Blizzard 2010

We got hit with a monster blizzard on Sunday and we're still dealing with it. It's going to be a while before we get back to normal around here.

This is my neighbor's little convertible and you can see my white Murano on the other side of the street. I got smart this time around and remembered to park on the left side of the street so as not to be buried when the plow came through.

This is the view to the right of my house.

In the next two pictures, we are 3 hours into the storm. Already you can see a huge difference.

My tree was bending beneath the weight of the snow.

In the morning, we surveyed the damage. It took some force to even get my door opened.

Look at the drift down at the bottom of my stairs near my garbage pail. Can you also see the big drift in the middle of the street?

Here's a closer look at the drifts. We had 50 mile per hour wind gusts which created these drifts. One good thing about the wind was it blew nearly all the snow off my car. Only a little bit remained on the back of my car.

Oh my poor tree!

Raven and Gizmo checking out the scenery. I love the way their tails are curled towards each other.

Everybody wanted to investigate, from Gizmo to Raven to Shave to Dusty. Jim made the joke we shouldn't let Bluebell out because he'd blend in with the snow and we'd lose him. (Bluebell is a pure white persian kitty.)

And the total is....

This is the carnage after the storm and the plow barreling down the block. Notice the wall of snow on the left side of the yellow convertible; it's nearly as high as the car itself. I feel sorry for that poor guy. He's gonna be there forever digging out. Wasn't I smart parking on the other side? LOL Yay for me!

So now we wait until the big thaw. Thankfully, it's supposed to be near 50 degrees come the weekend. Perhaps some of this will melt.

Ice Nativity

As promised, here are the pictures of the second part of the Ice exhibit. This angel was enormous.

My boys give you some perspective as to how large this angel really was.

Here is the beginning of the Nativity.

Isn't this beautiful?

We'd just exited the cold part of the exhibit which lead us right into a room where we could purchase merchandise. Look at how red Logan's face is from the cold. I had to wait a while for my camera to unfog itself after being in that extreme cold.

Guess this nutcracker was in the mood for a snack. He seems to be taking a bit out of my kid.

So, there's a small sampling of the Ice! attraction. Hope you enjoyed it.

Ice!

Hi, friends!

Here are some more pictures from our vacation to Orlando. We went to an exhibit at the Gaylord Palms hotel. They do an amazing display using ice. If you are ever down in Orlando during this time of year, I suggest you take in this attraction.

Visitors are given heavy coats because it's a mere 9 degrees in the exhibit. We've been to this before but Spiro hadn't so we decided to go again. We were also in for a treat as it was a different theme from the last time we went. This year was The Night Before Christmas. It was just wonderful to see the story told in wonderfully colored - kind of Dr. Suess-y scenes.

See, those are the coats they gave us. Our cheeks and hands were numb after a while. Our noses were running from the cold, too. Luckily, they had tissue boxes placed here and there to take care of those runny noses.

Can you believe all of this is made out of ice? It was amazing!

They even had ice slides. After some coaxing, we managed to get Spiro to take a run down the chute but, disappointingly, my picture was too blurry.

Spiro is making friends with a reindeer here.

After we left this part of the exhibit it transitioned to a Nativity scene which was just breathtaking. I'll post pictures of those later.

Bye for now.

There be gators!

Did you know gators eat hotdogs? Neither did I. While we were in Orlando on vacation we went to play miniature golf where they offered the opportunity to feed gators for a small extra charge. For $4.95, they gave us a ziplock filled with cut up hotdogs. We were given sticks with string attached to them. On the end of the rope there was a plastic piece we pierced the hotdogs with. We were then able to dangle the hotdogs over the gator enclosure. It didn't take long for them to come and get it. It was like ringing the dinner bell. Here a gator got his share of the hotdogs.

A bunch of gators were sunning themselves here.

After our supply of hotdogs ran out, for another small charge we were able to hold a gator and take our own pictures.

This was a first for Spiro. He was all smiles holding his new "friend".

Jim was all smiles as well. I also had an opportunity to hold the juvenile gator. I know they are cold blooded but I was still surprised at how cold the gator felt in my hands. And the underbelly was very soft.

Logan also bought a bag of gemstones which he got to mine using a sluicing technique you can see behind Jim. We had a nice time at this miniature golf attraction and learned hotdogs are on a gator's menu. Who knew?

Up Up and Away!

Well, hello bloggerville!

It's been a while since my last post. A lot has happened in that time span. We had Thanksgiving which was a whirlwind of cooking and eating. I have pictures of that day on one of the cameras but don't ask me which. I'll get them posted eventually. Suffice it to say, everyone had a great meal.

We also went on vacation during my absence. Our annual trip to Orlando, Florida was fun, as usual. We had a good time even if the weather was on the cool side. Some would even say it was downright frigid but I was ok with 39 degree weather.

My stepdad came with us this year, a first for him. I think he had a really great time. We tried to show him a good time by giving him the chance to do and see things he's never done before.

Here Logan and Spiro are taking off in a helicopter tour over the heart of Orlando. I thought, for sure, Spiro would chicken out but he surprised all of us and got on the helicopter. He came off all smiles so I guess he had a good time. It was sunset as you can see from the picture and according to them, it was the perfect time of day to take the tour.

Logan had done this helicopter tour a few years ago but he wanted to do it again with his Grandpa. I'm glad we were able to let them make a memory together. I know neither will forget this vacation.

Later, folks. Have a great day!

Weekend shots 11/20-21

Hi, everyone.

This was a kitty weekend for sure. Raven went to the clinic for spaying on Saturday. She came through the surgery just fine and was bouncing around that same night. She's got a shaved belly but her incision is already healing nicely.

Here's a picture of Jim and Gizmo taking a little nap yesterday afternoon. Cute, right?
Saturday night, we had our monthly gamenight. As usual, we had a great time. We had a new addition to our group. Lisa, a fabulous cat groomer, joined our group for the first time. In this picture, she was giving Gizmo a neck massage and he was just in his glory. Can you tell he was enjoying it? I'd never seen this done with a cat before but, boy, did he love it. If you live in the NY area and need your pet groomed (she does doggies, too) leave me a message and I'll give you Lisa's number. I highly recommend her.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, I took both Dusty and Bluebell to Lisa so she could groom them. They are both long haired kitties so they were in need of a little maintenance.

Here is my poor little Bluebell. He had a more than a few tangles in his long white, persian coat so rather than put him through the pain of trying to brush them out, Lisa, the groomer, suggested we give him what is called the Lion Cut. She did a great job of shaving him down. She was so gentle with both of my furbabies. She even gave Blue a bath- his first ever! He looks so tiny now without his long coat of fluff. What's funny is, Gizmo didn't seem to recognize him when we brought him home after his haircut. To tell you the truth, I, too, am having trouble recognizing my fluffball since he's no longer a fluffball.

The good news is his hair will grow back in a few months and he'll go back to looking like my persian fluffball but in the meantime, I won't have white tumbleweeds rolling across my hardwood floors. LOL

Have a great day!

What a difference a day or two makes

Happy Wednesday!

Remember this tree from Monday's post? Remember how filled its branches were with bright, brilliant yellow leaves? Quite different now, huh? It's amazing how quickly it changed. While I'm a little saddened by the loss of such beauty, I know it's only temporary. In a few months that tree will start the cycle again and fill my world with renewed life and color.

Here's hoping your day is filled with beauty and color!

Weekend shots 11/13-14

We went out to Long Island to an animal shelter to take Raven in for shots and pre-spaying bloodwork. On the way back, we got stuck at a light and this gorgeous cluster of bushes was on my right. I just had to take a picture of it. It was such a deep red - deeper than the picture shows and it bordered the whole property line of the house behind it. This shot was taken while we were driving by at 50 miles per hour. I saw a few swans in the bay so I just put my camera up and hoped for the best. I didn't expect to get a picture of even one of them but there it is. You can just make out the white swan.

Math Project Grade

Hi, everyone.

This is just a quick post to let you know Logan received a grade of 98 on the Interesting Interest math project.

It would seem the teacher deducted 2 points because he didn't show how he rounded up the dollar amounts. On the other hand, she and the class were blown away by the colorful background.

Oh well, 98 ain't too shabby, right? LOL

Math Project

Here is Logan's latest math project. They've been learning about interest on a loan. We worked on this last night and he brought it into school today.

We originally just glued the chipboard letters on but then I thought the better of it and decided to brad them to the oak tag to ensure they would stay put. I also used foam strips to elevate the work pages and give it some added dimension.

Can you tell I took this picture in the car this morning as we were leaving for school? The first picture of the project was taken on the street asphalt. I remembered this time to take a picture before he brought it into school. It never comes home looking the same as it did when he brought it in so I never get pictures of his projects. I got it right this time. Guess my brain was working for a change.

I hope this kid of mine not only appreciates my help but that he gets a good grade on this since I used a lot of scrappy supplies on it! But then again, now I have an excuse to go to Michael's, right? After all, I have to replace my chipboard letters and brads, don't I? Come on people, agree with me!!!