It's been a while since my last post

A lot has happened since my last post.  I spent the last 2 weeks of January recouping from the stomach flu.  Oh boy did that sap my strength.  Then on Jan 31st my youngest brother passed away after a short illness.  I flew back to upstate NY to be with my older brother and the family and spent two weeks there.  The weather for the month of February was very uncooperative and winter came there with extreme cold weather for the eastern coast with storms blowing thru leaving much snow and cold Minnesota weather the full two weeks I was there.  On my return home another storm hit the central states bringing Icy, Cold & wet weather with lots of snow...  I had flight cancellations both going and coming home and even had to spend a night at my friend Sally's house before I left and on my way home I spent a night in DC due to the Weather. When I finally was able to fly into Knoxville I was met with a frozen landscape, the trees heavy laden with Ice, and the roads treacherous.

A Wintry Scene of  Icy Trees &  A Snow covered Fireplace

I spent the night at Sally's house again and with the threat of frigid weather and frozen pipes I was able to make it down her hill and get home the next day before more snow came... the Temps went very low that night and I was fearful about possible frozen pipes.  I let my faucets drip thru the night and most of the next day and did not have a problem but my neighbor wasn't as lucky.

I arrived home to my humble abode greeted by my bare Christmas tree and 3 boxes of ornaments yet to be packed away, 3 wreaths sitting on the floor in front of my desk and my kitchen table piled high with paperwork needing to be sorted and put away!  Just like I had left it... Oh well. The next week was followed by more Cold and Snow.

Happy Sunday Morning - Sunshine and Blue Skies

Today holds the promise of a new day.  The sun is out and shining brightly on last weeks snow and the skies area a shade of light blue the thermometer on my computer screen reads 5 degrees.  Yes it is cold here in Wisconsin today. Each morning I look out my bathroom window as I do my exercises to see how the weather is, (see the picture below for the view from my bathroom window.)  The snow mounds in my back yard, (put there by the fellow who plows our road and driveways here at Heritage Cottages,) are covered in clean white snow and the small tree that was burdened with the heavy snow is now only lightly coated thanks to the whipping winds that come off of highway 35 as the cars travel 2 and from their destinations.  The Pines that line the edge of the property also are still covered in heavy snow giving them a "Post Card" look.  There are no deer or rabbit tracks in the snow today - it's just too cold. Boy! those animals are smart - they are staying under deep cover where they can be warm and dry.  That's OK the stalks from my flower bushes along side my patio are covered fully now with over 3' of snow on them due to the drifts of snow.  My Patio furniture and grill are huddling under a tarp that looks like a snow drift itself.   I just love it when it is this clean and white outside, don't you?  Here are the pictures taken on Thursday when we had blizzard like snowfall all day.

The View from my bathroom window 

The view from my Kitchen Window