Speechless...Sort Of

SATURDAY, APRIL 9th...SPRING..I THINK.

Sunrise

8in. of snow...about an inch an hour overnight.

Deck furniture still safe.

Chubbs finding a spot.

No Chubbs, not there.

Do I need to shovel the whole 6 acres?

Crabapple tree..look at my header to see what won't happen this year.

Lilacs...goodbye.

Magnolia tree...so long.

Feeder is closed for today.

Country road take me home.

To a place I belong.

Breakfast with a magazine...yep, I'm speechless.

Everyone's Talking

If you lived in Ashland, the talk around the water cooler or the operating room today was the crazy weather we had this weekend.  I found out I wasn't the only one who mowed grass while the snow flakes flew...makes me feel a bit less crazy!  Sad faces and angry curses were talked about as it snowed outside today too.  However, it didn't stick on the ground.   Unlike yesterday.  We woke up to this view:

We were having the kids and grandkiddos over to celebrate a late Easter since we couldn't have them last weekend due to Spring break vacations and such.  I asked Jack if we should put up the Christmas tree instead!  I had him put a fire in the kitchen fireplace...first one all year!

The gang arrived around 2pm for dinner and also to celebrate Jordan's birthday.  He turned 32 on Saturday.  We had an Easter egg hunt all ready for the kids and after dinner the weather had improved considerably...all the snow was gone and temps were around 50de.  Heat wave!

See the difference? Lexi is hunting eggs without a coat on.  Her sister made me shiver however when she was egg hunting without a coat or sweater in a sleeveless number.

We grow them tough up North! Glad she had on her rain boots as the yard was still pretty wet.

Since we put money in the eggs it wasn't hard to convince the older Grands to hunt for eggs.  We had to tease them though because the youngest kids had found all their eggs first!  We had to help the older ones out! 

Jack and Jordan (with Evelyn on the side) are laughing at something....

They were chuckling at these two new besties....Happy, my Granddaughter Summer's dog, and Chubbs.  Happy was happy to follow him around all day!  Both are sweet, good natured dogs.

Cameron is pretty fond of Happy too!

After the hunt everyone came back inside to sing  "Happy Birthday" to Jordan and eat some cake and ice cream.  Not sure what deep conversation these brothers were having.  I felt bad that I didn't get a pic of Jordan blowing out all 32 candles in one breath!  I was too busy singing I guess!  All in all, even with the weird weather pattern we had, the day was great.  The sun shone and the snow melted and no eggs were lost!   Hopefully today family is talking about what fun we had instead of the crazy weather!

April Fool's...A Day Late

In early December I said I did something I had never done before.  I even blogged about it.  Well, today I did something similar that I had never done before.  It all had to do with the lawn.  I actually mowed our grass in December.  We had a very mild Fall and it needed one last trim.  Today I mowed for the first time this season.  We've had a very mild end of Winter and early Spring.  The grass needed a trim.  What's so weird about that?  Well, as soon as I hopped on the mower, the first snow flakes began to smack me in the head!  It was a lovely sunny morning...just a bit chilly.  It got cloudier as the afternoon came on and because we're having the kiddos over tomorrow for a late Easter gathering, I wanted to make sure they would be able to see the eggs we hide without tall grass everywhere.  So, despite the snow flakes I mowed.

I took this shot as the weather was changing.  After a bit the sun did come back out.  Then it got cloudy again and snow came on harder.

And a bit more windy.

See the flakes?  It was the first time I watched snow fall and smelled freshly mowed grass at the same time.  The weather got weirder all day long..sun, clouds, rain, snow, and even thunder.  Jack had a Church meeting tonight and when he came home he asked if I had looked outside at all. 

That's not a new carpet on the deck...snow.

No grilling tonight!  It's like a mini blizzard with high winds and snow blowing all around.  The temps are in the 20's.  I would say Mother Nature gave us an April Fool's Day joke a day late.  I'm not laughing...

Perfection

Today would have to be put in the books as a perfect Easter day.   We had lovely blue skies and temps in the 70's.  Although we're going to celebrate next Sunday with the kids, we did have a lovely dinner with Phil and Jordan (with Eddy) joining us.  Phil  picked up his girls at their Mom's later on and we had a fun afternoon with them.
Our son Jack is headed home from his vacation in Alabama and we talked with Craig in Portland...all bases covered!  I talked with my Mom and my sister in Chicago. Unfortunately, Midge has been super sick all week. A rarity for her.  It throws you for a loop when you're not used to being ill.  She sounded better today and hopefully will be on her way to 100% this week.   I forgot to take any pics of our quiet gathering for dinner but the steaks Jack grilled were fabulous and the rest of the meal turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!  Here are just a few of the photos I did take:

Addy loves this little toy.  It makes sounds and moves like a live dog.

Chubbs was a little confused!

We took a walk in the Creepy woods and the girls decided they could knock over this burned tree trunk.  A few kicks and it was down. 

We were really looking at all the trees and how some were dead and others were scary looking, like this one!

You can see that even though we've had pretty nice weather lately, the trees are still bare and the woods is still pretty see through.  In a few months that will all be changed.

It always makes me smile when I see flowers that appear out of nowhere and bloom without any help from us in the middle of the woods.  Hope your day was as lovely as ours.  Happy Easter!

Just Some Thoughts

      I feel very far behind in posting and reading blogs. I'm trying to catch up and see what all my blog buddies are up too.  This week has been busy with the every day business of life.  I'm on call 2 days this week...Monday and today.  I worked a lot on Monday...logged almost 16,000 steps on Mr. Fitbit!  He called me a stepgeek. Remember, my Fitbit talks to me.  The weather is weird...warm, cold, wet, dry. As I type, the wind is howling and shaking the windows and rain is again on it's way.  Cold air will replace a 70de day for a chilly Good Friday.  Easter is a favorite holiday of mine.  As a kiddo it was celebrated with lots of church and lots of family and lots of special foods.  With a Greek heritage we would also celebrate Greek Easter with some of my Mom's family.  A lamb on a spit in the back yard in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" fashion.  Baklava and Spanikopita and many other favorites.  These days, in my own family,  we gather and celebrate with good food and fun activities.  The little ones love the annual egg hunt.  We'll be doing all of that a week later though as some of the kids are away on Spring break.  Jack and I will still celebrate on Sunday with Church and some good food though.   Greek Easter is May 1st this year so I'm not ruling out another celebration!  My Mom and sister in Chicago will celebrate with some of my sister's children in a similar fashion.  We take on the traditions of our youth and remake them into the traditions of adulthood.  I know my own kids have their own way of celebrating...keeping a few old and adding new.  It's a good thing.
       I don't write a lot about my religion on my blog.  My kids and friends and Church members know how I feel, what callings I hold in the Church,  how I worship on a weekly, daily basis.  As a Mormon it's not just a religious belief, it's a way of life.  I'm mentioning it today as my heart goes out for the families of the 4 Missionaries hurt in the Brussels bombings.  I remember when our son Craig was in Taiwan on his mission and how we worried and prayed for him and for his safety.  Every time an earthquake or typhoon hit, we waited patiently to hear about him.  Thankfully for those hurt this week they will recover but it won't be quick or easy.  These young kids and the older Missionaries put their lives on hold to give service and teach about the Gospel. Many don't want to hear their message, and many people can be mean and hurtful to them.  I hope the one Sister Missionary from France can get to her destination to start her mission...that would be right here in the Cleveland, Ohio mission.  I would love to meet her.  I hope this Easter season can bring some peace in this crazy world.  I hope we all can be kinder, more understanding.  I'm grateful to my Savior, Jesus Christ, for his gift...his sacrifice for me.  His sacrifice for all mankind.  Happy Easter.

Wearing Green?

My family roots are about as far from Ireland as one person can get, but I never pass up an opportunity to celebrate in my own way.  I did wear green today and Jack had on his St. Patrick's Day tie at work.  I put corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot and my son Phil stopped by with Addy and Lexi and joined us for dinner.  (I never even took a pic of the food or the family...weird for me!)   With the sun setting in the sky and the light still bright until almost 7:30, I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pics outdoors.   I did get a bit of green....no leprechauns and no pot of gold.  However, I did spy some yellows, oranges and reds:

Hello Spring!

This yellow is among the green.

Is this a sailor's delight?

I hope so! 

 

Springing Forward

The moment has arrived for the annual "Spring Forward" clock tradition.  If you live in an area that is under that spell, I hope all was changed and you didn't arrive late for Church! Yesterday, having the thought of losing an hour in my mind, I decided to get outside and take advantage of the mild weather and get a head start on my Spring yard cleaning.  Poor Jack was back at the wood pile getting more of that tree we had taken down, cut up.

We sold off the black walnut but we were left with the trimmings to clean out.

The truck sure made a mess of the side yard.

All that wood will find a good home in our wood burning furnace...hopefully not until next Winter.  I'm thinking we won't be burning wood for heat any more this season.

Time out for a quick breather.  I made some headway in the planting bed by the garage and also by our back deck.  Picking up sticks in the front yard had me hitting the ibuprofen last night!

Piles of leaves and twigs were raked out.

More than a few trips were made to the creek with loads of weeds and leaves.

Beneath it all the first signs of Spring..some green growth....was a happy sight.  After all the work, Jack made a fire in the pit and I gathered the hot dogs.  We sat by the fire last night and enjoyed our simple dinner.  The rain threatened to put a damper on the evening, but it held off for a few hours.  We sat and relaxed and celebrated our first fire of the season.  We may have lost an hour, but we enjoyed the evening to the  max.

I'm Having A Fit..Bit

Unless you live under a rock,  I'm assuming you've heard of a little device called a "FITBIT".  It's a tracking tool for keeping track of your footsteps, water intake, stair climbing, food intake, and many other things such has how you sleep and any other exercises you may participate in.  I'd been thinking of getting one for awhile.  Many of my coworkers and friends have one.  Many places of work insist you have one to keep insurance rates lower.  I know the Cleveland Clinic demands all employees to wear  one if you want lower rates.  There are many styles and most folks get one that looks like a bracelet that you wear on your wrist.  You can also wear it on your ankle...although that reminds me of those tracking devices on prisoners.  Mine is tiny.  It's a FitBit One and it clips on clothing.  I'm not allowed to wear jewelry on my hands or arms so I usually clip it on a sock by my ankle.  I didn't know if actually wearing something like this would be a benefit.  I couldn't understand how it would make a difference.  Well, I have to say that it has made a difference.  It encourages me...OK, it really guilts me...into walking and moving more.  I set my goal like most people who have one, at 10,000 steps a day.  That's suppose to be 5 miles.  I find that I'm checking it to see how I'm doing and if I'm not getting steps in I push myself to get off my keester and move.  The funny thing is I never knew how much walking I did at work. Being a scrub nurse has me standing most of my day at the operating room table.  But I never took into account the running from room to room, the hauling of case carts from the OR to the drop off for cleaning, the mopping and cleaning and stocking of rooms at the end of the day.  Running for supplies and running for the bathroom! Ha!  Well, most days I have about 7,000 steps before heading home.  Walking the dog and going up and down my stairs at home fills in the rest.  In fact, most days I'm at 14,000 before hitting the hay.   Today was no exception.  I was even able to leave a little early and still had that many steps.  We're having a little early Spring weather and our temps have been mild. It was 70de today.   After getting home I grabbed Chubbs and we took off to the cemetery for a nice walk.  We even ran into Eddy and Jordan there.  Jack works late on Tuesday so I did more walking up to the Creepy Woods with Chubbs.  He loves it up there.

Yes, I see you!  The warm weather hasn't brought out the green around here yet.

As you can see from these trees it's still bare branches.

But looking close at my lilac bushes I see signs of budding...please don't get too excited little lilacs, this is Ohio and snow and cold can come any time till June.

The grass isn't too green either but atleast I don't have to mow yet!  What was nice was this picture was taken around 6pm and it's not dark out!  Sunday we turn our clocks forward an hour so this is what 7pm will look like in a week.  That gives me more time for moving and adding more steps to my day. 

Maybe I should get Chubbs his own FitBit so he can track his runs in the woods!  The only thing I didn't know about FitBit was it's ability to communicate with me. I was a bit creeped out when I looked at it the other morning and it said: "Hug Me Kathy"...Huh?  The other night it said: "Goodnight Kathy"...OOOKKKK?  I looked at it right before doing this post and it said: "Smooches Kathy".  Hmmm...maybe it could teach my bathroom scale a few tricks...like how to move that dial lower.  Smooches indeed.