From My House To Yours

Snow and the drive home

This morning, we took Laydee up to the snow.

As soon as she starts seeing the white stuff while we're driving,

she gets all excited.

She loves to dig in the snow.

She had a blast -

Me? My feet were cold and still are.

It's a short scenic drive from our place - takes about 35 minutes to get into the snow east of us.

Join me on the way back down...

Our view of the valley - the snow-capped mountains from the West.

Excuse my dirty windows - we call it Laydee's nose art.

That's Shasta Bally.

Looking toward the North and that is the peak of Mt Shasta.

This is all so pretty in the spring when everything is green and the trees have budded out.

Nice ranches off the side of the road.

There were many out on the golf course - we went by too fast for me to get a photo.

Do you play golf? Do your husbands play golf?

The only golf I have ever been interested in was mini-golf.

I often wonder why people buy homes on the golf course and then complain about their windows getting broken?

They call this the Millville Plains.

This is cattle land.

It is beautiful in the spring...with wildflowers.

I usually do most of the driving. I tend to get car sick. I've never taken photos while the car was moving - so this series was a first for me.

The terrain has changed drastically. Rocks and rolling hills.

Looking through the "nose art" does not do the rugged rocks any justice.

Down below is a creek - on the driver's side. I couldn't get that picture. In the summer, many young people go swimming off the road in the creek.

Getting closer...

and closer.

The stop sign at our exit.

Which way should we go?

Almost home...

I see Mt Shasta every day when I am out and about.

That was fun. I'll have to do that again sometime. Of course, the husband will have to do the driving - next time I will clean the windows. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Thanks for coming along - I hope you enjoyed it.

Sunshine, Daffodils, Cedars, and the Dam

Another beautiful sunny and clear day. A tad warmer. The wind is still brisk and cold, probably coming off the snow on the mountains.

My drooping Daffodil.

These have been planted for years so I am surprised they are blooming. Seems they are right on schedule though - after checking, they always bloom mid-January - drought or rain. They have their own little built-in timer.

The teeny tiny roses love the winter.

I'm a tree lover - this is the pretty bark on my incense cedar tree.

The incense cedar is a large tree that has a conical crown of spreading branches producing soft, scale-like leaves. As its common name suggests, these cypress trees are highly aromatic and native to California and northwest Mexico.

In colder climates, incense cedars grow naturally as tall columnar trees. In warmer climates, its significant growth has a spreading nature that provides shade underneath. These elegant, ornamental trees are excellent as specimen trees in large garden landscapes.

I watch this show called Chef vs Wild. These chefs have a few days to forage natural ingredients and make a 5-star meal. Just last night, one of them infused cedar into a dish, and apparently, it tastes similar to coconut.

Now I don't know if it is that way for the Insense cedar - these trees were in British Columbia. Foodie is very interested in foraging - You have to really know what you are doing. Our recreation center has classes on forging...it's getting to be popular.

Well, the husband went to work today and I had errands to do - I started dinner in the crock pot; round steak with cream of mushroom soup. Quick and simple. Then I bought us a deli sandwich and met him for lunch. Found out they closed down our local Bed Bath & Beyond. Came home, started laundry, swept the floors, emptied the dishwasher -

Decided I wanted to take a quick drive out to the Dam to look at the lake.

I was the only person on the Dam.

click to make larger x 2

Cold up on the Dam - (to the right) took my photos and came home.

Those dry islands that were there a month ago are now gone.

I don't usually take a panorama photo - I must have pressed it by accident.

Simply Safe called my husband - told him our automatic payment failed in December. So he called me to take care of it. I had forgotten to update them after I received my new debit card last month. It's funny though - I called and spoke with a man who sounded like he was from India. I could not understand him. We went round and round - and he was nice, trying very hard to help me but we had a definite language barrier so I told him I would take care of it online.

Then I went online and did it myself. Much faster.

Good News - Navy told me the inlaws that have been living with them, are moving out at the end of this month. They bought a manufactured home in Butte County. I know my daughter-in-law will miss them and the little girl but they helped them for a whole year - footing the cost of 2 adults and 1 child so they could get on their feet. They did good but It's time.

All the adult kids were boomerangs at one time and the husband thought they would never move out. We had a full house and Char was living in the motorhome at the side of our house. It was a crazy time. I kept the faith - and they eventually did move. It wasn't easy but we did it. It was all total of about 2 years, I think.

That's it for me this Friday. Hard to think it's almost February in just 11 days.

A Quiet Day

Oh, what a beautiful day - COLD but clear and sunny.

A stiff frigid wind blows over the mountains into the valley. Brrrr.

A good day for cookies.

The house was nice and quiet - just me, Laydee, and Susie.

Did some laundry.

Watched some of my crafting videos.

Other than that, nothing exciting.

Talk soon.

Debby

Odds and Ends

Yesterday was such a beautiful sunny day and today is drab. But this is it for a while - looks like the storm door is closing to kindly allow us all to dry up.

The husband decided to pick up some more hours at his part-time job to help pay for the new back fence. So he's working Thursday and Friday, 8-4 until further notice. That way, we won't get caught off guard financially when the back neighbor wants to build. I still believe with the cost of wood, we should wait but they are young and want what they want now. When it comes to this, my husband is much nicer than I am. I'm just practical. The bracing on both sides is holding it up - it's more for aesthetics than anything.

Shhh, don't tell anyone that I sneak over to my ex-brother-in-law's Instagram page to take a peek at my niece and nephew from time to time. (His grandchildren) Here they are in December visiting their mother's grave. They have really grown in 2 years!

We finally received our California Stimulus card yesterday. Funny because everyone I knew had received theirs 2-3 months ago. I was just starting to call them to find out where ours was, and then it came. This will go toward making 3 car payments. We're almost paid off.

With my husband gone during the daytime, I will have 2 days a week for myself. Since he has retired, I crave these days alone; to be able to get things done. Last Friday I was able to get so much done. I have a few things on my, To-Do List that needs doing.

Tonight the husband will make pizza - we usually do pizza on Fridays, but with him working now on Fridays I didn't want to ask him to make pizza. He's the resident pizza guy. We'll also watch Father Goose with Cary Grant on Amazon Prime.

I guess we're on a Cary Grant roll...

A couple of evenings ago, we watched Operation Petticoat which I hadn't seen since I was a kid, so it was practically like seeing it for the first time.

You can see this FREE on Youtube. This would be a good Valentine's movie!

I've rambled on, long enough. Have a warm and cozy evening.

A Lost Dog and $10.28 for eggs!

This is a pit/mix that was roaming unleashed in our neighborhood. It's been such a beautiful day and he just wanted to take a walk, I guess.

So we made friends with him and brought him to our side yard. I then posted on the app, NEXTDOOR which is what we often do around here.

Within an hour, his grandma found him. His name is Cooper and he was such a sweetheart who likes women better than men. Beautiful markings. Grandma was dogsitting him at her place and he got out. He just lives down the street. She gave us her business card in case he should get out again.

That was the BIG EXCITEMENT for the day.

My husband said he would be willing to get some chickens for us to raise for the eggs- but then he said if I would allow him to do what his dad would do when they stop producing.

I told him No.

I would be loving on them; giving them names.

No Way!

I remember when I was around three to four years old (it was a traumatic event) we were visiting my grandparents in Eastern Tennessee - they lived on a farm and I was playing with the chickens and holding and kissing them. Then grandma went out and picked up a chicken and...well you know the rest.

Fried chicken for supper.

I'll still buy eggs until we can't anymore. Our dog gets an egg a day and I'm not going to stop giving her what is so good for her.

We save our egg cartons to give to a guy in my husband's bible study who has some chickens. So my husband is going to ask if we could buy from him.

If not, I'm not going to worry about it.

Here in California, they only sell cage free-hens (as of 2020-2021 when the law passed) and the bird flu has killed 4 million cage-free hens. That is why California eggs are a bit higher than in other states.

It's like, what are you going to do? I love eggs. .86 an egg is still a cheap protein - an inexpensive breakfast or lunch (I only eat one)

What about you? Do you love eggs and will purchase them no matter how high they get? Have you cut down on your egg consumption?

Early signs of Spring

Today is cloudy but no rain and it looks like significant storms are not in the forecast (at least for my area) for a week or more. It shows a small percentage of rain on Wednesday and after that we're dry. We need that too. People need to fix their blown-down fences and repair soggy roofs -

We're starting to show some signs of Spring - and that is usually by mid-January certain flowers start blooming which always makes me happy.

Even the daffodils...

I dug up the daffodils in my planter boxes on my fence and replanted them on the hill in the summer. Nothing from them yet - maybe the replanting, will delay them. They had stopped blooming in the front due to the shade from the trees.

My Autumn Mums are still so pretty.

So this is where we were -

And this is where we are now. Out of the extreme drought zone.

It was nice to get out and not battle the rain and wind.

Snow on the mountains looking west.

Mt Shasta and Mt Lassen haven't shown themselves lately but I know from the ski resorts and the news, they have a generous snowpack on them.

I always enjoy it when there is no one out but me.

Yosemite

I saw this and wanted to share the difference a month makes.

Snowed under!

The Harshness Of Winter

by Patricia Cisco

Winter's sleep so close to death,

piercing with his arctic breath.

Brittle, naked limbs stretch high

in the icy pewter sky.

Bitter chill and stinging wind,

quiet earth grows gray and grim.

Polar pillows full of snow

hover over valleys low.

Veils of frozen crystal falls,

cascade over mountain walls.

Squalls and drifts of sparkling white,

glistening brilliance in the night.

Winter, with his wicked wrath,

leaves blinding beauty in his path!