dealing with winter and cats and a dream

I have no pretty pictures to post or illustrate so here’s one from Christmas Eve. This iris that was blooming way too early.

Wednesday had a cloudless blue sky in the 40s and the snow and ice melted rapidly. It was mostly gone before it got to below freezing again that night. The streets were already clear and dry so my drive to SHARE Thursday morning, the whole 7 or 8 minutes of it, was cold but uneventful.

My attempt to get the outdoor cats into the shed for our coldest night Tuesday evening was unsuccessful. While they aren’t feral exactly, they are outdoor cats and there’s no way I can make them do anything they won’t do willingly. Only Handsome Boy, Lovey, and Twin showed up. We think maybe someone else feeds Momcat as she doesn’t always show up and roams farther and Ghost had been a no show for several days. Monday I fed them around 3:30, set up the little radiator type heater and then came back about 5 to see if I could get them in the shed for the night. Only Twin showed up when I called them and while he will let me pet him now, he will not tolerate even the thought that I might try and pick him up and the heater wasn’t working anyway so. Tuesday, Robin put her little radiator type heater in there and it turned out it wasn’t the heater after all but the outdoor plug not working. So she plugged the extension cord into the house. I was most concerned about Tuesday night though so when I went to feed them about 4:30 I put their food dishes in the shed with the door open. Handsome Boy came right in and started eating. Lovey and Twin eyed it with suspicion but eventually went in. As soon as I started to close the door they bolted and would not go back in if I was standing anywhere near the door. Twin wouldn’t go back in at all. I moved their food dishes out and back under the porch. They have enclosed shelter under the house and their fur has gotten thick and fluffy. Turned out it didn’t get as cold as first predicted Tuesday night, only down to about 20 or so. I didn’t even try and coax them in Wednesday or Thursday night of below freezing temps. They’re predicting 33˚ for tonight but that’s the last cold night for the foreseeable future.

Haven’t worked on the painting since Tuesday morning. I don’t think it’s finished but sort of stumped on how much more I want to do on the petals because I don’t want to diminish the focus on the pistil and stigma which is the subject of the painting instead of the whole flower. I sort of see the petals as an unfocused background suggesting petals. I had added more yellow but I didn’t like it so then lifted a lot off with a wet brush and a paper towel. I might add some unfocused light orange in the farthest corners. We’ll see. Still thinking about it.

I meant to publish this Wednesday and no time on Thursday. SHARE in the morning, then grocery shopping which I didn’t do on my regular Tuesday, late lunch, walk the dog since she’s been housebound all week, feed the cats (they all showed up, even feral Ghost who was very hungry and so dirty like he’d been hunkered down in a hole or squeezed under something in the dirt; Lovey and Handsome Boy were not happy to see him, expressing their displeasure but he would not be deterred, just taking the abuse as long as he got to eat), and yoga in the evening, dinner, clean up and close up the house, watched an episode of Eureka. I slept until my pill alarm went off this morning at 8:30. I had been having the strangest dream. I dreamed I was waking up but I couldn’t open my eyes and when I could finally force them open the light was so bright I would just close them again but I finally got up trying to see through barely open eyes or keep them closed as I moved around. And I was talking to some people and when I would open my eyes I couldn’t really see anything just shadowy shapes. I wasn’t really concerned about it, I knew it was temporary, that it had happened before and thought I would just go take a nap. And then it started clearing up, flashes of normal vision and then the painful light again but eventually I could see normally, which had segued into a completely different dream when the alarm went off. I’ve had the dream about not being to open my eyes several times over the years. Not the same circumstances but the wanting to wake up but not being able to get my eyes open and when I did manage to open them a bit all I could see was the bright light and it was too much effort to try and keep them open.

We’re finally on a warming trend, starting tomorrow our highs will be in the 60s, lows in the 50s, so I’ll be uncovering everything outside this weekend but the indoor stuff will stay until there’s no chance of another freeze. It is still January after all.

as if the first full day of the new MAGAt administration wasn’t going to be bad enough…

This is what greeted me when I got up this morning

and it continued to snow for another three hours or so. The rain gauge showed two inches but it seemed more like an inch and a half on the ground. I’ve seen enough snow down here in my lifetime to not have any desire to go out in it, only to refill the bird feeder and take the dog out who won’t go out in it without me. Later I’ll have to go across the street to feed the cats and try and entice them into the shed with food for the rest of the day and night. The only good thing is that the low has been revised upward from 12˚ to 19˚.

Snow here used to be a rare event and when we do get some it’s usually only an inch or two. My first experience with snow was when I was 10 in 1960 when we got a little over 4” of snow. I was home sick from school that day but my mother, after lots of begging and pleading, bundled me up and let me go out and play in it. The next time was about an inch in 1968, then another snowfall in 1973. I remember that one because I was still married to the Rat Bastard and we had been in Chicago visiting his family and convinced some friends of ours, who were sick of the snow and harsh winters of Chicago, to move back to Texas with us as we lived in a two bedroom house. On their second day here we burst into their bedroom waking them up. They couldn’t believe we woke them up to come look at 2” of snow when they had just moved to get away from snow. Snowed in 1989 and again in 1994 (these are the only years a search turned up between 1973 and 2004) but from 2004 and this year it has snowed six times; 2004, 2008, 2009, 2017, 2021, 2025; so it’s definitely getting more frequent.

I filled the bird feeder around 5 PM yesterday and I have filled it twice more already today. There’s been a big flock of brown headed cowbirds (at least I think that’s what they are) the first I have seen on the feeder this winter and the snow must really be confusing them reflecting in the glass because they keep flying into the window and the glass in the door. Besides the brown headed cowbirds the cardinals, sparrows, chickadees, titmice, house finches, goldfinches, white wing doves, little warblers, bluejays are all vying for space on the feeder. They’re all puffed up. A little warbler just fought off two much larger cardinals. 

from the land of ice and snow

Sunday 3 PM. It's rained lightly enough to get everything very wet and now it's getting icy out there the temperature having dropped to 30˚. The little birds are having ariel battles over the cylindrical bird feeder with it's new birdseed which is almost empty for the second time today; goldfinches, sparrows, house finches, titmice, pine siskins; the other bird feeder with it's heavy sunflower seed content has cardinals and robins and the overflow of small birds from the other one. And handful of grackles have shown up and after emptying the pan of corn and peanuts for the squirrels one will swoop in to the bigger bird feeder and scatter all the little birds which are back quick enough. I'm not seeing the white wing doves or chickadees though.

Sunday 10 PM, 22˚. Some white stuff on the ground, sleet we think. 

Marc went out and turned the water off, I took the electric heater with me to bed as my room is the farthest from the heat/AC and colder than the rest of the house.

Monday 8 AM, 16˚. Marc turned the water back on from the meter and we have water in the upper part of the house. The water lines to the little bathroom are in the attic and those lines are frozen. Good thing we replaced all those old water lines with PEX after the flood. They won't break.

Monday 8:30 AM, 16˚. Filled the bird feeders again, birdbaths frozen solid, turtle pond frozen over except for one small circle where water from the filter pours back in. I hope Big Mama is OK, I imagine she's hunkered down by the pump which generates some heat.

Monday 9:30 AM, still 16˚. Sun starting to come out. Bundled up, sweater on the dog and took her out to take care of business since she absolutely refused to go out yesterday and walked around the yard. She took care of her business trying not to touch that white stuff while she walked across the yard. Completely forgot about the star of India gardenia which I could have moved into the garage so I hope it survives. It's one of the plants I moved from the city house.

The buddha is unperturbed.

Monday 11 AM, accuweather says 17˚ but TV says 21˚. Filled the cylindrical bird feeder again. The sun continues to peek in and out. Lots of people in the surrounding areas are without power but we're good so far. Still no water in the little bathroom.

Monday 12:30 PM, 22˚. At least a dozen little birds have flown into the glass of the back door so far. They've almost emptied the cylinder bird feeder again though a lot is on the ground. I can fill it up one more time and I think that might be it and I'm not going out on those icy streets to get more. All kinds of wrecks and pile ups are happening out there. I've been taking videos of the birds mobbing the bird feeders but they don't seem to really show the madhouse.

I don't care for Blogger's new video insertion tool because the video is too small (or at least I haven't figured out how to insert it larger). Anyway, if you want to see a big version where you can actually see what's going on here's the link to youtube.

Checked with the grandgirls, Jade and Autumn (San Antonio and Austin) have power, Robin (Houston) does not. My son (Houston) does. My daughter here has power but no water. Friend Gene (Hockley) is holding his own with power going off and on.

Monday 2 PM, 21˚ (real feel 5˚). The dog insisted on going out. She walked all around, trotted down the street, I think headed over to check on my sister and the boys, but changed her mind when I didn't follow. The birds have knocked so much seed out of that bird feeder I'm not filling it again until they eat what's on the ground.

Monday 3 PM, 21˚. The dog and I are headed for the couch, blanket, and book.

Supposed to be even colder tonight, down to 11˚.

 

tornado, hot dry fall, flood, and now this

Last night I drove to Houston to our friends' glass blowing studio where the open house is being held because some art group had arranged their meet-up for that night for a glass blowing demonstration and exposure to the other artists' work. It's a big group and Dick and Kathy would not be able to keep an eye on our stuff so I and another of the artists showed up to keep watch and interact with anyone curious about our work during the event. Or non-event as only 15 people turned out because of the weather. 

Monday this week was 80˚, hot and sunny. Tuesday a cold front started moving in dropping the lows to the 50s and then the 40s. Wednesday we woke up to cold, rainy, and windy and pretty much the same on Thursday. Even though it was only raining lightly, it never stopped. I pulled the big plants into the garage on Wednesday and threw a tarp over my brand new floor and brought in all the little plants Thursday before I left because we were expecting a drop to freezing that night and possibly sleet.

“Where's Marc?” Kathy asked me.

“On the couch under a blanket with the dog snugged up against him and a book.”

After the demo, I talked to a couple of people about our process then jumped in the car to get home before the sleet. Which I did.

This is what we woke up to this morning...

My poor gardens. Long hot dry summer, flood, and now snow.

The last time it snowed here was 8 years ago on Christmas Eve. Generally we get a little snow every decade or less. The first time I saw snow I was in elementary school and home sick for the day. We got 4” that day and my mother bundled me up as best she could even though I was sick and let me go out and play in it. Another memorable snow was when I was married to the rat bastard. We had been on a winter visit to his family's house and to see our friends from the year I lived in Chicago and convinced two of them to move down with us when we left and share the 3 bedroom house we were renting. The next day or so it snowed overnight. They couldn't believe we woke them up and dragged them out of bed to look at snow.

So as another friend said today, “so pretty...it can go away now. We're good.”

shock and awww

I know this is not big deal to my readers who live where it snows, where it is supposed to snow, but down here in south Texas, it’s not supposed to snow.

This is what is looked like at my sister’s house in Wharton yesterday morning.  Her house is about 6 miles away from ours there.  We are still in Houston.  It snowed mostly all day yesterday interspersed with rain. 

Enough settled here in the city to allow the grandgirls to make a little snow sculpture.

Just a one day event, it’s all melted today.