, I'm about an hour and a half to two hours from my Mom and really wishing I was closer since Daddy's health problems and death and now that she's alone. I went to see her Monday and she's doing okay, staying busy with her friends.

The great thing about gardening is that you can escape the clutter.... unless your yard is cluttered, too.

hey hart, I must not complain. I'm only less than half hour. I can go any time really.
I do feel for you. It's too far to just pop over, yet not far enough(like my sister) that would require a plane and therefore mom recognizes she can't drop everything for a week any old time. I sure hope she continues to be healthy and happy.
My husbands mom is a real energizer bunny/ stone kitten . in her 80's she left her apt complex that she was in for years, went to my BIL house for a year, then got into a senior apt bldg near us here. It is very nice for her to now have a social network in the building, and a few senior amenities from the County, and us fifteen min away. My mother has considered a fancy senior complex, but is reluctant to give up some aspects of single fam home. ( garden and yard, driveway right to back door.) If I can't get her to go in from the cold, how can I advise her on moving?
And our house would not be comfortable for her.
Heaven knows I won't be any more thrilled at these decisions when I'm much older and grayer.

greenkat--you're right! (there's that hechera from my friend fouryears ago, there's the lady's mantle I won't give up on.....)

This message was edited Feb 15, 2007 1:02 PM

Elderly parents and clutter: those are two topics I can relate to. Most of my family lives in Arizona, a five hour non-stop flight. Even though my brother lives in the same city and my sister an hour and a half away, my dad always wants me to fly out to take care of my mom.

Unfortunately, my mom's health has been deteriorating rapidly over the last 5 or so years. She has type 2 diabetes and has never been able to follow a healthy diet or stick to an exercise program. She's been in and out of the hospital having toes amputated and because of serious infections in her feet. Luckily, she still has both feet (minus about half the toes). Then last fall she was diagnosed with colon cancer.

Sunday, while talking to my dad he asked me to fly out again in a couple of weeks. My mom has started the radiation therapy this week (she has been getting the chemo for two months now) and she has been feeling extremely week and tired. My dad is 76 and very active but still works. He says that he can't quit because he needs the insurance. I would wish I could help them but I was there in January and last November. I'm afraid I will end up getting frustrated with them. I don't want to argue with them.

My parents have a four bedroom house so full of stuff that some rooms are almost unusable. I have begged and pleaded with them to let me get rid of some stuff but all of their things are just too valuable or too sentimental to turn loose of. And each one thinks the other one's junk is trash!

wow, greenkat, you have a plateful there. a platter full. plenty to deal with trying to do what one wants to for parents, even harder to have them ask for more than what one can willingly give. adult kids have their own relationships, growing families, work, that need to be put in the balance. And themselves.
OK let's laugh. My mom at least has a church rummage sale to give to; sometimes she hauls out the most worthless stuff and carefully carrries it over there! "Should I give them this steam iron? It doesn't work." But she regularly adds fairly decent things to her wardrobe that onl cost 25 cents at the rummage sale, so she's smarter than me! Confess, I bought a summer dress for 50 cents there.......
Laurie Notaro has some funny books. Written as a married adult woman dealing with life's nonsense such as pets, weird neighbors, old ladies ...

Good messages folks. Okay, I too have a big problem with clutter and hanging on to things. I was talking with someone on another board earlier today and she told me how she is working her de-cluttering, downsizing. She knows that it won't be too long before she and hubby move to a smaller home since the kids are grown and on their own now.

She said that she leisurely de-clutters room by room because looking at the whole big picture overwhelms her and she never gets started. She says that after she finishes going through the rooms, she starts all over again. I am going to try her system and see if I can do it. I guess that I am already starting since a few days this week I have been in spare bedroom organizing and finding new homes for things.

The reason that we finally started working on the spare room, that you could literally not walk through, is that we just inherited two beautiful glass front bookcases. That room is the only place that the bookcases would fit. At least I now have some display areas for some of the things that are packed away.

Hart, I tried getting on the Feng Shui wagon about ten years ago. I bought books and lots of little things that were supposedly feng shui symbols. I still have red tassles hanging around in odd little places. Anyway, I tried and tried and as you say the first principle of FS is to reduce clutter. I have so many things that bring me joy and that I like to look at. Not sure if I mentioned that about three years ago we moved to a house that is exactly half the size of the one that we lived in the previous 7 or 8 years. I much prefer this one though and that is mainly due to it's location. Anyway, I came upon a solution to my decorating woes.

I now decorate in the Funky Shui style. ha-ha Tis true, I bought a book by that title. It is written by two women who say to enjoy displaying all your weird and special items. I am a collector at heart and enjoy it. The main collection that I have is of elephants. I have been meaning to count how many elephants I own but haven't done it yet. It is written on one of my lists somewhere.

Oh yeah, speaking of lists. I probably began making lists about ten years ago. I have oodles and oodles of little memos to myself hidden away that I have saved over the years. It brings to mind one thing that we found as we closed out my parents home. We are talking thiry, forty and fifty years ago. My mom was also a queen of jotting down notes to herself. She wrote on the backs of used envelopes. I end up buying stickies and note pads a lot.

Anyway, thanks for the clutter confessions, I feel as though I am in good company. I really like greenkat's take on it all. Gardening is a good way to not have to see messes. ha-ha

Sally, I much agree and can identify with your description of what these online groups mean to me. I have not worked outside the home since 1993 and that was always a place of socializing. Ditto on the Church and other types of opportunities to be with other women. There were several years not too many ago that I felt very burdened by two of the girl friends that I was spending a lot of time with. It seemed that they both would unload on me emotionally and then never try to resolve their complaints. I realized that I had never had that luxury. Each time in my life when I was faced with something not to my liking, I had to go about changing it rather than sit around and belly ache over it. I decided during that time that I was better off having no one around if the only one's who were around were draining me.

So, all of you gals consider yourself very special please. I feel very blessed to be able to sit down in this chair and write about what is on my mind at the moment. I am always thrilled when I check back and see responses. So, thank you all who posted today. I enjoyed getting to know all of you a bit better.

Have a good evening all. I am getting ready to settle on couch in front of (new) TV for the evening.

Ruby

Oh yeah, came back and read sally's note to greenkat. Oops greenkat, I wanted to address the predicament that you are finding yourself in with your folks. Do you know why your dad wants you there with your mom versus the siblings? I would think that you need to figure out what family dynamic is taking place and then figure out how to resolve it so that every one comes out feeling okay about things. It doesn't seem fair that you would have to fly across the country when your siblings are closer.

I will say one thing and then need to get to that couch that is calling my name.

My dad was pretty crippled up by the time of his death at age 82. He spent the last ten or so years in a wheelchair. He was able to pretty much do most things for himself even though he was lucky enough to be able to have a married couple spend the last three years of his life, with him. The husband was a Registered Nurse and as far as I could ever tell, they did a good job in staying with him. Now, whenever either my brother or myself or our kids came in to the house, daddy would always ask us to get things for him or do things for him. The woman of the team living with him whispered to me one day that he never asked her or her husband to do what he "always" had us kids do. He only became an invalid whenever family was around. I am wondering what your dad is thinking by not asking one of the other siblings to pitch in some. There may be some faulty thinking on someones part and you know better than I where the fault lies. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. It is really tough when it is parents that need the help. If you decide not to go again so soon, just make sure that you won't spend time beating yourself up mentally. That would be worse than going ahead and going again.

Hope that it turns out well for you. Again, I certainly understand how tough things are when dealing with family members. My family has been responsible for some of my greatest wounds in life. Saying that, I must also add that they are also responsible for some of my most lovely times too.

Bye all.

Ruby

Hi all! Thanks for your support. Sorry my last post was so negative. I'm sure many of you have been frustrated by by parents and older relatives.

Ruby, you are so right about family dynamics. The reason my dad wants me to fly out is that I am the only one of his kids that he gets on well with! My brother does run errands for my parents a couple of times a week and that's a big help to them, but he is often openly critical of my dad. My sister helped out for many years but now has a job with a lot more responsibility including travel. She is really tired when she gets home from work. She is also tired of our mother's refusal to admit to an eating disorder that everyone knows about. When I visit, I sort of swoop in and clean up, throw out my mom's junk food stash and pester my dad until he fixes the leaky faucet or whatever. After I leave, my dad feels like he got something accomplished, too.

I'm sure my siblings and I will be able to work out whatever problems we have. We get together and talk but sometimes disagree on solutions. My parents will be OK. They have many friends from their church who would help if asked and we also have extended family in the Phoenix area. So I'm sure things will work out. It is just frustrating sometimes.

Oh, I understand. Both of my parents are deceased now. Sad to say that I am having the better relationship with then now that I ever did while they were living. That is funny and sad at the same time. Our family would have to win an award for its dysfunction. All in all, since their deaths I now realize that they did the very best that they knew to do. I have forgiven whatever the insults were and don't spend too much time worrying too much about it.

I only wrote because I didn't want to see you waste time and energy feeling guilty about anything. It sounds from the tone of your letter that things are probably as good as they ever will be, so go with it. Relationships are difficult at their best.

I hope that everyone will have a good weekend coming up. Not sure what the weather forecast is other than ccccoooolllldddd.
So, everyone stay warm.

Ruby

Didn't want to start another weather thread so just continuing this one.

Our knee deep snow is starting to melt, and yesterday was the first time I could see if my pump in the watergarden was still running, the snow was so deep that all the water was covered, usually the running water keeps some openings on the surface. Happy to report all is well !
I made a trip to my accountant yesterday for taxes, his office it at the edge of town and near a wooded area not far away, and I swore I heard spring peepers!!!! So if the story is right 2 more freezes and it will be spring!!

Can you tell I'm getting desperate. ha ha

Looked out the window at the open spot in the watergarden, had to get out the binoculars to confirm but I am sad to report one of my frogs did not make it through the winter. I think the warm weather we had before this cold snap had them confused and they did not go into hibernation like usual. Hope I din't find anymore I am very fond of my frogs!

This hard stuff is finally starting to melt here too. In fact, with temps in the 50s for the past couple of days I'm surprised it's taking so long to melt. Not knee high, though, thank goodness.

I'm very fond of my frogs, too, Chris. Last summer, I lost a bunch of them to a black snake that decided my pond was a reptile McDonalds. Then I caught him up in a tree trying to get into a nest full of baby birds. I finally chased him off with snake repellent.

I use one of those floating heaters like the farmers put in the cows' watering troughs in winter to keep an open spot in the pond so the fish won't suffocate.

Gosh Chris - I didn't realize that you still had that much snow laying around. I thought of you and some of the other northerners a bit ago as I walked around and closed all the windows that have been open all afternoon. We had the windows open yesterday too. I know this temperature won't last, but am gonna enjoy while I can.

Sorry to hear about all the frogs.

Ruby

I've got a little pond envy. I love to hear the peepers in spring- won't be long now here.
Couple years ag o we had alot of rain in August. One evening I was bagging some debris and a little frog hopped out on my hand-very unusual. Next eve, I was sitting on m y front sidewalk messing in some plants, and a green frog hopped right in my lap!!! Both too shocked to do anything but say Hi and Bye! I guess it was on its way to or from the nieghbor's pool.

Quick question. We live about a block or so from the PA State Gamelands and in March, the peepers are hollering their little heads off. Do they dig down into the mud to hibernate and does their body freeze? My husband & I had a discussion on this this morning. Thanks.

After the miserable weather of the past few weeks, it's a joy to step outside this week! Lost our power for two days with last week's ice storm, brought back "fond" memories (NOT!) of two weeks without power after the ice storm of 1998 in Maine :) At least back then, we were a little better equipped to handle it - woodstove, gas for cooking, etc. This time around logs in the fireplace could only keep the living room at 50 degrees - brrr!

Even though the warm temps have been pleasant - the winds have been howling since yesterday morning - gusts of 50 mph! I'm still thinking spring though - after this week we should be on our way - a few yellow Crocus showing their heads yesterday morning :) Can't wait to hear those peepers!

Buttoneer, found a couple links to answer your question - sounds like they must be pretty tough little creatures, "hibernate under logs and loose bark"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_peepers
http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=AR0014

I can't even count the many times in my lifetime that I have been outdoors bare footed and stepped on or very near to a frog. Scares the deedle dee right out of me. Ewww, the cold slimy feel of their backs is gross. ha-ha
The weekend is almost here, have a good one.

Ruby