Jock's View

Jock LOVES playing in the snow. And we're finally getting some, though it seems to just be a dusting.

When it's time to come inside, he parks himself in front of the sliding glass door, to survey "his domain."

Let it Snow!

Well, the Midwest is getting snow (and winds, lots of high winds!) again this weekend. It started raining here yesterday afternoon and into the evening. By around 7 PM, it had started changing over to snow as the temperature dropped. And it has been snowing ever since, even still, at 3:30 PM. I think new snow is still falling but it's sometimes hard to tell with the heavy winds blowing and causing lots of drifts.

There has been heavy snowfall around my neighborhood. A couple cars have already gotten stuck on our street before snow plows started clearing our neighborhood roads.

In the meantime, Liv and Jock have been enjoying the snow (but not for too long because the wind chill's right around zero).

Jock really seems to enjoy playing in the snow. Here are plenty of Pembroke-Welsh-Corgi-in-the-snow pics, most are kinda blurry because he was having so much fun zipping around quickly.

Bookin' it through the snow!

Over the drift

Peek a boo, Jock!

Running along the fence line

I included this pic, even though Jock's a blur, because of how quickly he ran to me and turned around for another lap in the snow!

Jock's Snowy Morning

Alright, so many of you are probably aware that the Midwest got hit by a snowstorm yesterday and  it lasted through the overnight hours. We ended up getting approximately 6.2" in my neighborhood.

Plus, we're going back into the deep freeze this week. When I headed out with Liv to take her to school this morning (after a 2 hour delayed start), the temp was -5°F with a wind chill of around -19°F. Let me tell you, she was bundled up. Long underwear, clothes, snow pants, snow boots, neck gaiter, winter coat, mittens, hat. She said her snow gear is SO WARM (thankfully!!) and the walk to school - 0.26 one way/door-to-door (we're literally right across the street) - is short.

We're supposed to be above 0°F for a high temp (though in the single digits, around 8°F). Tonight, though, it's supposed to be -11°F; who knows how cold the wind chill will get. Tomorrow? A high of -5°F and tomorrow's low expected to drop to -18°F. No wonder we've got a wind chill warning, huh?!

It really could be worse, though! Liv and I are reading The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In this book, Laura describes blizzard after blizzard the Ingalls family endures in their house in the Dakota Territory during the winter of 1880-1881. She often mentions the bitter cold they were enduring this particular winter, and how, when she was in bed, she would look up at the ceiling and see how frost coated the ceiling board nails thickly in white. (They could also see their breath upstairs in their bedroom!!) 

And at one point, she mentions that, when Pa went down the street one day (they lived in town at this point) to find out the news from other townsfolk, he'd mentioned, upon his return home, that it was around 40° below!! 

A high of 8°F doesn't seem so bad, especially when the sun is making a weak (but hopefully not brief) appearance.

Anyway, I did entitle this post "Jock's Snowy Day." Yes, my original intent was to share a few pictures of Jock's enjoyment of the snowy back yard. He was born in August 2014, so last year was obviously his first winter. He LOVED it. He loved rolling in the snow, running around in the snow, eating, it, sticking his snout into snow drifts and rooting around . . . I was hoping that this winter, he'd be just as enamored of the white stuff as he was last year. 

Yep. He sure is. 

 

These were taken this morning, during Liv's two hour delay. She watched a bit from the window while I went out to take a few pics of Jock. I didn't get any of him while he was rooting around (SO FUNNY!) because he'd hear my camera's buzz while I focused on him, and he'd immediately whip his head around and look at me. But you can see the snowy effect of his rooting!

We didn't stay out long because of the wind chills, and the fact that his veterinary hospital posted about only taking dogs out for elimination purposes only while we're in this deep freeze. But I figured a few minutes here and there would be okay.

And then Liv had to go to school. I usually take her to the corner, and then the crossing guard takes over, but since we were a few minutes early, the crossing guard wasn't there, yet. So I walked her across the street onto school property, and she trotted off from there. 

When I got back into the house, I found Jock. Since both Liv and Andrew had two weeks off (one from school and the other from work, obviously), he grew accustomed to having all three of us around. But Andrew left for work after snow blowing the driveway and sidewalks, and then Liv was off. So he found his spot at the window by the front door (with his chew toy and the towel I use to dry him off after coming in from the snow) and began pining away for his two missing humans. 

Poor Jock. Hopefully he'll get used to the regular routine soon. (He's no longer at the window, but under my desk right now as I type.)

Three of My Winter Essentials

The past few days, Liv and I have had an icy walk to and from school. Even though I've salted my driveway and the sidewalk in front of our house, the city has sanded the streets, and the school has salted their walkways, there are still icy spots that are unavoidable.

Especially at the corner where Liv and I (as well as lots of other students) cross. This particular corner's at a somewhat low area where water naturally pools. So when we have weather just warm enough to start melting ice and snow, water pools at this corner. Then it gets below freezing, and that (seemingly giant) pool of water freezes up like an ice skating rink. It makes crossing the street a bit hazardous. We don't want to slip and fall, especially since it's at the corner - I'm always worried that either Liv or I (or another kid) will slip into oncoming traffic.

That got me to thinking about the winter weather gear that I'm glad I have.

Quite a few years ago - it must've been when I was in college and was home visiting at Christmastime - my brother Joe and I were at our local mall. He didn't have a car/ride and wanted to head to the mall to pick up some gifts; I was more than willing to go with him. I liked spending time with my brothers, and if that meant taking one of them to the mall, I was all for it.

Well, we'd walked past one of those kiosks that sells all those toasty warm shearling products. I tried on a pair of mittens and said I loved them and would have to come back another time to get them. (I don't remember why I wasn't going to get them right then.) As we walked along and Joe made a purchase for our youngest brother, Alex, and maybe another purchase for somebody else, he decided he had to go the the men's room.

Right.

He came back grinning, and I somehow noticed that he was hiding attempting to hide an extra bag among the other bags he already had. He ended up saying something like, "If you were to get those mittens you liked, you would pick the small ones and not the mediums, right?"

"Yep."

"Good."

Fast forward to Christmas day.

He'd gotten me those mittens. And I still have them, as evidenced by the photo above. They are SO WARM.

I'd used them a LOT (except for skiing/sledding, because I'd go with mittens that are a bit more water repellant), and they went with me wherever I moved - although when I was stationed in Tucson, AZ, they remained in a box of winter weather gear (like my snow parka and winter boots).

When Andrew and I ended up being stationed in Boston, and I knew I'd need these mittens at some point, I actually couldn't find them! They were lost! So Andrew, upon finding a similar pair at a similar kiosk at our "new" local mall, bought me a new pair.

The original mittens that Joe had gotten me were in that winter weather gear box and it had been temporarily lost on our household goods' journey between Tucson and the Boston area. I was glad the box finally showed up, though unfortunately, another couple boxes were lost for good.

Anyway, these mittens are perfect for those low wind-chill days when I'm walking Livie to and from school!

My other favorite winter gear invention: YakTrax.

These are things you put on your shoes that help you maintain traction as you walk on icy or otherwise slick paths, kinda like tire chains for tires. A few years ago, I'd bought a pair of the "walking" variety. They're thick rubber "webs" with metal coils that go on the bottoms of your shoes. They really help reduce all the sliding around you do on icy surfaces.

That's my very poor, poor quality photo of what they look like. (Yes, it's gunky out there with the sand and the salt and the gunk.) You can see a better pic of one here.

I actually meant to wear these one morning when I ran outside while visiting my parents over the holdiays (treadmills get boring FAST in the wintertime). But I hadn't realized that Andrew had brought them inside; I thought they were in my car. So when I got to the trail head, they weren't there. But I went running anyway, and slipped on a nasty patch of ice, wrenching my right foot and aggravating the just-about-completely healed tendonitis. I took a couple weeks off, and that morphed into a couple more weeks off and. . . well, I need to get back to running. I'm just about out of the habit.

Anyway, my third favorite winter thing?

My peppermint mug. Usually used for coffee, and occasionally for hot chocolate. I use it mostly in the winter, because it seems like it's a wintery themed mug, right?

Anybody else have winter gear you just can't live without?

Oma's Christmas Magic

The past couple weeks, and especially these last few days, I've been excitedly anticipating Christmas . . . with a pinch of sadness thrown in. See, it seemed like that usual gleam of magic the Advent and Christmas seasons bring was slightly tarnished without Oma's presence.

I'd hear a Christmas song on the radio, whether it was one of Oma's favorites, or perhaps an arrangement she would've loved . . . and I'd start missing her. And then I'd start thinking that Christmas just isn't the same without one's grandmother, especially since grandmothers seem to possess a bit of a magical aura about them by their very nature - mix that with the Christmas season (Santa, winter wonderlands, presents, hot cocoa, cookies . . . ), and, well . . . it just hasn't quite felt right this year.

But then the other night, it struck me. My grandfather's voice. (He passed away in 2008). It was as though he were telling me, "Just look around. Your grandmother's magic is there. Just look."

And what did I see?

(I've posted a similar pic of these lights before, in case you remember them.)

 Liv and I were driving into our neighborhood one evening after her violin lesson. And we drove past some of our favorite holiday lights.

Every time we pass these lights, Liv and I always exclaim, "The cactus, palm tree and 'bus'!!" The family that lives here usually puts up these lights yearly. One year they didn't, and we were SO disappointed! I always say that I love the cactus lights because it reminds me of the Southwest. Liv loves the palm tree and the "bus." It's actually an RV (but we call it a bus, LOL), and the lights around the two wheels move, so it looks like the wheels are turning.


Well, I thought to myself, Okay, so there's magic around. Momentarily smiling, but still not quite feeling it.

I guess I needed another reminder.

Here are Liv and Jock, during Jock's first time playing in the "deep" snow (he's a Corgi pup, so it's deep to him).


That helped, but again, it didn't last more than that afternoon.I guess I needed a little more help.

Okay, so how about Liv's colorful hat with the two pom poms?

Or the park at the center of our town? See the Christmas tree on the right? Or the lights on the trees on the left? It's pretty magical. Especially since they have a whole festival the first Saturday in December every year. They have carriage rides, hot cocoa, musicians playing Christmas carols, popcorn, a reindeer . . . 

And one of our favorite pizza places, Zoey's. Yep, that's a boat up there on the wall. It's always there, but just decorated according to the season (it usually has spider webs, fake bats, and a fake skeleton in October).  Now they've got great lights, stockings, a lit wreath, and a lit Christmas tree.


And tonight, Santa is on his way. While we wait, we had Christmas Eve dinner, just like we would've had in New Mexico - tamales (!!) along with tracking Santa's progress via NORAD's Santa tracker.

I'll sign off with a "Merry Christmas!" to you all, and one of those songs I heard on satellite radio that I'm sure Oma would've loved.

I heard this on satellite radio recently. It's called "Santanooga Choo Choo," performed by the Airmen of Note, one of the US Air Force's jazz bands. Oma absolutely adored listening to Glenn Miller's music (and music like his). So when I'd heard this specific song, especially since it was performed by an Air Force band, as I'm an Air Force veteran . . . well, I knew it must've been Oma's way of telling me to get in the Christmas mood! 

Sad Guy

Livie asked me to share this photo of her snowman (now a very sad looking guy) before he completely disappeared.

Snow Day!

Okay, today, we had a major snow day! It'd started snowing before dawn, and snowed pretty much the whole day! As a matter of fact, if I hadn't check Livie's school's website (due to a sneaking suspicion about weather-related closings), I wouldn't have known her school was going to dismiss two hours early due to the storm!

So, while that was two hours of much needed study-time that disappeared, I at least got to spend most of the afternoon with Livie.

After doing a few little projects with her, I snapped this photo of the snow. This was about half an hour after I used the snow blower on the driveway. It started getting covered again rather quickly.

Okay, so I used a few of Picnik's funky editing effects to make this photo a little bit interesting, so I guess it's hard to see exactly how much the driveway got covered in that half hour. Andrew had to snow blow the driveway again when he got home because there'd been so much snow, his car got stuck!


(As a side note, I just found out that Picnik is "closing" as of April 19th, which is too bad because I've really enjoyed using it).

More Snow Photos

On Saturday, after Livie, Andrew, and I got home from the University, Liv and I had some time to play outside in the snow. (Andrew isn't a big fan of winter weather, so I gladly went outside with Liv.)

The snowdrift gets a thumbs-up!

She wanted me to get a photo of her belly flop in the snow.

Time for snow angels!

Sunlight on snow. Liv and I love the snow's "glittery" effect.

And then the clouds moved in from the west.

Although the clouds moved in Saturday afternoon, we were all glad they held off for most of the day. We had a lot of good outdoor time.

Sunday brought more clear skies; I for one, was glad the clouds had moved OUT (temporarily, at least). However, it was pretty windy, and a little too "warm" for snow. It ended up being around 38°F and sunny, so other than the snow drifts, most of the thin layers of snow had melted, leaving that wet, fertile scent of hibernating farmland. Livie and I still went out and enjoyed what snow was left. 

We were out for about 30-45 minutes before the wind really started picking up. The NOAA website said our area was having winds around 18 MPH, with gusts up to about 30 MPH, so the windchill ended up being about 25°F. 

Sunshine and Snow!!

Okay, so yesterday was supposed to be all dreary, overcast, and snowy. I don't have a single problem with snow - Liv and I love it! But the cloud cover? I find it depressing.

However, mid-morning, the clouds dissipated and the sun came out! It was so incredibly nice!

And to top it all off, since Andrew had to head to the University of Iowa to get his books for this semester, I decided we'd all go; I needed books for one more class - and since it was such a nice day out, it would be a good Saturday adventure.

I was pleasantly surprised that I actually only had two books for this particular class ("Native American Women and Religious Change") and the total cost for both was just under $40. (My very first semester of grad school left me with $300 worth of books for only two classes!)

Anyway, it took Andrew a long time to get his books. In the time that we were waiting for him, Livie and I had a lot of fun outside in the snow on campus.

Here are quite a few photos . . . 

Glad to be on campus on a nice day!

Little girl, BIG building! Liv's at Schaeffer Hall.

Whoa! Looking up!

Tracking animal prints in the snow!

I just liked the blue-gray shadows on the snow, here.

Playing in the snow in front of the Old Capitol.

It warmed up to a comfortable winter temperature.

We even had a chance to stop at the Bluebird Diner for a late lunch. (Liv and I were famished by the time Andrew finally got his books - it was about 1:30 PM by the time we ate!)

We were sitting by the window with the sun blasting in, so I was dealing with bright light AND shadow at the same time with my little point and shoot camera.

Waiting for lunch at the Bluebird Diner!

Livie and Daddy!

Liv's mac 'n' cheese finally arrived! Yummo!

I liked how the light was shining in this window. I didn't capture it very well.

We had an awesome day!

Snow Day

We've got a snowy day here at Abuelita's and Nonno's house, the day after Christmas.

Here are a couple views from the front yard:

If you look closely at the bird feeder, you can see a bright red cardinal. 

And another view . . .

Oma and Livie are conversing inside. 

Merry Christmas!

We've had a wonderful Christmas!

It snowed like crazy on the night of the 23rd, and for most of the day on Christmas Eve. So when we went to Mass, we had to take it slow. There was just SO MUCH snow, around 6-8 inches in some areas!

Anyway, it was fun, and magical as we headed to and from church in the falling snow.

When we got back, all I had to do was heat up the chicken posole I'd made earlier in the day (click here and scroll down for the recipe). It was so good! Livie gobbled it up, and Andrew had two bowls, filled all the way to the top.

Livie ended up watching a DVD for a bit while I cleaned up and got her bath ready. She was extra cooperative when it was bath time.

We also had fun tracking Santa via NORAD's Santa Tracker. That was a blast. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me or Livie!

Anyway, it was finally time for bed, and Livie was worried she wouldn't be able to fall asleep. She cooperated and got ready for bed, but she felt like she just had to tell me she was worried about falling asleep.

I told her to pretend to be asleep, and to imagine all the things Santa might bring, and that would help her to fall asleep. And guess what? She was asleep within minutes!

Which was good, because Andrew and I still needed to wrap a few gifts and get everything under the tree.

Oh, and by the way, the cookies and milk were delicious. They hit the spot. Thanks to "Santa" for letting his "helpers" eat the cookies! ;)

Livie's baking cookies! (This was a few days ago.)

Leaving cookies, milk, and oats for Santa and the Reindeer!

 (Yes, Santa is an Oklahoma Sooners fan!)

Santa left a note saying he appreciated Livie's great behavior, and that the cookies were yum-o!

Comet, on behalf of the reindeer team, thanked Livie for the oats!

This morning, a couple hours before Livie woke up, I turned on the Christmas tree lights, and the chile pepper lights I had on the railing.

 

Then I promptly fell back to sleep.

Around 7:45 AM, Livie came into our room and loudly announced, "Mommy!!" and then started going on and on about the presents under the tree and the new big girl bike Santa left!!

It was fun watching her open her gifts from "Santa" and family members.

 

 

The bike!!

Livie wants to say "Thanks" to "Santa" for all the gifts, like the bike and the Barbie Rapunzel and the Sleeping Beauty.

Also, thanks to Marissa and Jester (and Joe and Pia) for the beautiful sweater jumper.

And thanks to Auntie Sarah, Uncle Don, Sydney, and Richard for the great book, the dress-up dolls, and the princess cup!

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Now, off to get ready to go over the river and through the woods to Abuelita's house!

But first, some hot chocolate, like this: