I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME

get this blogging thing down to every day or every week. I think I would be satisfied if it was twice a month, but this every few month thing has got to stop.

I am so, so tired of winter. Here in the peg, we have finally reached the point where the residential roads are melting and today I heard some hot bye byes as my darling daughter use to say to her daddy. Hot bye byes are hot cars. There is still far too much snow to hear the motorcycles out just yet. Motorcycle licenses don't take into effect till the end of this month. The way it works is that you pay a bazillion dollars to be able to ride from April 1st till the end of October. If the weather is good before that or after October, then I believe you pay an extra premium, from there you still pay insurance, but it is cut down somewhat cause the machines are in "storage" for the winter. These guys and gals pay a very high price for their insurance. Manitoba Public Insurance says it is because the amount of motorcycle accidents, but I am sure there are far fewer bike accidents than car accidents in Manitoba and I feel it is unfair to penalize them for the choice of transportation.

Birds - we don't have any yet, mind you the magpies were making some nests today as were the crows. In addition to those birds the majority of over winter birds are chickadees and sparrows. They tell us there are some thirty species that over winter - in my neck of the woods I do get to see the odd cedar wax wing and blue jays but that is it. As I live in a new condo development, we will not be getting very many birds here for a few years. There is bush near by, but they like some shelter and our trees aren't very big yet. I do love to hear the meadow larks, the Robins and the other birds sing and so end up going for a long walk to the older area of my community or to the provincial park that is only a couple of miles away.

Tonight though it is to go down to -20C with a windchill of -27C. For you in the US that is a bit colder than your 0F.  It won't stay like that only for the night and tomorrow and then we will get back up to -4 or -5C. Up until a few years ago, we usually got one day in March where we would reach the magic number +10C - 50F and then that meant that we wouldn't get temps. like we will have tonight. Now it is usually middle April or so before we get that high. The sun is warm though and I have been able to sit in my three-season sun room since the beginning of February - but only if it is sunny out.

Stitching- I have a few things almost finished, but started back at my bobbin lace class, so for the next eight weeks that will take all my free time. There are actually only two stitches in bobbin lace, but there is a myriad of ways to put the stitches together. It is very easy to get lost and this is only my third piece and the first time where I am using a cloth stitch, a whole stitch with twist and a half stitch. The half stitch is just half of the cloth stitch so not considered a stitch on its own. I need much practice. I need to take frequent breaks, not just for my eyes but also for my concentration. I concentrate so hard that I forget what I am doing and end up having to backtrack a lot. I am told this is the hardest lesson of all and after this it will get easier. I hope so, I have loved lace all my life - even if I don't wear it much, and I would like to be able to learn as many different kinds as I can.

Well I just wanted you all to know that I am still stitching and life goes on. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Blessings

Jean

GOODNESS, GRACIOUS ME.......

I certainly did not think it had been so long since I blogged. Sigh! Lets see. Had a great Christmas and New Years. Had loads of family time, met up with old friends and had a blast. Had 18 days off over Christmas and first week of January. So technically now I am well rested and can go through the next few months with flying colours. Did have a visit to my GP just before Christmas, which of course included the yearly blood tests, stool tests etc. Turns out that my iron is way low. Now normally women my age should not have a problem with low iron, but since my iron has never, never, never been even remotely near normal, they don't worry about it. So back on a course or two of iron pills. I think, like most people, that I start feeling way more spunky and then I go off them. Of course I am still not anywhere near normal so then my body adjust to that level, I start feeling blah and tired again and it is time to move it up to the next level. I am not losing iron, I have just never got where I am supposed to be. When I had my first child, it was so low, I was taking eight iron pills a day. Boy did that wreck havouc with my stomach, so after that pregnancy, for the following pregnancies I opted to eat liver 3 times a week. Turns out my family really liked liver so it worked well. In today's world, that may not be an option as doctors are so concerned about cholesterol --- of which that is not a problem for me. The other thing found is that my sodium levels are low. Prescription for that?  Well, a big glass of V8 juice and a glass of warm milk each day. The V8 juice I like, milk I cannot do as I am lactose intolerant. I have never cooked with, nor do I add any salt to my food, so I only get what is naturally occurring in foods. People don't realize that most foods we eat naturally have sodium in them because of the salts in the earth. Then you add what some farmers put in to the mix, then what the processing adds and then you have a mixture that is not good for man nor beast. I tend to eat fairly clean, meaning I eat fresh (or as fresh can be in winter) fruits and vegetables. I don't eat processed meat very often. In fact I am becoming more of a fish person than a meat person. I also tend to use way more dried beans as added protein. So, I thought I was getting enough sodium in my diet - turned out not so. Now I have to be more conscious of what I eat. Enough of this old lady health crud.

January has been January in Manitoba. Meaning we are back to the coldest of the cold. Actually, it hasn't been too bad. Not like last year though when winter was cancelled. We did not have one day of -30C weather. This year it is slightly colder where we had lots of -30C weather before Christmas, then the January thaw that lasted a bit longer this year and now for the past two or three weeks we have been in the cold. They tell us that January 21st is usually the coldest day in Canada. This year it was yesterday for us. I think the mean temperature was -25C but with the windchill if felt as though it was -44C. The fourteen day trend is for it to slowly get warmer - yeah right. From experience, it is generally really cold until Valentines week, then we start having fewer consecutive days of colder weather. Meaning Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be unbearable, then Thursday and Friday will be warmer, then Saturday will be colder then Sunday and Monday will be warmer --- well you get the picture.

Oh, the other news. I ended up putting leetle Roscoe down on December 17th. His kidney function first showed low in some blood work last March. Since that time there would be more pee accidents. In October he had more blood work and same thing. They offered to do a scan or a biopsy of his kidneys - more money in their pockets - I opted not to, because there wouldn't be too much they could do anyway. He was also having periods which only lasted split seconds where you could tell there was nothing there. So his mind was starting to go a bit. He was a Bichon Frise and was 13. When we went on our trip out west, he only had a couple of accidents, however when we came back, it just got worse. Then he started pooping in the house and I knew it was time. The last weekend he was alive I washed my bedding four times, shampooed my mattress four times, shampooed the carpets three times, shampooed the couch a couple of times and washed the floor I don't know how many times. I did not want him to spend 23 hours a day in his kennel and it must have been hard and embarrassing for him. That was a hard day. I am still  grieving Glenn and now add Roscoe to the mix. I thought with him being "just a dog" that I would be sad for a couple of days then would be okay. I have since discovered just how much he meant to me and also how he was linked to Glenn in my mind. Will I get another dog? In my heart I very much want another one, but is it feasible? Time will tell.

With the cold weather, I have had more time to stitch. So I have been working on a cross stitch pattern from mill hill. It is the Cafe O Lait  one from a few years ago. I have it's mate done, but never did this one as originally they were both going to go in my kitchen. Since moving, I do not have walls in my kitchen that are conducive to hanging anything. Only two walls - open area - you get the drift. But now I have my house up for sale. I realized I am not a condo type person and so hopefully will move in the spring. So back to finishing it. I also have had a tree top angel that I have been working on for about five years. I only stitch on it in December and we all know how busy we all are that month, so have decided that it stays out and I am working on it in rotation with a few other things. There will not be pictures of that until it is done as white on white doesn't photograph very well. I also have been knitting a shrug sweater for my granddaughter, and have pulled out some quilts that need to be quilted and bound. I think my creative side is slowly coming back. After Glenn died, it took me about a year and a half to get back to being able to cook. It has taken somewhat longer for the creative side as he was my biggest supporter and he actually had a very good design eye - much to my chagrin at times. Now in hindsight I wonder how I will do without his input. I am hoping that his thoughts and input will come back to me and I will put them to good use.

Along with everyone else in Canada, I am looking forward to gardening again. So now is the time to figure out what to grow and what needs to be started in pots soon. We cannot generally put in too much in the garden before May 24th. Peas, onions, spinach, lettuce yes - tomatoes, and other hot type plants may not even go in till mid June some years. We do have a lot of heat here in Manitoba, but it is usually only from Mid June until mid September, so short hot growing season. Because it gets so dry and hot in the summer and less sun, September isn't too good of a growing month. It is more of a finishing off month and a "hope the tomatoes ripen" month. We do use the cardboard box with newspaper layers to ripen tomatoes though so usually can still have fresh tomatoes till around November. Wonder if my new place will have a garden - not to worry, I can still use my daughters garden.

Happy weekend and Happy stitching to all.

Blessings

Jean