Thankful Sunday--February 1, 2015

I am thankful for my heated mattress pad.

For Christmas Ward got me a heated mattress pad. I didn't think I really needed one, but he did. Every night he would watch me go to bed, curl up into a little ball, and shiver. Well, yes I did that, but I eventually warmed up.

But now when I go to bed, it is warm and I love it. I turn the pad on when I go to brush my teeth and the bed is warm a little later when I climb in. The heat is subtle and can be different on either side of the bed. The wires are very thin so I can't feel them and no plugs are in the way. Ward made sure he got the low voltage variety for the extra safety it affords--a necessity with all of the cats we have around. And as an added bonus, we can keep the thermostat a lot lower at night and still remain very comfortable. That's an energy savings for sure.

Now here's the interesting part. Ward, who never seems to be cold, loves it to. For that and the cozy comfort that it provides for both of us, I am thankful.

Living

I heard something the other day that has given me a lot of food for thought. It came from my sister-in-law who has been battling an aggressive, rare form of cancer. When she was first diagnosed the doctors measured her survival time in days to months. A year was an outside chance. And she has outlived every prediction as she will soon be coming upon two years since her diagnosis. The cancer has been brutal, but she manages to keep going and "Enjoy the Heck out of Life" or Ethool as she has abbreviated it. She inspires everyone not only because she makes the most out of her life daily, but also because she is very open with her discussions on the difficult subject of life and death. Here is something that she shared recently.

  "Last year I was celebrating survival. This year I am celebrating life."

A seemingly simple statement, but one which I found complex upon a second look. I have no great words of wisdom for you about what she said because I think this is something that each one of us has to interpret in our own way. However, I just noticed that I used an important phrase for me at the beginning of this paragraph--Second Look. I enjoy doing my Second Looks and I think they are a good place to start as I learn how I will do more than survive life. I will celebrate it.

What little things do you do in your life that make you happy? How do you celebrate life?

A Second Look--January 28, 2015

Snow, more snow, and again more snow. That's what the weather's been like for a couple of weeks now. We're not having more snow like some of my relatives in New England--measured in the double digits, but it seems like every couple of days we have some kind of frozen precipitation. Because of that, I haven't gotten out much to see what's been going on in my yard. However, I did have some drama today right outside my window.

Recently, I've started to see a few starlings at the feeders and saw another one today. While the starling was eating, a hawk swooped down trying to catch it. The starling immediately flew into our glass door trying to get away, but quickly recovered and flew away from the hawk. The hawk returned to the sky and circled again. And that's all I saw. I don't know the fate of the starling or the hawk. I'm not sure I want to know. While I totally understand the natural balance of predators and prey, I don't really like to watch this action happen. Another time I'll tell you about a hawk after a young rabbit in our yard. I'm not sure how that one turned out either. I stopped watching after the first time the rabbit escaped.

Here a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

I don't know the fate of this starling.

Stream from a hike we took last weekend.

The backyard during one of the snows.

White-breasted Nuthatch

After a morning snow, we had blue skies yesterday afternoon.

Getaway, Part 2

Friday I told you that my husband and I were going away to a mountain cabin for the weekend. I was really looking forward to it and had romanticized what it was going to be like while at the same time was worried that it might be like another National Lampoon vacation movie.

Well, as with most things, it was somewhere in the middle. Yes, we actually did forget our box of food, but remembered it when we were within a couple of miles of our house. And yes, it did snow, but not as much as anticipated and we were not trapped in our cabin. But all the same, we had a good time on a much needed getaway.

Here are some snapshots from our weekend.

On the way there we did a little sight seeing. The first stop was a religious shrine. It had many outdoor statues and mosaics to see. And as with most religious works of art, they were beautiful.

Next, we took a short hike to some waterfalls. Although the fast moving stream below them was not frozen, the falls were.

Our goal was to arrive before dark and we did.

It snowed that night and the next morning we took a walk to check on the roads. We found them in pretty good shape.

 

The temperatures had warmed by afternoon, so we went out to find three covered bridges in the area. We found all three and had fun exploring while we were looking for them.

As the sun went down, we headed back to the cabin...

to eat, drink, be merry, and work puzzles.

This afternoon, we're back home to find the cats taking turns sleeping on my coat that I left behind. I'm going to have to snatch it away before the next snow comes tonight. They aren't going to be happy.

Getaway

Excitement is in the air. Ward and I are off today to spend the weekend in a mountain cabin to celebrate our anniversary. And a snow storm is coming. It's exciting to get away, but even more exciting to think we might be snowed in in our hideaway. We've got boardgames, a flashlight, and snow shovel all packed and ready to go. I can't wait.

But first back to reality. We have to work part of a day, go to a doctor's appointment, and pay some bills before we can leave. However I am imagining that soon we'll be in our romantic hide away surrounded by beautiful falling snow and gazing into the dancing flames in a fireplace. (I'm getting a bit goofy with anticipation.)

It sounds like a scene from a movie, doesn't it? I hope we don't experience a scene from another movie. Like being stuck in the mud and freezing rain trying to get to there and fretting that we forgot our box of food and then look up to see a tree has fallen on the cabin. National Lampoons Vacation in the Woods, anyone? I'll let you know when we get back what really happens. :)

A Second Look--January 21, 2015

When Aunt Martha was in college, she was studying to be a naturalist. One day I overheard her talking to a classmate about identifying trees in the winter and using the feel and look of their bark to help with that. My ears perked up because that was a new concept for me. I thought that all bark looked basically the same--gray/brown and rough. At least it did until I took a Second Look. And by golly, there were a lot of differences. However over the years, I still haven't paid much any attention to trees and their bark.  So decades later during these gray days, I thought it was time to take a Second Look at some of the trees in my yard.

Here are some trees and their bark that 

I saw this week  during a Second Look.

Dogwood

Holly

Oak

Juniper

Silver Maple

Pine

Theodore did the bark investigation with me and took some of the pictures.

Thankful Sunday--January 18, 2015

I am thankful for time with my husband.

Food critics, celebrities, as well as we normal folk, enjoy the BBQ here.

Ward has been working a lot of long hours recently and most of the time we have been like two ships passing in the night. However yesterday, he took the day off and we spent it together. We resisted the urge to do our list of chores and enjoyed ourselves on a long drive. Since Ward, Mr. Carnivore, was driving we just happened to end up at an out-of-the-way, famous barbeque place. For this and the rest of the day we spent together, I am thankful.

A Second Look--January 14, 2015

Yesterday when I did a walk around the yard, the ground was frozen and my feet were crunching with every step. That was almost as fun as the crunching of dried leaves in the fall. Another reason to get outside on these cold days and do a Second Look. :)

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

The squirrels have been cleaning up under the bird feeder.

But they also have been enjoying walnuts.

Out of all of the woodpeckers that frequent our feeders, this is the first time I have noticed one with its beak open.

We saw four bluebirds go in and out of this box one afternoon. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they were building a nest.

And speaking of nests, look at the difference between these goldfinches. The brightly colored one is from last August during nesting season and the dull one is from this January during survival season.

It was also the end of another season. It was finally warm enough last Sunday that we took down our Christmas lights.

Aachoo!

Cold Virus

When you were a kid, did your grandmother or mother tell you not to go outside without your coat or you would catch a cold? (Or just not a cold, "a death of a cold.") That was the wisdom at the time. Then, scientists let us know that you couldn't catch a cold from being cold, you caught a cold from a virus. I heard a report on NPR's Science Friday last week that shed new light on this whole issue.

For a while now they have known that the cold virus replicates better at the lower temperature in your nose (33 C) compared to the higher temperature in your lungs (35 C). That's why a cold virus is more likely to settle in your head than your lungs, and may be one reason why we get more colds in the winter. However, now they have done a study that shows when your nose is colder, you don't have as many immune cells in your nose respond to the cold virus. Therefore, the virus is more likely to grow and develop into a cold. (By the way, did you know that one in five people is carrying around a cold virus in their nose that is just waiting to multiply?) So there are at least two factors that suggest when you are colder, you are more likely to get a cold.

While I found the study interesting, what I found the most interesting was the fact that maybe grandma had it right. Being cold may make you more likely to get a cold. She may have not had the carefully controlled lab studies to back her up, but she knew what she knew.

Everything old is new again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple more things:

--The latest findings about the suppressed immune response of the nose came from studies done in rats and human nose cells grown in the lab. More work is needed.

--I have given only a very condensed and most general idea of these studies. To learn better what they're all about, here are some links:

http://io9.com/does-being-cold-make-you-more-susceptible-to-catching-c-510314172 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-01/yu-cvr010215.php 

http://www.nature.com/news/cold-viruses-thrive-in-frosty-conditions-1.13025 

Thankful Sunday--January 11, 2014

I am thankful for my suet feeders.

With frigid temperatures and snow, we have had a lot of birds visiting our suet feeders. Yesterday, we had three different kinds of woodpeckers! And for this, I am thankful.

Aldi's Shopping Carts

I am a total Aldi's convert. When they came to my area a few years ago, I didn't think much about them and actually never went into the store. Then I got hooked into the frugal blogging world and decided all of you Aldi's shoppers out there must know something. So I shopped there a few times trying this and that and eventually started to go there regularly for the good price on milk. Each visit I tried a few more things and finally reached the point that I did almost all of our grocery shopping there.

But there's another thing that I really liked about Aldi's besides the good prices. I liked the fact that I have never gotten a wobbly or bent shopping cart there. Even now when the carts are starting to show some wear, they still work well. And this is because you have to put down a quarter deposit to use the cart. They are chained together and released with a quarter--much like the luggage carriers in airports. A quarter is not much money these days, but it is just enough that people will return the cart to get their money back. That means there are no random carts in the parking lot. There are no Aldi's carts at other stores. There are no loose carts running into cars. No carts getting bent however it is that shopping carts get bent.

Now here's what I find interesting. I have a friend, Judy, who is a real bargain hunter and does not want to spend a penny more on something than she has to. And Judy won't go to Aldi's. She is insulted by the whole chained cart thing. She thinks it means that they don't trust her. That thought never occurred to me. I just know replacing carts is a big expense for stores and this was another way that Aldi's was able to keep their prices down.

Are you insulted by the chained carts at Aldi's or at least annoyed by them? Or have you ever even thought about it?

Broken Scales--Part 2

Broken Scales--Part One --Ward and I have been trying to figure out if out bathroom scale is broken.

The saga continues.

Our Christmas celebrations have been spread out this year and we had our final one last weekend. Even though we still have a few Christmas sweets around, we are trying to move onto more normal eating. In the meantime, Ward and I were curious to see what toll the holiday eating had taken on our weight. We weighed ourselves recently with debatable results.

We were gathered in our bedroom with Wally and Theo coordinating plans for the coming weeks. While he was listening, Wally stepped onto the scale and we heard a loud crack. We all thought that we might see the scale in two pieces because it was that loud. However, there was no visible damage and Wally and Theo both weighed themselves and said it seemed fine. But then Ward and I weighed ourselves and declared that something must have happened with that loud crack because the scale was weighing heavier than we thought it should.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but again I think the scale is broken. And I now have evidence in a loud crack to prove I'm right. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

A Second Look--January 7, 2015

Downy woodpecker, male

Yesterday we had a few inches of snow which brightened up the otherwise muted winter landscape of grays and browns. However before that, Wally and I had a good time exploring our muted yard when he did a Second Look with me last weekend. He saw many things he was interested in but I won't feature them here because they were mostly things that I have shown you recently.

The thing I got most excited about this week were claws on the toes of a female cardinal. I never thought about the details of their feet and didn't realize that they had claws sticking out from their thin leathery toes. Besides curling their toes around a branch, they use their claws to also help them hang on in a tree. Makes perfect sense, however I never noticed them before. Sometimes I get bored with the idea of doing Second Looks since I have been doing them almost weekly for 3 1/2 years now (time flies), but then I find something totally new and it makes it all worth while.

Here are some things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

It was hard at first to see this mushroom hiding in the pine needles.

This little plant in the fork of the maple tree is one of the greenest things around.

We saw lots of deer prints.

The hoof prints of this cow were at least 2x as big as those of the deer.

Blue Jay

If you look very closely, you can see the claws of this female cardinal curving out from its toes.

You can see the claws better from this view.

Wally, my Second Look partner this week.

Thankful Sunday--January 4, 2015

I am thankful that I found the charger for the iPad.

Ward brought an iPad home from the office to do some work at home. I was straightening up one day and put it away. Then when he needed it, we found the iPad, but not the charger. After some time of fretful looking, I found it under an end table. Whew! Now Ward doesn't have to go to work and say he lost the charger to the company iPad. And for that I am thankful.

Happy New Year!

"All old things must end, so new things can begin." 

James Russell Lowell*

That quote seemed like the perfect quote for the beginning of the year. Let go of the old things and welcome the new ones. I remembered it from when I used it in my high school graduation speech, another time when one lets go of old things and embraces new ones.

However, when I did a look for the quote on the Internet, I couldn't find it. Certainly, not associated with James Russell Lowell (or anyone else I could find.) Lowell lived in the 1800's and was an abolitionist, so it sounds like something he might have said. So I don't know if I am paraphrasing after all of these years, or I'm totally mixed up. Who knows?

But I do know that I'm ready for a new year and to see what wondrous things it has in store for me and you.

Happy New Year!

*James Russell Lowell may or may not have said it. :)