Packing

Hello, Leroy manages to pack in half the time that I take. It is hard to know how many items for various temperatures one should take. We are going on a Panama Canal Cruise. It should be much warmer than it is here, but will it be breezy on the ship? Who knows? The temperature was better this morning. I walked to church with care as there were many places that I wanted to know what my foot was coming down on. I only slipped a little once. There were certainly places that the sidewalk had not been cleared. I am so grateful for all who made the effort to get to the pavement. Some drivers do not realize that pedestrians have some marked crossings and they pull their vehicle into that spot. Then it is a choice, do I go in front of the car or in back? Usually, the front seems safer because they will see me and not run over me. Sometimes they are so far ahead that it is uncomfortable to walk so far into the intersection. I took quite a lot longer going to church because of my slow pace, but I arrived. It was disappointing that at church, I somehow lost my mask, which protects my nose from the cold. sI had to depend on my scarf. It worked, but not as easily as the mask. Paula

Heat Wave?

Hello, It is six degrees above zero now with the sun so beautiful. I took a walk. It was good at first, but then at the end of the block the sidewalk had not been shoveled making it harder to navigate. No one around the corner had kept their patch of sidewalk clear. When I got to the end of the second block, I considered how to climb over the mounds left by the snow plow. Unfortunately, I had worn shorter boots. It seemed like enough walk for the day. It was so fine to get back to the cleared sections on our block. The only problem now was that the wind seemed quite strong. I was happy to get back to the house even with an abbreviated walk. I am going to a study at church tomorrow morning. Not sure that I feel comfortable walking that far by myself. I would wear my tall boots and wrap my warmest wool scarf around my neck and shoulders. I do wonder what it would be like if I fell when by myself. Yesterday when we were out and about, we met a car in a particularly bumpy place. It looked like Mr. Bobble Head was driving the car. We probably looked the same, but I could not get that perspective on us. Paula

In the Car

Hello, We went out twice today. In the morning Leroy needed to turn in his time card. While at the smuseum, I took some dead leaves off the plants, trimmed others, and watered them. They do like the library window as all seem to be thriving. Some books were returned to the library. We came home, had lunch and went out once more. It is a land of huge snow piles on the edge of roads and parking lots. Sometimes the mounds obscure the view of on-coming traffic. The streets have places of packed snow or ice which is at times lumpy. Luckily, Leroy’s car has all wheel drive and we did not have any problems, except Leroy’s hands got quite cold on the steering wheel. Our seats were heated and warm. The sun was shinning brightly much of the day, but the temperature did not get above zero degrees F. I wore my mask to protect my nose from the sun and the cold. It is great to have this nice supply of masks. Paula

Did you walk today

Hello, So many people at church asked, “Did you walk today?” Many added: I was going to give you a ride home if you had. I explained, “When it is more than minus ten degrees, we do not walk.” A tough North Dakota couple told us that when they were in college their personal rule for not walking a mile and a half to their destination was, -20 degrees with a 30-mph wind. Wow! Would it matter that they were younger then? They also commented that they dressed appropriately. On the way to church three fire trucks raced up the main street. It helped me to realize that they have to do some things in the outdoors. With three trucks required, I figure it was something on a larger scale. There was a pot luck at church for a guy who is going to be an intern at another church. It was nice to see so many people there on this cold blustery day to give him a good send off. Someone there told us they saw Leroy and I at church on the live stream. She wondered if she should come to church and give us a ride home if we had walked there. We did shovel a little in places where it had drifted. We could see that someone had come down the sidewalk with a snow blower. That was nice. All in all we did not spend much time outside. Paula

Confined At Home

Hello, With the weather we have been mostly confined at home. We go out and shovel. It gets us out of the house and into the wind. In our last outing we did not stay out long, partly because there was not a lot of snow to shovel and partly because we were getting cold. We have played games two times, read a lot, and watched TV or DVD’s. I feel rather hemmed in, even though I am grateful that this is a warm comfortable place to be. There are some who are not so fortunate. Leroy is getting a lot of steps now while watching TV. He does not get very many while shoveling, or at least compared to my numbers. I believe the wrist motion of shoveling adds to mine while his is just counting it if his feet move. I am currently reading three books. I like all of them, but they appeal to different parts of my brain. One is the Man called Ove. We watched the movie while in Utah and I decided to reread it because it had been a long time. One book is for the church book club. We are home only one day ahead of the discussion so I must be done with it before we leave. It is The Mothers by Brit Bennett. It does have a lot to say to me as serious fiction. The last book is The Shed that fed a million children. It is inspiring and uplifting that so many people help others. Leroy only reads one book at a time and they are all fiction, right now most seem to be mysteries. Paula

Weighted Trees

Hello, Our trees are weighted with snow. Some trees are breaking because it is too much to hold. Maybe the wind that is to come soon will help to move the snow round. We do not like the idea of driving anywhere in that, but the trees might like it. Our tree looked like this when we went to bed.

This morning when I looked out our bedroom window there was a noticeable difference in the amount of snow on the branches. The wind must have been quiet. However, I learned that our downstairs friend shook the trees so branches would not break.

We are so fortunate that we do not have to go anywhere today. I should have gotten yogurt yesterday when I was out getting some more groceries. We can live without yogurt, but just barely. There is some melt from the roof so we are getting great icicles. Some of that is dripping on our internet wire. Luckily, I could open a window and break off those icicles. I am concerned about the weight on that cable. I do not know when a service person could restore the connection. Leroy and I were to have a home health visit today. Luckily that was canceled. Even driving across town could be a challenge. It is not a necessary visit. We shoveled snow earlier and will have to do it again. If we wait too long it gets much heavier than we would like to move. How many pounds do you think we have moved just this week? Surely it counts for weight lifting. After shoveling again this afternoon, I know if someone gave us a snow blower, we would not turn it down. I like to shovel snow so this is a new thought for me. Paula

Driving on Snow

Hello, I realized as I pulled out of the garage, that I had not yet driven in snow this year. We just pushed the new two or three inches of snow to the side of the alley so Leroy could get his car out and go to work. After lunch I decided to go get a hair cut and get a few more groceries. I found it easy to pull out of the garage, but turning was not so easy as we had not shoveled the part where I pull ahead and turn the wheel. I guess I managed to get the job done by backing up two times. The rest of the alley was not fun, but not too bad. The street had a few frozen bumps on it. The interstate was clear, but I do not use it very long. The side streets required a bit more alertness. There was no waiting to get a haircut as there was only one other person in there while I was there. I like the cut. The grocery store was busy as other people must be loading up before the next wave of snow comes in tonight and tomorrow. After that, the noticeable factors will be the low temperatures with strong winds. We are hoping the power stays on. When I got home, I realized that I had not closed the garage door. It seemed everything I could think of was still there. Guess navigating that turn distracted me. Luckily not so many people roaming around. I did not hop right out of bed this morning. Leroy had almost finished in back of the garage by the time I got out there. When we went out front to do the sidewalk the neighbor had reached the steps in front of our house. He was moving quite fine, but he is so thin and I know he does not feel well. Maybe tomorrow we can help him again. Paula

The Uncleared Alley

Hello, No plow helped us to clear the alley. Much of the snow is still there. Leroy cleared a bit so he could get to work. I went out this afternoon and worked on the side behind my car. It was hard work because I had to carry the snow away in five-gallon buckets. At least the car will come out now, but I am not sure of the ability to put it in the garage. Today was an at home day for me. Tomorrow, I expect to do morning stretch in Ely. Leroy is working as well. Both cars will need to move. There is to be more snow tonight. Not looking forward to that. Perhaps it will be delayed. Since the one time I got stuck trying to put the car in the garage, we have always had the alley clear. Not comfortable with the appearance of the snow and ice where cars of driven. Leroy came home before I sent this. The two of us managed to clear quite a lot more. I feel much more confident about getting back in the garage. I have been reading a book for book club. There is only one day to read it after we come home. The problem is will I remember the story enough to discuss it. Also, I checked out three books from the library and they will be due while we are gone. They will not be read. The trick is hoping no one else wants them when I try to renew them. Paula

How Much Snow

It started to snow last evening almost right on the predicted time. It is still snowing as predicted. It is to stop by 7:00 pm. We are looking forward to that being accurate, or else it could stop sooner. Our downstairs friend thought at times it was snowing two inches per hour. I know it is a lot. I went out to put stuff in the compost bin. It would have been smarter to have worn gloves. The snow on there was at least six inches deep so to find the lid required brushing it off with a bare hand. Then the lid did not want to come up. What a struggle. We shoveled the front sidewalks once more. We also do the neighbors on each side of our house. They both have some health issues. One of them will do it ahead of us getting out there, so I like to keep at it. He is quite weak, but sometimes he does our walk as well. Guilt sets in if that happens too much. The other, under doctor’s orders cannot do anything like that. The area outside of the garage and the alley is still snow covered because we run out of energy. We will work hard to get that done before the end of the day. It is to be colder and then it will be very hard to get that melty, frozen stuff off the surface. We tried to do that. It was quite challenging. We only cleared enough to get one car out. We hope they can clear the alley, but know that they are busy in many places of the city. One picture is what the sidewalk looked like about an hour after shoveling.

The other is the view out our office window. The violet thrives in this window.

Paula

Cold is not the same everywhere

Hello, Miriam and a friend walk early in the morning before work. Because it was so cold, they walk in a mall. We walked with them for a few days, but then walked outdoors because the temperatures were not that low. Especially there it does not feel as cold as it does here at the same temperature. Is it the humidity? Wind? Mind? Our temperature was 33 degrees F. this morning. By the time we got to church we were quite cool. Leroy wished he had on a warmer coat. At least it is only a mile so he could deal with it. The Utah dogs liked to have us give them a walk in the morning. There was much wiggling and joy in their bodies as they pulled us along. When we walked with Miriam and friend, we could barely keep up only to learn that they slowed down for us. We will have to push ourselves from now on. The dogs were much happier at a faster pace. Rather one dog liked fast and one did not. It was also a challenge to avoid other dog walkers. Mornings, appeal to many people. I used to have a routine of walking the dog early, coming in, doing yoga, and then tackling the day. It always gave me a good start with energy and anticipation. We have not walked so much in the morning and I miss that, but we need to get out of bed earlier to get it done before other scheduled things move into the time. Paula

Will We Make It

Hello, Our plane landed in Denver after 30 minutes delay in Salt Lake cutting into our 51-minute layover. On the ground, out the window, we watched our gate go by. We just kept moving, passing up empty spaces and lower gate numbers. It seemed we could just leap out of the plane and be ok. There were three young women in the aisle so I turned and asked, “Do any of you know how to get one of those carts that move people around?” The answers were all no. They then started quizzing us about how much time we had and when the plane was taking off. They all felt that we could make it from the 73rd gate to the 21st before takeoff. I was pleased that they thought we looked agile enough to manage it, but still a little skeptical. I had a crack in my right heel so I did not want to run. Because we had seen the gates go by, we knew the direction to go. No bathroom stops for us. The pain in my heel became a small background to the urge to move at a good pace. We even used the moving walkways, moving all the time to make good progress. There were no people waiting in line at the gate as all had boarded when we got there. We got on, got seated, and a few more stragglers come on before we took off. I am such a worrier. I had been planning what to do because we would miss the flight. What a waste of energy! We got home in time to catch the bus home. It was a relief to walk in the door right on time. Paula