We had quite the Thanksgiving week this year. Toby visited us from Las Vegas, Becky came over, and one of the heavier snowstorms of the last few years dropped several inches of snow. Here are the details!
Our son, Toby, lived for several years in South Bend, Indiana. This year he wanted to spend Thanksgiving with a few of his Indiana friends, one of whom recently had her father pass away. Toby had spent several Thanksgivings with this family and wanted to do so again.
His travel plans included an overnight stop with us on the Tuesday before Turkey Day and another night the day after. He spent the rest of his time in South Bend or on the road (due to the situation with air travel these days, he had driven from Las Vegas).
We had a good Thanksgiving meal on Friday with Pam’s sister Becky also in attendance. Along with the traditional holiday foods Pam baked a pumpkin and an apple pie. We enjoyed all the company, good food, and deserts.
Toby stayed with us until Saturday morning. Alas, it snowed overnight and more was on the way. This made Toby’s departure a bit of a driving mess. The National Weather Service had issued a winter storm warning for those of us here in Howard County as well as much of Iowa.
I had converted the John Deere LX176 into winter trim by removing the mowing deck and bagging system and mounting the snow blade, suitcase weights, and cable-style tire chains. The rig had a workout Saturday and more work on Sunday.
For the first time in a couple years I started the snow blower. Last year I did not use it at all, but with several inches of snow already on the ground and more coming, the blower was the best tool for part of the snow removal job. I use the John Deere to clear our alley access and approaches to our set of mailboxes, and the blower on the sidewalks. (Hand shoveling is also needed to complete the job. Not everything can be done with a machine.)
The weekend before Thanksgiving was quite mild so we hung our outside Christmas lights. Normally we do this after Thanksgiving, but with a storm in the forecast and cold weather following behind it, we decided to get the work done early. Inside decorations will follow in the next week or two.
Pam continues to work on the holiday cards while I spent time in the garage changing out the starter on my ATV; the original had failed. Some time in the past I had broken the tail light so replacing that assembly is another task accomplished.
The Mr. Heater and propane tank I documented in an earlier post worked well during the ATV repair sessions, providing enough heat to warm up the garage to the point where I could work with my jacket off.
In my last post I mentioned I had installed a solar-powered motion sensing light in the dog run (so Pam can see the dogs when they are at the north end gate). That experiment did not go as planned; there was not enough sunlight to charge the battery in that spot with the first purchase. That model solar light was switched out for a plug-in style, and Pam now has the light she wanted.
That about covers it for our last couple weeks. The next few will be taken up with decorating for the holidays.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
As of this writing, Toby has crossed the Rockies and is driving across the high desert toward home in Vegas. Not without a few stoppages along the way, due to ice on the road and a car computer malfunction, in addition to the very snowy conditions in Iowa. Murphy’s Law re: winter driving in the Midwest should always be taken into consideration.
Rock on.
Today’s Humor:
Yikes, when I first saw the picture of Pam with the pies, I thought it was my Mom!!!!!!
We’ve missed most of the snow two times this year..First one went North of us(got 2″) and the next one South of us (got4″)… look out for the next one!!!
We were going to go see Jennisa for Thanksgiving, but the weather put a halt to that!!!!
Different story out there, the wind is worse then the snow sometimes!!!
Seriously thinking that next year, we will be in Texas the 1st of December…The older I get, the more I don’t like cold weather!!!!!!! and the snow is nice for the first 15 minutes!!! 😉
Waiting around to go ice fishing…The 4″ we got insulated the ice, so not thick enough to go out yet….
Craigie
PS… I don’t know how you can work outside in this weather!!!
Only saving grace is that our garage is attached to the house and it is heated at 50 degrees…
Nice when you can go down the block and warm air coming out..
Only thing we are doing is swimming 3 days a week and looking out the window!!!! 😉
Becky says I have Mom’s silver (thin) hair, which is probably what you are reacting to visually. Otherwise, both Joanie and I strongly resemble Grandma Ida (Paroubek).
Craig:
Thanks for the comments. When are you heading to Texas this year? After January 1st, I seem to remember. Anyway, yes, not fun being outside in this weather. We have the corner lot so have many feet of sidewalk and alley to clear after every storm. Only saving grace is that the work does get me outside. Lakes here are not frozen either, warnings are out not to trust the ice that is forming. I spend some time going through old photos, sorting into different folders, keeping the critter feeders full (we like watching the birds and squirrels) and reading. Pam is nearing the end on making the hand-made cards; I help where I can but it is not a lot. We will be putting up some indoor decorations yet, including the tree. Pretty quiet overall.
Texas from Jan 12th thru March 11th…
Enough ice for fishing so away we go!!!
looks like Winter came in full force and is going to stay!!!
Stay Warm!!!!!
You have an ice shanty, I’m assuming? Nothing desirable about being exposed to the elements on the open ice — fishing, skating or anything else.
I think you guys look great! Love that the fam got together! Lights look great too! Nice of you to rig up the lighting, really handy having someone handy around!