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."

Thinking of Summer 2018 Already

While I certainly don't mind cool (or cold) weather,  I LOVE autumn, by the way, I love the first snowfall (or any light, fluffy snow), and the beauty surrounding the holidays. . . I have to admit I've been planning our Summer 2018 activities already.

By the way, here's my view as I look out my bedroom window (currently 30°F with a 25°F wind chill):

See, my daughter attends Culver Summer Schools and Camps - more specifically, she attends Culver Woodcraft Camp. She has attended for the past few summers, and LOVES it. She has a couple more summers before graduating and becoming an alumna of Culver Academies.

The application for the following summer usually happens mid-autumn (usually around October) of the current year.

So technically, we've been planning for summer since October. Even though there's no doubt in our minds that she will be accepted (and already has been at this point), we still have to fill out the application (the sooner the better), so the camp's administrative staff can process it and hold a spot for her in her unit. I say "the sooner the better" because as fall turns into winter and then spring, there ends up being a significant waiting list for kids trying to get a spot in camp (they only have so many cabins and beds).

The "Culver Academies" also function as a high school during the school year (of which I'm an alumna), so they are busy year-round. And it's on a beautiful campus, so I find myself daydreaming about being back. The campus is mostly pedestrian, with various parking areas around the edge of the campus, so it's nice being able to walk around (which helps me get my steps in every day, and also it's just good to get out and walk).

A few pics of the beautiful campus:

 The view from the front porch of my daughter's cabin. 

View of Cardinal Creek. 

 Interior view of the Culver Memorial Chapel, from the balcony. 

Exterior view of the Culver Memorial Chapel, from the northeast corner. 

Lake Maxinkuckee and the Culver Ledbetter

So. . . in looking for a few pics to share I got carried away browsing through all the photos on my phone, remembering good times from this past summer. 

My prompt for sitting down and writing this post, though, was an actual detail my husband and I are working on in planning for next summer. We are looking for a dog-friendly rental for us to stay in while we spend some of our time out in Indiana, in Summer 2018. A little earlier this morning, I had gotten an exciting text from our realtor friend who has a fantastic house available for us. We stayed at it before - for the last week of camp in 2016, and we all liked it. Plus, it was in a convenient location in town.  

Unfortunately, it was not available for us at all in 2017. Rentals go FAST in this town in the summer (it's close enough to both Chicago and Indianapolis, and on a beautiful lake, so people go there to spend their summers in a beautiful lake town), so you have to plan well in advance to secure a reasonably priced place. Also, people like getting rentals for the school year (approximately Sept - end of May), if they have children attending the boarding school. 

We are getting a head start, and lining up a rental NOW (or rather, soon after the holidays), so we have a place to spend with our daughter and Therapy Dog Jock. 

The realtor's text got me all excited about heading back next summer! I think I'm as excited as my daughter. She gets fun in the sun with her friends, and I get to go back and walk a beautiful campus, and seeing my daughter have a blast, and catching up with my own friends who are back with their children and/or nieces and nephews, and some who are there in an administrative capacity at the Academies. Plus, there are some good restaurants in the area. 

Anyway, now I have to try to be patient for the summer! 

Anyone have plans of their own for next summer?

Bejeweled

I like Mother Nature's winter fashions (so long as the roads are clear). The sunshine and blue skies help.

This is a tree outside my bedroom window (on the eastern side of my house). It had a lot of snow blown onto its limbs during the blizzard we had last weekend - a bit of snow continued to stick to the branches, even a couple days later.

However, add a sunny, seemingly "warm" winter day, and some of the snow starts melting.

But then, when the temps dip to around zero, all that melting snow turns icy.

Then we get a lovely "glittery" tree.

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?

A Belated Happy New Year

I'm here, I'm here!! We had some computer/internet issues when we got back from my parents' place after the holidays. But they seemed to be completely resolved . . . for now.

I thought for my first post back, I'd share a wintry photo I took down the street from my parents' house. I used the Instagram app on my iPhone. Andrew was driving, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a photo of winter's beauty.

(Yes, I realize that if you click on the photo to make it a bit bigger, you can see the grime on the windshield. Sorry about that! But hey, it IS winter in Iowa, and the grimy windshield can't really be avoided, right?)

Oops, yes I forgot I've shared this first photo already!!

So I'm adding this other wintry view (via Instagram) from the same road, just a bit further along the way.

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).

The Winter Shot 2012

Okay, so yesterday was the first day of the Spring 2012 semester, and it was a crazy weather day! Strong winds, blowing snow, ice on the roads . . . there were so many accidents along I-380 (and I'm thankful I wasn't one of them)! I'm glad I left really early, because there was a semi-trailer truck that had gone off I-380, thus blocking the right lane of traffic, and turning the interstate into a parking lot for miles (I'd say almost 3 miles!). What is normally a 45 minute commute for me during "normal" road conditions turned into a 1¾ hour drive due to weather and accidents. Ugh.

Anyway, I took it slow and easy, making it to campus safely. And since I'd left with plenty of time, I wasn't rushed . . . I had time to return some library books and get to my building about 40 minutes early!

So with my extra time, I decided to go out and take the Winter 2012 shot (for a "4 Seasons 2012" photo series). I'd started this idea last year (click here to see the "4 Seasons 2011" series), and thought it would be fun to do it again at a different location on campus.

The idea (which is what I'm doing again this year at this new spot), is to take a photo at one particular location at approximately the same time of day - in each of the four seasons - to document Mother Nature's yearly changes.

I've been looking forward to starting a new "4-Seasons Series" since last October!

After taking a few photos last Saturday from one location, and taking a couple more today from another location, I've decided which photo (and location) I'm going with this year.

Here it is . . .

The Winter Shot 2012, taken outside the University of Iowa's Main Library (the north entrance) on 17 Jan 2012, somewhere between 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM.

As you can see, the sky is starting to clear. It had been nearly white-out conditions when I'd left home earlier in the day. I'm glad it cleared up; it made the drive home much easier.

I almost chose one of the other photos, because I'd taken them on a sunny day, with super blue skies. But I ended up choosing this one instead, because the others were in the same vicinity (and facing the same direction) as the 2011 4-seasons series. (I may share those photos another day, though.)

"The Spring Shot 2012," obviously won't be available for a few months . . . I'm sure I'll have plenty to post before then.

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. 

Gloomy Skies and Moods

Okay, I love four seasons. I love snow. I can't stand heat and humidity (I can, however, deal with dry heat when the humidity's low - like in Tucson, El Paso, or Las Cruces).

When we had unusually sunny, warm weather here in east central Iowa, I missed the snow, but certainly enjoyed the sunshine. It reminded me of how winters are in the Southwest - sunny! In Alamogordo, it's not uncommon to have somewhere around 300 sunny days per year. That's like 10 months' worth of sunshine per year!

So in moving back to the Midwest in 2008 (having lived for a number of years in the Chicagoland area, as well as having gone to school for 4 years in NW Indiana), I quickly remembered how gloomy it gets (and stays!) when it's overcast. And how long it seems to be completely overcast - days and days (weeks on end, seemingly) without a break in the clouds - without the smallest hint of the sun. 

Now the Midwest has it's good points. I'm not bashing the Midwest.

It's just that this time of year, I start getting homesick for "home" - for the Southwest. My grandparents were from the Southwest. My mom and uncles were born and raised in the Southwest. I've lived in the Southwest for part of my life. And while I loved many things about living in the Chicago area (and have grown fond of a number of things about Iowa), I think there must be a little part of me that belongs in the Southwest (or belongs to the Southwest).

And the overcast days without promise of sunshine . . . well, they just makes me miss the Southwest - the sunshine, the "perfume" the dry desert air gives off after a rainstorm (by the way, it never stays cloudy for long), as well as the familiar, distinct scents of creosote and piñon trees, the ease of finding good, local food (the kinds I always crave - Mexican, Tex-Mex, Southwestern). Well, the overcast gloom and its resulting saudade for the Southwest make me wonder if I should invest in one of those S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) lights! 

In the meantime, I'll just look through old photos for a temporary New Mexico fix!

31 December 2006 - the view from our backyard in Alamogordo, NM.

Thanks, Mother Nature!

Looks like winter finally decided to show up here in Iowa! Here's the view out the front door on Thursday morning:

Okay, so it's not a lot of snow. But what you can't really tell from the photo is that the winds are blustery, around 25 MPH, with gusts up to around 35 MPH. The temp was around 11°F, with a wind chill around -10°F.

I don't mind the snow. In fact, I love snow. Nor do I mind cold temps. I can handle them (which I can't quite say about hot, humid, sticky weather.) However, I dislike the wind (driving in wind makes me a little nervous, since I have a high profile vehicle) and I can't stand ice. AT ALL. (Unless it's in a hockey rink, of course. Or in a margarita.) 

At least I didn't have to drive to school (the University of Iowa, about 35 miles from home) in this weather yesterday! And I'm glad Liv's school is literally right across the street, being 0.15 miles one way, door-to-door, less than half a mile, round trip.

Here's how we feel about snow in my house:

"Mama, there's nothing like a good layer of snow!"

"I'm glad it finally snowed!"

We LOVE snow!

The windchill was around -9°F at the time, so we made sure to stay safe.

Late Winter in Central Iowa

This is late December in central Iowa (at Abuelita and Nonno's house):

I took these yesterday. Can you believe that? Brown, not white! Let's see how long it takes before we get snow.

The UI "4 Seasons Theme" Photos, All at Once

I decided I'd post all of "The 4 Seasons" photos in one post, so here they are:

"The Winter Shot," 13 Jan 2011

"The Spring Shot," 18 May 2011

"The Summer Shot," 6 Sep 2011

"The Fall Shot, Part A," 6 Oct 2011

"The Fall Shot, Part B," 27 Oct 2011

Once it dawned on me to do a 4-seasons theme (the thought of which occurred to me after I'd taken "The Spring Shot"), I tried the best I could to take each photo from as close to the very same spot as possible. 

I also tried to take each photo at approximately the same time of day. The winter one was the only one out of the bunch that was taken mid-day (sometime between 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM). The rest of them were taken mid-morning (sometime around 9:00 AM, give or take about 15 minutes).

Once I got the idea to capture one location on the University of Iowa's campus during different seasons, it was a lot of fun, as well as a test in patience (!!), having to wait to complete this "project."

And you know what? I am thinking I might pick a different location on campus, so I can do another 4-seasons theme all over again!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here are a few photos closing out the end of December 2010:

We're driving down my parents' street. (Actually, we're heading UP the hill at this instant.)

Again, heading down the street from my parents' house.

Making a funny face at Cracker Barrel!

We actually got Oma to go out to lunch with us!

Ice trees in the front yard of my parents' house; the next day, it was 61 degrees and everything melted!

There'll be plenty more photos in 2011!