Well, well, well. 

Excuse me while I kick the wheels and test the brakes.  Get comfortable in the driver's seat.  A few things have changed. The important ones are still the same. Rock solid.

Hope you're all well.  

I'm back! 

These are the times that try mens souls ....

The weather forecast for Friday - Sunday: SNOW.  

snow.

snow.

(whimper)

I know - it won't last long. But the chives are even up!  Or at least they've reappeared as the snow has melted and receded. The peonies are up - the iris - the columbine - and the POPPIES!  Birds are starting to sing - the Cooper's Hawk is back on campus - squirrels are chasing each other.  It's SPRING, I tell you!  SPRING!

Plus it's flooding season.  Looks like it'll hit here next week.

Good luck, Everyone!

Curiosity Lands on MARS!!!!

Whoda thunk it????!!!!!!!!

Thank you, NASA scientists, for your patience and brilliance!  Thanks, TaxPayers, for the experience! 

Congratulations, Earth!

An Atypical North Dakota Day!

We are under some kind of a witches brew of heat, humidity, and drought.  In town, it's uncomfortable and a nuisance, hauling water out to the garden, having to wear shoes because the grass is so scratchy, but people out in the country must really be hurting.  Full sun beats down out there plus the winds ... everything is more in rural areas - more fun, more open, more sky, more land, more wind, more 'not-rain'. 

BUT the good thing is that this is July.  August is a better month up here.  Typically, nights will cool back into the 50's.  And then I won't feel so foolish knitting on my wool socks or shawls or blankets! 

And then there's always February.  Not the coldest month up here but surely the most emotionally demanding.  January is the coldest but it's January and there is so much going on in January, including getting the seed catalogs.  March isn't really Spring but the sun is getting a little stronger and lasts a little longer.  February, though, is cold and dark.  Except for Valentine's Day when everyone who touches My World that day gets a kiss - a Hershey's Kiss!  (Everyone deserves a kiss on Valentine's Day.)  But the rest of the month is difficult; there's no novelty in snow or wind or snowsnakes or ice or just about anything else that's Winter. 

Today's blinding sun and heat is shifting into perspective. 

In the meantime, no Hershey Kisses today. It's hot.  And tomorrow I'm going to play with a bunch of fiber friends and learn how to drum card, flick card, comb, and blend fibers.  I'll make my 4-bean casserole today, refrigerate overnight then take it and warm it in the crockpot tomorrow.  Always better the next day.

Stay cool!

A Perfect North Dakota Day!

Today is perfect.  80' - low humidity - a nice breeze - gorgeous!  Bright and sunny, too.  Coolish night coming up but safely above freezing.  The perfect backdrop for a good life.

Small Dog Alert!

It's so windy in Fargo this morning that the radio station KFGO has called a 'small dog alert'. hahahaha.

Five minute day!

I didn't think we GOT five minute days down here. Five minute day as in we got an extra five minutes of daylight today. Amazing.

It's not noon and it's still mid-March, yet it's 65' outside. And humid. Ick! I had the windows open until I realized this place was getting positively soggy. Just not used to humidity here!

A batch of oatmeal/raisin cookies in the oven. I've been meaning to bake them for weeks now. The secret? I'm supposed to be cleaning the play room. Baking cookies won out. Interesting how that works.

Tulips are up - some perennials are creeping up, including lots of iris. Someone yesterday said they saw trees budding out. oh-oh. Someone in Bismarck mentioned snow in the forecast. Guess I'll spend a few evenings covering up plants. That's a minor payment for the great weather we've had so far.

Amazing!

ps - finished Jane Eyre. Now I'm on to Kidnapped. WWDD?