March 4, 2024 Monday--5am

 Good morning!

Monday it was 60 degrees and sunny!  Had the patio door open a good part of the day.

Tuesday morning woke up to a blizzard with 35-45 mph winds.

I shot a little video.  What crazy weather!

As soon as I put out some seed a few juncos came out from the bushes behind one of my planters to grab a bit to eat.

In just a few minutes the seed was being buried by the gusty snow, but they knew where to dig with their beaks and feet.

The smaller birds are always glad to see the partridges arrive because they have bigger feet and beaks to dig with--lol!  Notice the bigger flock showed up when the weather got bad.

I noticed when the wind was dying down later in the day the two partridges were sitting up on the planter box where that nest-like indentation is.  Maybe it is those two?

Wednesday was really cold still, but roads, sidewalks, and parking lots were getting plowed and schools were reopened.  

So many of my pictures look like this one--lol!  The small birds are so flighty!  They land and eat a little and then take off to sit in the nearby tree.  

They kind of regroup and come right back...but then all fly away again.  Back and forth in one big bunch of flapping wings.  No wonder Allie (and Annie and Karma) love to sit and watch them.

Once the wind dies down and it warms up a little bit, they calm down and the big flock splits up again.

Allie slept next to me at the table for another day...

...but then she decided that it was too light and noisy in the kitchen so she moved back to her favorite spot to sleep the day away...every day since the blizzard--lol!  And she does really conk out and relax in the darkened bedroom.  

I have done laundry and used the table to fold clothes and towels right there in front of her...and she barely opens an eyeball.  It's her peaceful haven.  I don't spoil it for her by talking to her at all when I'm in there.  

I hope she finds a spot like that somewhere after we move. 

The rest of the week--I worked on coloring the birthday cards.  It looked like this for three days in my kitchen.

I rotated colors for certain parts of the stamps and colored them assembly line fashion...

...so none of the cards have the exact same color pallet.  I finished them all while watching YouTube videos.  (Like the Goulet Pencast you can see on my laptop there...all chat about fountain pens.)

It did warm up by Wednesday, as they predicted.  So--we are right back to brown grass, as you can see.  Almost 50 again today.  Bizarre!

I have been enjoying my peaceful weeks with no pressure to finish purging and packing.  Been baking, cooking, doing laundry, tweaking my rollie carts, puttering, writing letters, and grateful I didn't catch what McFamily (and so many others) have been plagued with this winter.  

I got a few pics from back on February 24th...one of the times when they thought they were all getting better.  This cold/cough/flu whatever people call it (but not covid) just hangs on and on.  I think since Leah also did get covid on top of this she is taking a long time to heal.  She had bronchitis, too, along with the sinus infection.  Ended up back at the walk-in clinic Friday after work.  Her bronchitis is gone but the sinus infection is still a problem.  Another round of anti-biotics for her.  

Leah has had asthma since she was little.  It hadn't been a problem for years, but the smoke from Canada set it off this past summer...and asthma may have something to do with it taking longer for her to shake this.  But Ian is still coughing some, too.  Liam still has the head congestion but is getting better.  Dagan is doing okay--thank goodness.  They need to all get well!  Dagan has his surgery in one week.

Anyways, the frustrating thing about this cold is that you might feel better for a while and then feel worse again...in cycles.  Plus it can turn into bronchitis or pneumonia or sinus infection.  I keep hearing of people being sick for weeks and months with it...all over the US at least. 

Anyways, as I was saying--these pictures are from when they felt better back in February.

They had been to Kobe's Japanese restaurant.  They have a great Koi pond!

Here's a selfie of Leah, Ian, and Liam in the living room by their picture window...showing our brown winter.

Liam working diligently on making something--can't recall what this is called or what he makes with it (bracelet?)--but you use small rubber bands and weave them together, I believe.  He was very intent on his project.

So, that's about it from here.  Hopefully McFamily will all feel lots better by the end of the week.  They're on the mend and Leah is on another round of anti-biotics.  Me?  I don't have any plans at the moment but to work on letters, do the usual household chores (and grateful that I can do them pretty easily now--whoohoo!), and hopefully do something extra this week.  Not sure what that might be yet.  It is just wonderful not to be feeling every day like I am behind the eight-ball, as they say.  

Have you had crazy weather?  Do you or anyone you know have this crazy cold/cough/flu thing?  (I do know a few of you have.)  Do you have plans for the week?  Till next time... *hugs from Fargo*