Blizzard Fizzling?

An update on the weather for those of you who care, we are getting a misty drizzle mixed with little ice pellets. It seems the snow has ended, but I'm no expert. It's possible things will shake up again later tonight. 

***edited to add: Guess I need to check the Weather Channel BEFORE I post. Round 2 is expected to bring freezing rain, then 2 to 5 inches of snow after midnight.  Maybe we're not out of the woods yet. 

Thought you might like to see this photo of Lake Superior and the cloud cover. The high winds have pushed all the ice toward the harbor. Looks like the Alder has some work to do. 

Blizzard Conditions

The schools held out for a change and no classes were cancelled today. I'd say we only have about 5 inches on the ground so far (though some drifts are above my knee in spots). We'll see what happens in the next several hours. The boys may get one more snow day yet!

The Lakers are Moving

Nothing but the Coast Guard Cutter, The Alder, moves in or out of the Duluth Harbor from late December until the end of March. Well, it's the end of March, and today marks the start of the shipping season. The first Laker (a boat that stays within the Great Lakes) is set to depart the Duluth Harbor today.

After running errands "up the hill" all morning, I raced back down when I saw the Coast Guard Cutter in the water. It was breaking up a channel so the vessels could maneuver. By the time I got to the shore, the Alder had gone back into the Harbor, and there was no Laker in sight. 

I never get tired of watching the big boats move through the water, and having the added bonus of moving through the ice makes it especially fun to see. I'll keep me eye on The Shipping News, and if I catch a Laker in the next couple of days, I'll be sure and post it.

The first Salties (ocean-going) are due by April 10th, so I'll try for one of those, too!

My New Kicks

Obviously, I need to find more difficult subjects for these guessing games.  Congrats, Alane!

What is this?

Correct answer posted tomorrow (or today if someone gets it right)!

Beef Barley Soup

I'm off to a crop today from 10am-10pm.  For those of you who DON'T scrapbook, that means "an event where I scrapbook".

I made this Beef Barley Soup in the crock pot overnight to take with me to the crop. (A pot-luck crop...what will they think of next?) While I love this soup, I do not love the smell of the soup at 7:30 in the morning.  Anyway, the recipe came from my friend, Maura, the infrequent blogger. If you need a great soup recipe, this is it! Thanks, friend!

I Need Your Help

It's Auction time again at Calvin's school, and I'm in charge of decorations. I found these in the Auction Room today. They're 4-inch mini disco balls. I used them last year when the theme was "Vegas, Baby!". This year, it's "Game Show Mania". So, I ask, do these say Game Show to you?

Clean Cotton

I used to go through one of these giant candles every couple of weeks when we lived in Marshfield. I don't burn them as often here, but Clean Cotton is still my favorite scent. It smells like I've been doing laundry. Which I haven't. But I should.

Sad Scooter

This poor scooter got left outside on one of the nice days we had last week. Since then, it's seen an ice storm, lots of rain, and even a little snow. It's obviously been through it all before. Rust like that doesn't show up in a week, does it?

As for our snow cover, the picture is a little deceiving. This is the area alongside our driveway so it's where the snow really piles up from the shovel and snowblower. The rest of the yard looks more like a lake.

Haunting

This empty field looked a bit spooky today with all the melting ice and snow, the fog lifting. Tonight we have thunder and pouring rain. The dog is in panic mode. For that reason, and that reason alone, I'm looking forward to the overnight transition. We're told the temperature will drop and the rain will turn to snow! It's much quieter, which makes the dog much happier. At least one of us will be happy.

***Scratch that---just double checked weather.com.  The "transition" isn't supposed to happen until tomorrow night.  No, we'll have rain all night and all day tomorrow! Oh yay. Good thing we live on a hill.

Encased

*click to enlarge

We've had freezing rain all morning and it looks like it's not going to let up until later today. My poor magnolia! 

Endangered Species

We started our morning in Milwaukee in search of an Original Glazed Krispy Kreme Doughnut. Our friends Carol & Jason gave us great directions to the location nearest our hotel, but we found it was closed. For good.

Well, that does not work for us, we have hungry kids in the car! So we pulled out the trusty iPhone, and sure enough, we did find an open Krispy Kreme, probably the last in the state of Wisconsin, not too far from our destination.

The best part, there are a few doughnuts left for breakfast tomorrow!

Play Ball!

We're on the road, but the 3 boys managed to get in a quick game of catch this morning. Expect another late post tomorrow.

March Madness

I played high school basketball. OK, I spent most of my time on the bench, but I was a part of the team.  Every year since 1982, I have filled out a bracket for the NCAA Tournament. I used to LOVE doing this, because I actually followed college basketball. I knew which teams were good, and which ones were not.  As the years have gone on, I have lost interest in the games leading up to the tournament and really have NO IDEA who might be a contender. Yet "The Big Dance" itself still holds that excitement and I still fill out that bracket. I have been lucky enough to win the pool among some pretty tough competition. The mens' team at UWEC had a big pool every year and I won it once, I've also beat out the staff and sports departments at both WEAU and WMTV (one year each location). When we lived in New York for a year, I won the pool at the hospital where Paul worked.  I also won his pool when we lived in St. Cloud. I never won the pool in Marshfield. I'm not sure what happened there. But the reason for my posting is this, right now, I am in the lead again. I entered the pool at Paul's place of employment...and I am in the top spot. It's early, I probably won't win, I know nothing about this years' teams...but I had to post. It makes me laugh that I can even be a contender, when I'm still a fan of Phi Slama Jama.

In case you're wondering, I picked North Carolina to beat Louisville in the final game.

I'll keep you posted!

Blatnik Bridge

I took a series of "out the sunroof" photos while driving over the Blatnik Bridge yesterday (that's why the photos aren't quite as focused as I'd like-we're going 50mph). I'd never really looked closely at the bridge, and I'm not sure why I was surprised to see how much it looks like Calvin's erector set. 

Finally, Inspiration!

It's the 19th. 

I almost posted a different photo, but then realized it's time for "Guessing on the 9's"!

So, what do you think this is? Be specific.

Magnolia

This is the Magnolia planted near my front porch. It's always the first to bloom, usually before it's even warm enough to sit outside on the porch. I'm loooking forward to capturing its progress this spring!

Dia de San Patricio

I met up with some friends today for lunch at Burrito Union. The special? A corned beef and cabbage burrito. Ole'! 

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Walking Through Puddles

I tried so hard to get a good shot of Simon splashing in the puddles today. (It's another 50-degree day!) When it didn't work with me holding the leash AND taking the pictures, I had the boys try directing the dog where to go. But every time Simon got close to the camera, he'd stop walking. This was the best "action" shot I could get. 

Quiet Day

Frosty II

Alright, I went back to see what happened earlier, and it turned out I had reduced the saturation, but had not converted it to b&w. I increased the saturation level on the photo, and "poof!", the color returned! I'm still not sure why, but there you go. So, which do you like better?

Frosty

We found Frosty while we were out exploring the Canal Park area today. It was a beautiful sunny day...about 55 degrees here! 

I'm not sure how I feel about changing the photo to black & white...I was playing with the iPhoto editing, and once I clicked the "Done" button there was no turning back. The color version wasn't there anymore. I think I might need some more practice with the editing software.

TGIF

It's 5:40, he's home, and the sun is still high in the sky. Life is good.

Concert Night

Here is Calvin getting ready to play his upright bass in the Middle School Concert. His mom kind of embarrassed him by moving to the front row so she could get this shot.
But it's OK. She moved to the back row to get this shot. He's the one on the far right! A great concert, which included the James Bond theme, and Tequila (audience participation required).

Crossed Wires

So, to coin another bloggers' phrase, "The Blog Worked!".

The snow slowed shortly after posting yesterday, and we only received 4 of the 10-14 inches we were anticipating.

School is in session today, yet Mason is still home with me, recovering from his nasty cough. I picked up his homework, and his teachers took pity on him and removed more than half of the worksheets that have been handed out this week. He'll be happy about that, for sure!

I'm enjoying the blue sky, and yes, even the fresh coat of snow. It's only 4 inches!

Need I Say More?

It's the 9th, and you know what that means!

Time to play a guessing game. This one shouldn't be too tough. What is this?

Staring at the Ceiling

Two kids down, one adult almost down. We're spending the day on the couch watching movies. There's a big storm set to arrive on Tuesday. Is there another "snow day" in our future? Say it ain't so! We've all had enough togetherness!

Could This One Have It Too?

I don't think there's any question.

Another Sick Day

Calvin stayed home from school on Wednesday. He had a bad headache (it hurt to move his eyes), a slight fever, sore throat, and a bit of a cough. By noon, though, all was gone (except for a mild headache) and he seemed fine. He went back to school on Thursday. This morning (Friday) he woke up with the same symptoms as on Wednesday, only a higher fever. Normally I wouldn't take him in for this, but the headache thing bothers me. I don't want to mess with vision or brain issues. So we headed to the clinic, had a negative strep culture, and were sent home. I'm told the headache is most likely part of a sinus infection (and by definition, that means a cold). If it's still bad on Monday, though, we're supposed to go back in.

I wish we had Star Trek medicine where we could be scanned with a wand, told exactly what's wrong, how long it will last, and, "No, it's not a tumor." I'm just sayin'.

***UPDATE***It's nearly 9am Saturday. We just got a call from the clinic. While yesterday's 15 minute strep-test came back negative, the 24-hour version gave us a positive result. We're off to the pharmacy for meds.

Strawberries on Angelfood Cake

Here is yet another effort on my part to make it feel a little more like spring around here. We're having hotdogs on the grill for dinner...and this will be our dessert. Well, not exactly THIS one. It was my appetizer.

Let's Go Fishin'!

This is the portable ice fishin' shack Paul received for his birthday back in January. On Monday, he took it out of the box and began putting it together. Let me tell you, it was no easy task! It took several hours to complete...and he finally wrapped up this afternoon. He assembled it in the garage, but was kind enough to pull  it out into the driveway so I could take a picture of it. (You know I might never see it actually being used, right?)

So he's out on the Lester River right now, he's got a hole in the ice, and he says after 15 minutes he's already seen a two-foot "looper" (whatever that is). Sounds like he's having fun!

Shhh...Don't Tell Kanye

I was just loading my new "Kaiser Chiefs" CD onto my iTunes account in my computer. I grabbed my iPod to see where this group would "fit" and thought this was a pretty funny list.

So, music buffs, am I missing any significant K's? (my two other K's not seen here are The Knack, and KT Tunstall) 

Blur

Mason got new Rollerblades yesterday. I suggested that we hold off on new Rollerblades until it's REALLY spring (June, maybe?), but Mason can be very convincing when his father takes him shopping!

I'm not completely opposed to the idea of skating in the house. Really, it's hard to skate when there's ice covering the driveway. So until something gets broken (a piece of pottery, a lamp...an arm) I'm OK with it. But for my sanity, I need to limit the speed and the length of time he skates. Rollerblades can be very noisy, but they really don't seem to hurt the floor at all.

Steak on the Grill

Paul is out on the porch grilling...and even though we have a below zero windchill, I know it will taste like summer! Yum!