Day Three

It's day three of being iced in, and I'm starting to understand why people used to get cabin fever.  I mean, I was thinking about it just today, and if I didn't have internet and TV and thousands of books available to me, I might just be going stir crazy my own self.   Funny, Laurence Brown mentioned Laura Ingalls Wilder's book The Long Winter on his YouTube Channel Lost In The Pond today, and even though I've read the book several times, I simply couldn't imagine living through that.  

I mean, it's not likely I'd be wanting to go anywhere anyway, but knowing I couldn't if I wanted to makes it a completely different ball game.  Fortunately, I haven't lost power or heat, well, not during the day.  The power did go out for about 4 hours last night, but it was from around 1:00 AM to around 4 AM, and I was sleeping anyway.  

Entergy didn't give the reason why; they just said the cause was under investigation.  If I were to hazard a guess, though, I'd say someone decided to get cute and slid on a patch of ice and ran into a light pole.  But that's just speculation on my part.  

Anyway, I found the old TV show Northern Exposure is up on Prime now, so I've been watching that, along with Heartland and The X-Files, and I whipped out another headband while doing so. 

And I used that term loosely.  The older I get, the faster my hands get tired and sore, so I'm hardly whipping anything out these days.  I'd say the total knitting time for a headband like this is about two hours, but I have to stop and take frequent breaks for my hands to rest.  This is done in Red Heart Supersaver in Pink Rose colorway.  

I know you're probably tired of hearing about how cold it's been here, but it's my blog and I'm a weather geek, so weather is what you're going to get.  This morning when I woke up, it was colder here than in Fairbanks, Alaska where my sister lives. 

That didn't last long once the sun came up. 

It warmed up to 35°, and stuff began to melt pretty quickly.   I ventured out and took this photo of icicles forming on the shed's eaves as the runoff re-froze.  

My road is still pretty icy, and with the slight melt and re-freeze, it'll probably be slicker'n snot in the morning. 

 I was debating on whether to call in to work tomorrow, but turns out it's all moot anyway, as they've cancelled work for one more day.  At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they just said don't come back until Monday.  Especially since we're looking at the possibility of more freezing rain tonight and tomorrow.  We're all hoping it doesn't get this far South, but weather is weather, which means you never know what it's going to do. 

The good news is, by this time next week, we'll be back up into the 60s.  That's winter in the south for you. 

In other news, look who showed up at the corn pile this morning.  

I see the does and fawns all the time, but seldom see bucks, so this was a treat.  Funny thing, I don't know the hunting laws in MS, but in Texas it wouldn't be legal to harvest this buck, because Texas law says the rack has to be a certain width at its widest point - I think it's 13" -- and they always say a quick way to tell is if the rack extends beyond the buck's ears.  I'm no expert, but it seems to me you'd want to cull the bucks with the inferior racks from your herd.  All the ones around here are spikes, and end up with ugly, skinny racks. If it were up to me, I'd want to get those genes out of my herd.  Not that it matters anyway, as I don't even have a hunting license any more.  I hadn't been hunting in so long, I didn't even renew it this year. 

Speaking of hunting, this thing has been trying her best to catch a bird.  

I've been scattering extra seed on the ground for them during this cold spell, and Evil has tried so hard to catch one.  Then she gets mad at me because I open the door and scare the birds away before she can get one. 

Oh, she's not cold.  The fires of Hell which burn in her soul keep her plenty warm enough. 

A Finished Object

Here we have it.  I finished the hat I've been working on, and once again, the photo is weird.  

I think it might be the sparkles that's throwing the camera off, but I don't really know.  I don't get it, because the photo I took of the skein the other day turned out well.  I think I have enough yarn to do a headband like the ones I've been figuring out, but I think I'm going to set this aside for now and work on my charity hats for a bit. 

The plant already announced they'll be shut down tomorrow again, so I'll have plenty of knitting time.   The temperature only got up to 25° today, so nothing has melted.  This is what my road looks like, 

and that isn't snow.  It's solid ice from the sleet and freezing rain that fell yesterday.  It's not going to get any better before tomorrow, as the temps are predicted to get down into the single digits tonight.   But they're saying upper 30s tomorrow afternoon, so it might start melting a bit.  I know some trucks have been going in and out, but I wouldn't trust my little car on that ice. 

Before I went to bed last night, I got my fireplace shovel and cleared a path on my back porch so I'd have a place to stomp the sleet off my shoes before coming into the house. 

Turns out I needn't have bothered because the sleet in my back yard froze solid over night.  I walked out to scatter some bird seed shortly after noon, and it was so hard I didn't even leave footprints.  

While I was outside, I tried to check on my little bluebonnet seedling, but couldn't see through the plastic.  

I'm pretty sure everything else in that planter is toast.  We'll see in the spring if any of it comes back.  If it doesn't, I might try something different this time around. I do want to keep the lemon balm and the rosemary, but I doubt I'll re-plant the lemon thyme.  I don't know if I was doing something wrong, but I never got anything usable from it.  

Then I walked out and checked on my other bluebonnet seedlings.  The entire thing is covered in sleet, 

but it looks to be clear underneath.  I peeked under there as well as I could, and what plants I saw don't appear to have been damaged by the freeze, so maybe my bluebonnets survived as well. 

The only other thing I did was to finish that book I'd picked back up yesterday, Conflicted.   The story itself wasn't that bad.  The biggest problem is that the author is trying write a seven book series, but she doesn't have enough story for seven novels. So much of the book is empty filler and repetitious rambling that she added to stretch the story out. If she'd left it a trilogy or even a shorter series, it would have been much better. 

Next up, I think I'll finally get around to re-reading the Wool series by Hugh Howey.  I already know it's good.  

Sleet Day #1

Today has a good day to sit inside and knit.  I'd started to cast on another Calorimetry, but changed my mind, and cast on a hat instead.  

I wish I could get a decent photo of this yarn.  I've tried with both my phone and my regular camera, but it just isn't showing up right.  It's much more hot pink than this photo shows, with little sparkles running through it. 

Anyway, I'm thinking I'm going to make this hat for my sister in law Paula for next Christmas.  I might go back and get another skein and knit a matching cowl and maybe even some fingerless mitts.  They won't be Fetching, though.  Just simple ones.  I think she'll like that. 

While I was doing all that knitting, I've been re-watching the old HBO series John Adams on Brennan's Max account.  I'd forgotten how good it was -- up to a point.  After his term as President, his life -- and thus the show -- got a lot more dull.  I'm also picking up where I left off watching Heartland and The X-Files.  

So, the sleet started around 3:30 yesterday, and it sleeted all day long until about 4:30 this afternoon.  There was already a pretty good coating on my back porch by the time I got up, 

and it only got worse as the day went on. 

There's a pretty good layer of ice on the roads, too, and the county EMA is urging people not to get out if they don't have to.  

Now the temp is dropping like a hot rock, so it's not likely to get any better any time soon.  The good news is, ADP has cancelled work tomorrow, so I have another snow day to look forward to.  Except that it's a sleet day, because we rarely get actual snow here.  Just that sleety mess and freezing rain.   I wouldn't be at all surprised if they cancelled Wednesday, too, since it's not supposed to get above freezing again until sometime Wednesday afternoon. 

The more good news is that there doesn't seem to be any ice accumulation on the power lines, so there's very little risk of losing electricity.  Even so, I trudged out a couple of times today and brought more firewood up close to the house.  That little wood heater has done well keeping my house warm.  So much so, my central heat hasn't come on all day.  

While I was all bundled up, I scattered some birdseed on the ground, and this goofball wanted to sit outside and watch the birds. 

Don't worry, her evil will keep her warm.  It's so cold, she won't even stay out more than 10-15 minutes, then she's coming back in...only to want to go back out the minute she gets inside.  Silly cat.  

Times like this I miss having a DSLR with a really good zoom lens, because I had a tree full of cardinals.  

I took this one with my phone, but it doesn't quite do it justice.  

And finally, I finished the book I was reading, Chosen.  It was OK, but not great.  As I said before, it was like reading the store brand version of The Hunger Games.  I might read more in the series, but only if they put them on sale really cheap.  

Now, I'm finishing another book I'd started a couple of years ago, Conflicted, by M.J. Kaestli.  It's the second book in a seven book series, and I doubt I'll read them all -- unless they put them on sale really cheap.  It's not a bad book, but it's not a great book.  

That I put it down 75% of the way through because I just couldn't make myself read any more ought to tell you something.  If it were a trilogy instead of a seven book series, maybe I'd finish, but I can't imagine reading five more of these.  I think that's why I quit reading it in the first place.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think some hot chocolate will hit the spot right nicely along about now. 

And Away We Go!

I'd had a completely different post planned out for you tonight, and we may get to it yet, but about the time I sat down to start typing, the storm got here. 

 The wind hit so hard, it shook the whole house and scared the cat.  I had to bring in the wreath from the front door, because it was slamming so hard against the glass, I was afraid it would break it.  The glass, I mean.  Not the wreath..  The temperature has already dropped 20°, and look at this!  

It’s snowing! It's been snowing for about 30 minutes, but they keep saying there's not going to be a whole lot of accumulation.  Still, it's not supposed to get above freezing until Sunday afternoon, so maybe, just maybe, we might get a white Christmas after all.   And yes, that is me saying, Ooooo.  It was cold out there, and I only had a t-shirt on!  Well, and pants of course.  

I'm hearing reports of the power being out in several places, but mine is still on.  I've got plenty of firewood, just in case, though I'll need to restock once the cold spell passes. I don't know if Cody and Brennan will be able to make it down; it all depends on if the roads are clear.  We may have to postpone, if they aren't.  And after I've spent the last two days cooking.  

Which brings me to what I had originally planned on posting about.  

I am almost done with the cooking, and once again, I finished everything I'd planned on doing today.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it at first.  The day had gone by so fast, and I'd only gotten the chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies made.  I'd about decided that we'd just have to do without gumdrop cookies this year, when I heard a chime on my phone.  

Upon checking, I saw that it was my daily reminder to practice my piano, which have set to go off at 2:30.  Seriously, I'd thought it was about 6:30 or 7:00!  It was just that dark outside.  Whew!  What a relief!  I got the gumdrop cookies made and went ahead and mixed up my cheese ball, so that's one less thing I have to do tomorrow.  

Well, that wind is still kicking pretty hard, so I'm going to go ahead and end this so I can get it published, just in case the power goes out. 

A bientot.  

Snow Day, Lazy Day

 After waiting all winter long, after getting lots of sleet and ice, we finally got some snow.  Real snow!  Woo hoo!

It started Friday night, and by morning, we had a good little blanket of it.  Not enough for snow ice cream, but enough to make things beautiful for a moment. 

Since I'd gotten most of the household chores done on Friday, I decided I'd just be lazy and enjoy the snow.  And by "enjoy the snow" I mean looking at it through the window while drinking coffee in front of a nice fire in my wood stove. 

After getting out and taking some photos, that is. 

 Most of it had melted by noon, but it was nice while it lasted.  

By the way, the house across the street still hasn't sold, but I saw a realtor showing someone around it Thursday.  I have no idea what's going on with the house next door.  The For Sale sign is long gone, but there are absolutely no signs of life over there.  I guess he's just going to let it sit empty for now.  

Anyway, I spent my day watching TV, playing the piano, and knitting.  I got the sock heel turned and the gusset stitches picked up, which is my least favorite part of sock knitting. 

I'd balked so much about doing those, I knit another square into my sock yarn blanket.  I'm just having a hard time sitting still long enough to knit these days.  It seems there's always so much stuff I need to be doing, I can't relax enough to just sit and knit.  

Even now...I still have those two phone calls I need to make hanging over my head.  One to the plumber, and one to the oral surgeon.  I don't know why I get so blocked at the need to make phone calls, but I do.  And before you say anything, yes I've checked Angi's List, and Thumbtack.  There is no one local on either of those.  Well, there is one on Angi's List, but he never answered my phone calls when I did work up the strength to make them, so I'm not giving him my business now.  

Anyway, at this point, I'm pretty sure my PVC is cracked and mud is getting into my sewer lines, which is aggravating, because I'd just had it all replaced in 2015.  It cost me a pretty penny, too.  More than I can afford to pay right now, especially since I'm going to have to have oral surgery soon.  

Now, I'm depressed.  I need me some nanner puddin.  

Snow!

 We got snow!  

Even though it was really coming down there for a while, we didn't get any accumulation.  I put my bowl out just in case, but this is the most that stayed on the ground, and it melted pretty quickly after I took the photo. 

But it was snow!  Real snow, not that sleety mess we usually get.  And before any of my northern friends comments...I'm just going to leave this right here:

OK, moving right along.  My big project for today was to watch playoff football.  No, really, it was to watch playoff football and finally make all that turkey noodle soup I'd been planning on doing since Thanksgiving.  

Imma tell you one thing... when you boil down the carcass of a 17 lb bird, you get a lot of broth.  I used a gallon and a half for my soup, and still have tons of it in the freezer.  Once I'd added the meat, vegetables, and noodles, I probably ended up with three gallons of soup, most of which is now safely nestled in the freezer.  

We've got three more years of Bare Shelves Biden.  I might need every last drop of that soup before it's all over.

Anyway, the only thing I wish I'd done differently is to check how much of the celery Cody'd used for the gumbo he made.  I'd bought an entire bunch, and cut it all up, thinking it would be enough for both batches of soup, but he used a bit more than I thought he would.  If I'd checked, I'd have bought more.  But it's still good soup, even though most of you would think it needs more salt.  I'd be inclined to agree with you, but I don't like salt, so I don't add a lot of it to my food.  

In other news, I'm still knitting away at the same old scarf.  I'd show you picture of it, but it looks exactly like it did in the last picture I showed you, just a few inches longer. I've been working a bit on my needle felting.  I made a cute little cowboy hat:

And a horse: 

I'm going to make a boot, too.  And what is all this going to be, you may ask?  I'm going to add them to my Texas (for which I made a little Orange heart to put where my home town is)

and I'm going to make a sort of shadow box thing out of it all.  I probably will do a star, too...you know for the Lone Star State.  

The best part is, I got to play with some of the fiber in the kit my sister gave me for Christmas.  They may be tiny bags, but they packed a lot into them.  

Saturday Stuff

At long last, the plant opened back up for business today.  I debated back and forth about whether to even try to go to work this morning, given the state of my road is still pretty icy.

I stood there for a long time looking out the window, then said, "What the heck, I'm going to work."  So I got dressed and went on in.  I figured getting off my own road would be the hardest part -- and I was not wrong.  Enough people had driven done it yesterday and cut ruts into the slush that I wasn't worried about sliding off into the ditch.  No, the part I was concerned about was having to stop end of the road, and not being able to get going again due to the ice.  I pictured myself sitting there spinning my wheels...

Fortunately, there was no traffic on the highway -- 51 for you local folks -- so that potential disaster was averted.  As I figured, the highway was clear of snow and ice, and traveling was easy, until I got to the road I normally turn on to get to the plant.  That would be Riverdale Rd for you local folks.  I could see it was still pretty slushy, and didn't even bother trying to drive down it.  I drove on down to the next road -- Papermill Road for you local folks-- and turned there.  

It was pretty clear as well, and I had no trouble -- until I got to the road in front of the plant.  Air Industrial Park for you local folks.  It was horrible.  It was almost as bad as my own road.  But I took things slowly and carefully, and made it safely to work.

They'd hired someone to come in and clear the parking lot, but I could still see how icy it was where I normally park, so I decided to park in the first row, closest to the employee entrance.  I told a couple of coworkers what I'd done, and said, "I'll bet you anything at the end of the day, I'm going to be wandering all over the parking lot, not remembering where I'd parked."  

As I predicted, half the employees didn't show up.  I expect it'll be the same tomorrow, too.  We only had 6 brazers there, and unfortunately, one of them was my Stalker.  But the big news is we have a new supervisor.  Our previous supervisor has moved to second shift, and our new supervisor has come from the engineering department.  Or product development.  I'm not completely sure.  

When they told me who it was, all I could think of was, "God help us, we're in the hands of engineers."

I knew him pretty well from when I used to be an auditor some 20 years ago, but I don't know how he'll be as a supervisor.  I guess we'll see.  

On the way home, I drove down Riverdale Road, just to see what shape it was in.  And the shape it was in is bad.  In the morning, I'm not even going to try it.  I'll just take Papermill Road again.    

But the good news was, by the time I got home, my outside faucets had thawed.  I'd gone out to drip them Monday evening, only I was too late.  They'd already frozen.  I was worried about my pipes bursting, but it doesn't look like they did.  I turned them on, and they've got good pressure, so I'm taking that as a sign.

Now that Icemageddon 2021 is over, and things are settling down some, I'll stop boring you with my weather reports.  Maybe something actually interesting will happen for me to blog about. 

Who knows?  We're heading into tornado season...wait, that's weather, too...

Nevermind.  

Back To Work Tomorrow

 Well, it's back to work tomorrow...maybe.  

It got up above freezing today, for the first time since Sunday.  

But, it wasn't enough to completely melt the sleet and ice on my road.  

I mean, it melted some, and got really slushy, but it's supposed to get back down into the teens tonight.  It'll be a solid sheet of ice in the morning.  I'm debating on whether to even try to drive down it. I'm sure the roads in town are fine, but those of us in the county aren't so lucky.   I know several coworkers have already said they're not going to be there, point or no point.  I'm not worried about getting a point.  I'm more concerned about being able to pay my bills.  We've already missed 4 days pay.  I don't know if I can afford to miss too much more.  

I think if I can get up this slight incline, I ought to be able to get out just fine: 

I know it doesn't look like much, but it doesn't really take much to get stuck.  I'll just have to see how slick it is in the morning, then make the call.  If I can make it to the highway, I should be good from there on in to the plant.  They've changed our work hours so that we go in at 8:00 in the morning, so at least the sun will be up.  It won't be warm enough that any of this has begun to thaw, though.  I went out this afternoon and turned my car around, so that if I do go to work, I won't have to try to back out onto that icy road.  

Tomorrow it's supposed to get into the upper 40s, so we ought to be good for Sunday, and on into next week.

By the way, I did try to make snow ice cream with sleet.  It didn't work out so well.  It just tasted like sweetened milk with little crunchy bits in it.  Not very appetizing.  At all. 

In other news, I've sort of hit a slump with my piano playing.  I'm still practicing every day, but I'm having to make myself.  I suppose it's normal with anything to go through these ups and downs.  So, to try to reignite the passion, I'm listening to the guys who inspired me to start playing in the first place.  That would be The Piano Guys.  

Although their Fight Song is my favorite, it was actually this one that caused me to do more than just wish I could play.  

I really need to look  on their website and see if they have any arrangements for beginners... 

 

Snow Day Part....What Day Is It Anyway?

This week has kind of felt like the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.  I have no idea what day it is, or why I'm here.  I'm fat, lazy, and eating the last of my stash of Christmas candy.  Heck, I even dug out my Christmas music books and have been playing Christmas songs on the piano.  The biggest difference is that I'm not getting paid for this week...Oh, well, can't win them all.  

We're going to have tomorrow off as well, as it's still not supposed to get above freezing today, and the roads will still be pretty icy.  As it stands now, the plant is opening back up Saturday, but I'll wager about half the employees won't show up.  I do know one thing, though.   I'm getting mighty tired of being a part of these major historical events.

Here's a bit of good news: my deer showed up looking for something to eat.  

I hadn't seen them in several days, since before the cold and sleet started.  I was poking up my fire, and just happened to look out the French doors and saw about 6 of them out there.  I hurried out and threw some corn over the back fence for them -- which naturally scared them off -- but they came back after a few minutes.  Heh, I haven't been able to fill the squirrel feeder, because the gate in the back fence is frozen shut, so I've just been tossing their corn over the back fence.  They haven't complained.  

The bad news is, I'm now completely out of corn, and almost out of bird seed.  I'll run in Saturday after work and get some more, provided the roads are clear by then.  They should be, because it's supposed to get up to 45' and be sunny all day. 

For now, I found a canister of steel cut oats I'd bought years ago -- before I even moved into this house, that's how long ago it was.  I'd bought them because steel cut was all the rage at the time, but I didn't like them.  They tasted OK, but I didn't like the texture.  It just doesn't seem right to be eating crunchy oatmeal.  Anyway, I kept telling myself I needed to eat them up, but I never did.  I tossed them out for the birds to eat, so I'll have a little bit of bird seed to scatter tomorrow at least. 

Oh, I'm sure you will all be pleased to know my experiment with drying firewood in the oven worked a treat.  I put some into the wood stove this morning, and they lit right up.  No smoking, no sizzling.  Just a clean, hot fire. I wouldn't recommending drying a whole cord this way, though, but it'll get you out of a bind if need be.  

One thing this storm has done is it's really made me miss my DSLR camera.  I was walking around trying to take artsy fartsy photos of the ice with my point-and-shoot and my phone, and they just weren't getting the job done to my satisfaction.  I'm not going to post them all here, but I will show you this one I took of icicles on my house.   

And lastly, I found that knitting pattern I was looking for, and cast on a scarf.  It took two or three tries to get the kinks worked out, but I think it's going to be fine.  

This is after two repeats, and I'm sure the pattern will show up better once I get farther along.  

I'll be sure to keep you posted. 

Snow Day Part 3

 And yes, I already know there will be a snow day part 4.  The Boss Who  Must Not Be Named posted this on his timeline this morning:  

The way it's coming down out there right now, I wouldn't be surprised if we got Friday off as well.  The ice is starting to build up a bit, and I've got icicles forming on my eaves.  Buuut, it's supposed to get up to 34' tomorrow, so we shall see.  It will all depend on the road conditions.  As much as I've enjoyed this unexpected vacation, I'm not going to enjoy the paycheck that accompanies it.  Thank goodness for savings accounts, is all I've got to say. 

Anyway, as I said, it's snow day part three...with no snow.  Yep, all of that is still sleet. 

We got a little bitty bit of snow, but it didn't last long.  I put out my bowls anyway to catch some of it.  I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried to make sleet ice cream, because it looks like that's what I'm going to have to do.  

I was trying to hold off building a fire today, because of my wood being green and all, but I got tired of being cold.  I went out and split down one of the huge chunks of old wood I have and put it into my stove.  It was enough to last through the day.  

Then I took some of the green wood those people tried to pass off as seasoned and dried it in my oven.  Yes, I did research how to do that.  I didn't just chunk a chunk of wood into the oven and hope for the best.  I'll let you know tomorrow how well it works.  

By the way, if you have not watched A Map Of Tiny Perfect Things on Prime, go watch it.  You will not regret it.  I was pleasantly surprised, as most new movies seem to be little more than an attempt to see how much obscene language they can cram into a two hour period.  This one wasn't.  It actually had a story line, and only a couple of curse words.  

Here's a happy coincidence.  Look at what my sight reading exercise for this week is titled:

Fitting, don't you think?  

Naturally, along with all this sleeting and movie watching, there has been knitting.  I've put a few more squares into blanket #2.

I added a few rounds to this sock.  

And I spent a good deal of time trying to find a pattern for this yarn. 

Unsuccessfully, I might add.  I want to do a scarf with it.  It's single ply, so I don't think it would hold up as socks.  I have a pattern I made up a long time ago that I think might be a good one.  I just need to go find it.  Which I will do.  As soon as I've posted this.

Finally, a bit of bad news.  Cody lost his job.  He was working for a logistics company, and they have a mandatory sales quota that all employees have to meet, and he didn't.  He's updated his resume on Indeed, so let's hope he finds something soon.

On the bright side, he gets to enjoy the snow.  

Because they're getting real snow up in Memphis.  

Snow Day Part 2

 I'd spent all day yesterday debating about whether I should try to go to work today.  I didn't want to miss work, but the roads are still very slick and covered with a snow/sleet mixture. Fortunately, that decision was taken out of my hands.  I called the plant call-in line last night, and they'd closed for the day.  That really surprised me, as they don't usually care a whit about their employees' safety or health. 

So what did I do on my unexpected day off?  I sat huddled under a blanket watching TV and knitting.  That's what I did.  

Oh, and all that firewood I bought a couple of weeks ago?  Yeah, it's all green.  I can practically hear it sizzling when I put it into my stove.   I've managed to coax it into burning by using my hair dryer as a bellows, but it's been tough going. I'm just glad I haven't lost electricity, or I'd be in a real fix.  I'm not too worried about myself, as I've got plenty of blankets, and I still have that camp stove I could use to make hot drinks and stuff, but I'm not too sure how my snakes would fare.  As long as I can keep it above freezing in the house, they'll survive.  But they are all old, and it would be hard on them.  

We were expecting record low temperatures -- they'd even forecast us down to 3' at one time.  It didn't get down quite that cold, but this was close enough for my taste.  

One of the meteorologists I follow on FB posted a map showing the snow coverage today.  

Every state except Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida have at least a little snow on the ground.  Even Hawaii, as Mauna Kea is snow capped today.  You have to look closely at North Carolina, but they do have a couple of counties with snowfall.  

As I said, I stayed inside under a blanket for most of the day, but I did venture out to throw some more birdseed out.  I'm not even bothering with the feeders.  I'm just scattering it on top of the snow.  

And me, I had fun identifying the tracks in the snow.  Most of them were birds,

but I did see the ubiquitous squirrel tracks.  

We've got more snow headed our way tomorrow, but it's not supposed to get quite so cold.  I've already called the call-in line, and the plant will be shut down for at least one more day.  I'm hoping tomorrow, we get enough of the good snow I can make snow ice cream.  

I've already got my bowl washed and ready.  

Just in case.