2009 travels

Well so much for posting daily or even occasionally, during the winter escape from Michigan winter.

We are home again and it is March 17, Wow St. Patrick's Day. And it seems we are at least two weeks early. There is still ice on the ponds and in the ditches and the frost is not out of the ground yet.

I took lots of pictures, during our six weeks away from home, which I am working on getting into my Picasa Albums. They start with "2009 Seminary of the Southwest" and I am gradually working on getting more up. Unfortunately I will be a fairly slow process as there is a dirty trailer and house and yard to get "Spring Cleaned". Four huge jobs ahead to integrate with working.

Watch for more pictures to come.

Day two

Monday February 2

When we left Wal-Mart at 8:30AM White One said it was 27 degrees. Plus the wind was blowing so it was pretty cold.

Tonight, Monday night we are in an Oklahoma State Park, We are the only ones here so we had the pick of sites with electric and water hook up for $16. It is an opportunity to get the Michigan Road salt and mud washed off. But what a cold job for Dick to do after dark with unheated water

Driving through Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois looked pretty much the same but as as we crossed the Mississippi River, the geography changed drastically from flat farm land to steep rolling woodlands. I-44 is cut through the hills so there are sheer rock faces. The woods also changed from mixed hardwoods to Oak and Cedar with Sycamore's white tops towering above the the rest of the forest. There was a gradual change, as we crossed Missouri, from the hilly Oak/Cedar forest to the flat open grasslands of Oklahoma. There are odd large mounds occasionally dotted on the flat former Prairie. When we asked about them, a local fellow said he thought they were natural.

As the day progressed the amount of snow also lessened until in Oklahoma there were just the few odd bits left in the shade of buildings.

So the roads have been pretty much the same boring interstates that one too often chooses when you are in a hurry to get somewhere. We started with I-69 in Lapeer, Michigan and took that all the way to Indianapolis, Indiana, then switched to I-70 and picked up I-44 in St. Louis which took us all the way to the Oklahoma border where surprise, surprise we were on the Oklahoma tollway with no other place to go. But it turned out to be not a bad thing. There was a very helpful lady at the information plaza who showed us how to get to Austin without going through Oklahoma City and the easiest way to get around Dallas/Fort Worth. She also pointed us to several Oklahoma State parks – and we picked the first one we came to. It was getting dark and we were tired. We MIGHT get to Austin tomorrow but maybe not. We may just find somewhere to stop on the way.

The trip starts

Tonight we are “camped” in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Vandalia Illinois, the same Wal-Mart where we stayed on the first nigh out of our Spring 2008 trip. Then it was April and pleasant shirt sleeve weather. Tonight it was hovering just above freezing as the sun went down.

When we left home this morning the roads were slushy or snow covered most of the way to Lapeer. From Lapeer to Lansing they were just wet, and from west of Lansing the roads were mostly dry. The sun was bright most of the day and the highest temperatures were in Indianapolis when it reached 47

We saw wildlife and wildlife signs all along the Michigan roadside fence rows where deer, we saw one doe, had been working the shrub and tree plantings for fruit and twigs. At one point we saw a flock of turkeys scratching for food and were able to see their tracks all along a ditch bank that paralleled the road. Snow continued to be deep even forming large drifts on the roadside banks well into Indiana. Then North of Fort Wayne the roadway banks had large ares that were bare and large areas of corn fields were more exposed so the snow was less deep than at home.

In Indiana we saw several herds of deer foraging in corn stubble and what looked like frozen lakes because the fields were so completely covered with snow. But by the time we reached Vandalia which had a severe ice storm last Monday and Tuesday the snow was much reduced.

Sunday 7:30 AM

Headed out. The sun is just coming up and the wind is blowing but the sky is BLUE.

Are we ready yet?

Tomorrow morning is the day we want to leave EARLY on our escape from this snowy northern winter in the Silver Dog house.

It is late and we are nearly ready to leave but still have some major things to do tomorrow morning. Put the mattress back in the trailer and make the bed. Move food from the fridge in the house into the trailer. Load the bicycle into the back of the truck.

Then we are good to go and praying for good roads all the way to Austin. We are getting apprehensive about taking a trip this time of year and Dick has already sworn we will not do it again.

Pray for us we will need it.

Creativity

I am finding it difficult to "be creative" everyday. Or at least I am having difficulty labeling the things I do that may be and I don't notice. At the least I have created some grand dinner salads recently. In an attempt to continue work on a lap throw I am making out of scraps of yarn, I have bought three new crochet hooks this week. Three not because I needed three but because, first I could not find the stash I have somewhere in the house, and second because I lost the first one I bought in two days. So with the replacement I bought a second for insurance.

Then this evening in ANOTHER snow storm I found God's creative hand had etched mountain scapes of snow on the windows of out poor cold Silver Dog House who is just itching to be in a warmer climate, just like we are.

Now here are two creative men and horses

Now here is creative.

Creative?

Does going through old pictures of my own wedding count as creative?
Even in black and white we look like this was the 70s!

Creative E-Cards

If you are reading this post you have probably received a greeting card that I sent from the Jacquielan Lawson, web page. Jacquie is an English lady that does wonderful E-Cards. If you like them, they are not expensive and you can get to her site from the banner at the bottom of the page or the Card of the Month on my sidebar.

Being Creative Today

We went to the annual after Christmas sale at Past Tense, as we do every year. This picture of the clear pink ball is the only picture of one of the new ornaments that I like - so far. I am not done trying.

I think probably a lot of my attempts at Being Creative Every Day will involve my camera. I love playing with the digital camera because there is no waste of film if the pictures do not turn out.

Creative Every Day

Last year I tried the challenge to post every day. I did not succeed. When we travel it just is not possible to post every day and when we got home I never got back in the swing of every day posting.

Now I have found a new challenge to be Creative Every Day. It tickles my creative side. I love the idea of trying to be creative in some way every day by cooking a good dinner, or baking, or crafting, of finding a way to add exercise to my life or.. or.. or..

So here begins a new challenge on New Years Day.

I will decide how to post, whether to create lists each week or just write a paragraph or two of my attempts to meet the challenge, or post a photo of my attempts. That I will decide when it is time to post. I am looking forward to this challenge because there are so many ways to be creative.

Goose Down? Pillow Fight?

The Silver Dog House with snow piled up like feathers, after the storm Friday morning.

Snow day

We had a huge snow storm on New Years day 2008, which I blogged about. And now on December 1, 2008 we have had another heavy wet snow that closed schools and got me stuck in the driveway on the way to work. Fortunately a good samarin came by with a plow on the front of his pick-up truck. He saw Dick trying to dig me out by hand. So he came back, plowed the bottom of the drive and then dragged a path for me to drive out. Thank you kind man with the white truck and red blade.

The snow is beautiful and it was a perfect "snow-person" and fort building day because the temperature stayed just above freezing. Roofs were dripping until late in the afternoon when the temperatures fell below freezing and the roads got icy again.

A new Cross on the wall

This cross has been in a box in my closet for at least two years. Why on earth have I let it sit there so long? It is lovely and the little tealight smells so good too.

BRRRRR

The first real snow fall started during the day yesterday. It brought with it the "snow plow guy" to the parking lot at work with his blade and salt. By the time we left for the day it had stopped snowing and someone had graciously cleared off our cars. I think it was probably another employee who had left earlier. Thank you Sheila.

We were greeted this morning with more of the very wet, cold, white, stuff weighing down the spruce branches, and sticking to any vaguely horizontal surface.

November ramble

It was a lovely sunny day today so I took the camera out doors for a little while and walked down the road a short way.

Thanksgiving Cactus

Of all my plants I think this is the hardest one of which to take pictures.

Where did Thanksgiving go?

Even though we have yet to celebrate Thanksgiving, the stores are full of Christmas decorations and music. Last week I tried to do some shopping for Thanksgiving table decorations. All I could find was Christmas fare. Thanksgiving seems to have been completely supplanted by the much more profitable spending of the "Holiday Season". Halloween candy is not out of the stores before the Christmas decorations are for sale in the "garden centers". As the Christmas season approaches we are inundated with commercial signals to buy buy buy, spend spend spend. That is not what Christmas is about. Christ came to give himself. My daughter's Blog expresses her thoughts on the subject very well here.

I admit to getting all hyped for the Christmas Season - too early - I fear it will feel stale by the time Christmas truly arrives. And I am always left feeling a huge let down when the real 12 days of Christmas are ignored by the rest of the world. Maybe I should be relieved that those who celebrate the full 12 days from December 24 to January 6 are left without the hectic commercialization during the true Christmas season.


And just for practice I am embedding the You Tube video from Josephine's web site here too.

Say Thanks to our Troops

Xerox is doing a great service to help build the moral of our troops overseas.

Opening Day

In Michigan, Opening Day of Firearms Deer Season is a HOLIDAY. In some places the schools close if it is on a weekday. So many of the boys and some girls from Jr. High through High school will be in the field that the day will not count for attendance. And the teachers, male and some female are in the field too.

This year it is a cold rainy ugly day.

There was a Doe hiding in the back of our garden all day. We discovered her in the morning near our compost pile, probably enjoying the last of the discarded apples. She soon moved to the back of the garden near the pines along the back property line. It was a safe place to be. We have had several deer eating off the trees in our orchard all fall.

For the first time since we have lived in North Branch - over 30 years - there was a "Buck Pole" set up in front of one of the merchants. On the way to work this morning there was one buck hanging. People coming into the Library all day commented on how many there were and by noon it was not only full but over flowing to a makeshift pole arranged on the tines of a hay fork lifted high by a blue tractor.