Kathleen's Korner at TheStidhams.com

It is cold — very very cold.

The snow from a couple days ago wasn’t much, but was quickly compacted, then frozen-melted-refrozen.

I just got off the phone with the county, trying to get them to sand an intersection on the main road we must use to get out.  For the last two days it has been treacherous, and for about a mile there is a solid sheet of ice.  No sanding has been done there, and to get to the place the bus drops the kids off the bus must travel over this section, stop at the little store, make a turn (all on this ice) and then return the other way.  Meantime, parents need to drive, make a turn onto the main road and again at the store (all on this ice).

I am hoping that my mentioning how the bus needs to maneuver helped nudge the person I was talking to…  but she sounded really tired.

I know they are doing their best, trying to get the most traveled, MOST hazardous sections sanded or de-iced…  but over 100 families live in our little corner, many of them with children who are riding the bus!

Not to kvetch too much, but it does seem that school could have continued on Wednesday when there was just a little snow…  and canceled today when the driving is actually dangerous!

And I fear for some of my plants.  It got down well into the teens (Fahrenheit) last night.  It was already back up to about -7 C when we woke up this morning.  If it stays below freezing and doesn’t do much freeze-thaw-freeze it will be better than if things warm up and then get cold again.  As it is, some plants will be nipped back just a little — the witch hazel, for example, so pretty last week now has dried-out blooms — others won’t make it at all.  I suspect the hanging plant on the arbor at the corner of the house is lost.  Hope the dahlias are deep enough to make it (didn’t dig them in November because it was so wet), hope the fruit trees weren’t starting to bud.

Still, we’ll keep an optimistic view…  plants that don’t make it can be replaced!  I sense a major shopping expedition in my future.  Quickly snagging all the plant catalogs that arrived in the last month…

I put off writing to this blog for a few days because Tom is migrating all our files to our new domain host. The old one had rotten tech support.

You can see a few posts at stidmama.blogspot.com for the days that I wasn’t posting here.

Check them out for pictures of the garden, and a couple smaller updates.

Yesterday, Lucky managed to drive one of his toenails through the back of my heel, creating a neat puncture wound. It hurt like the dickens yesterday, and is still tender, but quite manageable. I am going to zip into town briefly this afternoon to get a tetanus shot, just to be on the safe side. Meantime, no shoes with heels for a little while!

We are dealing today with a snow day — for a relatively small amount of snow. I wish they had simply delayed school today, because it looks like tomorrow the roads will be truly impassable. So no music lesson for the elder, no rehearsal or TaeKwonDo for the younger.

So, here are six pics from today. In order: the cars, the witchhazel, Tom on his computer, the elder boy in his den, Lucky waiting to play, and the younger doing research for his role.

Note that the younger boy is in a play about Chicago gangsters during prohibition, so his research consists of old films and newer films that spoof the films of the era. This pic he is watching Ziegfeld Follies made in 1946, a variety show based on the vaudeville era. It has singing and dancing similar to those in the play, Bugsy Malone Jr. in which he will be playing the role of “Fat Sam.”

I am making good progress toward getting my space pulled together.

Here is my desk, with the chairs uncovered by clutter and slip-covered with bits of fabric I had laying around. Perhaps I should clarify… the red chair is obviously a throne, for the Princess Buffy!

What appears to be clutter to the right of the desk is actually organized sewing and craft supplies.  I know pretty much everything in those cubbies, and review them periodically to expunge the no-longer-useful-to-me…

Below is a better picture of my old easy chair, which is great for doing needlework.  Or curling up with a book or a baby …  or a Buffy!

… and yes that is the shop vac outside.  Needs more emptying action, but my shoulder was not strong enough for me to carry it farther.  It made a funny sound like a pop while I was using it, then an acrid smell of ozone.  Really really hoping it didn’t fry something important!