Kentucky Weather

The weather warmed up and a warm sunny day appeared before my eyes.  This is how it's been this winter season, warm, sort of hot, below zero, hot, freezing, rinse and repeat, and start all over again. 

I grab my warm fuzzy slippers and over-sized robe and settle in for the cold winter day and frigid night.  I drip my water faucets again to keep the water from freezing up in the pipes and bursting.  I sleep and then I wake up only to search for a cool pair of shorts and T-shirt to put on.  The day reaches 79 degrees and I'm happy.  

For an entire two weeks the weather is balmy and warm, it fools the trees and they begin to bud, then bloom.  Daffodils bloom and my Redbud tree looks beautiful.  I turn off the heated cat box and shut off the heated watering bowl for my cat.  I smile, thinking that the groundhog was actually wrong in his prediction of the weather this year.  The Philadelphia groundhog has predicted 6 more weeks of winter.  Aha!  He was wrong this time because the world knows better and so do all the trees and plants.  Or so I thought..............

Weather, food, snow, and now work.

We were supposed to get some snow tomorrow and maybe we will, but now it's not for certain.  I hope we do because I love snow.  It was 17f degrees when we got up this morning and the high for today will be warmer than yesterdays high.  Sometime today I need to get some groceries.  I'm out of bananas and only have a few Cuties left.  I can't do without my Cuties in the winter months.  That's the only time they are good, just like the Naval oranges, and I do need some more of those too.

Enough of this humdrum stuff of talking about the weather and citrus fruit.

Oh no!  We just got called in to work.  See ya, bye.....

Still No Rain

It still hasn't rained here in quite some time now, but because we have a heavy dew every morning everything still looks very green here.  Talking about the weather is very monotonous, but since we have a 60% chance of rain today, we are all hopeful that we'll get some rain.  The trees need rain more than anything, and I suspect that some will die because we've had so little of it lately.

Other than not raining, the last two days have been gorgeous with sunny bright blue skies.  The temps are perfect, not too cold and not too hot.  I've been lazy and only have done what I absolutely have to do these last couple of days.  Unfortunately, today was spent paying some bills that could not be put off any longer.  I like paying my bills on time and today was the deadline for getting them mailed off.  Quite a contrast to when Jimmy was alive and I would pay the bills just as soon as they were received in the mail.  Times have changed and so have my circumstances.

That's about it for today.  Everything is good.  I'm still living, I have money enough to pay my bills, and maybe by the end of October I will have enough money to buy groceries.  I'm fine.  I can't complain.  I have a roof over my head, food in my kitchen, a car in the driveway and I'm still in good health.  I have friends and family who love me.  What more could I ask for.  I'm truly Blessed!

I think I'll call her Aubrey

It stopped raining about noon yesterday and it turned out to be a very beautiful day.  Today the sun is out and the expected high will be in the low 80's.  Our weather here is very touchy in April and May.  We can go from 80 degree weather to freezing temps for our high to constant rain that won't let up for a week.  One year it rained on the weekends for 13 weekends in a row and everyone who had a Mon-Fri work week, including myself, got really fed up seeing Monday morning arrive all sunny and pretty.  Of course after about 3 weekends of rain, I got smart and headed out of the state for the weekends, to where the sun was.

Jimmy and I don't have any plans for today, but we never make plans other than getting up out of bed.  It's because we never know how Jimmy will be feeling.  Now that Spring is here, and the days are warming up I'm more inclined to start making plans again.  Besides, Jimmy has been feeling better and I'm getting used to what and when things happen to him after he has chemo.

We have been venturing out a little farther than just to eat everyday, and Jimmy is doing fine.  I can tell when he is tired, so I don't push it any further.  Even asking Jimmy where he would like to eat is a chore for him.  He would rather that I didn't ask and just take us somewhere.  

Eating isn't as enjoyable to him as it is to me.  He eats only to survive.  Jimmy lost his sense of taste and smell sometime before 2008, we don't know exactly when, or even in what year it was.  I just know that on a trip in 2008 was when I noticed him happily eating guacamole dip.  Everyone who knows Jimmy well,  knows that there are certain things that he won't eat and avocados are on the list and so is rice which he also ate that summer.

Before I finish here I have to tell you some good news.  We have tamed a feral female mother cat.  This morning she got out of her box and came to meet me when I stepped out on the porch.  She has been letting me pet her and I guess in return I get to guard her four kittens while she goes to pee.  One of her kittens is black n white and is marked exactly like one of the big roaming tomcats who stops by this area.  In fact, that tom was laying on our front porch last night, but ran off when he saw me.  I haven't picked up or touched her kittens because I don't want to give her reason to move them, but it is hard not to pick them up and hold them.  They are about 4 days old.  The mothers coat is black and rusty brown and very thick.  I think she is very sweet and craving human interaction.  This is her second litter, and she must be a very good mother because all of her last years litter survived and are so wild that they run when they see you, but we can see them through the windows.  Since Aubrey is tamed now, we can get her fixed once she weans her kittens.  I just hope that she doesn't move her litter, so that we can also tame them and find them good homes.

Perfect Weather

I woke up to the pleasant sound of rain this morning.  I don't mind it so much this time of year because I know it is making all things green, just the way I like it.

Pretty soon the trees will be covered in leaves and will provide us with some shade.  It's been hot here and the grass is growing so fast that it has to be mowed weekly.  Jimmy mowed it yesterday, and today it is getting rain to make it grow even faster.

We set up the table and umbrella and we were going to hang the hammock yesterday, but it's a good thing that we didn't because of the rain.  I don't have a rope hammock.  It's a solid quilted like material so that when it gets wet, it takes a couple of days to dry, but I love it and so do our cats.  I love the color and that you don't hang out through the ropes, but I don't like the way it catches the wind and spins and spins, and winds itself up.  That I could do without.

It looks like the rain is ending for today.  I just saw the sun peek out and it's as though everything outside perked up at the sight of the sun.......including myself :)

I hope that everyone is having a nice day, and for those that are riding, I hope that you are having sunny skies, pleasant weather, and lots of fun.

28 F. Degrees

SHUCKS!  I woke up this morning and it's still winter, and the ground outside still has that dusting of snow on it.  Maybe the snow will melt today since it is supposed to reach a high of 45 F. degrees.  Jimmy says the ground is still cold though, and it may not melt today.

We are not in the path of Dennis' ice storm.  The ice storm at our end of the state will be North of us, dropping ice into Lexington and above.  It's supposed to be another major ice storm, and those are not welcomed at all because of the downed trees and power lines.  This time of year is no time to be without power and heat.  Those of us, like Dennis, who have thought ahead are ready with natural gas heat, not dependent on electric heat.  The one thing that we haven't changed over to natural gas is our water heater, so without power we get nothing but cold water.....of course without electricity there is always the possibility of frozen water lines, and when water lines are frozen there is no water at all, just a big mess to clean up when the pipes burst.  Don't you just love winter?

I love snow, snow without ice that is.  Snow makes the earth look beautiful and sanitized.....all clean and white.  If the snow would stay snow and not turn into ice when it's run over by cars or footsteps, it wouldn't be so bad to have it around all winter.   

Anyway.......
It's another cold day here in Paradise, and we love it.  We don't have anywhere we have to be, no doctors or lab appointments, or any reason that we have to go out if we don't want to.  We can of course, because all the roads are clear and free of snow and ice.
Hope everyone is doing well out there in Blogland. 

Resting up for Spring :)

It snowed all day today with little or no accumulation.  We woke up with a dusting of snow on the ground and we are going to bed with less, despite it snowing all day long.  It was pretty though and even Jimmy enjoyed watching it snow today, which is unusual for him.  He doesn't normally like snow or the colder months of the year.

We have a warm fire going and the cats didn't even want to venture outside very much.  We did have four cats who went out twice, but they sure didn't stay out for very long.  I don't blame them, I didn't stay out for very long either.  Just long enough to see what one of the cats was looking at, that caused her to come back inside so quickly.  It was just a feral cat stopping by to eat up the chicken noodle soup that Jimmy didn't finish eating.

We didn't do much today but watch the cats play and watched some TV.  Jimmy went out three times to break the ice out of the cats water bowl and to give them fresh water.  Just like people feed the birds in the winter, we make sure that the feral cats outside have fresh water and food to eat.  We used to feed the birds until one flew into our brand new window and cracked it.  We didn't find a dead bird beneath the window, so it must have just got knocked senseless, and then flew away.  Poor bird :(

So there you have it!  Our day in a nutshell. 

Expected High Today 45F Degrees

Boy! it sure does feel good and it almost feels like a tee-shirt kind of day, but only for a minute or two and then I had to come back in the house to warm up.  It's 39 degrees right now and the house is dripping and was forming icicles until I took the broom outside and broke them all off.  I saw a large one fall and I was afraid that one might fall and hit someone or some cat and hurt them.   Can't have that!

Jimmy had chemo yesterday and is doing pretty well.  He woke up and did some of his usual chores that he likes doing around the house, but now he's dozing.  He's pretty tired and that's pretty understandable considering, so I'll let him rest as much as he wants to today.  I have plenty of food and will fix something here for us to eat.  We try to get out everyday, but I think that today might just be one of those days when we just stay in and rest.....besides, I heard that the flu is getting more rampant and even though we've had our flu shots, I don't like even being around anyone who might be sick.  Jimmy doesn't need that.

We kind of got good news yesterday from the oncologist.  He said that maybe it might be time for Jimmy to take a needed break from chemo.  He asked Jimmy how he would feel about that, and Jimmy said that he would love it!  So we will see.  Dr. Badin (pronounced Ba deen) ordered a cat scan for the end of January and depending on the results,  Jimmy will get his needed break....only a break unless Jimmy choses to completely stop, but right now Jimmy wants to continue with chemo for as long as it takes....but he would like a break just like a working man would like a vacation.

Every single family member is doing fine.  No one is sick and Brian is taking it easy with his back since his last injection.  Brandon is back at college after the Christmas break and has started a new semester of classes.  Megan is recovering from her last surgery and is happy as a lark being at home with her family for now.  She will return to work in another week.  Scott received good news at work and that's about all I know about that for now.  If he has further news I'm sure we will be the first to know :)  I feel great knowing that my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are all doing fine and that Jimmy might get his needed break from chemo....I can only imagine how good Jimmy will feel and this will give me even more joy :)  We are all starting out the new year with good news.

In other news as far as I know, no one had any frozen water pipes that burst, and no one slipped and fell on ice.  All the outside feral cats survived the -5F degrees and are also doing fine, including Hemi.  Jimmy always says that cats know where to go to get warm, but I still worried about them until I saw them yesterday.  The six cats that are litter trained we kept as prisoners in the house and didn't let out until the weather was good....now they won't stay out even though they couldn't wait to be set free.

So there you have it.....my life in a nutshell :)

Thanksgiving may be foiled by the weather

It looks like the weather might put a damper on many Thanksgiving dinners this year around this area, if the weatherman is right.  The weather prediction is for ice and snow with a snow accumulation anywhere from 2-6 inches.  For those that must travel, please be extremely careful and for those who can't drive in the snow, just stay home and stay safe. 

Light snow develops into a wintry mix for some

Sleet and snow are already on there way into the Western and Southern parts of Kentucky.  For those of you that live there,  bundle up and stay warm and drive carefully, if you must.  There might be a dusting of about 2-4 inches of snow and on Wednesday it will be a bad travel day for us, and I'm not looking forward to that.

Rainy days are good

It started raining yesterday morning and has continued throughout the night and is still raining today, but just not as hard.  Jimmy said that he heard it pouring really hard during the night, but it's more of a drizzle right now.

We needed the rain because we haven't had any for quite some time.  On the weather map when we were all covered in green a while back, the rain missed us and we stayed dry.

Jimmy has been off all extra medications now for about two weeks and is eating well, gaining weight and doing fine.  In other words, he's back to his old ornery  self :) and riding his bike whenever he wants to.  Like they say, or to be more exact,  it was David who said this to me the other day, "You can't keep a good man down."

Stormy Weather

Storms moved through here around 2 a.m. and just stopped passing by about an hour ago, which would have been around 8 a.m.  The loud clashing of thunder must have really scared Jybow, Jimmy's cat, because she came running and jumped across my chest as she was fleeing from her room to be safely nestled under the covers by Jimmy's side.  All of our cats see Jimmy as someone who will keep them safe and not let any harm come to them.  They're smart cats.

Today I will spend with one or both of my daughters, it all just depends on certain circumstances.

It's a little bit nice outside.....

The title says it all but do I want to stay in the house and work, or better yet, go outside and enjoy this lovely weather.  I'm no dummy and it's outside for me today.  Get out and enjoy this beautiful sunshine!

happy to see the sun

It's Monday and we got a dusting of snow over-night, over the top of our old snow, but thankfully all the snow is quickly melting away, and will be gone soon.  Our thermometer is saying that it's 60 degrees outside, but the bright sun is shining on it and apparently making the thermometer very happy.  I know I feel happy just seeing the sun and I probably would heat up too just feeling it's rays touching me.

I asked Jimmy if it was warm enough to take a ride and he said, "If you can get out of the driveway, be my guest."
I'd try it but I don't want to dirty up my bike that much, and besides, it's not 60 degrees outside...not even close!

Watch Out Water Pipes

It was a bone chilling 3 degrees f. this morning when I woke up with another inch of snow deposited on the ground during the night.  We really don't have much of an accumulation, but it sure is cold outside.  I found a picture of Scott splitting wood and it brought back some wonderful memories of the days when I used to split all of our wood.  I loved it!

Jimmy said, "That'll keep him warm."

Jybow is content just looking at the snow from here.

 The bushes out front

There's not much chance of all of this snow melting off before the next round of snow comes in on Wednesday night / Thursday morning.  The cold temps are not good for water pipes, so I hope everyone's pipes are well protected by insulation and heat-tape.  Jimmy has also taken an extra precaution and has a light bulb burning under our crawl space where the main water line enters the house.  So far, so good.

Yesterday we had expected to have my brother Dennis and Laurel here for a visit but their trip was cancelled due to the snow.  The snow didn't stop Ron and Anita from getting out.  Even though it was slow traveling they made it to our house with pizzas in hand to visit and to play a round of Scrabble.  Of course I didn't win the Scrabble game but it was fun, and I found out, that of all the times Scrabble has been played at our house that Jimmy had never played it.  Yesterday was his first time.  Hmmm, I could have sworn that I played Scrabble with Jimmy before.

Keep warm, whether it's accomplished by splitting wood or honkering on down under a warm comforter in front of a fire, just keep warm.   Oh, I almost forgot to show you how my kitties keep warm out in this deep freeze........

The brown plaid blanket is an electric throw blanket which is covered over by a red blanket, and sandwiched between that grey looking blanket and the red blanket are two of our oldest cats.  Beneath all that are cushiony soft pillows.  For outside cats they are the luckiest cats in town!

Weather Report

Our rain has changed to snow and it is heavily coming down right now.  We have slightly less than a dusting of snow on the ground and in fact it looks more like someone just took a salt shaker and sprinkled it around.  Suzanne did call me to say that walking on gravel is a bit slick but that the sidewalks are fine for now, and to be careful when going out.

It's HOT

"We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave."  The temp may reach almost 50 degrees today and it makes me feel like singing :))   Stop by the house and you can hear me sing today.
Just heard on the news that there's only a 5% probability that we will have a White Christmas this year :((  Stop by the house if you want to hear me crying and Jimmy jumping for joy.

Sunday looks very much like Saturday

Today has begun exactly as Saturday did with dark cloudy skies and rain. It seems to be a slow moving front, but where I live we're extremely lucky that we're not getting all that flooding as they are in parts of Tennessee. We always seem to be on the outer edges of any bad weather that passes near us.

Saturday was mostly cloudy for us with little rain and this morning the rain comes and then it stops for an hour or so between showers. Thunder is very slight and way off in the distance and I have to really strain to hear it. It's just going to be a warm wet nasty day for those who planned outdoor activities for today. The rest of us will do as I did yesterday...find something enjoyable to do indoors or with an umbrella.

Magic hands

I think I need Sharon's magic touch on my hair. I'm getting grayer and grayer by the day and without photoshop to paint away my gray hair all my pictures are looking like this one. I guess I could only allow pictures of me to be taken in low light and for many reasons that might not be such a bad idea.

Jimmy & I both woke up a little under the weather this morning. I stayed up late watching a movie called, "Dutch" which was a fun movie to watch with a nice ending. When I took my pills this morning they upset my stomach as they were dissolving. I'm drinking my first cup of coffee and beginning to feel a little better and Jimmy says he feels better now too.

It's foggy looking out with heavy drizzle and occasional light rain and we were supposed to have some nice riding weather this week and I was planning on going for longer rides now that Jimmy can eat out, but it's looking like it won't be this week. Yesterday was a nice day, but there was work to be done here so we didn't even think of riding. I guess we'll be cleaning house today as rainy days are house cleaning days at our house.

Saturday, What a day!

WOW! It's Saturday already and I woke up feeling really good this morning. I went to bed pretty early again and got a good nights sleep and now I'm ready for ANYTHING and I feel that I could tackle anything that life throws my way, good or bad. Life is good and getting better all the time.

Today will be another food challenge. The challenge is in trying to think of something that would appeal to Jimmy and still remain within the foods he's allowed to eat. The written instructions say that today will be the last day of his diet, but I got verbal instructions from his oncologist's office that Jimmy should remain on the iodine free diet until after his scan on Wednesday morning. Keeping Jimmy on the diet until Wednesday will definitely be a challenge.

Jimmy has also been feeling nauseous for the last two days but it only comes and goes, so most of the time he feels fine. He got pork chops for breakfast this morning; that's what he wanted so that's what he got. Gotta keep him happy so he'll stay on this diet. He's eating more fresh fruits and vegetables than he ever has and not liking it one bit...not even a tiny bit. He's even lost some weight and he can't wait to go back to his bad eating habits that have kept him alive and happy for so many years.

Now to the weather: It's COLD! It feels like someone dropped us into a deep freeze during the night. I had to go around the house closing the windows, but I'm leaving some open for that nice deep freeze kind of ventilation. I just don't know how much longer I can stand this cold and I hope the day starts warming up and it better do it soon or I'm shutting the rest of the windows. It was so cold in my bathroom this morning that the mother cat moved her kittens out of there to the warmest corner in the house. She's a smart kitty.
I might even have to turn the heat back on tonight if it doesn't warm up. It's just after lunch, right now, and it feels like it's getting colder and colder...I even had to put some clothes on. I mean some more clothes like in winter clothes, sweatshirts, long pants & socks, that's how cold it has gotten. My laptop feels so nice & warm on my lap that I don't even want to stop typing, but I need to fix Jimmy's lunch. I hope that your day is warmer than ours unless you have someone to cuddle with, then it doesn't matter does it?