It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Valley

For the last couple days the wind was so strong you could be sand-blasted out there. A few minutes ago I saw no farther than the end of the driveway. By the time I got my cell phone ready it had calmed down to this:

This poor Southern California-born gal hasn’t been able to take walks for a couple days and it may be a few more before this blows over. Kali is very sad! Me, too!

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Share Your World March 5, 2018

What did you or did not like about the first place you lived without your parents?

Really? Everything! I lived in a small town four hours from my parents. Yes, I shared it with my husband, but I felt so grown up. It was a big apartment. Two bedrooms. Huge living room. Open kitchen so that I could be a part of things while cooking or washing up. Oh, there may be my negatives. That husband thought in very ancient terms. But the place was beautiful and modern. Not something I love now, but then it spelled freedom and maturity! Oh, yeah, in your twenties a tiny town with only one blinking stoplight and nothing for youth to do, was BORING. But we learned to be adventurers. We drove to nearby towns. Or that four hours to see all the family and friends left behind. Then SO happy to be back in my own apartment.

What is your most favorite smell/scent?

Ocean. Oh if that could be bottled! The second best is forest, camping, campfire smells. Near the ocean–Heaven!

Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why?

Since we are retired, the snow is beautiful outside. Sometimes we take walks in it. I have to admit to loving watching the snow and seeing the scenery clean and fresh with white linen. In fact, around here, if there isn’t snow it is SO much colder. Like minus numbers colder. Without the snow, that is just misery!

 

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

What I appreciate is having my license back. Not having the funds to get it renewed at the right time was devastating! But due to unfortunate events, I now have a truck and a license which I intend to relish and show gratitude in huge amounts. After all, who knows how much longer I will be able to drive? My grandfather made it into his 80’s I think, but others in my family didn’t make it that long. Now to find the funds to do some awesome road trips!

As usual, thank you, Cee, for Share Your World. A chance to look at life and share with others.

October 21 2017

The weather app on my phone said late-night snow. At midnight ‘outside’ stars in the sky.

Seven o’clock wake up:

Christmas decorations are up at stores too soon. Maybe this is the result of ‘Wishing for a White Christmas’ happens before the last leaves fall from the trees prior to Halloween? It is now 10:35 and the snow is melting. Rain makes icky mud!

#A to Z Challenge–G

Going, Going, Gone? GNot!

Kali’s first ‘outside’ of the day. Hubby took her out around 11 last night and proclaimed it was snowing. I took her an hour later and it was just wet. (We are late night people so Kali is too.) This morning at 9:30 there was snow on everything.

See all the brown? Snow goes away quickly where the quail get fed. Oh, and Kali isn’t looking at the car. There is a quail still finishing up and two seconds later she is attempting flight. For walkers, quail CAN fly away quickly. Kali hasn’t quite mastered it even though her huge ears are flapping.

If you can see her please give her a bit of privacy, please. I couldn’t see the screen of my phone the sun was so bright so I didn’t realize she was in the middle of the picture.

Front yard. Look at that sky!

So Father Winter isn’t quite finished with us but Spring Sun has it melted by noon. But more clouds means he’s not finished for the day. At least the temps are not so cold anymore.

One Liner Wednesday–February 22 2017

Good morning to us–Will this ever end?

Gratuitous photo of Kali wishing she could go for walks as promised.

One-liner Wednesdays are brought to you by Linda G Hill.  Check out her website and join the fun!

After the Mud, More Snow

I wasn’t expecting this. We knew it was going to rain but didn’t expect snow that might stick until nearly noon. But look at that sky. It’s not finished.

These two are the front ‘yard’.

We have a feral cat that we take care of under the front porch.

Looking at the backyard through the avocado tree in the dining room.

Behind the car the snow was smooth. Weird!

In front of the car, mud. But do you see Kali? (Sort of a “Where’s Waldo?” moment)

Well, she’s finished with this mess! Bring the Spring time, please!

 

 

The Groundhog Was Right

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water…

See the buried gas can?

Front porch

Front steps and where the ladder bridged that small stream.

Should have gotten out the ruler–I think it is about 3″ just since 4 AM.

So that was our wake up this morning. Kali loved it no need to carry her over the water. She ran around making trenches before settling on a new spot. Brother managed to get to work but came home within a couple hours.

As pretty as it was this morning, the wind is back with a vengeance. Clouds in the west are heading this way… probably rain. My rainboots come tomorrow–if the UPS guy can get over the coming creek!

Mariah Keeps Blowing

So this ark is still surrounded by more than a foot of water and snow. The wind is blowing in the next rain/snow storm. Here are some new pictures I took this morning.

See the red gas can (empty)? It used to be under the kitchen window. It is either the tide or the wind that carried it to the far east of our property. And you can still see lots of snow. In fact, we have to carry the dog to higher snow to do her business.

Anyone who would dare to come visit or even the poor UPS guy will have to walk on the ladder then to the bit of snow to get to the first step of our front porch. We are taking care of a poor stray cat and usually feed him under the front porch. But now have to feed on the steps. Somehow, he is getting to the food. But how he does it without swimming I can’t figure out.

I just ordered some knee-high rainboots. My brother has some and has been the main person to carry but when he goes back to work (which isn’t tomorrow as the whole town is going through this) I will be able to carry her out.

Though this place has the happy name of Christmas Valley, the county name is LAKE. Now I know why!

One-Liner Wednesday & #JusJoJan 11/17 Prompt – Shovel Buddy

SHOVEL BUDDY

Bam! I made it through 11 days of posting! Take that! But obviously, I am not good at one-liners! And since we have no car we have no need to shovel or buddy to go with.

But that brings up that my little Kali and I got to take a walk today. We haven’t been able to with all the snow and ice the last few days. It was warm enough not to wear my Alaska coat. Note the orange thermal fingernail polish that is pink until cold enough to wear the orange coat.

Nope. Just a couple cotton shirts under my black windbreaker. And Kali actually let me put her coat on for the walk. But we didn’t stay out long. The snow was slippery and icy. I nearly killed us with my ungraceful ice walking/skating (?). And we got cold. Sooo. We go back inside and shrug off all those extra clothes. I should have worn my sunglasses for even that short time gave me a bit of snow blindness. And no sooner are we inside than it starts snowing, a lot! Weird! It had been sunny while out there. The sky was blue! But now the SNOW was so thick I couldn’t see the little hills just 12 miles away. So Kali and I decided to take a snow nap. SMILE!

Just Jot It January and One Liner Wednesday brought to you by Linda G Hill. Come Join the fun!

#JusJoJan Daily Prompt – Jan. 6/17

Your prompt for January 6 is brought to you by Prajakta at https://anarmchairperfectionist.wordpress.com/ Your prompt is: “Tangible.” Use it any way you like. Make sure you stop by Prajakta’s website and say hello to her!

Thanks to Linda G Hill for setting this fun project up. And thanks to stand-in Rosemary for keeping it going!

Tangible

Where I grew up the sky was tangible. Most people don’t think of sky or air as tangible. But if your town was trapped between mountain ranges and the air currents trapped the air from Los Angeles. especially in the summers, the sky was yellow to tan. You felt that on hot days, in your lungs, of course, but if you were like me, your skin. I never felt clean during the summer unless I was swimming. We didn’t own a pool but we walked several miles to get to a pool and our two dimes let us stay for four hours, two sessions. Unfortunately, by the time we had walked home we felt dirty again. That was before laws were passed for cars and companies to reduce smog-causing emissions. By the time I had my own children and brought them to see their grandparents those laws had changed the sky quite a bit. It is still a bit yellow, I think, but maybe that is just the film covering my memory. No. Wait! I remember using GeoEarth to “drive” through the town and the sky in the pictures makes the place look hot and sticky, kind of yellow. But still not as bad as when I was a kid.

Now I live somewhere totally different. During the summer the sky is so dry as to make it the opposite of tangible, I suppose intangible. But the lack of H2O that, say, the southern states have in high quantities, is so lacking one needs to constantly smear on lotions or squirt themselves with water. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. For all seasons my hair looks like I am touching that huge machine they had in science class that makes static electricity (Had to look it up–electrostatic generator!) Touching metal items or pets or loved ones can cause tangible and visible effects. But the sky here is so clear and dark that you can see a million galaxies! Stars so close you feel they may be tangible.

I wrote all the above with this thought in mind. Last night we reached a low of -20. Today I am not sure we got above 12. The kitchen pipes froze and took some doing to start working again. But after days of snow that hasn’t melted since before Christmas, this morning’s air was tangible. It grew all over everything outside. The frost on the trees were big pieces of ice. I still can’t see out of my windows as the outer pane is covered with frost. It looks like a magical place.

Not so to my poor little rat terrier, Kali. She goes out to do her duty and she holds up one foot and then the other. The world is TOO tangible for her.