Winter Drags On...

Winter drags on and so do I.  What is going on?  I can't remember having snow or ice lingering on after six days, ever!  Come on sunshine, where are you?  We are used to going all Winter some years without having any snow.  And when we do get snow or ice it usually warms up after a couple of days and it all melts and goes away.  That is but one of the many things I love about Texas!

If you'll remember, it was six days ago when I first posted photos of the sleet we got on Monday.  Then we got more snow/sleet on Wednesday.  Now here it is Saturday and we still have remnants of snow/ice in places!  It's been too cold for it all to melt!

There is even a thin sheet of ice on our little shallow pond!  Crazy!

This snowman looks forlorn....the ground and driveway is clear but it is too cold for the snowman to melt!

I call this one "hiker snowman"!  It's head is gone but its visor and bandana are still there AND it still has its hiking poles!  Poor thing!

On these cold winter days I spend a lot of time reading or working on a jigsaw puzzle.  It passes the time away.

When I arrived at work yesterday morning and got out of my car I captured this incredible sunrise!

I'm sure by now you are tired of listening to me go on and on about how much I dislike the cold and wet Winter weather we have had this week.  I have much to be thankful for...at least we don't live in Boston...or anywhere else up north.

 

I was rummaging around in one of our desk drawers and came across this old bumper sticker...

Reminder to myself....Stop your whining!  Spring is just around the corner!

By the way, this extraordinary quilt of the United States of America was made by hand, by Tom's grandmother.  What a gifted woman she was!

Yes, Still Winter...

Well the weather forecast turned out to be true!

It began to rain/sleet soon after midnight last night and that turned to snow after daylight this morning.  We are in a winter wonderland now.

Tom decided he would cook a pot of his wonderful homemade chili today.  He lacked a couple of ingredients so we took a drive to our Neighborhood Market, taking photos along the way.

This is the Historic Humphries House, built in the late nineteenth century by Tom's great-grandfather.

                   
 Historic cabin in Heritage Park.

One of our neighbor's driveway entrance....

The power line cut through our place.... 

Our deck.....

Dry Creek is wet today.....

My dirty white horse "Tex" in his snowy pasture...

Not a hammock day today....

 

The best part about all this "white stuff" is that the sun is coming out as I write this so it is all melting rapidly!  Yippee!  That is why we live in Texas!

It's Still Winter!

It may still be winter here at "the edge of the woods", but what a difference a day makes!

Remember yesterday....

 ...the sleet and freezing rain was piling up on our road.

Now a scant 36 hours later, our road looks like this today!  Yippee!!

Yes, there is still some remaining ice in protected areas around our place, since after all it is still WINTER!

I am so thankful that my sweet husband, Tom, worked hard during last Summer and Fall cutting up firewood so we would have plenty for this Winter.  We bring up a little at a time and stack it under the carport  right next to the kitchen door so we always have plenty close at hand to keep our woodstove going on these cold days.  This is our third Winter to not use our central heating system at all.  Our woodstove heats our little house great!  Sure saves us a lot on our electricity bill!

These icicles are melting fast today!

 

Looking back toward the hay meadow, not much ice left back there either.

I am saying all this to preface what the weather man is forecasting for us tonight.  Unbelievably, they are telling us we may receive one to three inches of snow by noon tomorrow.  Really?  Surely not!  This is Texas after all. 

Stay tuned.......

"Winter, GO AWAY!!

Have I told you how much I dislike Winter?

I HATE WINTER!  I HATE WINTER!

I don't like cold weather.  I don't like to be cold.  I don't like to go outdoors when it is cold out.  That is why I live in Texas where thankfully our Winters are fairly mild usually.

I really don't know how so many folks survive in the northern states and in the northeast where they are currently inundated with unbelievable amounts of snow and ice.  No way would I ever want to live like they do having to bundle up every time they go outdoors, having to shovel snow, having to scrape ice, etc., etc........

I am so thankful to live in the good old South!  There is no other place I would rather live!  We are so blessed to have a cozy, warm house today.  We are keeping the fire stoked in our woodstove.  God has blessed so abundantly with everything we need.  

I went in to work as usual at 7:00 a.m. this morning, just as it began to sleet.  The roads were dry but it was sleeting hard and it did not let up so by 8:45 a.m. some associates decided to go back home, me being one of them. 

I snapped the following photos from inside my car as I drove very slowly back home:

 This is not snow.....it is ice crystals......piling up deeper by the minute...

 ....and to think only a couple of hours ago these roads were clear and dry....

....you can see the piles of ice that I had to scrape off my windshield.

All this ice on the roadways will be frozen solid by morning, making the roads impassable.  Schools and most businesses are closed today (and probably will be tomorrow also).  We in Texas don't have any way to deal with this frozen world except to stay home and wait for it to warm up enough to melt it, which thankfully it usually does in a day or two.  Yippee!

Staying warm at the edge of the woods.....

3rd Annual Saddlebag Stampede

In my last blog post I mentioned our 3rd Annual Saddlebag Stampede, a benefit walk we began in 2013.  Starting the year off by doing something physical, like going for a long walk, and at the same time raising money for a worthy equine rescue group.  This year our walk benefited Pegasus Project www.PegasusRescue.org

Today a group of us Saddlebags went out to visit Pegasus and present them an official check for the money we raised.

 The "big check" shows $4,738 however as more money came in our grand total raised from the 3rd Annual Saddlebag Stampede was $4,818!!  Great work from a great bunch of women.  Jeanne's husband Sam Case (holding the right side of the big check) was our "BIG" sponsor with his $3,000 donation.

 It was a bright sunny morning, but the wind was blowing and the temperature was still in the forties so we were all bundled up with warm layers as we followed Allyson around the farm.

Jackie had her 2-yr.-old granddaughter with her and she was fascinated by the ponies.

 Pegasus does a superb job of caring for all the horses that pass though their place on the road to rehabilitation, restored good health, and adoption.

They are establishing a "Horse Cemetery" for those horses that for one reason or another pass away. 

Participating in the 14 mile walk this year was: Mary Ann, Lanette, Gill, Jeanne, Mercedes, Tammy (Mercedes friend), Jennifer, Jackie, Lisa, Deb, Erma, Evie, and Pam.   Kudos to all those adventuresome, fearless, and tough Saddlebags who walked a lot further than they thought they could!

Today following our visit to Pegasus, we naturally went into Ben Wheeler to The Forge Restaurant for a scrumptious lunch.  I enjoyed the good conversation and good friends along with the good food! 

 As you can see, Mary Ann's fiancé, Tony, made it back here last night from Florida.  Ahhhh, the happy couple!

 I am so lucky to be a part of this group of wonderful women.

AND, wasn't this morning's sunrise spectacular!  I went out behind our house and looked across the hay meadow for this awesome view.  What is that saying?  "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning"!  "Red sky at night, sailors delight".

TRAILS / Trail Friends

Yesterday morning when I walked outside to take care of feeding my horse, this awesome sky greeted me.  What an awesome sunrise!

We recently went to Brandon, Mississippi to visit Tom's Aunt Ruth and Uncle Murphy.  Aunt Ruth is Tom's Mom's youngest sister.  She is temporarily staying in an assisted living apartment while recuperating from having a toe amputated.  Aunt Ruth reminds us so much of Tom's Mom, Sue.  They both inherited a sunny, pleasantly sweet disposition.  A real bonus to our visit was that Tom's brother Tim and wife Kathy from Georgia met us in Mississippi.  We really enjoyed spending time with family!

                              Uncle Murphy and Aunt Ruth with Tom

At the end of January our good friends Greenstone and Thimbleberry were passing through and stopped for a very short visit.  We always love to see them!  We surprised them when we met them at an Italian Restaurant in Canton by inviting 15 of our friends to join us for Sunday lunch.  It was great to have our friends meet them, and for them to meet some of our friends.  I can't believe it has been four years since we met Greenstone and Thimbleberry on the first day of my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, and now they are friends for life.

                            Thimbleberry, me, and Greenstone at breakfast at the
                           Crooked Creek Farm B & B where they stayed overnight.

                            Here we are inside the WalMart Neighborhood Market
                            where I work part-time.

In January I participated in the 3rd Annual Saddlebag Stampede, a 14 mile walk, benefiting Pegasus Project, an equine rescue organization.  It was a nice cool morning as we walked along while our figures cast long shadows on the roadway ahead of us. 

My friend Jeanne brought her horse along in case she got tired of walking she would just get on her horse's back and ride instead!  (which she did before we were done!)

Three of our Saddlebags (Sue, Diane, Pam) drove/rode in a support vehicle which followed us the entire route.  They carried snacks and water provided by Gill and Jackie.

It took us about 4 hours and 40 minutes to complete the walk and when we finished up back at Jeanne's home we enjoyed a huge lunch.  Jeanne had made tortilla soup and each of us provided side dishes and desserts.  What a feast and great conversation!  I will let you know in my next post the grand total of funds we raised thru this walk for Pegasus Project www.PegasusRescue.org  

Last weekend Tom and I once again headed up to Oklahoma to do some volunteer trail maintenance on the Ouachita Trail.  This is  the view while we were driving along on the Talimena Scenic Byway.  Such a pretty drive with great views!

We left our car parked beside the roadway at Deadman Gap MM8 on the Ouachita Trail and headed east with our loppers, pruners and a dull hand-held weed slinger.  The trail switch backed steeply downhill from the gap.  There were lots of lichen covered rocks and boulders and a varied assortment of mushrooms growing on fallen tree trunks.

Tom "Pyro" on the trail while the hillside behind him is covered in green lichen covered rocks.

                    Lichen and mushrooms abound!

We met a couple of backpacking guys heading the opposite direction, Curtis (from Perryville, Ark.)and his uncle Bruce.  Curtis had begun section-hiking the Ouachita Trail back in September and was about to complete his final section the next day.

After meeting the two hikers going westbound we continued on our way and in a little while we came to the Rock Garden Shelter where we stopped for a break and a snack.  This shelter was constructed by Friends of the Ouachita Trail with assistance from an AmeriCorp  Team in November 2013.  These shelters hold up very well in the elements because this one still looks and smells brand new!

From the Rock Garden Shelter you have an awesome view of the Holson Valley!

Following our refreshing break at the shelter we continued eastward for about another mile lopping and pruning.  By 11:30 a.m. we decided we better stop, turn around, and head back to our car since we still had the four hour drive back home.

The Ouachita Trail is marked quite well with rectangle blue blazes on trees/rocks and has informative signs at trail junctions with other trails that cross the O.T.

What goes down must go up!  Remember we switch backed steeply downhill when we started, and now going back to the car we must switch back up the mountain!  Here Tom is taking a breather.  My little camera can no way capture the fantastic views we are enjoying as we gaze out across the Holson Valley to the next ridgeline.

Yippee!  We made it back to Deadman Gap!  Job well-done!

This is the trail crossing the Talimena Scenic Drive at Deadman Gap.

 

 

When our forsythia bush blooms, the daffodils aren't far behind and I know Springtime is just around the corner!

Yep, the quince bush is blooming also!  Yaaaaa, Spring is coming!

This stump was at the base of the large cedar tree that fell on our house last October, but now it is "yard art".