Snowstorm incoming!

Another winter storm is set to blow in late tonight, and this one may very well set some records--for snowfall! 

Readers from more northerly climes, feel free to laugh at me, but I'm excited. Kids are excited. Everyone's excited! There's a very high chance that we're going to get anywhere from 6-10 inches of snow this weekend, and that just never happens around here. 

Our trusted local weather guy shared this photo from our area last night:

Have you seen the big, beautiful halo overhead tonight? These are caused by moonlight passing through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. These thin high clouds often precede incoming storms! Great photo Jessica Yarborough! -Ed Piotrowski WPDE

Not only are we supposed to get quite a bit of snow, but for the first few days of next week temperatures are going to remain way, way below normal. Whatever we end up getting will probably stick around for a while. 

This all is supposed to begin around midnight tonight. I'll be posting photos, of course! Laugh if you want to, but it's going to be a beautiful, rare treat and I'm going to soak up every minute of it. :)

Winter storm approaching

It looks like we're going to get some snow next week, as well as super cold temperatures lasting from Tuesday through Thursday. Some longer range forecasts are also predicting an ice storm next Friday night.

Recurring

It snowed again last night! I can't believe we've had snow two Saturday mornings in a row. We only got about half the amount of last week, but it was still pretty.

Shortly before dawn:

 

Then a couple of hours later when we took a walk...

Apparently January 29th is a good day for snow in South Carolina, because these popped up on my Facebook memories from this day in 2014. We had just adopted George the previous month.

I sure wish Ginger was here to romp in the snow with George again. She's still loved and missed. 

Update: weather and little friends

It's been another cold, cold day at the end of the coldest January this area's seen in a while. There's even some more snow in the forecast this weekend! They say we won't get quite as much as last weekend, but even a dusting is more than we've seen in the past four years. 

Little P. will be thrilled if it snows again. He showed up at school last Monday afternoon telling me about the fun he'd had playing in it on Saturday. He even built a snowman! I'm still waiting for his mom to show me pictures of it.

Two things (besides snow) are new with Little P. this week. 

1. He has a crush on a little girl in his class. He told me about it, in confidence (shhh!), and asked me how he could get the courage to talk to her and tell her he *likes* her. My advice to the young Romeo was to make friends with her just like he would with any other kid in his class. Today he reported that the little girl told him, "P----, you're really smart!" when he knew the answer to something--so it would seem things are going well in that department.

2. Every spring our school district has a "Vocal Star" talent contest with elementary, middle, and high school divisions. All students are welcome to try out. Little P. showed up Tuesday afternoon and told me he'd decided to audition for it! I was pretty surprised when he told me about it. At first he said he didn't know what he wanted to sing, but after an hour in his mom's office, he came back and told me he'd found a song! Hold on to your hats, friends, it's a good one! 

Hahahaha! I have NO IDEA how he picked this, or where he found it, but that's his choice and he's sticking to it. He's learning the lyrics and practicing, and when he comes by my desk and sails into the chorus of:

P: "I'm still standing......."

 

I've taken to jumping in with the:

J: "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!..."

part.

 We do it several times in a row and laugh and laugh. That kid is a hoot! 

Thursday night weather update

 Ways to call in snow, according to my 8-year-old buddy, Little P.:

*Wear your pajamas inside out for a couple of nights.

*Flush ice cubes down the toilet the day before.

*Sleep with a spoon under your bed.

It may be working, because he reported to me this afternoon that he's been doing all of these things, and now the forecast is calling for the possibility of an inch of snow after the ice does its thing. I hope we get a little snow, for his sake. 

In any event, there's a very good chance we could lose power and/or internet access for a couple of days. Not only are we expecting ice and snow, but the nighttime low temperatures are expected to be around 19 degrees (-7.22C) and the highs will struggle to get much above freezing. Whatever cold precipitation we get, won't be going away very fast!

My little family will be just fine. We have gas logs for heat, a gas range for cooking, plenty of food (people and pet), and no need to leave home. If it wasn't so dangerous for the essential workers, I'd even say I'm looking forward to it. Real winter weather is such a rarity in eastern South Carolina! I'm hoping to finally see snow here at our "new" house and "new" neighborhood.

Maybe I should flush some ice down the toilet......or sleep with my pjs inside-out. Little P. is convinced it will work!

Very little white stuff

There's a big winter storm blowing through this part of the country. Almost everyone I know (me included) has had high hopes for a few inches of snow. The forecast was initially for 2 or 3 inches in the Eastern half of South Carolina, but we've only had a few flurries and some freezing rain instead. Aside from rare low temperatures for the next few nights, I think that's about the worst we're going to get from this storm. It's disappointing.

Today is day 5 of my low-sugar diet plan, and let me tell you guys..it hasn't been easy. In fact, it's been much harder than I expected. I usually drink maybe 2 Canada Dry ginger ales in a day (it's our favorite soft drink) as well as having a cookie or scone most days at work, and then there's the sugar that I put in coffee and tea throughout the day. Among other things. I quickly discovered that I've been eating a whole lot more of it than I thought. My cravings haven't been too terrible, but dropping most sugar so abruptly left me with headaches, nausea, and the shakes, even after eating a filling meal of lean protein and vegetables.  Last night it got so bad that I ate 2 tangerines, and immediately felt better. So I've decided to add in some fruit and a few more healthy carbs like oatmeal and brown rice. Hopefully that will solve the problem. I don't mind having to withstand cravings, but feeling sick is something else altogether!

That's life at my house today--very little white stuff, of any kind. Sigh.

Snow!

For those of us that grew up this far south, even a tiny bit of snow is an exciting event. My area got a little over an inch last night, and everyone around here, young and old alike, are celebrating.

These were taken last night, from our front doorstep, while the snow was still coming down.



And these were taken this morning.....




Oak tree glazed with snow and ice.

 

 

Our front yard.

 

 



Backyard sunrise this morning.



 

 



Ice lantern.



 



A bird's nest from last year, hidden away in
a blueberry bush and covered with snow.






Blueberry flower buds.




Snow, buds and sky.



Nestbox on the north side of our house,
with red blooming camellias in the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ginger likes snow!



 Cold hammock.

Cold (and dreaming of snow)

Well, it's finally cold again here in eastern SC. We only had about a week of unseasonably warm weather, followed by a return to our normal winter temperatures. Last night it got down to 25F, the coldest it's been so far this month. The birdbath was solid ice this morning and the birds and squirrels were flocking around the feeders replenishing their energy stores.

Yesterday at work I spoke to a couple driving through (off I-95) on their way back home to Connecticut. They were trying to beat a snowstorm that is headed to the Northeast, and needless to say, they weren't thrilled at the prospect of snow. They smirked when I told them I wished we would get some! But having been deprived of it for most of my life, there's still something special about a snowfall to me. I hope we see a little bit of the white stuff this winter. Spring will be here before we know it!

Of course I took lots of pictures the last few times we got some snow, and I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.

Our side yard.

Every summer, several broods of house sparrows hatch and grow up here.
The nest box is right outside our kitchen window.

This is Charlie. He's a Boykin Spaniel, and was Ginger's best friend when we lived at our last house.
He belonged to our neighbors.

 



GB, Ginger, and Charlie, 2009.

First winter at the new house, 2010. I love this photo.

GB and Ginger.

 

Winter weather (or the lack thereof)

I hope everyone in the northeast is enjoying the snow this weekend. Further south we're being treated to mild, rainy weather that seems more like March than January. I am grateful for the easy winter we've been having (since Gregg can go out and walk and get exercise which is helping his recovery) but I must admit I've been craving a little bit of real winter weather. So much so that I had myself fooled into believing we had snow on the way yesterday!

I was at my Yahoo! homepage and clicked on the weather icon. The forecast showed snow showers for two days with accumulation of up to 5 inches! I got so excited, I called Gregg in to see, and we both were exclaiming how we just couldn't believe we were going to get that much snow! After a full 5 minutes of excitement, I happened to glance at the top of the page....and instead of my default location, we were looking at the forecast for New York City. Sigh. I felt like a real dumbass!

So that's as close to real winter weather as we've gotten here in SC. There is still time, of course, but we're probably not going to see as much snow as we had last year (and all of it together didn't even approach 5 inches!) I envy those of you that have beautiful, snowy winters.

Wordless Wednesday~Winter Walk

Winter Reading, Winter Weather

We are expecting snow again for the next few days! I am so excited...it is really unusual for us to get snow at all....and to have it twice by mid January is almost unheard of! It has been a bitterly cold winter this year. Most nights have been well below freezing, and lots of mornings we've had temps in the low teens. I love it! It's like we're spending a winter further north, and I am enjoying the change.  So far I am not ready for spring yet. I am continuing to rest and dream of what the new year may bring for me.

I have been doing a lot of reading for the last few weeks. My newest discovery is the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel. It was purely by chance that I read the first book, "The Clan of the Cave Bear". It was left behind by the lady that used to live in our house. We found three big boxes of books in the garage and we kept any that looked interesting. Well. This series follows the life of a girl named Ayla who lived during the Ice Ages. When she was a small girl, her parents were killed in an earthquake, and she was adopted and raised by a group of neanderthals. I have been captivated by these books! Apparently the author did lots of research so many of the details of the early humans' lives included in the book are believed to be based on facts. It has completely altered my perception of neanderthals. And it has been quite an escape for me, following Ayla's adventures through prehistoric Europe!

I just love sitting by the fireplace at night, reading, sipping wine, and enjoying the coziness of our den. I am about halfway through the fourth book in the series, "The Plains of Passage". I can't wait for the snow to start falling. I hope to awaken tomorrow to a fresh sparkling wonderland of white!

A Snowglobe Christmas

We had a surprise gift late Christmas night--snow! When I woke up yesterday there was over an inch on the ground and it continued to snow lightly all day long. Although the roads here are not safe when there is any ice at all, and even though I still had to go to work, it has been just beautiful outside and I find myself repeatedly drawn to the windows to look. It is beginning to melt today in sunny spots, even though it is bitterly cold outside. I think the high today is 38F, with strong winds and tonight a near-record low of 18F is expected--and the winds will continue. The wind chill is expected to be below 0! We're getting real winter weather for the holidays this year!

We have discovered a new (to us) band this Christmas...Pink Martini. I bought Husband a copy of their new release "Joy to the World" for his stocking after he heard them perform live on NPR and thought they were awesome. It's a holiday album, but in addition to some traditional carols that you might expect, there is a Hannukah song, a Chinese New Year's song, and other assorted surprises. Our favorite is "A Snowglobe Christmas". It features a steel guitar! :)

"...and when the snowflakes fall among the Douglas fir
it's like a snowglobe Christmas and we're living in a perfect world
of trees............and harmony.........
I'm there with you
you're here with me."

Our very own snowglobe yard!