Looking to find normal

 or something that might be normal. I imagine people who have lost a loved one go through this also. I found myself this morning just standing in the kitchen area wondering what to do next.

I felt as if I was stuck there. Stuck to the floor with the kitchen sink staring at me. I blinked. I sighed. I wondered, did a few moments go by while I was in 'Stuck Land'?

I shook it off and decided another morning walk would be the right thing to do. I needed to go check the pasture fences even though no mules where in the meadow.

This is one of our morning views. Fog branches trees, a large wild meadow....

I didn't have my zoom lens I use for wildlife with me, but this guy showed up in our meadow. I did crop this hard. The buck is a 10 pointer. I will only admire him with photos. Though I wouldn't mind some venison myself this winter.

Sunrise in the fall is magical. The heavy fog and dew create a magical place for photographers.

My 'friends' the orb spiders are still building nightly webs in the east meadow. I am enjoying walking among them and feel slightly honored to be able to photograph them up close and personal.

I had a lunch date with my MIL's cousin who may be in her late 80's but is no frail flower. She is a force to be reconned with. We often try to meet up at least once a month through the spring to fall months and have lunch together. She is stubborn and strong like ... well myself. She has opinions and insights and is just an amazing woman who is struggling with her husband's Alzheimer's. 

She is an independent cuss just like me. She doesn't speak Bull-it, she speaks her opinions, for that I love her. 

We missed 6 months of lunches but made our date today. She is an elder that I have the utmost respect for. She has lived most of her life with her husband who lived on the road and has an independence streak that would put most elderly ladies to shame.

I see her and I feel comforted. We are comforting souls.

This afternoon I had a Pet Trailer for my bike delivered. I like bike riding and there are several choices of nice flat riding trails within 45 to 60 minutes from my house.

I figured it was NOT fair to Charlie to leave him home alone all day while I went exploring. So I did this....

He isn't too sure about the whole thing, but he likes the treats he finds inside the trailer. 

Charlie is now my soul-sole companion. We can adventure together. We can watch out for each other.

I think I will find out how good my leg muscles are soon after not having much exercise for the past 6 months.

My ex daughter in law sent me a card today and I took her letter and card to heart.

The pain of a loss
Reflects
How deeply our Hearts
Have Loved.

April delivers

 

It didn't look bad when it started on Tuesday morning. But roads immediately got bad and went to much worse as Wednesday went on. The shot below was taken Tuesday afternoon of our road through the woods.

One could still see where the road was. Even with the forest on both sides of the road, the winds were blowing snow through the trees! It was fierce!

This was the view in the afternoon of the 2nd just after my neighbor had gone to pick up her son from school as they closed the schools early.

The snows were wet and heavy.

I walked up the next morning to see what I could see. Olive reported high winds on the ridge and whiteouts.

She was not kidding.

Back home I thought I'd take a peek at the woods across the pasture and...

This is what I saw from the porch. The line on the left is a porch support.

Soon reports of businesses closing on Main Street filtered in. Most of the stores and even the DQ in town closed up. The company that does garbage collection pulled their trucks off the road.

Our township grader got stuck in a drift and had to have other equipment dig it out.

The mules had plenty of hay and warmed water. They hid out in the deep woods for most of the time except when they came up for water.

It wasn't particularly cold, as the snow was very wet and very heavy. I was surprised that the wind could actually blow the snow around. At our municipal airport, they clocked 48 mph winds, so I guess that answered that question.

The worst part of it all was knowing that I had an appointment in town that we surely could not miss. I had called for my plow guy the day before and waited and waited and waited. He didn't come. It was probably a good thing too as the roads were so bad.

I did rearrange the appointment for the next morning and by late afternoon, I texted my plow guy to forget it....and started my own snow removal project.

I decided just to work on the hill part of the driveway and get two lines so that the tires would have a good grip on the gravel while going up the hill. I pushed the snow and yes, it was heavy. By late afternoon though, it was starting to melt.

My neighbor at the top of the driveway walked down and asked if he could help. His wife had let the dogs out and saw me shoveling. 

Justin go out his 4 wheeler and cleared a path up the hill for me. 

In truth? I could probably got out with my Subaru without shoveling. I'm glad I didn't try with hubby in the car though. After all the reports of vehicles in the ditch and even town plows having trouble? Why chance it?

This morning I can get hubby in the car and drive safely to the appointment we thought was written in stone. 

Then last night I got a phone call from our plow guy. Frank was just gushing with apologizes and everything else for not getting out. He didn't make excuses, he just admitted he messed up.

You know what? I can deal with that. He said it slipped his mind because...well, his brain was dealing with other things. He told me if that ever happened again to keep calling his cell over and over and over. He sounded so upset that I ended up telling him it was OK. 

April always seems to deliver some sort of frightful weather. I recall April 20 in 2018 when we had a blizzard. 

So there you go. Hello April, you sure know how to deliver weather!

Iced

I was getting dressed to go outside and do chores when suddenly I heard a downpour of rain outside.

I stepped outside and watched as the rain hit the concrete blocks and the edge of the porch. Instant ice.
About 3 more rounds of rain hit in bursts and any thought of going anywhere was erased.

This is a picture of the yard. I couldn't believe it was so slippery. I made my way out to do chores and half way to the shed I decided that I was an idiot for not looking for my Yak Trax to slip on for traction.

The gravel driveway had turned to one big sheet of ice. So I decided not even to try going anywhere and hope that the town truck would come out eventually and perhaps it would warm enough to melt the ice.
The issue was, the driveway and ground were frozen and even if the temperatures warmed up, the ground would not.

I did the chores and slipped and slid back to the house. I dug out my Yak Trax and went back out to water Lil Richard.
He was still iced!

However, none of the equine were cold as they all were warm under their blankets of ice that had started to melt. Under the fluff, their skin was warm and dry.

Around 11 o'clock the town truck backed down our driveway spreading sand. I'd read on social media that highway 14 was closed due to a semi that couldn't get a grip on the road. There were other multiple incidents that made me feel good about my decision to stay home.

As the temperatures rose the top of the ice melted and made the ice on the lower part of the drive even worse. 

Nothing left to do after chores, breakfast, and dinner prep. So Charlie and I took a walk.

 Yak Trax

Charlie in the Meadow

When we came back up on the ridge, I was surprised at how warm the air was.

Everything had water on it...

But the moss was very cool...

At the end of the day the sun tried to break out as the temperatures began to dip again.

I don't like ice this way.
I really really don't.