Welcome to My World

Highway to Hell-Video

This was filmed on the highway that I can see from my house.

It was filmed 3 days after the storm, so imagine what those first 3 days were like. 

     To say that life has been interesting in my "neck of the woods" lately, is an understatement. We were right in the middle of the Blizzard of 2014. For us, it started last Saturday night. The weather reports were constant and scary. We actually brought our son from his apartment to our house to stay, just so he wouldn't end up trapped alone if all the "bad stuff" actually happened, and it did. Once the snow started, it simply would not stop. In our small town, we had 12.2 inches on top of a few inches already on the ground. That is the most snow I have seen fall since the 70's, but it certainly wasn't the worst of the problems. By Sunday, we had high winds along with the snow and the conditions were a complete white out. We can actually see the junction of two interstates from our back yard and at first, traffic was just moving slowly and we could see cars and trucks spinning and sliding off the road.  Soon, we couldn't see the interstate at all. Reports were coming in of people stranded in their cars and semi-trucks were causing accidents all over the state...and the temperature started dropping.

     By Monday morning, our wind chill was -43. Everything in town was closed (except for the power company where my husband works and a few truck stops). There were people still stranded in their cars after 14 hours, they could not be reached by emergency crews and a "no tow truck" order was issued. The semi-trucks that could move on the interstate were trying to get off into our town, which is very much prepared for truckers. We have several truck stops, but every one of them was full. All of the parking lots in town were completely filled with semis, the interstate exits were backed up for miles with semi-trucks and they lined the streets all over town. I have never seen anything like this. Our son works at a factory and it was closed on Monday, but Tuesday morning (wind chill -33) we ventured out to take him to work. The roads in town were icy but it was possible to drive on them. I road along with my husband to see the trucks and it was seriously like being in the Twilight Zone. They were everywhere, hundreds and hundreds of semi-trucks in every space in town and lining all the city streets. The interstate was still solid ice and what little traffic there was, moved slowly if they were moving at all. 

     We didn't get mail until Wednesday. School has been closed all week. The grocery stores did not get any fresh food until Wednesday and the shelves were emptied by Saturday night. Everything is still snow covered with drifts several feet tall. The roads are still icy and slick but travel is finally getting better. I caught a bad bug on New Year's Eve and was in bed for several days before this happened, so when I finally left my house last night to go to the grocery store...I had been in here 9 days, other than my brief car ride on Tuesday morning. Cabin Fever!!

     Amazingly enough, there were no fatal accidents that I have heard of. There were a few power outages, but they were handled fairly quickly and the police, fire, utility and city workers did an amazing job of keeping people safe, warm and fed. Central Illinois is certainly prepared for winter weather, but when you get the heavy snow, high winds and sub-zero temperatures all at once, there is simply no way to keep up with the problems. It has been a very interesting and sometimes frightening week and as things are beginning to melt today...we are all breathing a sigh of relief. 

     Did the storm get to your house? How is your cabin fever?

This and That...

 

     I hadn't shown you Zoe in a while...she is now officially the most spoiled dog ever. She is 20 months old. She can tell time (snack time 10:00 a.m. and dinner at 5:00 p.m.) and will certainly let you know if you are 10 minutes late. She is very good getting her weekly bath, but still tries to escape when she sees me bring in the towels. She talks...a little whimper cry and she is trying to tell you she wants out, needs water or has a biscuit stuck in her mouth! She also chews every shoe she can get near, gets in my purse and takes things out and will grab a towel off the kitchen counter and run with it. Nothing is really safe...I hope she eventually tires of that "game".

 

     We had two nests this year and this little one eventually ended up in the back yard for a few days. At first we thought she was injured, but she was just trying her wings. I love watching them go from egg to baby to out on their own.

 

     I hope that some of you had a nice holiday weekend. Illinois has turned into a rain forest this year. It rained every day of the weekend and is still rainy today. We had no time outdoors at all, no patio, no sitting near the fire pit...it didn't feel like a holiday weekend at all. We are having a garage sale next Saturday, so we did get things ready for that. Of course, it is supposed to rain all week and most of next weekend too, so that may be a really fun garage sale.

 

    For those of you of my generation that were fans of Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty has a new album out today that I bought immediately. He has taken many familiar songs and redone them as duets with friends and artists he admires. I already love it. Wrote a Song for Everyone, has Proud Mary with Jennifer Hudson, Fortunate Son with the Foo Fighters, Bad Moon Rising with the Zac Brown Band and so many more great pairings. This wasn't a requested review, just an album I knew I'd like and I do. I bought this one myself.

     A few weeks ago I won a prize from Jacqueline @ Purple Chocolate Home for my cheesecake recipe using Sara Lee Pound Cake. Jacqueline (who is a fabulous cook) honored me by making my recipe and putting it on her blog today. She changed it up by topping it with chocolate instead my usual fruit topping...either way, it is a killer cheesecake if I do say so myself. Stop by Purple Chocolate Home for the recipe.

 

     So, what is happening in your part of the world this week? I hope you have sunshine and are enjoying being outside!

    

 

Midwest Confusion

As I write this Tuesday evening,

it is still 64 degrees after a high today of 68.

Wednesday we are going to get into the 70's.

These pictures are what we woke up to yesterday.

Enough said.

Please enter my GIVEAWAY!

Click Here!

I am joining Susan at A Southern Daydreamer

for Outdoor Wednesday.

Please visit our hostess!

Wild Weather Weekend-Small Project

Don't let those sweet smiles fool you!

     It was a very strange weekend in my part of the world. In fact, I don't really remember ever having such strange weather. We had our grandsons here for the weekend. We were supposed to pick them up late Friday afternoon about 30 miles from here, but after watching the weather reports...we met their mother at noon, thank goodness.

     I actually took this picture Sunday morning, just a reminder of what happened here on Friday night. When my husband got home from work just before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, there was a slight mist in the air. When he stepped out on our deck about 15 minutes later to take one of the dogs out...he almost fell it was so slick. Within a matter of minutes, our area was a sheet of ice. They say that we had more than 100 accidents and because I live where 2 interstates meet, many of those accidents involved semi-trucks. We can actually see the interstate in the distance from our home and traffic was stopped completely for around 7 hours. It was one huge parking lot, can you imagine? I understand that the truckers were letting people into their trucks to stay warm. Every road in and out of our town was blocked by an accident. We only left the house to pick up my son, which we would never have done if his kids hadn't been here. It was a nightmare. Saturday was still very icy and yesterday...we woke to heavy fog and black ice. The roads were clear when we returned the boys, but the fog was thick. Last night, we warmed up to 52 degrees, the fog was horrible and huge thunderstorms passed through. What is up with this weather??

     I only worked on one tiny little project last week. For many years I have had a datebook calendar on my desk. I walk past the calendar shops in the mall and while I may drool over the lighthouses, beach photos and florals...a datebook has always been more practical for me. Until I became puppy obsessed this year...

     Who could pass this up? The pictures are so cute and with a new puppy in the house, well I gave in to temptation. Of course I didn't think about having no where to put it when I got it home. I can't keep a calendar this size on my desk and since putting the stainless appliances in the kitchen, I'm just not into putting things on the front of the frig anymore. I had a wall in the kitchen with nothing on it, but I couldn't imagine just putting a nail in the wall and hanging the calendar, so I tried to think of some way to hang it where it would still be easy to write on, yet not look terribly tacky!

     I saw some small bulletin boards from Ballard Designs, for around $70. Well, that wasn't in my budget. I had a small bulletin board in my closet, so I pulled it out, gave it a quick coat of paint and added a few felt circles to "dress it up" a little bit. I knew it wasn't really going to show once the calendar was hanging. It isn't ideal, but I do get to see my puppy pictures...the felt circles add a finished look that I wouldn't have if I just stuck the calendar on the wall and my refrigerator still has nothing on the front of it. Sometimes you just have to make it work! Money spent...$0.

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

for Met Monday. Please visit our hostess!

Snow in 49 States Today...Let's All Go To Florida!

I'm joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday