This Was My Week

The snowstorm I mentioned in my last post (here) brought us about ten inches of snow. We didn't lose power, which was good, and the weather warmed up since then, so almost all of the snow is gone again. That's the nice thing about this time of year -- if we get snow, it quickly disappears.

I went for a walk when the snow was just starting. A quick video:

And here's a still shot of the snow as it started to build up.

It was sticky and wet and as you can see it was clinging to the trees and shrubs.

The next morning it was beautiful outside, especially where the snow was heavy on the evergreens, but I didn't take any pictures, because . . .

. . . at the height of the snowstorm I had to go stay with my mom as she was having another dizzy spell. She has inner ear problems and has lately developed associated vertigo, which sometimes comes on very fast. I was glad for all the times I had to drive through heavy snow when I was younger, as the experience helped me navigate the unplowed streets to get to her house. It was nearly midnight when she called me, and I didn't know how much worse the streets might get, so I stayed overnight with her. Not a lot of sleep was had by either of us.

The experience has nudged me to begin to look for a longer-term solution for my mom's living situation. She is doing okay with daily, habitual routines, but much less okay with decision-making and health problems. She doesn't really need someone coming in to make meals or do cleaning or oversee her usual medications -- she's managing those things. What I would like is a solution where there is help available right away when she needs it, and oversight of any medications that are not routine. I don't know if there's any help like that available in one's own home or if she would need to move to some form of assisted living. She's not going to like either one.

Meanwhile, I cleaned the deer spit out of the bird feeder once again and put it out (the bird feeder, not the deer spit) the day after the snowfall. The robins have shown up again and we have chickadees, sparrows, bluejays and at least one woodpecker. There have been no four-legged diners (i.e. deer) as yet; they must have forgotten to check. But I'm sure some morning soon I'll find the feeder empty and spit-covered once more.

Speaking of robins, I read recently that they do not necessarily migrate to warmer regions in the winter. They are quite capable of living in the cold. But they do tend to move temporarily to the countryside where there is a greater supply of berries and fruit (apples left on the trees, for example.) When the snow is gone and the bugs wake up, the robins return to urban life and a high protein diet.

On one of my walks earlier in the week, I noticed two crows flying into a nearby tree, and as the leaves aren't out yet, I was able to see that they had a large nest there. Here it is:

Look right in the centre of the picture

And here's the close-up:

I'll be monitoring this place often while trying not to appear to do so. Here is one of the crows that was flying around when I took the photo of the nest:

I left the area as soon as I realized he or she had spotted me. The last thing I want to do is to make them uneasy.

Yesterday I got out for a long walk. It was a glorious day for walking -- the wind wasn't cold enough to be uncomfortable; it was fresh and cool, just the way I like it for my twitchy bronchial tubes.

Speaking of breathing, and impediments to it, did you know that you can microwave a sweet potato to the point where it smokes a lot and causes you to open all the windows and hope really hard that the smoke detector doesn't go off? .......... Yes. Yes you can. And now I wonder if I had left it in there any longer whether it would have actually burst into flames or if it would have just turned black and made even more smoke. I don't plan to try again and find out.

Wishing you a smoke-free week, unless you happen to be going camping, and then smoke is a required part of the experience. This is one reason I don't like to camp. (Again, twitchy airways.)

How's the weather where you live? Are things growing, whether they are plants or animals or humans? Tell me all about it.


And don't forget, I'll be back on Poetry Monday with my best effort at writing about "Spring" . . . Join me if you're so inclined!