Preparing for Christmas....Again

Since all of our Christmas celebrations were canceled last weekend because of the monster snow storm we are going to try again. Will see my mother and extended family on New Years day then will have the girls and their families here over the weekend. We will have to wait until after the first of the year for a get together with John's sister and her family.

We are going to do something fun with the gifts for the grandkids this year. I purchased a few small things for the kids and they will have to find things around the house to get a gift. We have made up the questions and the items they will have to look for and will have them work in teams, rotating the kids to be in different teams each time so the 4 yr. old won't be left out.

To find the larger gift we have for them we have written a series of clues to take them all over the house to find their gifts. The hardest part for us was making each clue a rhyme. The clues will take them to all parts of the house, upstairs and down.

Here are a few of my favorites; for the 4 yr. old...We use rugs in the bathrooms to dry our feet, your clue is under one so please be neat. (clue will be under one of the bathroom rugs) For the big brother...Find what Harry Potter is protecting, and you will find the first clue clue you are expecting. (clue is in Harry Potter video case) For one of the girls....For your next clue we have chosen, to hide it where the ice cream is frozen. (clue in one of the freezers) For the older girl...Look at the many beds so small, your clue will be close to one of them near the west wall. (clue will be near one of my doll beds)

When our girls were in grade school we used to do this and they had more fun following the clues to find their gift so we decided to try it with the grandkids. John and I can't wait as I think it will be so much fun for them too.

The only problem I foresee is getting the clues hidden without them seeing. We may have to have them go to one of the bedrooms where we are not hiding clues and sing Jingle Bells to mask the sound of us walking around hiding the clues.

Will let you know how it all turns out. Keep your fingers crossed we don't have any more snow, wind or any nasty weather of any sort.

Lynn

Third Storm Day

Today was the third day of the Christmas blizzard here. The wind did go down some at times but by this afternoon we had more snow coming down and the wind picked up for a little while. I bundled up and went outside for the first time in 3 days and took some photos after lunch.

This first photo is a view east towards the apple tree showing the large 5 foot drift across the driveway. You can see how the wind blew all the snow off some places and drifted large drifts in other places.

John used the large snow blower on the back of the tractor to break through the drift. He started cleaning snow in the morning but quit when the wind came up and everything started drifting shut again.

North west corner of our house - the drift stayed about 3 feet away from the house but the entire yard west and north of the house was filled with snow. The fir and spruce trees had a drift in front of each of them that were about 5 feet tall and the rest of the yard had at least 2 feet of snow in it. Those small drifts looked like pointed igloos in a row.

OK, here is a view of the monster drift outside my sewing room. The black thing next to the house is the air conditioning unit that is about 3 1/2 feet tall to give you some idea of size.

The monster drift ended a few feet from the garage wall with all kinds of points of snow. My dead flower stalks are still in the flower bed next to the garage but are now flat. I should have had all of my flower beds cleaned up this fall but just didn't get it done.

Braving the cold wind and blowing snow in my face I walked through the drifts to the highway and took the next two photos of the snow in our back yard. It really filled the yard but if you would look across the road and behind the house the fields are pretty bare since they were either soybean fields or wheat fields last summer and there is nothing to catch the snow. The young windbreak trees are now about 7 feet tall and are starting to slow down the wind but it is too bad the snow blew right between them then stopped in our yard.

Now I am south of the house, south of our Quonset. The snow really filled in and drifted here too. That drift on the left is about 8 feet tall.

Our lighted windmill didn't get snow under it but the horse trailer has a large one beside it. The strong winds blew the star a quarter of the way around the windmill then it did something to the lights too as they are not on at all now.

Here is our monster drift I have taken so many photos of - notice the photo I posted yesterday as the plant hanger with the bunnies on top was showing but by this morning they are no where to be seen and have been covered up with an even larger drift.

Looking north from my sewing room window - notice all the smaller (5 feet) drifts by each tree.

This afternoon John used the skid steer loader to try to pile more snow on the piles to get it out of the way. There are drifts in the lot and the calves have one beside the hay trailer. They were standing on the drift and they could reach over and eventually some climbed inside. John did get the snow cleared around the fence so they could not walk over the fence tonight plus got the snow away from the feeder too.

Think the storm is over, I hope, I hope. The weather people say we still could get another inch or two but think the strong winds will be gone for good.

My brother is hoping to get out to see my mother tomorrow as he will have to drive back to Kansas City on Monday to catch his flight on Tuesday. We have had to postpone our celebration with our kids, grandkids, my mother, brothers and sisters, and John's sister and her family - everyone. Basically we are still waiting for Christmas - glad everyone is safe but will be excited to get together and give them all a hug.

Lynn

The Snow Storm Continues

Well it is Christmas Day 2009 and we have watched the blizzard continue all day. The strong winds blew all night so the drifting in the yard and around the house was building up all night. This afternoon the wind came up even stronger with gusts up to 50 mph and more snow so the visibility was even less. Took this video about noon today before it got quite so bad.

The large drift of snow behind the house near my sewing room had melted and shrunk last week to about 3 feet tall but the last two days it has drifted to taller than it was before. To give you a little perspective the thing sticking up from the middle of the drift is a plant hanger thing that is a little over 6" tall and the drift is at least a foot taller than it is.

John tried to clear some of the driveway out with the tractor and front end loader this morning but gave up as it was drifting shut as fast as he was clearing it. This is the tractor his friend and he went to Hastings to get on Wed. when the roads were so icy. It was up there to be fixed and was done Wed. am so John decided to get it as he knew that would be his only chance with this storm moving in. He is so glad it is home but until the wind stops blowing he really can't do any clearing of the snow.

This is the apple tree across the driveway from the house. This storm has grown in intensity all day and original predictions were for it to be over today but now they say it might be tomorrow when the winds die down. I keep saying all our snow should be blown clear to Oklahoma by now!

This will certainly be a Christmas to remember. We were supposed to be spending the day with my mom, another brother, and another sister today and tomorrow our kids and grandkids were supposed to come for our Christmas together and now it will be held maybe next weekend. You do learn that if you live here in the Central United States, especially if you live in the country, that in the winter you have to be real flexible and things can change quickly at times because of the weather.

Our daughter and her family that live about 40 minutes north of us is spending the night at her in-laws. They drove two large tractors from their house towards the in-laws so they could check on their cows and calves and got one of them stuck in the middle of the road about a half a mile from their destination. They did get it out but had to find another way for the tractor that S was driving as she couldn't get through. She had to find a driveway into a field and go along the edge of the field. She said that she could not see but a foot or two in front of the tractor at that point. It took them over an hour to get from their home to the in-laws and they only live between 3 and 4 miles apart.

My brother is still here and will be for at least most of tomorrow until we are assured that it is safe for him to drive to our mothers. We sat at the table and watched the snow and blowing snow for quite some time today. It was kind of like watching a fire in a fireplace, rather mesmerizing. Thank goodness for a nice warm home, good air tight windows, plenty of food and electricity that so far has stayed on.

Lynn

Merry Christmas

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and have a wonderful time where ever you are and how ever you celebrate.

Wanted to share what the lights on our windmill look like so shot this video the other night. (Please ignore my goofy sounding voice.) The windmill is about 35" tall to give you an idea of the size. John extends the base of the windmill with boards and attaches the strings of lights to ropes then uses bungee cords to attach them to the top of the windmill and to the nails in the boards at the bottom. The lights really show up a long distance away along the highway. The lights are on a timer switch so they come on at 5 pm until 1 am then come on again at 5 am until 8 am. so a lot of people see them going to and from work. We didn't get the lights up until last Friday and have had people asking if we were going to do it this year and that they missed seeing them.

We are in the midst of a nasty winter storm here this week. One of my brothers flew into Kansas City then drove to our house on Tuesday and intended to drive to central Nebraska on Wed. to see my mother, brother and another sister. Because of all the ice and nasty weather he has stayed here. Today it is blowing snow and there is still patchy ice on the highway. We are lucky to get such a nice visit from him but my Mother is anxious to see him too. Maybe he will drive out to our mom's tomorrow but it all depends on the weather. Think it still may be bad tomorrow too so he may be here another day.

It is a good thing he doesn't have to fly back until Tuesday so will make it out there to see the rest of the family I'm sure. John and I will try to go out Monday to see everyone since tomorrow will be not good with making sure the cattle are ok, etc. Our kids should arrive Sat. night and will stay over through Sunday. Can't wait to see them all.

Sorry I tend to ramble on......Until Later,
Lynn