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Post by Phalon on Dec 10, 2011 7:05:44 GMT -6
It was a pretty first snow - a thick and fluffy blanket, rather than the kind that still leaves grass and plant stubs sticking through; those are teaser snows.
I dropped off another round of basket arrangements at the tree farm yesterday morning (they are actually selling - whoo-hoo). Way out in the country, everything blanketed in white, it was the most beautiful drive.
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Post by stepper on Dec 10, 2011 9:19:25 GMT -6
Pictures! Where''s the pictures??? :> Okay, you didn't have time so we'll forgive this transgression, but coming here to brag about the perfect snow job and then only teasing us...that's just wrong!
Congrats that the baskets are selling! Does that mean you have your eye on something you want/need/just-gotta-have?
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Post by Phalon on Dec 10, 2011 17:39:33 GMT -6
Quick! Run outside and look at the moon. It's so big, as BP said, "it looks like it's going to jump out of the sky!"
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 10, 2011 17:42:35 GMT -6
Wow! It is nice and big. I went out the front door and couldn't see it. It was in the back of the house. Too many cats rush the door when I go out the back, so I just walked out into the front yard until I could get a good look at it. Beautiful.
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Post by quettalee on Dec 10, 2011 18:25:35 GMT -6
I know! I went to close the front blinds earlier and I saw it through the window and it looked out of place for a few seconds, like it wasn't real, it was so big and perfect!
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Post by stepper on Dec 11, 2011 11:54:58 GMT -6
I woke up, but we had overcast skies and drizzle. There was no chance of seeing anything other than wet streets. Of course, after the summer we just had the wet streets were welcome, so I missed a great show but will accept what the skies offered anyway.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 13, 2011 7:18:13 GMT -6
Cool that some of you got to see it, and thought the same thing as we did - it was huge! Just so beautiful, (I think all full moons are beautiful - but this one was spectacular!), I had to stop what I was doing, run in and tell you all.
Stepper, I'm glad for your rain. We're supposed to get some rain here too.....a lot of rain. The Lake Effect snowstorm they were predicting for this week has changed to possible flooding as the temperatures warmed. The blanket of snow was short-lived - there's now more grass showing than there is snow left. It's just not right for this time of year - a honeybee was warming itself on the hood of my car yesterday. A honeybee! In December!
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Post by stepper on Dec 13, 2011 17:27:18 GMT -6
I think that as long as it's warm enough - in the 50s for example - bees can safely go out. It might have needed the warmth found on the hood - if they get too cold their muscles don't work and they can't fly, but keep in mind that for them flying is like jogging for you. Jog fast enough and you work up a sweat and feel warm. Flying does the same for bees.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 14, 2011 5:46:41 GMT -6
Yeah, I know....but the hives should be in hibernation mode by now. At least, I think they hibernate; I know some bees do - bumble bees for example. Yellow jackets die off except for the queen. Then again, many commercial beekeepers transport their bees south for the winter, so maybe honey bees don't hibernate?
Regardless, I've never seen them flying around in December.
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Post by Siren on Dec 14, 2011 8:09:49 GMT -6
Nor have I, Gams. But with the weird, drought-filled summer we had in many parts of the country, they may think they need to keep working as long as possible, to make up for lost time. Our grass is still green, since it didn't get going till the fall, when the rains finally came. Strange behavior.
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Post by quettalee on Dec 14, 2011 23:20:33 GMT -6
Well, I was cooking tonight...for the Christmas dinner tomorrow at work...in December...and the windows are open, the fan's on, and I'm bare-footed!
And I think my irises are about three inches high.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 16, 2011 8:01:03 GMT -6
I learned of another effect of this summer's weird weather when I took one of the cats to the vet's a couple of days ago. Ranger, The Basketball with a Head, seemed to be having some trouble with his back. Normally, he loves his back scratched, but the past few days he couldn't stand it, as if it was extremely sensitive.
Vet took a look. Fleas!!!! ACK!!!! We've never had fleas before! She said with the heat of summer the flea population exploded, and because we've been so warm lately, they really haven't died off yet. She's seen more flea infestations these past few months than she's ever seen in years prior.
Poor Ranger is so fat, he could can't reach around to clean his back, much less scratch it. He's so fluffy, we hadn't noticed any fleas. Of course, Dusty has them too, but not as bad. Quetta, the only pet that goes outside, gets Front Line, and doesn't seem to have them. Any one of us could have brought them in the house.
Sigh. The animals have been treated. I've spent the past two days shop-vaccing every nook and cranny of the house, took all the bedding and throw rugs to the laundromat because my washer can't handle such heavy loads (dang, when the the laundromat get so expensive? Six-fifty to wash a load!), and treated the entire house. All the dust bunnies have been eradicated...and hopefully any fleas too.
Looking on the bright side....at least the heavy-duty cleaning is done, and I won't have to bust-@ss next week when my brother comes to visit.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 16, 2011 16:33:55 GMT -6
If this should happen again. You can try what I did and see if it works better. My sister's cat would come over and leave behind some of her fleas. I bought a flea comb. The secret to drowning fleas is to drop them into water that contains soap. (I'd make up soapy water and wait for the bubbles to die away. Later I decided to try dishwasher soap since it doesn't suds at all.) Then I'd comb the cats with it and dip the comb into the dish. I used a nail file to scrap off the ones stuck in the cracks. They'd sink to the bottom of the dish and drown. (They float in plain water and escape for another day.)
I didn't do this, but if you put a flat/pie pan of soapy water (minus suds) under a nightlight, it will attract the fleas and they'll hop into the pan and drown. The problem with that is keeping the cats out of it. Which is why I just combed the cats every day until there were no more fleas in sight.
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Post by stepper on Dec 16, 2011 17:07:34 GMT -6
I don't know what they are, but the plants in one of my pots have started to grow. There's three or four of them breaking through the ground. I put in spring flowers and they didn't grow last year because of the lousy weather. Now that winter approaches these things want to bloom?? Grrr.
Great stuff! I didn't have a flea problem here this year, but when there's a chance I go with Front Line and treat all pets so they can't cross contaminate to an untreated pet. The good thing is that it works - and if you kill the fleas on the pets (and keep them treated) you eventually kill flea babies when they hatch. Still, it's a good reason for serious house cleaning - and there's no tell what lost Christmas presents you'll find!
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Post by Phalon on Dec 16, 2011 22:48:46 GMT -6
I noticed last week that the daffodils on the west side of the house (the hottest side) are poking their noses out of the ground. I wonder if this is it, and they won't even bother coming up in spring?
Thanks guys for the advice about fleas. I've just heard too many horror stories about friends' houses being infested to not get kinda grossed out about the whole thing; fleas hopping off the carpet as it was walked on and all kinds of icky stuff. I've been using that flea comb, Joxie, since the vet visit. After that first day, I've found none on Dusty, and just a few on Ranger yesterday. Quetta, I don't think ever had them. They all got baths this evening; the vet said to wait at least 48 hours after applying Front Line to bathe them. The only one that still had signs of fleas was Ranger, and I think they were already dead, (or maybe they drown in the bath water).
I've got to re-treat the carpet and upholstery in two weeks; the spray kills adults, larva, and eggs, but doesn't affect the pupae stage, so a second treatment is needed. Shudder! I start itching just thinking about it. I think we're good though....as I said, we didn't even notice the fleas on either cat until going to the vet, and I hadn't, and still haven't seen any in the house, so maybe we caught them before they had a chance to settle in and get comfy.
If winter continues to be this mild, we're definitely giving the cats Front Line next summer even though they don't go outside.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 16, 2011 23:15:35 GMT -6
Yes, fleas can take over the carpet and run amok in the home. I sprinkled 7-Dust on the carpet, like those carpet cleaner powders, and after a few hours vacuumed it all up. Figured what the 7-Dust didn't kill on the carpet, it killed inside the vacuum cleaner. 
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Post by Phalon on Dec 18, 2011 7:53:28 GMT -6
Yesterday morning, we had a dusting of a different kind - not Sevin Dust on the carpet, but a light snow on the ground. That was supposed to be it, according to the weatherman. It continued throughout the day though, and was really the perfect kind of snow to be out and about in.
After I dropped BP off at the ice rink (I have a feeling she's going to live down there with her friends this winter), I walked around town looking for Christmas ornaments for the girls. It's a tradition they each get an ornament every Christmas that in some way pertains to their personalities or what's going on in their lives; this year it's a glass violin for BP. LX was harder; I must have gone in ten stores looking for that special ornament and nothing seemed to fit. Then I saw it - a glass world encircled with peas holding hands! Titled "Whirled Peas" it reminded me of a series of cartoons she once did revolving around peas and bad puns....peas standing in a long unemployment line, for example, with the heading on the picture, "Canned Peas". The cartoons cracked me up; the ornament was perfect.
Who the hell spends two hours looking for a Christmas ornament?! It was fun though - I know some of the shop owners or employees, others know LX, and I saw a couple of friends shopping also. It was more like an afternoon of social visiting than shopping, and with the snow falling gently as I walked from shop to shop, it was more like a scene from a Dickens' novel than a 21st century American town.
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Post by stepper on Dec 18, 2011 14:06:32 GMT -6
I give the Hallmark Tweety to my sister and niece every year - their favorite character, but this year they had a small ball with name on it and they had one for everybody except my nephew Dominic. I called step-mom and she said Scoopy-Doo would be a good choice for him. Phtt! I was going to get him a Snoopy. I want him to be happy with what he gets, but there's something fundamentally wrong with choosing Scooby-Doo over Snoopy. I'm sure it's a sign of the younger generation going down the tubes with misplaced values.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 20, 2011 7:17:43 GMT -6
Quite possibly, I'd choose Scooby Doo over Snoopy too. Snoopy is cuter, but Scooby Doo keeps better company.
I have a hard time stomaching The Peanuts.
There! I said it! Whew! Feels good to get that off my chest; it's been bottled up for far too long. With the exception of Woodstock and Snoopy, I don't care for Charlie Brown and his friends.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 20, 2011 17:25:03 GMT -6
 Yay! I'm not alone! I can't stand Charlie Brown and his friends. Love Snoopy & Woodstock though. 
I was 'Charlie Brown' in school. I got picked on for being short and cross-eyed, and the cartoons just rip open old wounds for me. It hurts too much to watch. Ooh. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I hate this time of year. All the commercials for the 'Charlie Brown' specials.   Worth thinking about I guess.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 20, 2011 17:30:05 GMT -6
Oh, and I do like Scooby Doo better than Snoopy. Scooby Doo seems more mischievous and easy-going. Then again, I've watched more of him than Snoopy too ... so that could have something to do with it.
Love Tweety more than Woodstock. Was flabbergasted when there was a debate over his gender. Duh! How could anyone not know he is male? 
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Post by quettalee on Dec 20, 2011 20:34:26 GMT -6
I love Snoopy...just the Snoopman. Can take or leave Woodstock and really don't care for any of the rest except Piano Man Schroeder. He jams. Like my Snoopy Christmas t-shirt. Snoop playing the guitar, Wood on the guitar neck, caption reads, "Hope You Have a Rockin' Christmas". 'Nuff said.
Back to long sleeve t-shirt weather tonight. Other than the dampness, my hoodie was way too much over my long sleeve Oxford on the walk out to the parking lot after work...tonight. Lol! Can you put any more words in a sentence??
And Tweety was mom's favorite, Jox!
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Post by Phalon on Dec 20, 2011 21:52:49 GMT -6
Oh, I also forgot about Schroeder. Yes, he's okay - a nice guy. He and Marcy are probably the nicest, I think, except Marcy needs to get some eyeballs in that blank, glassy stare of hers, and stop seeing herself as Peppermint Patty's subordinate, evident by Marcy referring to her as "Sir".
Rest of the run-down (IMO).
Lucy is a mean-@ss b!tch.
Sally is a greedy b!tch.
Frieda, Patty (not of the Peppermint variety), and Violet are shallow, snobby b!tches.
Peppermint Patty is obnoxiously pushy (though not a b!tch, she can be b!tchy).
And Charlie Brown, obviously surrounded by a bunch of b!tchy, pushy, little girls, needs to stop whining, grow some balls, and tell them all to quit with the endless taunts. And if they don't like it, to hell with them all. Life just isn't that difficult - you're a kid for god's sake!
But I loved the show as a kid.
I think, Joxie, the confusion about Tweety's gender may have stemmed because he was voiced by a woman. I think I may have read that at one time or another, anyway.
Twenty-six and counting. Maybe we should keep a tally.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 21, 2011 1:17:57 GMT -6
Well, he's a young male, and they do have girly voices. If he were a full grown male with a girlish voice I'd wonder about his sexual orientation.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 23, 2011 8:44:27 GMT -6
I spent a lovely evening yesterday at a Winter Solstice Celebration with a group of women. My Earth Mama friend invited me as a guest; the host was a woman I only knew as an acquaintance before last night. She's a neat lady who makes wonderful herbal soaps, lotions, balms, and teas from what she grows in her garden.
The winter solstice occurs on the longest night of the year, and historically solstice festivals celebrate nature's continuous cycle and the upcoming return of light.
The celebration last night centered on grounding ourselves, deepening our connections with the earth and people in our lives, and welcoming changes in the new year. After some quieting rituals, we made herbal prayer beads to assist in those connections, and shared our hopes for the days ahead. The ritual part of the celebration closed outside. We stood in a circle and symbolically passed the light to the person next to us by lighting their candle. When all our candles were lit, and the closing ritual complete, we sang songs. Then we went back inside to share fellowship, food, laughter, and comfort.
It was such a wonderful gathering, I hope to attend Herbal Lady's Spring Equinox Celebration also.
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Post by stepper on Dec 23, 2011 17:54:46 GMT -6
Quite possibly, I'd choose Scooby Doo over Snoopy too. Snoopy is cuter, but Scooby Doo keeps better company. I have a hard time stomaching The Peanuts.There! I said it! Whew! Feels good to get that off my chest; it's been bottled up for far too long. With the exception of Woodstock and Snoopy, I don't care for Charlie Brown and his friends. What? You let me go on and on and all this time you've been a closet Peanuts hater??? I'm not sure what to think. Well, at least you aren't alone. |
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Post by Phalon on Dec 24, 2011 7:33:59 GMT -6
BOLL, Stepper! You don't have to think anything. I let Hubs go on and on about a lot of things he likes that I'm not particularly interested in; I know you all let me ramble on here about things you don't care about. And anyway, it's not like you go on and on about how great the Peanuts were with each keystroke you make, or that I loathe Charlie Brown and his gang.
I have no seething hatred for them....maybe it's just the Mom in me that wants to get them all together and scream "Play nice, d@mnit...or else!!!"
Of course, it would come out sounding like, "Wah, wah, wah-wah-wah!", and nobody would listen. Hhmmmm....kind of like it is at home, actually!
It snowed here last night....came down hard, but left just a dusting. We won't have a white Christmas though; it's supposed to get up into the high 30s today, and in the 40's tomorrow.
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Post by Siren on Dec 24, 2011 9:46:43 GMT -6
"Of course, it would come out sounding like, "Wah, wah, wah-wah-wah!", and nobody would listen. Hhmmmm....kind of like it is at home, actually!"
BOLL! Thanks for a holiday laugh, Gams. I like certain members of the Peanuts gang - Woodstock, Linus, and good ole, long-suffering Charlie Brown. Lucy has her moments, too.
Earlier this week, the Oklahoma panhandle had a blizzard, and had highways closed for days. It's been cold enough, they'll probably still have a white Christmas. Here in the southeastern part of the state, the weatherman has given us a small chance of snow for today and tomorrow - just enough snow to make it Christmassy. My niece, who loves snow, is fervently hoping it happens.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 27, 2011 8:24:22 GMT -6
Hope your niece got her wish, Siren, and you all had just enough snow to make it Christmassy. And if it did snow for Christmas, that it's gone now....if that's what you wish.
I'm wishing for snow, myself. Yesterday was so bright and sunny, it felt like a warm spring day. It's snowing now though, after quite a bit of rain this morning so not much is sticking to the ground. The weather report last night said that we are 20 inches below our average snowfall for this time of year. Twenty-inches is a boatload - my daffodils are freaking out about it, don't know what to do, and keep peeking their noses out of the ground to see if it's spring yet.
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Post by quettalee on Dec 27, 2011 11:25:42 GMT -6
No snow here, still rain, rain, rain. They said we would have flurries by 1 PM, but it's 41, so even if it switches over there will be no accumulation. I only live three minutes from work, so as long as I can get out of my driveway and off my street, I say... |
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"There are people you meet, who move in and out of your life, like ghosts-- and after they're gone, you find that they've left a part of themselves with you.
