Ring out the old, Ring in the New

Being that I'm a new blogger this year, I just have to say it's been so much fun! I've enjoyed meeting many new friends from around the country, and learning about how to blog with a couple old friends (your not THAT old. lol!). You've all truly inspired me with your wonderful photography, incredible decorating ideas, gorgeous gardens, touching stories, laugh-out-loud personal experiences and views on life. My gosh there are some GREAT writers out there!

Hopefully you too have many wonderful blogging memories from 2008. Here's wishing you many more in 2009.

Happy New Year!

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right

~Oprah Winfrey

And a fuschia pink sunset photo taken on the same day as the arbor photo

* I took the Arbor photo 3 years ago with an old camera, and though it is not of the greatest quality I still wanted to post it. Unfortunately we didn't decorate our arbor this year. Maybe next Christmas.

Ahhhh ....

Do you hear what I hear? No more Christmas music. Ahhhh ....

But I still have snow pictures left over from before Christmas so I'll share a couple now, a couple later.

This house is located not far from ours and the owners just finished having it resided. I love the color. Since the roads were really messy everyone was going about 20 miles an hour as we drove by, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get this picture. You can see the snow is still falling, perfect against the red colonial. Not only is the house old but they also sell antiques. I've never stopped in but they have the cutest little shop!

And here's my snow dog loving every minute of the white stuff. She has a great nose and managed to sniff out her ball underneath the snow, dig it up, and then bring it to me but not give it to me. Basically she's a big tease! lol! I love my Lily girl!

And then there's Phineas. He became terribly sick last Monday before Christmas, the same day these two photo's were taken. He had been to the vets in the morning since his UTI wasn't clearing up. Dr. Richards wanted to take an x-ray to see if he had any kidney stones, which he didn't. Everything seemed normal enough when we went home but by the time 6:00 pm rolled around his temperature had shot up 4 degrees and he was a very sick boy.

My husband and I rushed him to our vets just before they closed where he was immediately put on an IV, antibiotics, and pain meds. They also did some bloodwork to try to figure out what was going on. As far as we knew he was just battling a Urinary Tract Infection. The next day the vet said Phineas needed to have an ultrasound because the only thing his bloodwork showed was Anemia. The woman who performed the ultrasound had an answer.

The diagnosis: Feline Hemotropic Mycoplasmosis

We'd never heard of it and the vet said it's very uncommon and can be deadly. Later on our vet said if we hadn't brought Phin in when we did, he most likely wouldn't have made it through the night. Since there is no specific test for Mycoplasma they basically have to go by symptoms. It's a parasitic virus that destroys the red blood cells causing the anemia. The cat usually also has a high fever as well as a thickening of the bladder wall causing them to continuously strain in the litter box, mimicking a UTI. Phineas had all these symptoms. Since Phin never goes outside and our dogs are treated for fleas and ticks, our vet seems to think Phineas may have been carrying this virus since he was a kitten, but there is no way to tell.

Looking out at the snow

Once Phineas was diagnosed he was immediately started on Doxycycline of which he must take for 3 weeks. After 2 days on an IV he was allowed to come home on Christmas Eve but I stressed terribly all day Christmas since he didn't seem to be getting any better. Around 7:00 pm he finally turned the corner and wanted to eat. That night he slept on our bed and has been getting better each day since. Unfortunately I think he will carry this virus forever so there is a chance it could reoccur. We are just so thankful we didn't lose him!

I hope you had a wonderful low stress Christmas day!

Let It Snow . . . because I'm going SHOPPING!

You can best believe that's just what I did this morning in the middle of a snow storm ... Shop! So many women are terrified to drive in the snow, but not me. I'm out there! lol! After having 2 mini-vans in a row, buying an All Wheel Drive vehicle 2 summers ago was one of the best thing I've done for myself in years! I used to have 4-wheel drive but not since my oldest daughter was little. I'm making up for lost time!

Behind the mall all this crow wants for Christmas is an easy meal

Needless to say there weren't many shoppers out. Mostly men or couples. There were some women, but nothing like there would have been were it a regular Sunday before Christmas. Last night was an absolute zoo at Barnes and Noble!

So check this guy out. The town our local mall is located in won't let businesses put up temporary signs so these guys get paid to stand outside all day holding a Sale sign. Even in a 15 degree, blinding snow storm. What you can't see is that over behind the next pole is another guy holding a sign too. I hope that job pays well!

This is what it looked like just after I left the mall area. I don't think the heavy stuff will come down for quite a while ; )





Okay, we're much closer to home now and the snow is getting a little bit heavier. You're wearing your seatbelt, right? Don't be scared, I'm a good driver. We still have to pick my daughter up at work so I'll be able to clean some of the ice off my windshield wipers there. Once we get home I'll light a Balsam Fir Village Candle and we can have a cup of vanilla coffee.

Isn't the snow beautiful! THIS is a New England Winter. Makes you all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?

Both Elise and Lily love the snow so this is a natural fit. The snowballs were so bad between Lily's toes she was limping when they came inside.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Looking out our back storm door yesterday morning after Friday/Saturday's storm. Don't worry, most of it is from blowing and drifting. The dogs are always a little perplexed about this and can't figure out why I won't open the door! At this point they have to go out the door in the garage which at times looks the same way, but at least the shovel is right there for me.





And along comes the dogs hero! Yesterday morning he was up at 5:00 am to clear the driveway, the back walkway, and a path for the dogs with the snowthrower, then he shoveled the whole back deck off. It must have been around 5:30 am when I took this picture. After that, he was off to work. If it were me, I would have been in traction!

A little macro of the ice on the door

After my husband left for work I got dressed and took Lily with me for a little ride around the local area in hopes of getting some nice snow pictures. I came up empty. There just wasn't room to pull over on the side of the road without taking my chances someone might slide into me. Another day.


Tomorrow morning I will finally finish all my shopping! Yipee! I only hope school isn't cancelled, again. Yes, I do believe it's going to be a very white Christmas!!!

*I'd like to apologize for being so behind on stopping by other blogs, and acknowledging Awards. I'm trying to catch up but as most of you know, it's a crazy time right now. Thank you for understanding.

I Wish You a Merry Little Christmas

When you wish upon a Star . . .

I know these pictures are large but they are my favorites : )

I found the victorian ornaments at Bombay Co several years ago. They were too expensive to buy before Christmas so I scrambled to get what I could after Christmas when they were 70% off. I still love them. I also love having our tree in colors of pink, gold, rose, soft green, and white.

My husband found the beaded garland recently at TJ Maxx. Luckily he likes shades of rose too!

A special Violin ornament for my younger daughter

'Dear Santa, I really have been a good girl this year '

Barbie graces our presence on Christmas too

Everyone should have a Phin of their own under the tree at Christmas time

Seeing the tree in a new light

How Santa might see things

*Peek-a-boo!

Ice Storm Pictures

There's nothing like a really good storm, and long term loss of power, to get you to clean your refrigerator out, top to bottom. That's just what I did Sunday night when I realized power might be coming back soon (at least I was hopeful it would). And sure enough, back ON it came yesterday (Monday) morning at 5:20 am.

Unfortunately there are still many thousands going without, including my in-laws who just stopped in a short time ago for lunch and a hot shower. They were told this morning it would be sometime tomorrow evening before power is restored. Keep in mind, they live in a development of seniors and one woman is 82, refusing to leave her home. At least they have gas fireplaces to keep warm and they are very good about checking on each other. One gentleman has been good enough to use his generator to power up the neighborhood water pump so they can fill their tubs to wash up with or flush toilets.

As you can see the ice was extremely thick and heavy coated on everything the freezing rain touched. Lucky the roads were fine. Apparently they were just warm enough to keep them from icing up, not to mention the DOT had salted during the night.

*You should be able to click on any picture to view it larger ... I think. lol!

Beautiful, isn't it? It really was. Everything just gleamed from the ice. At the time I took these pictures I had no idea how bad the storm really was. I assumed that since the ice was melting pretty quickly (at least the ice in the sun) the power would be up and running within a few hours. Boy was I wrong!

I had hoped to show the drops of ice and water hitting the weather made pond, though that's not really what this picture conveys. Once I uploaded my photo's I was struck by how pretty the tree and the reflection in the water were.

And this Red Tailed Hawk was hanging out looking for a warm breakfast on a cold morning.

Yes, the birds were definitely hungry! Does anyone else have more Woodpeckers than normal this winter?

Even my weeping Cherry was beautiful

I had just taken this picture a week or two ago . . .

. . . and on Friday morning it looked like this. Can you believe it has bounced right back up again to it's former glory?! I thought it was a gonner.

My next door neighbors Lilac bush and Birch tree

Looking down through my next door neighbors backyard

Andria really wanted to go down to the Sandy Point Discovery Center since it's on the bay. She thought she could take some great pictures there. Elise and I agree'd to go along. Here Elise is walking on the boardwalk that takes you down to the bay. Amazing how many people were there and most had big fancy camera's, like Andria. It was definitely a day for photography!

Unfortunately I had no room left on my memory card and didn't realize it until we were at the bay. I did manage this one picture though. I wish Andria would show me hers!

This is looking out at my neighbors house. The tree landed on top of the trunk of their daughters car, but no damaged was done. A few minutes after I took this photo my husband went out with his chainsaw to cut the tree up while the owner pulled the brush out in back of his house. You probably can't tell but the large limb pulled the power line right off the pole. Today they are still running on a generator, waiting for someone to come hook the line back up. I'd be willing to bet it will be at least 3-4 days before someone comes out to fix it. The power companies aren't even bothering with individual houses at the moment. Their main concern is to work in area's where they can be the most effective, then they will start in on the individual problems.

Looking at the blades of grass really tell the story. I'd never seen individual grass so covered in ice before. And I took this picture 2 days after the storm.

Ahhhh, what a welcome sight to see on Sunday afternoon as I traveled down another road in town .... the same road that brings power to our house! But as it turned out all they were doing were looking for lines that were down so they could report them.

As I passed the truck and looked in at the driver, he was the same guy my husband and I had spoken with the night before on the next road over from ours. He said he and his co-worker had come off a 30 hour shift and now they were on a 14 hour shift. We couldn't express our gratitude enough for all they have done. Not to mention neither of their families had power either.

I'm sure these people were hoping the truck would stop also! You can see the Unitil guys behind me as I had just passed them.

What a sad sight. This tree was probably 150 years old and now they have to take it down. I couldn't tell how much damage it had done to the house but I'm assuming it just broke some windows. They certainly weren't the only ones this happened too, but it must have come as quite a shock when it fell!

Today our local power company, Unitil is still reporting over 9,000 customers without power in NH, while PSNH is reporting over 95,000 customers without power in NH. This is an unprecedented weather event in our little state. One that I hope we won't have to endure again for a looooooong time!

No Power

Hi everyone.

I just wanted to let you know that because of the severe ice storm we experienced here in NH Thursday night into Friday, we have not had any power since around 3:00 am Friday morning. Right now my husband and I are at my friend, Kristine's house, just long enough to shower and iron his clothes for work tomorrow.

We have heard our section of town will be without power for a couple more days. I sure hope that isn't true but I tend to think it is. Luckily we have a wood stove to keep our house warm. Many others are not so fortunate. Our next door nieghbors house was 40 degrees this morning, and some are even colder than that! Brrr....

Just wanted to post a quick update. Gotta run! Thank you Kristine for the internet and the shower! After 3 days it means so much : )

Sharon

A Gentle Snow

Our first snow of the season. Not a very impressive one, but a gentle start.

This is Lily's favorite time of year. She loves, loves, loves the snow! To her it's refreshing, crisp, and invigorating. Wish it made me feel that good!

On the driveway, some freshly covered bunny tracks headed towards the road. Our road is not all that busy however that bunny really takes a risk putting itself out in the open. We still have plenty of Redtailed Hawks in the area.

And one of the regulars who probably is enjoying seeds recently stolen from our bird feeder. He's a healthy looking specimen, don't you think? Darned squirrels.

This morning it was 13 degree's when the girls headed out to school at 7 AM. By Wednesday, 50 degree's and rain. After that, more cold temps and snow in the forecast.

I'll be working at at gorgeous house on the beach all week, which will be a real hardship. lol!