Thursday Thankfulness

It’s mid-afternoon and I’m finally getting around to posting for Thankful Thursday over at Brian’s Home. The remnants of last weekend’s Winter Storm Gia can still be seen, but temps have risen a bit and some melting has begun. We can now see the extent of the tree damage due to the heavy snow. Our town clocked in at about 20 inches when it was all said and done.

There are a lot of things I’m thankful for since last Saturday. First is that Entrepreneur and I are able to work from home so we weren’t on the roads when the rain decided to turn to ice and then to snow.

I’m thankful our home is built to withstand a lot of what Mother Nature tries to throw at us during the year. I’m also thankful we have underground utilities so our power was not interrupted.

Our daughter and husband scored tickets to the Chief’s/Colts playoff game in Kansas City (they were a house divided!), and I’m thankful they were able to get out of Dodge and up to a hotel in KC before the roads got too bad. I’m thankful Peanut and Twix were safely under our roof during the snow event so I only had to worry about two people on the road, and not four.

Even though I’m a 60+-year-old Nana and not as embracing of cold weather anymore, I’m thankful to have been able to go outside with my grand girls and play in the snow on Saturday. I’m also thankful I could squeeze (and I do mean squeeeeeeze) into my snow pants from a previous lifetime. 🙂

These are memories that will warm my heart when I’m too old to do this anymore….or they’re too old want to do this anymore with me! But, seriously, who is ever too old to build an igloo or snow lady?

I’m thankful and grateful to all the service industry people who were not fortunate enough to be safely at home during and after the storm. Snow removal, utility repair, hospital staffing, and law enforcement usually don’t have the luxury of sipping hot chocolate while wearing fuzzy slippers during these times.

The weather guessers are now trying to decide if we’re getting hit with snow again this weekend, and how much. I’m thankful for the advance warning, even when they don’t get it completely correct.

Linking up with Thankful Thursday over at Brian’s Home.

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Winter’s enchantment

Last weekend, winter finally hit with a vengeance. A week earlier, we were playing outside in 60F weather. I noticed a few daffodil sprouts peeking though the mulch. I sat outside and read a magazine.

Friday changed all that. It began as rain but became obvious by 4pm that getting off the road as quickly as possible would be the primary order of business.

By Saturday morning, we woke up to winter. All 18 inches of it. Winter storm Gia was making her appearance known.

The first fall of snow is not only an event but it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, where is it to be found? ~J. B. Priestly

Yes, at 7am it was an enchanting site. Snow, slowly and silently falling in the early morning hours, was blanketing everything with newness.

The wind crooned softly as it dusted the snow against the windows, wrapping them in a thick and fluffy cotton blanket.
~Soheir Khashoggi, Nadia’s Song

The snow doesn’t give a soft white damn whom it touches.
~E.E. Cummings

A snow plow had already made it through our subdivision, but Mother Nature was quickly reclaiming the street. For a short time, it seemed like we were suspended in time.

Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.
~Vesta M. Kelly

And, boy oh boy, did they ever stick together! Every cedar and pine tree was literally bowing to the power created by those little snowflakes.

The snow was endless, a heavy blanket on the outdoors; it had a way about it. A beauty. But I knew that, like many things, beauty could be deceiving.
~Cambria Hebert, Whiteout

Beauty is deceiving. As lovely as our winter wonderland appeared, it was not without casualties and fatalities. A number of tree limbs…trees that had survived decades of winter weather….surrendered to the weight of this snow and snapped. Power lines went down and more than 8,000 homes were without power for the majority of the day and night. We were fortunate our power was not interrupted and we were able to comfortably shelter in place during the worst of it. My heart went out to those not so fortunate, and to those working to clear roads and restore power.

The latest leaves are shaken from the oaks and alders; the snow-laden pines, with drooping boughs, look like barbed arrows aimed at the sky
~John Muir, Yosemite in Winter

It was truly an awesome site. And just another one of nature’s reminders that we are really not in control of anything.

Hope your Tuesday is a happy one. Ours is happier since the temps are rising above freezing the next few days. Just in time for another possible “snow event” next weekend! Blog hopping today with Happy Tuesday at Comedy Plus.

Snowy Awww Monday

Happy Monday! Mom called the groomers and scheduled me  a spa day last Friday. The same Friday that a bunch of white stuff fell from the sky. They finished up with me just in time to hightail it back home before everything got really dicey outside.

This is more snow than I’ve ever seen! Of course, I’m not yet two years old, but I’ve heard the humans tell stories of Snowmageddon back in 2011. My predecessor loved the snow, so I’m doing my best to follow in his pawsteps. Truthfully, it’s not hard to do! This stuff is F.U.N!

However, being a doodle does come with some challenges when it comes to snow. These snow balls that attached themselves to my legs after playing with the littermates (Mom calls them grand girls) were very hard to remove. I had to stay in my special room in the garage with the heat lamp  on until they all melted off before being allowed back in the house. BTW, my special room is awesome. I can go in and out anytime I want and even have a cedar chip filled pillow inside a cozy kennel covered with thick blanket on the top when it’s cold outside. Of course, I prefer being inside with my people, but Mom said I needed a short time out. I think she just didn’t want my help getting out of all of her snow gear.

The white stuff is still on the ground today. Can we go play in it again?! Mom linked me up with Awww Monday over at Comedy Plus. Stay warm today. If you need a heat lamp to get the snow balls off your legs, I’ll be happy to share mine.

Fearfully and wonderfully made

Last month, just before Christmas, a dear friend of mine got promoted to Nana. I’ve watched for more than 20 years as her daughters have grown into beautiful young women with lives of their own. The birth of their first grand girl was cause for celebration and, since the family is so dear to me, I simply couldn’t help myself.

The words just sort of tumbled out of my mouth when I offered to take newborn photos. I quickly cautioned her I was not one of those awesome, professional newborn photographers, but I’d do my best to try and capture her new baby daughter’s first days of life. I later found out she was deeply touched by my offer since the hospital photographer didn’t do a very good job. This was my gift to the family and it warms my heart to be able to give them these moments. Moments that are gone in, seemingly, a split second.

I’m sharing them with you for Thankful Thursday to highlight how awesome and precious life is when we stop and think about what it took for each of us to get here. I swoon every time I see newborn photos and bow in awe to those who do this for a living.

I know just enough to be dangerous. It’s a goal of mine this year to become better at reading light, selecting poses and paying attention to small details in my photography. It’s more trial and error at this point. Will it grow into anything other than a hobby and a favor to those closest to me? Who knows.

For now, hope you enjoy pics of a precious baby girl, born a bit before schedule, but a miracle none-the-less.

The heartbeat of a human fetus begins around three weeks after fertilization. Doctors are able to detect it around 6 weeks.

At 9-10 weeks, the baby sucks his thumb and unique fingerprints form.

At 12 weeks, the end of the first trimester, a baby is completely formed and many body functions are already developed and working.

A baby can hear her mother’s voice while in the womb around 24 weeks.

Around 24 weeks, the lungs are forming substances that will allow him to breathe outside of the womb.

Eyes open and close, and produce tears around 27 weeks.

At eight months, taste preferences develop and she will physically react to loud noises from the “outside.”

In the last nine weeks of pregnancy, a baby’s brain doubles in weight.

A firm hand grasp is seen around 8-9 months.

Women are amazing. When a female fetus is born, she has all the eggs in her ovaries that she’ll have in her lifetime. That means, if you are a woman, when your grandmother carried your mother, you were a tiny egg inside both of them!

The development of a human baby, from embryo to fetus to birth is an amazing process. And, the ability for a baby to successfully live outside the womb as early as 25-30 weeks is changing perceptions on viable fetal development and survival.

There is a reason why the birth of a child is called a “blessed event.” The journey this child took to get here is as fascinating as it is complex.

Sweet dreams baby girl. When you wake up, you’ll move mountains.

For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ~Psalm 139:13-14

Linking up with Brian’s Home and Thankful Thursday.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.
~Joseph Addison

I amend this to include granddaughters as well. There is simply nothing this man would not do (or try to do) for his daughters and grand girls.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and, of course, breaking a few rules.

 

Tuesday’s giggle

This was a sign we saw outside an ice cream store at St. John’s Pass Village and Boardwalk January of 2017. The Pass is a seaside area in Madeira Beach, Florida that has all sorts of unique shops and restaurants. Along with shopping and eating, it also is home to a lot of very aggressive seagulls!

Blog hopping with Sandee for Happy Tuesday over at Comedy Plus. 

Awww Monday: Springuary

It’s January  in middle Missouri….and 65F! Unbelievable. Mom and I have walked two days this week without her having to wear a winter coat. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with time on the patio with a magazine and a game of “incessantly throw the Kong ball.” A bit of day drinking on her part may or may not have been involved as well. I can’t really be sure of what was in her glass. 🙂

The cold doesn’t really bother me, but I can tell Mom is really enjoying this unseasonably warm weather. However, I have heard her mention the words “groomer” and “trimmed up” so I’m not sure my winter coat will stay as wooly and warm as it is today.

Santa brought me a new toy. We call him Foxy. Mom has successfully sewn him up about four times already. Unfortunately, my play time with Foxy is now limited and supervised.

Blog hopping this sunny Springuary day with Comedy Plus and Awww Monday. Hope everyone is having a spectacular  start to the new year. Say hello to all your fur babies for me

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