This morning, at 7:48 a.m., Mama Cardinal was having her breakfast with some of her birdie friends.
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Later on this morning, at 10:21 a.m., after hearing the rave reviews about the food at the feeder, Papa Cardinal stopped by.
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Saturday, January 29, 2011 - It's not supposed to be as cold today, and I have proof of that because the birdies have finally returned to the feeders out front.

When it's really cold, they're nowhere to be seen. It's kind of weird. Like, where do they go?? Is it the same place that the boxelder bugs hide? hmmm

Hopefully, this cold weather is getting rid of some of the mosquitoes and lady bugs. That would be nice. see ya later, djb

It's now 9 degrees BELOW zero at 7 a.m. Big brrrrrrrrrrr
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Friday, January 21, 2011 - Every time I look at the indoor - outdoor thermometer it goes down another degree.

I'm not going to look at it any more. This is just too much. Another good reason the snowbirds go south for the winter.

brrrrrrrrrrrr, djb

See that MINUS sign before the 8. Yeah, that's 8 BELOW zero.
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Friday, January 21, 2011 - Last night, I called Granny about 8:15 and I always give her the temperature report. At that time, it was 17 degrees. For some reason, I decided to check it again at 8:50, and it had plunged 13 degrees in about half an hour!

Do the math: that means it was 4 degrees here. That's not the end of it. By the time we hung up close to 9 p.m., it had dropped another degree. It was 3 degrees. Of course, it was still ABOVE zero at that time.

When I got up this morning, it was 7 below zero. After a while, I checked again and it had dropped to 8 BELOW zero. That's really, really cold!!! No, that's brutal.

Stay warm out there, kiddies. brrrrrrrr, djb

Here's the driveway yesterday afternoon. It took me almost 3 hours to get to this point with a little help from my friend. The snow that's still on there is frozen for life or until we get above freezing.
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - Happy Wolf Moon!

On Monday, we had snow for most of the day, but then in the afternoon, it turned into sleet, then freezing rain and finally back to snow. It was an unbelievable frozen mess.

I didn't shovel on Monday because when I went out to get the papers, I got totally covered in snow and decided to wait for it to abate. Well, that never did happen until Tuesday morning. When Bob got home Monday night, it was raining on top of the snow. Strange and bizarre.

On Tuesday at 8 a.m, I started shoveling the driveway -- that lasted for about an hour and twenty minutes and then, I just started crying and I couldn't stop. boo hoo.

It was exhausting work and the snow was so HEAVY (heart attack snow) but I couldn't quit because I knew that if I didn't get the snow off, it would freeze into ugly ice ridges.

As it was, the car tires made six separate places where the snow was mushed down and unmovable by shovel or machine. That's what pushed me over the edge -- every time I'd try to move the snow, I'd hit a barrier and was stopped short. I couldn't get any momentum going.

Plus, I felt woozy because I hadn't eaten any breakfast. Then, right in the midst of my mental breakdown, I heard the voice of an angel. My neighbor, Steve, asked me if I wanted him to finish getting the rest of the snow off with his snowblower.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!! Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

It was a miracle in Elburn. But even Steve's snowblower couldn't move the packed down snow in the middle of the driveway. Next time, I'll just go out and shovel in the snow storm and get wet and cold. It couldn't be as bad as this was.

....and now, we're headed for BELOW zero in the next few days. I wonder if I'll hear any wolves howling outside??? snow flake ya later, djb

That's not fog, that's snowy snow flakes snowing and covering the road and hiding the trees and critter footprints.
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Monday, January 17, 2011 - When it gets nice outside, I'll be able to take a good picture of Gene's house across the street. You can just barely see the edge of his roof on the left hand side.

On Saturday, he started to get new siding put on his house. It's exactly the color that I want to get. I can't wait to see how it looks. It seems as though a lot of people out here who built their houses back in the 1970's are thinking of updating.

I came up with that idea last summer but didn't feel like having to be here for a month while it was being completed. Now I'm thinking, we could probably just get re-sided first and put the new windows on later. That's a great idea!

It's time to check on the weather report. snow ya later, djb

The driveway this morning at 9:51 a.m. CST after I did a quick shoveling of the errant snow earlier. You can see that it is Garbage Day!
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The driveway last night at 5:49 p.m. CST - two hours and 19 minutes after I finished shoveling. Yeah, that's MORE snow on it!
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Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - So, after I finished putting the photo of my special carrots on here yesterday, I went out and shoveled the driveway for one and a half hours (1-2:30).

My legs were getting kind of wobbly so I came in for a break. Decided to call Bergs and tell them that we had snow (plus I needed to put up my feet for a few minutes).

Granny said that it was a bit chilly down there -- only 72 degrees. Say what? We'd love that. It was in the 20's here. Could've been colder but it was cold enough since I couldn't feel my fingers any more.

At 3, I went back out and finished up -- that took until 3:30. Of course, it kept snowing and the picture up above shows what happened to the freshly shoveled driveway. yikes!!

This morning, when I went out before 7 to clear a path to the road to take out the garbage can and recyclable bin, I went berserk and shoveled most of the driveway again!! This time, I had to come back in before I finished it all because I really couldn't feel my fingers. It was around 18 degrees.

I did what you're not supposed to do -- I ran HOT water over them to try and unfreeze them. Then, they tingled because they were getting close to frostbite. And I wear two pairs of gloves (really, really warm gloves) so I don't know why my hands always get so cold???

Anywho, it's exciting to have snow once again but now the sun is shining so I have to wear my sunglasses in the house. That's SOOOOO weird. snow and ice ya later, djb

This is the twin-flame carrot that I had for lunch. It tasted really good!
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Tuesday - 1-11-11 - When I grabbed this carrot out of the bag yesterday, I knew that I'd have to take a picture of it but I didn't know that right after the photo session, I'd eat it, and it would taste fabulous. yummm

I need a lot of energy because I'm going to have to go outside and shovel the driveway. They're saying we have 3 inches of snow. Hard to say until I get out there but it's so pretty, and I'm extremely thankful that the ugly grass is now covered once again! snow ya later, djb

A picture of snow and snowy boys and a blue plastic swimming pool! They sure had lots of fun in the snow as you can see.
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Friday, January 7, 2011 - One of the reasons that I love snow on the ground so much is that I can see the tracks of the wild animals that romp around in our yard. That's so cool.

When I look at this picture up close, I can see that evergreen tree in the back right -- it's now about 20 feet tall. Wow! see ya later, djb

Here's the boys' gravestone today on Jarrett's birthday. I got him some colorful flowers and two balloons.
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Monday, January 3, 2011 - All of sudden, I realized that I hadn't planned my photo op for Jarrett's birthday. So, when I went into town, I got him a star balloon and a smiley face balloon with the colorful flowers added for an extra bonus.

I'm trying really hard not to cry because it makes my eye red and causes me problems but it does help to hear from so many wonderful people who loved him. If you read this and you remembered Jarrett, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

With appreciation and love, djb

Here's me holding baby Jarrett almost 23 years ago- January 1988
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Saturday, January 1, 2010 - Happy New Year! I was getting ready to turn off the computer when I realized that I didn't write anything today on the FIRST day of the year. oops!

It was frigid and brutally cold here today. In Florida, it hit 80 degrees at Berg's house for a short moment. Hurray, the warm weather is back in Fla.

Nighty night. It's about 13 degrees here. With the wind chill, I think it's 100 below zero. brrrrrr bye, djb