Eclipsed!

We were blessed to live in "the path of totality." One million visitors were expected to flood the central swath of Oregon to witness this celestial event, and we didn't have to go anywhere! I alternated between looking through my eclipse glasses, and pointing my camera through a lens of the glasses and looking at the viewfinder. My modest little Panasonic Lumix didn't do too bad at capturing some memorable moments. ;-)

The changes in the color and intensity of light fascinated me. This photo looks like early sunset, but the shadows are going in the wrong direction for that:

Brian alternated between watching, and jumping on the trampoline:

That's it for an awesome day at . . .

Waiting for change

Will it be an easy transition, or a nasty one? Will things go better than predicted by some, or worse than predicted by others?

You do know I'm talking about the weather, right? ;-)

This lovely snow has lasted a week; that's notable in our neck of the woods. Today was the first day it's gotten above freezing here during the same period, although not enough to effect much melting. That's supposed to come with the rain that moving in overnight – maybe. Along the Columbia River Gorge and into Portland they are expecting another major ice storm; we may or may not get that. We'll see what daybreak brings!

In the meantime, Brian and I took advantage of this beautiful day to walk up the hill and deliver some baked goods to a neighbor who had surgery last week. With the medical issues, her dogs haven't gotten much attention, so we loved on Milo and Sugar, too. When we admired Milo's flooffy tail, he grabbed it in his own mouth and spun around in circles – more than once!

As you can see, we did find a plastic toboggan for Brian. After white-washing my face, he took a short cut across the field with it to avoid revenge. ;-)

Today's treasure is this – tattered maple samaras, holding a heart in their embrace. Ponder that.

That's it for now from . . .

Cake, Carnegie, and cuddling

The day started out cold and beautiful.

Inside there was baking and cooking for potluck after church tomorrow.

Then I picked up Brian from his half-day of school and took him to his violin lesson. Sadly, on the way I got an answer to a question I asked yesterday. You know; "Don't people READ? Like, BOOKS?" Apparently not. It was reported on OPB today that all libraries in Douglas Co. are closing, including the one in Roseburg, its largest city of ~22,000, because residents have repeatedly declined to fund them. Andrew Carnegie (Brian did a homeschool report on him) must be rolling over in his grave....

Then there was this, to end the day on a sweet note. This capture is today's treasure.  ;-)

That's it for now from . . .

Yesterday in photos

Take which would YOU choose as today's yesterday's treasure?

And the reason I didn't post this yesterday? By the time Brian and I got home after his basketball game, it was doing this:

We've found out this winter that snow and ice seriously interfere with our internet connection. :-/

Another post coming anon, from . . .

Oh, this winter!

So last night it warmed up to slightly above freezing and it rained a lot and this morning the trees were relieved of their heavy burden of ice and the snow was sloppy slush.

Then the temperature dropped a bit and it did this:

And through it all my new weather station has registered ZERO precipitation. Rick got it for me because I wanted a new rain gauge (after gauge #2 froze and broke; you'd think I'd learn), but I think it must have an ice dam or something (this one is self-emptying, so no more breakage). Oh well, it has been entertaining to watch the temperature go down and up and down!

When he's not napping, Jackson finds it entertaining   frustrating to watch squirrel TV.

I took the first photo not realizing the flash was on, so I turned off the flash and took another – and captured all THREE of the contenders for black oil sunflower seeds (the third one is that gray blur at the top of Jackson's head).

Today's treasure are the bright branches of my little sunset maples visible through our (dirty) bathroom window:

They provide a welcome pop of color at this time of year.

That's it for today from . . .

Pretty, ugly

Sorry I missed sharing a treasure yesterday; it was a busy day. When we left for church the roads were dry, but it started snowing while we were in town. We went prepared; I took the car because I was the designated driver for a shut-in that I knew could not get in and out of a pick-up, and Rick took his 4WD F-350 work truck in case he needed to check on a patient – or help me get home. Good thing, too; by the time potluck was over and we headed home, the roads were slick with packed snow and my car lost traction on our hill.

We arrived home to a request for help on our answering machine. So we changed our clothes, piled back in Rick's truck, and drove further up the hill to move firewood to the house for a widow worried about a power outage, and stayed to watch a creation video with her to provide some companionship after a week isolated by the weather.

I finally snapped some photos when we went to the barn last night to do chores; a surprising amount of snow had blown into the barn (can't close the door completely; it's frozen to the ground).

This morning the "silver thaw" started, although at 31°, we had more ice build-up than melt-down most of the day (we didn't get above freezing until well after dark). If you biggify the squirrel shot, you might be able to see the rain blowing in at a 45° angle; the icicles really are slanting in on the left side.

Needless to say, we haven't ventured out except to (carefully) do chores and get firewood. We have had power but only occasional internet connection, so it was a good day for napping,

knitting,

and picking (the widow offered to let Brian borrow her mandolin and he eagerly took her up on the offer).

Sure hope my guys can get safely down the hill tomorrow morning for school and work, and the farrier can make it UP the hill for the horses' scheduled trims!

Today's treasure are these tiny tracks in the snow by the garage door:

That's it for our wintery weekend weather at . . .