There's a storm coming across the river. It's raining, and dark, and the wind is blowing hard. On the back porch, with its metal roof, the sound is deafening. My laptop says it's currently 54 degrees, but the temperature is predicted to drop like a stone once this storm passes, and we may get snow and ice in the coming days.
True to my word (from yesterday morning's post), yesterday about noon I went outside to cover up my "good" rosebush, the one Son #2 gave me for Mother's Day last year. One of this year's Christmas gifts to me from his family was a package of plant covers. I thought there were only 2 covers in the bag, but there were 8, so I was able to also cover the two new hydrangeas I planted last summer. I noticed that the old blue mophead hydrangea is showing tender buds. I don't have anything big enough to cover that big monster. I deliberately left the fallen leaves on it, which might protect the roots, but the buds will be toast if the temperature goes as low as predicted.
Around Christmas, five packets of milkweed seeds from the state conservation department arrived in the mail. I planted them yesterday, around the outside edges of the phlox bed - just scattered them and raked them in and sprinkled some leaves over them. Hopefully, this rain we're having will hammer them into the ground instead of floating them down the hill to the pond. I hope I recognize the seedlings when they come up so that I don't yank them out this spring.
After I finished in the yard, I went to the grocery store to lay in some supplies in case snow and ice happens this weekend. Two days ago, I got a group text from my painting class ladies showing a strawberry-flavored pie (WeightWatchers recipe) one of them had just made, so my grocery store list included what I *thought* were the ingredients for that pie. As soon as I got home from the store, I pulled up the recipe and discovered that I should have bought Cool Whip, not cream cheese. There was no way I was going back to the store, so I made the pie with the cream cheese. It is tasty. And before you say, "Wait a minute, what about that diet you're supposed to be on?", I will tell you that it is also LEGAL for low-carb diets. :) Even if it wasn't legal, it would not be much of a danger to my diet. Just a bite of something sweet will usually satisfy my sweet tooth.
My nemesis is Harvest Chedder Sun Chips. OMG. They are like crack to me. At my last yearly physical, just after Thanksgiving, my smartass doctor (who is far younger than I, and cute as a button) remarked that I had gained 5 pounds or so since my last physical, but he gave me a "temporary pass" since we'd just had Thanksgiving. I told him it was not Thanksgiving dinner but Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips that had expanded my waistline. He said, "Those are not so bad - they're whole grain, aren't they? - unless you eat the whole bag." I said, "Well, therrrrrrre you go."
While I generally do not eat a whole bag at one sitting (only because I'd be ashamed to do it), I could easily mow through a whole bag in the span of a day. You know . . . a few with breakfast, a few with lunch, a midafternoon snack . . . . I should not even bring them in the house, but they seem to leap off the shelf into my basket when I'm grocery shopping.
* * * * * * * *
The storm front has passed. It's still drizzling, but quieter out here now. And either I've got tinnitus, or some insects and/or frogs are singing. It feels a little cooler, too.
I have been trying to draw the yard critters playing musical instruments. They are eventually going to form a bluegrass band, but I have drawn them on separate sheets of paper and have scanned them so that I can manipulate them, individually. Yesterday, I worked on the squirrel (the fiddler). His hands are giving me fits. I've got the bow hand right, but the fretting hand is evading me. There are lots of pictures of fiddlers out there, but very few images of fiddling squirrels, and none from the angle I need. So, a few minutes ago, I decided to look at myself in the mirror, holding my mandolin under my chin like it's a violin (we've got an actual violin somewhere in this house, but I don't want to look for it), so I can see what my fretting hand looks like.
When I came back to the laptop to try to draw it, the pencil to my drawing pad was not here. I must have had it in my hand when I picked up the mandolin.
<sigh>
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