Not As Ready For Winter As We Thought...

Remember how proud I was in October to stock up on wood for the Winter? Well, horrors! Wood doesn't just last as well as you'd think:
But fortunately, Walt the Wood Fairy is just a phone call away. Phew!

Winter Antics

After hovering at 10 degrees F for several days, the temperature shot up! Here it says 52 but it made it to 60 degrees by the end of the day yesterday. As neighbors emerged from their homes to jog and walk dogs in shorts and windbreakers, "Whooppees!" were heard ringing through the land.

Simon took advantage of the mild weather to climb onto the house. He claims the chimney was blocked but I think he just likes to get up on the roof when this old world starts to get him down.

And here is the yard, mid thaw. The snow is almost gone (and as I write this it is completely gone) and the yard is full of slushy puddles just right for Frederick to jump in. (Note fish catching apparati still in place. Of the 12 fish (I thought we only had 11 but accidentally caught a black one I didn't know was still alive) we had at the start of winter, I now have transferred 6 into the basement. It's amazing how hard it is to catch fish with a 5 year old chanting, "Fish! Fish!" right next to you as you trawl the pond with a crappy (but expensive) pond net. I can see them surface from our dining room window but by the time I get outside they have settled themselves onto the bottom in the ooze. I'm really tired of the annual "struggle to catch fish for weeks and weeks" ritual. The only reward is seeing "Goldeen," a fish we have had for 4 winters now, get frightening large. We've gotten good money out of that 10 cent feeder fish.)
Of course, what you don't think about when you are celebrating the melting of 3 feet of snow is, "Where is all that water going?" Because we all know, with the ground frozen 3 or more feet down, it can't be absorbed into the soil. "Oh well, one of those mysteries," you tell yourself. Until, just before bed, barefoot and sleepy, you go to the basement to clean the catbox and discover all the dirty laundry that was sorted into color piles on the floor in front of the washing machine floating in 3 inches of icy cold water. Shit. Shit. Shit. So rather than curl up with a good book you got for Christmas you get to haul out the wet/dry vac (you know all the zing has gone out of life when you have one of those to hand) and set to work. Since last night Simon and I have vacuumed up 12 tankfuls (50 gallons each) and the steady seepage shows no sign of stopping. But a deep freeze is predicted to hit us tonight and so the water should refreeze and the seepage should stop. And as the water freezes shouts of "Whoopee!" will ring through the land.

More On Christmas...

After fussing about this game for the last several months, Thomas finally got the DS game of his dreams. He's been playing it continuously since, barely remembering to eat. (We DO insist that he brush his teeth occasionally so he had to learn to do that while playing the game.)
Here Frederick opens a stuffie of The Count. He hasn't watched a Sesame Street in a VERY LONG TIME but, this was always his favorite character and, for the first time ever, it's now available in stuffed form so we just had to get it for him. And he is very pleased with it. (Why does this picture make his sweatshirt look so grubby? I am sure it didn't look that bad that morning.)

I think Simon likes his gifts.

Here is the livingroom a few minutes after the present opening frenzy subsided. And now we are enjoying that pleasant post-Christmas, dozy period when all the presents are still littered about, being looked at and enjoyed by all. We won't get around to putting them away for several days so for now it still feels like Christmas.

Christmas

The days right before Christmas were bitterly cold. This is the day time high temp on December 23rd. That evening we were treated to howling, groaning winds--not the sort of weather that inspires anyone to go for brisk walks or to go cross country skiing, as Simon swore he would do before the holidays were over.

Here is the 1 up sweater finished. It was NOT fun to do and, as you can see, I made it extra long so that it will last Thomas a few years. I don't know how many people in the world will have any idea what this is about, but Thomas is pleased with it and that is all that matters.
Here is Granny enjoying her birthday on December 24th. She seems to have gotten a lot of knitting stuff. I can't imagine why.

And here is the Christmas tree just before the present opening frenzy began. Frederick woke up around 6 but wasn't too interested in getting out of bed, so we stalled him for a while. Thomas woke up around 7 and we threatened to cancel Christmas if he got up before 8--and it worked!

Snow Day

We were warned yesterday that a snow storm ("winter advisory") was on its way and the warnings were quite exciting, if unbelievable. We were promised a "100% chance" of snowfall starting at midnight and ending the next day (today) around noon. So we trotted off to the grocery store, along with everyone else in town, to stock up on essentials (a big bottle of wine being one of the most important) and came home and waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing had started by the time we went to bed and we began to think that once again, the weather reports had been needlessly alarmist. BUT this morning we awoke to an amazingly thick and steady snowfall which, according to a neighbor's reports, began around 5 am. It didn't slow until around 3 this afternoon and it hasn't completely stopped yet. Simon shoveled the drive clear around 11 this morning and then had to clear it again around 2. So far, no sign of snow ploughs in the streets. Here is Frederick on a walk with Simon, enjoying the wintery landscape.

Simon said it took about 3 minutes for all traces of footprints in the snow to be erased by the new falling snow.

Here he is at Mott Community College, fighting the wind.

Frederick is glad to be in the backyard where the weather isn't quite so intense--but the yard toys are impossible to find.

And meanwhile Thomas, who wouldn't dream of going outside in weather like this, spends his extra holiday break day creating a Pokemon zoo with Bryce. Unbeknownst to them, I could hear them setting it up while I was inside our closet putting clothes away. (Our closet wall is on the otherside of Thomas's bedroom wall and, anyway, Thomas isn't known for being soft spoken.) Here is what I heard:

Thomas: You are in charge of the pokemon day care.

Bryce: I don't want to. The babies are naughty.

Thomas: Well, it doesn't matter because it will shut down soon because not enough parent are making their payments.

Grim times, indeed.

Backyard Bounce and Sweater Update

Frederick waits patiently for Simon to clear off the trampoline so he can get some exercise.

And here is Simon, shovelling heavy, wet snow off the trampoline, getting his dose of exercise.

The yard looks much better covered in snow.

And, meanwhile, here is the 1 Up mushroom sweater thus far. The original plan of knitting intarsia in the round has evolved into an even more complicated half in the round/half not mutation. (If I could only figure out how to add steeks into it just for fun, then I would really have managed the ultimate in ridiculous.)

Winter Activities

I can't stand driving Frederick to school when it is dark, being gone all day and then coming home at night (4 pm) to a dark house--it's depressing. So to combat SAD (seasonal affective disorder--a condition I believed (when young and lively and living in Arizona) was made up by people living up north because they were whiny babies but now I know better) I started putting up yard lights and various illuminated creatures a few years ago.

I made the mistake (when I bought the polar bear two years ago) of telling Thomas that we could add a new animal to the front yard each year. What possessed me to say that? Of course Thomas didn't forget and set to picking out this year's addition.

Here it is. Thomas lovingly arranged the scarf and worries that a squirrel will make off with it sometime when we aren't looking. Foolish fears, you say? You wouldn't think so if you had seen the squirrels savage our soccer ball.

Another winter pastime, making fattening treats. This is peanut brittle not yet brittled. I used to make hard candy when I was a teenager and had nothing but time on my hands. I forgot how long it takes to get the damn stuff up to 300 degrees F --and how friggin' hot 300 degrees F is when you dribble a bit across your thumb when scrambling to pour it out before it hardens in the pan.

Here it is cooling on the porch. (Also a good spot to cool pumpkin pie.)

Brrr...

This was two nights ago, when we first got the snow. I had to throw Thomas outside because he didn't want to pry his DS out of his fingers but as you can see, it didn't take him long to remember that he likes playing in snow.
Sweater and hat made by Granny during last year's visit still holding up and getting plenty of use.

This is the temperature right now. Brr. I really don't want to go out and deal with icy roads. Much better to stay home and make sure the fire doesn't go out.

And here is one of eleven of my poor fish that I will have to try and rescue sometime very soon. When the pond gets covered with ice, the leaves and unnameables still rot in the water, but the toxic gases stay under the ice. When I break the ice to let the fish get some oxygen, I am hit with a wave of noxious odors. Ain't mother nature grand?

And So It Begins...

Winter has arrived and, as usual, we aren't ready for it. We haven't raked any of the leaves which are currently being buried under several inches of snow. We haven't cleared space in the garage for our cars (which requires moving the lawn mower--the thing we were planning on using to mulch up the leaves a bit but obviously THAT isn't going to happen--the bikes, the lawn chairs, a loom (let's not stir up that hornet's nest)) so tomorrow we will have to uncover the cars before we rush the kids off to school. What happened to fall? I think I slept through most of it.



And here is Thomas (just a few hours earlier in the day before the clouds let the snow flurries fly) modeling the first new sweater of the year. As usual, he picked out the yarn and determined the stripe specs. I've already begun the next one, which will be all black (groan--so nice to wear, so boring to knit) with a 1 UP mushroom on the front. I've been struggling for weeks on how to do an intarsia pattern while sticking with knitting the raglan pattern in the round and I think I have cracked it. I'm sure everyone will be waiting with bated breath to see how it goes so I will be giving an hourly update on the progress.

Wild Thing On The Loose!

(If you're reading this post first, which would make sense, these are old photos from my cell phone. These, as you can probably gather, are from Hallowe'en.) Frederick wasn't completely into the whole "trick or treat" thing, so after a few doors, we resorted to our usual local walk up to Mott Community College. Strange sights were seen that night...

...and yet more...

Jami will be very peeved that I haven't planned the series of posts so that the "and yet more" appears below the original post. I can live with that. Here is another sampling from the various Walks With Frederick series:





The previous two and this one are taken on the same walk at Seven Lakes Park. In the background you can see a little campsite with its own lake that has closed down for the season.

More crappy pictures

As it's a pain in the arse to do, I only rarely upload pictures from my cellphone. In fact, this is the second time ever. Some of these aren't as bad as the usual ones. As you can see, there's a fairly common subject matter...

Mr. Jones

Frederick has rediscovered his love for Talking Heads, in particular the song Mr. Jones. Hearing him sing their lyrics is always amusing (what isn't funny about a 5 year old singing the song Psycho Killer?) but it is especially amusing when he is missing two of his front teeth. He was really having a great time last night, jumping on the trampoline while singing LOUDLY: "Some rock stars with tamborines, short skirts and skinny legs, selling Bibles and real estate". Though I do wonder what his teachers think.

Thomas's Dream Costume

For this year's Halloween costume Thomas asked me to make a Yoshi costume (reference a series of Nintendo games) mixed with a pokemon named Aipom. He wanted a Yoshi body and an Aipom tail. Since his every wish is my command, this is what he got:

Here is the back, so you can see the saddle and spikes on his head.
Not too surprisingly, no one at Thomas's school had any idea of what he was. (His Halloween party was yesterday and featured a terrifying performance by the Flint Youth Theatre that caused him to walk out halfway through [and later that night caused him to be too scared to go into his dark room to get in bed], a meal at subway which he "didn't like much", a "blizzard" at Dairy Queen which was "all right" and then a game of bowling at a local bowling alley which was "not so great". Getting not much praise but many confused stares doesn't seem to have turned Thomas off his costume, since he said he wants to wear it continuously until, eventually, he turns into a Yaipom.

Frederick Goes to a Halloween Party

Today neither Thomas nor Frederick has school, but Frederick's school had a short Halloween party in the gym with activity stations. Simon and I hate these sort of things but Emily really wanted to take Frederick so he got to go. Here he is, modeling his Wolf Suit. (Reference Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak: "The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind...and another...his mother called him as WILD THING!" Yeah, we've read it a few times.) He is with his teacher, Miss Perkins.
Hmm. I'm not sure I would have sanctioned THOSE sorts of activities.
Frederick didn't want to color the pumpkin, but he did draw a rainbow around it.
Looking slightly defensive (or just very hot and tired) as he snags his second baggy of popcorn.
In the car, with his popcorn, heading home. All is right in the world.