Category Archives: weather

Feb18

So far, 3rd snowiest winter ever

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I’ve been hanging low watching the 58.4″ of snow pile up over the last few months. I can’t do any shoveling, not with my back. The guys have done their share, but they have a snow blower this time around too.

snow14

Snow2-214

I’ve taken at least 20 Instagram photos featuring the weather and snow.

I did a cupid theme for Valentine’s Day on my mantel

MantelVDay

Sean gave me the ‘Love’ print (in Philly) and I got to see it in person at the end of December.

I have been doing a lot of sorting-yarn, fabric, craft items, etc and it’s still a work in progress, but it’s spread all over the house right now. I really have to downsize more.

I’ve knitted a few hats too! One of which is ‘almost’ in the colors of the Geocaching logo. I made it too big at first, ripped out about 5 rows and did a little crocheting and gathering at the top. I added a pin I had and wore it geocaching on Monday in Dover, DE.

Geohat

I’m working on a cowl right now. I had pretty old knitting needles and bought some new ones and what a difference!

We all were trying to think of a local place to take a day trip yesterday. We were going up to Allentown to see a car museum and maybe the art museum, but it was a holiday and a Monday. so they were closed.  We took a drive to Dover, DE which is about 60 miles one way. I am trying to get to 500 geocache finds, but this winter it’s slow going.

Our first spot was Pickering Beach.  A few of us had to go to the bathroom and the little cottages were locked up tight. I completely forgot there were caches there, but the GPS was out anyway. I usually am very thorough with our trips to do caching, but I was aiming for Allentown, not Dover. I did notice there were several DGT (Delaware Geocache Trails) ones and we did find one when we could get to it. It was at a brewing company! I had brought a little beer mug trophy to add to the swag. When I ordered them, I thought they were much smaller. So glad to find an appropriate place to add one.

The other places, all museums were closed. We plan to go back in May to see them all. The beach should be crawling with horseshoe crabs from the Delaware Bay.

PickeringB

PickeringB2

We did find 5 geocaches, but not the neat ones at the John Dickerson Plantation and airplane museums as the gates were closed at these locations.

I’ve only worked 2 days for the entire month of February because of the weather. The kids all have cabin fever and get a bit itchy.

Some things are going on like the orchid show at Longwood Gardens and the Flower show in Philly. Hope to get to Longwood in the next few weeks.

And last but not least, some Artist trading cards were made much to my enjoyment! It’s been a while, though I made 13 Valentine’s Day cards for the kids.

Oct28

Learn about words-Filibuster

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We’ve heard this word quite a few times lately and I noticed filibuster was on the cover of ‘Word Histories and Mysteries’  by the editors of American Heritage Dictionaries. (I thought I’d share these with you every once in a while).

Filibuster- A freebooter and a filibuster are from the Dutch word vrijbuiter, derived from vrji ‘free’ and buit ‘booty’. This was first used in the 16th century. The French borrowed the word and passed it on to the English in the 18th century in the form of filibustier. The Spanish got a hold of it and it became filibustero where the English word filibuster came from. At first it meant ‘pirate’, but then in the United States in the 19th century it was known as adventurer who tried to to stir up trouble between the Spanish Colonies of Central America and the Caribbean.  It was also used as a verb to explain pirate activities. The term now is used to describe the aggressive  course of action taken by legislators seeking to delay or prevent legislative action.

Photo Hunt Spooky– a church in the middle of no where  (we were on the way back from Penn State back in 2009 looking for Penn’s Cave)with a ghost story associated with it!

1885 Bethesda Evangical Church on Swamp Church Road
If you don’t hear from me for a few days, blame it on Sandy…

Jul2

Stayin’ cool

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Not much to report in this neck of the woods. I’ve been wondering outside a little bit, watering things, maybe pulling out a weed or two, but that’s about it. Can’t muster  up going out in the heat over 90 much. Yesterday, both guys were gone for a few hours so I did a little baking and cooking and also made this:

I had gotten the eagle stamp up in Lancaster and thought a new ink pad was black. It turned out to be pink, so I restamped over the pink in black. The pink made a shadow effect.

I was in Big Lots and ‘Larry the Cable guy’ has his name on some mixes, one of which was beer bread. You have to use a bottle of beer and some butter. I made it and it tasted like an Auntie Ann’s soft pretzel with a hint of beer. ; )

I also made a big bowl of Sean’s favorite, potato salad and a cucumber salad from Everyday Food magazine. You peel an English cucumber in long ‘ribbons’ and add diced celery and onion to it. The middle seedy part you put in a blender (I have a bullet one) with a little mayo, Cilantro (love it) and Champagne vinegar (who has that?-I used apple cider vinegar).  Very nice and refreshing with the breaded pork chop.

Tonight I am whipping up Spaghetti All’Amatriciana-it had a lot of bacon in the sauce part! It’s simmering and then you are suppose to ‘process’  the sauce, but I like it chunky. The house smelled so good when I was cooking the bacon. Should be tasty!

I’ve wanted to go geocaching, but it’s too hot. I’ve been looking up some more in the area I have missed and have one to hide, but figuring that one out.

Also am trying out a few contests and sweepstakes through Facebook; I figure that’s a safe way to do so. Someone has to win.

Pass the bottle of Zinfandel please. : )

Mar22

Spring has sprung, but it’s like summer too!

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I’ve heard that my pals up in Canada and Michigan and getting nice 70 degree temps like we are down here in Pennsylvania! Tomorrow it will hover around 80! We haven’t had much rain lately and the ground is cracking. I had a circle of daffodils out where we planted the tomatoes and zucchinis and I guess us working the earth made them bloom ever so nicely this year. They look like this:

The forsythia are blooming and my PT looks pretty near them. Brian gave her a wash for me this week.

My friend Rachel had a little girl on the 15th of this month and I sent her a few gifts. I couldn’t believe I found an outfit that had a cross stitched bear on it! We met through cross stitching! I said I’d give her one of my passes if she wants to bring her two year old son and newborn for a walk in Longwood sometime. She lives closer to Philly, but to the north more.

Brian and I are off for our trip tomorrow afternoon. It’s about 25 miles or so, but a B&B. I have plans to see a few little towns and there is a casino not that far away. We’ll keep busy! I have to wrap up his gifts after I get off from here. I have only a few, but one was a little pricier than the others. He should like the main gift (from Sean and me). Speaking of Sean, he did Turbo Tax and got his refund in less than a week! How lucky is that? We probably won’t get a refund, but we hope to use the program also.

And to live up to my blog name, the person I sent the poppy ATC scanned it when it got to The Netherlands as I forgot:

Feb2

Spring-like weather

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Yesterday here, it reached almost 70! Wow!! The day before it was in the 60s. I went out on those two days and raked leaves and debris in the side yard until my left elbow ached. We usually dump the cart down the hill and my pile was so big, I stopped. I have a lot more to do. I had gone to town raking in the front yard in the middle of November. With Brian having pneumonia and Sean working and going to school now, I wanted to jump start spring cleaning. Unfortunately, my sinuses haven’t been great. I have postnasal drip and an itchy throat. I’m blaming it on the dental issues (I usually get something from that and going 5 different times, I was doomed to catch a bug). But the cold weather will calm down the weird stuff floating in the air and there I was digging into composting leaves and stuff, so that didn’t help me. I am using Claritin, the neti pot and some nasal decongestant if I can’t stand the drip. It took about 3 hours to feel better this morning. I’ve been waking up at 5 or 6 am with a tickle, worst yesterday.

Anyway…

Now the little groundhog Phil a further north in Pennsylvania had to see his shadow-6 more weeks of winter! If it stays nice, it won’t be too bad!

Jan21

A little snow event

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Overnight we got a little snow, about 2″ of it, but of course it wouldn’t be a complete dump without a little frozen precipitation on top. I would have been fine with that, but I had to go out this morning as I had a piece of a crown break off while sucking on a peppermint Life Saver! Talk about luck! Brian took me in at 9:30 and the dentist cleaned around the temp on the bottom as it still was bothering me and said the one on top (yep, problems with the bottom left and top right-fun chewing times!) that has a post into my gum needs to be replaced! This will be the third one now (roughly at $900 each). I can eat with it. I guess when I go in to get the ones on the bottom, they will prepare that one and probably the one next to it which needs a filling underneath (that’s the one I thought broke). Luckily the tops ones both have had root canals.
Here is a bit of a peek of the snow:

Last week, before all the dental stuff, Sean and I went up to the outlets in Lancaster. I got some great deals in the QVC outlet store, some slacks, tops and this which I tried out last night:

It’s a Technique muffin pan that makes square muffins! They didn’t stick, but deflated a bit, but very moist. The mix was a raspberry one found at The Christmas Tree Shops for $2.00 (half off). The price on the page does not reflect what I paid-I think mine was $15 with something off!

I ‘did’ work on a little project for my arts and crafts day. I am almost finished, but not quite up to it today. It’s a little shadow box. I don’t know about you, but when I have teeth or head issues, I just tend to be blah and stare at stuff. Glad I made an effort. I did print out some Valentine’s things and may work on them tomorrow.

Sean just booked a room in Seacaucus, NJ, 8 miles out of NYC. We can grab a bus in. We’ll plan our itinerary now.

Monday I take my mom to the doctor. A long time coming and I pray all is fine.

Oct30

Belgium Waffles-yum

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I finally located my Belgium waffle maker after it was missing for many years. I almost ditched it for a new one, but cleaned it up and started using it again. I had a whole grain mix that just called for adding liquids which was fine, but nothing compares to a plump ‘real’ Belgium waffle:

You just don’t want to do this:

Which I did on the fourth one! What a mess. I forget that the tablespoon of baking powder will really make them rise and overflow. Plus I didn’ t want to make a fifth one!

Here’s the recipe from the Food Network site:

Belgium Waffles
2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
Nonstick vegetable spray for coating waffle iron
Confectioners' sugar
Fresh berries
Whipped cream, recipe follows
Ice cream, optional

If you don't have Buttermilk in the house, here's what you can do:
Milk (just under one cup)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice-let sit 5 minutes

Here's my doll Olivia with a new mask on:



And the remnants of the much talked about snow:

And the remnants of the much talked about snow:
Aug28

We survived Hurricane Irene!

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It’s been a tense few days, but when we woke up with power and less rain we were very happy! According to the weather people, Hurricane Irene made landfall around 5:30 am in Little Egg Harbor, NJ, south from here, about 2 hours or so away. Unfortunately, my mom lost power around 10 pm or so and they think they heard a transmitter blow. Mom is more suburban than us. We do have a little water in a few places in our basement, but very manageable. Because it didn’t rain as much as they thought, that saved us. Also we put plastic around outside. Brian and I are dopey from nerves and achy from doing stuff outside. Thank goodness he cleaned the rain gutters out more as that probably helped too. Whew!

Now to look forward to the Bruce Hornsby concert on Tuesday and the Beatlemania trip on Saturday. No more hurricanes for my last hurrah of the summer. ; )

Update: 11:14 am is history-she’s a tropical storm now!