Baby It's Cold Outside! January Books

The forecasters got it right!  For once.  Actually, they do get it right sometimes.  And I'm not surprised that this time they did.

These pictures were taken about 11:00 this morning.  It's now just after 3:00.  Over 13" now.  And it's still coming down!

This is the whiskey barrel in front of my house.  It's at the edge of my yard, next to the street.  The street that you can't see, because the snow is so deep that it looks like it's almost level with the top of the whiskey barrel.  The bushes in the picture are across the street in front of the house there.  I did see a truck go down the street just now, he wasn't moving very fast and the snow was up nearly to the top of his tires.

No paper delivered today, which I think is a good thing.  I enjoy reading the paper, but it's not worth someone having an accident just to deliver the paper.  A couple of years ago, there was an older couple who were delivering papers and they were killed when their truck went off the road in icy conditions.  I don't think anybody wants a repeat of that.  There won't be any delivered tomorrow, either.

This picture was taken by Otter, she was leaning out the front door and griping about the cold.  If you look at the corner below the swing, you can tell that it's the porch.  It looks like the yard is level with the porch because of the snow, but there's about a one foot drop off under the swing.  The swing is above the porch, it just doesn't look like it because of the perspective of the photograph.

This is the feeder we can see from the dining room window, the picture was taken through the screen.  I filled up the two big feeders this morning and Bill took them out for me.  They've been refilled once already and a third feeder was also put out.  These two are now empty again, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow morning to refill.  I don't want to run out of birdseed, and they've had plenty already.

I have a full bag still but I don't want to use it all up at once.  I'd like to still be able to feed the birds a little longer because they'll need food for a few days more.  When the weather clears and we can get out - which may be a couple of days - I'm going to go buy a couple more bags.  Assuming that there is any left at the store.

This is the back deck.  The snow is now higher than the deck.  A lot of that is due to the fact that the snow has been blown up there, it's been pretty windy.  It usually is windy, in a blizzard!  :)  Anyway.  There is about a 3' drift just outside the back door.

The dogs are not fans of cold.  They have spent a lot of time snoozing inside, but they do have to make the occasional run outside.  They make it in record time.  Frasier did go outside for a while earlier, he went to help the birds get any seed that had spilled.  He didn't stay out long.

Otter made snow ice cream.  It's pretty good.  Just very cold!  I made chicken noodle soup for a late lunch, tomorrow will probably be Bachelor Stew or Chili.

I have also had plenty of crochet time.  Bill's been working on a pachinko machine and Otter's been parked on the loveseat, she made herself a nest and she's quite comfortable.

Otter's cell phone isn't working.  So she's unable to text.  Sad thing, for a teenager!  We will get it checked, but it may be a couple of days.  I don't think we're going anywhere anytime soon.

I talked to my older boss earlier.  He's housebound and bored.  He and his lovely wife are moving, they were supposed to move today.  Obviously, it's been put off for a few days.  He was complaining that his heavy winter coat was packed and so were the kitchen utensils so they were having to unpack a couple of boxes just to be able to make lunch.  Can't say I blame him for griping!

OK, January books:

1.  The Teahouse on Mulberry Street by Sharon Owens.  This was possibly the second book in a series, but I couldn't even get 20 pages in before I gave up.  Obviously, I'm not recommending it.

2.  Altered Art Circy by Lisa Kittel.

3.  Altered Art Techniques for Creating Altered Books, Boxes, Cards & More by Terry Taylor.

4.  Ready Set Crochet by Susie Johns

5.  Crocheted Sweaters by Susan Huxley.  I think this was a rerun.

6.  Fabulous & Flirty Crochet by Katherine Lee.  Not impressed.

7.  Plain Truth by Jodi Piccoult.  I still don't think she's a very good author and her stories are extremely predictable, but she's better than a lot of authors.

8.  CSI In Extremis by Ken Goddard.  Eh.

9.  Catnapped, An Animal Instinct Mystery by Gabriella Herkert.  Didn't even get to 20 pages, badly written and not very well thought out.

10.  Bag Botique, Making Fabulous Purses & Totes by Amy Barickman

11.  Fully Wooly by Warwick & Lum.  Supposed to be knit & crochet, but it was mostly knit with very little crochet.

12.  Hookarama, 25 Fabulous Things to Crochet by Rachel Matthews.  OK, but not spectacular.  But I liked the name.

13.  Knit or Crochet, Have it Your Way by Margaret Hubert.  Good ideas, just not anything I really wanted to make.

14.  Hooked on Murder, a Crochet Mystery by Betty Hechtman.  I was not impressed, but it dealt with crochet so I decided to give it a try.

15.  Confessions of a Prarie B_tch by Allison Arngrim.  This was an autobiography and good.  She's had a couple of really rough situation to deal with, but she managed to avoid the drug/alchohol problems of so many other entertainers.

16.  The Pact by Jodi Piccoult.  See # 7.  This one was better than I expected.

17 - 19.  Batman

20.  Dead Men Don't Crochet by Betty Hechtman.  This convinced me that she's really not a very good author and I don't think I'll read anything else by her.  Ever, it was that bad.

21 - 23.  Assorted crochet books.

24 & 25. Batman

26.  Making Arbors and Trellises by Miller & Rollin.  Interesting ideas but nothing that I think would work for us.

27.  Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Babb.  I highly recommend this one.

28 - 29.  Batman

30.  Star Trek

31.  Tornado Alley, Monster Storms of the Great Plains by Howard B. Bluestein.  This might be a rerun, or I may have read something similar.

32.  God's Guest List by Debbie Macomber.  This one was pretty good.

Whew, that was a lot of books to type!