It's Friday . . .

You know, I have to laugh a little each time I post the "It's-Friday-Put-Your-Feet-Up" shot since Friday really means nothing to me. It's just another day here. But.. there it is.

As usual, nothing much new around here. I did wind up buying housing and stuff for Mickey but I've decided today to let him go. I can't have him just sitting on the counter or shelf because the cats just sit and STARE at him constantly. He's scared and doesn't move around much.
I had to put him in the closet so the cats would leave him alone. What kind of pet is that? It's not like I'm going to hold him or enjoy watching him play. So anyway, I'll find a spot today I think.

So that's really about it.
We bought tickets for Sis to come up for Spring Break, so you might see me blogging from Seattle for a few days. I'm SO ready to get out of here for a bit.

Anyway.. that's about it around here.
Say bye to Mickey :)

Me & MIckey

As usual, I really don't have much to blog about.
I went back and forth on whether to blog about the mouse or not, but why not?
Some of you won't be surprised, some might think I'm a little nutty, and some of you will have the heebeejeebies.

Anyway...
Every so often, my cats bring a mouse in the house. I catch them with it, take it away and let it go outside again. And no, I don't cuddle the thing or anything, I hold it by the tail so it can't bite me and let it go.
Sinclair had the mouse this time and I had a hell of time talking her into letting me have it. When I finally did get it, I couldn't let it go because the outside cats were following me everywhere I went. So, for the meantime I put the mouse in this big plastic pitcher. I'll let him go later.
Yeah, right.

Two days later and I still have this mouse. And yes, it's still in the pitcher. It's a very small deer mouse and a pretty good size pitcher. The couple of times I've tried to let him go, I've had cats watching me or it's so snowy he would definitely stand out. So, here he sits.
Hubs comes home and suprisingly wasn't surprised that I had a mouse in a pitcher. Sadly enough.
He decided I just needed something to take care of and was glad it wasn't a kitten :)

I don't want a pet mouse. I don't plan on keeping it. But everytime I think about letting him go, I can't.
I guess it will be hubs job.

Anyway, that's it. WooHoo.
Supposed to snow for the next couple of days, nothing major.
No real tragedies except that the snow avalanche off my roof killed the large bird feeder. Fixable though.
I get to go to the big city tomorrow. Maybe I'll hit Starbucks :)

A Little Fun News

Something to look forward to....

If plans with Amy goes as planned, I'll get to spend spring break in Seattle, and then in September I'll be in San Antonio for a week or so. I might even take an extra week or so and head over to Tennessee.
I have an old friend in Knoxville and then there's a ton of bloggers I know in the Nashville and surrounding areas.

The New York trip is still on hold, but still an option also.

I'm excited :)

Ouch

As you know, I really try not to complain too much about the things I have to handle here alone. I do let a few out every now and then, but then don't we all have that right? Everytime I want to complain, I just look around and remind myself what I have and how lucky I am.
But...
Being sick and doing the chores is another thing.

I got a migraine last night. I don't get them like I used too but I do get the occasional attack. As some of you that have been reading here for awhile, I used to get them frequently as a child and teen. As I got older they started coming further apart. Sometimes they could be triggered by stress, sometimes by too much alcohol. But many ( of course when I was a child) came out of nowhere. Last night was the case.

This one came out of nowhere and came fast. Too late for any medications as they wouldn't have stayed with me long. I still had horses to feed and a fire to stock. I didn't sleep and suffered through it most of the night. Finally around 5am, it started to fade and let me sleep.
It's never over then. Then comes the migraine hangover. That small window of space where you don't move for fear of triggering it again. Where your body hurts and your stomach wants to jump out of your body. It you don't get them, be thankful. They suck.

This is where the whiny part comes in the most. I still have chores in the morning. I still have to keep the woodstove going. I still have to haul hay out to the horses. It hurts and you move slowly hoping you don't trigger anything.
The horses just ate and they weren't very happy about it :)

The 'hangover' will stay with me most of the day. But luckily I don't have to move again until lunchtime.
So there ya go.

Otherwise really not much to tell you. It's grey, it's cold, it's snowy, and I'm going to crawl back into bed for awhile.

Need To Smile?

Read This story.

There's Always An Encore

Eclipse

Some eclipse shots from last night. Without a tripod I couldn't get good shots of the full eclipse, but I think I got some good captures.

Tripod shopping time.

A Little Nibble

Grey's

I've really got nothing new. It's been so grey lately I'd call it the blues, but the Greys sounds more appropriate.
I need to get out of here at some point or I'm going to have some very mad hungry kitties.
I'm pretty sure I had coyote tracks up to the house, into the garage, and out into the horse pen. But nothing seems amiss. All kitties are here and even two regular outdoor cats have asked to come in every night. It's possible it was a neighborhood dog, but most likely not.
The reason I know, is we had a fresh few inches of snow the night before and of course all the new tracks were little kitties and ONE dog-like set.

Anyway.. that's really it. I'm watching Castaway for the second time tonight. Yeehaw.

It's Friday....

Squatters

We finally had a nice day, even though it didn't last very long. The skies cleared for awhile and even though it was 37 degrees, with the sun out for awhile it was really nice.
Our driveway is still a crunchy icy mess, but otherwise all is well here.

Taylor and I walked out to check out the coyote den. This was a brush pile to be burned at some point, but coyotes took it over. Luckily they haven't come too close to the house that I can tell. I see all kinds of animal prints out there, but no coyote. Kitty roll call has been good each day.

One thing I thought was cool about the den was how they've made several openings. If you click em', you can see all the trails. Makes me wonder how many are actually living in there. I've yet to see one though.

Weather Woes

So, for three days we had guys on our barn roof doing this. It rained the last day. No wonder they charge so much.
The snow has slowed down but it moved onto rain and sleet. For two days I've had sleet which has turned my driveway into a skating rink. It's pretty grey and yucky. As I usually say, thank goodness I don't have to drive anywhere.

Because of weather, I can't say much exciting has happened around here. I hadn't seen wildlife in almost three weeks with the amount of snow on the ground, but last night the little bandit raccoons showed up again.
I'm wondering when the deer show up again. I guess weather like this sends them low and looking for food and they can't find much. I heard recently that there were herds of elk near the main town eating peoples hay, looking very skinny :(.

At this point the only ones I can help are the birds, and I have plenty. I can't get to my feeders, but they seem to be okay with food poured on top of the snow.

I guess that's it. Still awake?

Smart Car

So funny thing happened in the car the other day.

I usually take Taylor with me for the small errands around town. As usual, she sits in the passenger seat.
My smarty-pants car decided that she was a child, I guess also that she was sitting in a car seat. It turned off the passenger side airbag AND bitched at me until I fastened her seat belt.

It's scary when a car has a mind of it's own.

Where Did Friday Go?

Have A Cupcake

Thursday Thirteen

**the barn/shop with some snow removed.

Thirteen Updates and Observances :

1. Even though we've gotten so much snow cleaned up and shoveled, we are on two different storm watches until Friday. 2 more feet expected. We got about 5 inches last night.

2. Not one power outage while Hubs was home, of course.

3. I've started drinking coffee in the mornings. Not sure why, but I have. Even ordered my own coffee maker yesterday.

4. Found out that besides an RV, two four-wheelers, a jeep and many other items were inside the collapsed shop, there were also 4 motorcyles. Ouch.

5. Gummy bears don't really freeze.

6. Hubs rental car could not get out of our driveway this morning. We had to use chains and some help from a friend.

7. My shovel broke. heh.

8. Marble thought the snowblower was the coolest thing ever. She actually ran under the snow as it was being shot over the fence.

9. The winds are so awful today that the snow off the trees is just being thrown at the house. Sounds awful and so much colder outside.

10. My foot's okay. Just a little black & blue, and sensitive to the touch. But seems to be working fine.

11. We had a cougar in our driveway this morning. As usual, I didn't see it, but the snowplow driver did. Time for kitty count.

12. Snow shovelers are making $30 and hour right now to shovel roofs. We drove into Sandpoint yesterday and you just saw them everywhere. They were also called to all schools in the area. Schools were closed until the roofs were cleared.

13. Because of the winds, the shovelers aren't coming today. But, I have no plans to leave the house except to feed animals. There's probably so much more to say, but as I watch out the window right now and see all the trees bending, I'm just wondering how long I'll have power.
**I probably just jinxed myself.

Still Shovelin'

I've gotten a couple emails asking how it's going up here. I have several updates, but will probably post later.
Still snowing and expecting up to 2 feet in the next day or two. We've been working outside mainly for two days trying to do as much as we can while hubs was home. We still have people working on the barn and have gotten a lot of snow off but not all of it. Crazy I tell ya.

I'll be back with more.

Snow Damage

Just thought I'd share a couple photos from our neighbors shop collapse. The weight of the snow collapsed the building. It was a metal domed shop. Had an RV, jeep and two four-wheelers inside, among many other items.

My deck has been cleared off, even though we are expecting 2 more feet of snow before Friday. Tomorrow the barn roof will be worked on to get the 3feet of snow off of it. So far so good on power.

Oh and just for giggles (or not at the time), I had managed to not injure myself this entire time of shoveling and snow work and hubs was home for 5 minutes last night and dropped a small log on my foot. It's now black and blue and very perty.

Fun, Fun, Fun :)

**oh and it was pretty dark in there, and I didn't haul along a flash**

Brief

A brief blue sky yesterday morning, before more weather hit last night and this morning. It's been quite a mess in our little town, as several neighbors have had roof's collapse from the snow.
The snow slides off our roof okay, but our barn has about 3 feet on it, unable to slide do to backup from the ground up. (does that make sense?). Someone will have to come out and clear out that snow now.

We're under another heavy storm warning for today.

The power situation is a little better, but still comes and goes. I've decided not to reset anything as that seems to be a jinx.

Sadly I've really got nothing else to talk about.
Wild superbowl, eh?

Caption Me