Hello Deer

Some visitors showed up this afternoon...They were very interested in my raspberry stalks...I was very interested in seeing them leave! (I took these shots from my livingroom window, hence the grainy screen!) One other thing that has left is yesterday's snow!  The other thing leaving is Jack and I! For a few days anyway....We're heading out to see our Son and his family in Oregon. So I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and I'll be back next week with some pics...Of course I will take pics, are you kidding? I'm a proud YaYa and there are 3 wonderful Grandkiddos just waiting to be hugged! I'll just "leave" it at that!

UNCLE!!

Hello from Whispering Pines....Today's message is: I GIVE UP MOTHER NATURE! YOU WIN! If you remember the post from Saturday with sunny skies, warmer temps, and no white stuff, I was a smiley YaYa. Sometime, very early this morning, the snow came down...very fast. About an inch an hour.  We woke up to this winter wonderland.  I wouldn't care, if it WAS winter!  But the whole country and some of my friends across the Pond are also experiencing weird, bad, cold, windy, rainy, stormy, no power, strangle holds from Mother Nature...so who am I to complain? I had today off  so about 8am I trudged all over and took, what I sure hope, are the last snow pics for this time of year.  Considering last year at this time it was in the 80's, I'm guessing we earned this one!

Hanging branch with very wet snow over the power lines...well, that scared me just a little!

Public bath is closed for the day.

This little guy was so hoping for a quick dip!

Backyard.

 Side yard with creek.

Next door neighbor's kiddo treehouse.

Another treehouse!

The fish windchime...

He looks stunned!

The Creepy Woods have never looked so lovely. It was very quiet except for a woodpecker making himself known.

Nothing like a shot of color in this white landscape.

If you want to sit for a bit, this chair is all soft and comfy!

Or if you need to head home, just follow the tracks to the exit between the pines...I was so hoping the snow would take the hint, but I just looked out the window and it's snowing again...sigh....

Another Word For Sunshine

The sun did shine today!  The temps were in the mid 40's and I might be so bold to say it was maybe 50de.!  It was super nice. Even the crocus decided to open.  I have to enjoy them quickly..snow is in the forecast for tomorrow and next week....but I'm going to focus on the crocus for now!

So what's another word for sunshine? Well, it has to be these two little monkeys who came and stayed the afternoon with us.

We ate a quick lunch and then hiked up to the Creepy Woods.

Addy found her stick and her hiking groove.

Lexi took the high road!

We came back and played around in the yard...well, we actually cleaned up the doggy doo-doo but I made it a game by seeing who could find the most....Hey, they liked it...and the yard is all tidy now! Then Addy put on  her thinking cap and we decided chalk drawing was a good idea.

Her sister got up close and personal with her drawings! Good job Lexi Loo!

Bubble blowing is always a favorite too. After spending as much time as we could in the sun we headed indoors to make some Easter egg cookies.

Lexi got the hang of the cake decorator to add more frosting yumminess.

They took these to their other Grandmother's house.  Gina was keeping them overnight since my Son and his wife were at a wedding out of town.  It was a fun afternoon.

Eddy was exhausted!

Me? I just loved the sun on my face and the real sunshine of two sweet Grandkiddos for the day!

Spring Has Not Sprung

Today is the first day of Spring! Alleluia!  However, someone forgot to give Mother Nature the memo. Coming home from work this was the temp outside my car:

Looking out the front door, this was my scenery:

It was snowing fast and furious and the cold air was blowing fiercely! Even with that evidence that Winter weather was going to hang on for a bit, the signs of Spring are still around the Pines. Signs like these:

Crocus that come up even through snow.

Daffodils that are just ready to burst.

Lilac bushes with tiny buds.

Sedum that is fresh and green.

Azaleas showing off some color before blooming.

Beautiful, sweet, yummy strawberries picked fresh today....NOT! They're from Florida and my coworker Shay had bought them from another coworker's kiddo who was selling them as a fund raiser. I didn't know about it, or I would have bought some too! So pretty and they do look like Spring to me!

Even with all the signs pointing to a seasonal change, these dead leaves hang on until new ones can replace them.  The wind is blowing and the snow is falling but I do know that Winter has played out for a bit. 

Monday With YaYa

Monday with YaYa is sort of like "Tuesdays with Morey"..only much more boring.  I had a low census day today. It was my turn and I took advantage of it! It meant I could sleep in...Check! I won't embarrass myself by saying how late I slept in. But I did get to see Kelly (Rippa) and Michael on TV so it wasn't like noon or something!  But some of the sights around here were interesting. Kinda....

 First thing I noticed when I came downstairs for breakfast. What is that?  Oh, it's Squeak's butt....why is the cat sitting  there? Just looking outside? Oh no, it's much more interesting than that...Don't look if you have a weak stomach:

She puked on her bed...into the washing machine ASAP! Time to focus on other things.

Like pretty flowers to make me think Spring just might be near..in spite of the fact that the deck was covered with ice and it was cold and rainy all day!

Easter decorations here and there.

Some on top of the kitchen fireplace.

Speaking of fireplaces...this is the livingroom fireplace with it's stockpot sitting inside filling with rain water...yep, we have a leak from the same place as last year when they fixed the roof..only it's not the roof. It's the chimney.

I crawled up and took a pic to prove it. Hopefully the nice man who came last week to check it out will be fixing it ASAP.

 I made bread to take to a nice older couple in our Church that I drove out to visit. I had a great chat with them and I hope they enjoyed this with their lunch today!

Cake also went to some Church friends I visited today.  I spent most of my afternoon making visits.  It's good to have a day to do that kind of thing. 

As I was getting ready to leave for my visits,  poor Squeak was wondering where her bed was....thankfully I pulled it out of the dryer just before I left.  It was so nice and warm, I don't think she's gotten off of it all day! Yes, I  have exciting Monday's off every so often.  Tomorrow it's back to work...hey, I couldn't stand anymore fun!

Lucky Stiff!

This afternoon we stopped at our good friend Greg's place of work.  Well, it used to be his place of work but he retired and the insurance office staff gave him a fond farewell open house.  Now I could really call him a "Luck Stiff" for being able to retire. But he's worked long and hard his whole life. He's contributed to our community in a big way by a being on city council, school board, many other "boards" throughout the town. He goes to our Church and has served in every leadership position you can imagine. But at 68 he and his lovely wife Gayle are going on a mission for the Church.  He was planning on working a couple of more years, just part-time, but when he was asked to serve he and his wife didn't hesitate to say "Yes!". So off they will go and we wish them all the best.  I know for a fact that "Luck" has nothing to do with his success in business, personal life, church life, or community life...the harder you work, the luckier you get...that's all there is to it.  Congrats Greg! We will miss you!! (Plus he was our insurance agent and we'll miss that too!)

Jack and Greg.

Greg and his wife Gayle.

This was really cool....I want candy bars when I retire with my name on them!

This was just a small portion of the food served.  The conversation Jack and I had about the spread tells me how well my hubby knows the real me.  ME: "Jack, the food looks really good, are you going to have some?" JACK: "Oh? It does look good". ME: "Seriously Honey, you should go and get some food...get a nice big plate full."  JACK: (His eyes get squinty and he looks really carefully at me)"Why? What are we having for dinner?" ME: "Ummmm....whatever is in that buffet line."  Yep, I'm a Lucky Stiff being married to such a smart guy!