Tag Archives: snow

An Abominable Monday

Posted on January 22, 2019 by mohawkvalleygirl

I don’t want to make a blog post now!  It’s Dateline day on OWN!  Oh well, nobody is forcing me to be a daily blogger; it is my own dumb idea.  So I will try for a Monstrous Monday.

I would like to be this relaxed about now.

I was looking for a picture of the Abominable Snowman but could not find one, so I insert one of my slippers.  I have completely worn out those slippers.  Steven got me new ones for Christmas, but not monstrous ones, so a picture of them will have to wait.

Getting back to the post at hand, it has been kind of a monstrous day.  Yes, that is usual for a Monday, but I was treated to a different kind of monstrousness today (my computer seems to think that “monstrousness” is not a word, but it is exactly what I mean to say).   It was beyond cold, below zero plus wind chill.  My husband Steven nicely went out to brush off my car  while I was still getting ready for work.  I joined him already in progress and moved a couple shovels-full of snow from the end of the driveway.  My hands quickly got icy and I decided to take my chances.  About this time, Steven said he was going back in the house while his hands could still function to turn the doorknob.  The car was pretty much clear by then anyways.  It only needed a couple of swipes across the windshield with the scraper.

I felt triumph when my little car got out of the driveway without too much problem.  It is the smallest car I have driven in years.  But this is supposed to be a Monstrous Monday, not an account of my day.

I found him! I found him!

After taking a break to eat some supper, I took another look for pictures of Bumbles, and I found one!

I see I am over 300 words.  Regular readers know I consider that respectable.  When I make these nonsensical posts, I feel it is best to keep them short.  Well, maybe one more monster picture.  Happy Monday, everyone.

You just know I was going to pick Nosferatu, didn’t you?

 

 

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Better at Running than Blogging

Posted on November 18, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I normally write my running commentary posts soon after the run, so it is fresh in my mind.  However, sometimes it gets to be 5 p.m. on a Saturday night, I don’t have much else to write about (OK, maybe a few things, but there are reasons I do not want to write about those), so I am going to attempt a post about this morning’s run.

Regular readers may remember that I have my eye on the Reindeer Run 5K in Little Falls on December 8.  Every day during this past week, when I thought I ought to go running, I also thought, “I don’t want to run! I don’t want to run the Reindeer Run 5K!  I want to sit! I want to sit home and knit!  That is what middle aged ladies are supposed to do: sit and knit!”  I managed to run on Wednesday despite my own misgivings, and I wondered if I would run today.  I surprised myself and not only did, but it was not a bad run.

I could hear drops on my back porch roof but could not tell if it was rain or just dripping.  I took a chance.  It was not rain.  Score!  I wore my road guard vest.  For one reason, it was still dark out.  For another, we got snow and I knew many sidewalks were not shoveled or plowed.  I was glad I did, because I ran most of my run on roads.  Left side facing traffic, of course.

You know how earlier I mentioned my tiredness during the week?  How I said, “I can’t run!  I don’t want to run!”  And I did not run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday?  Well, right now, my brain is saying, “I can’t write a blog post!  I don’t want to write a blog post!”  So everything I remember about this morning’s run is probably not going to make it into this post.

But, as I said, it was not a bad run.  The temperature was not that cold and the wind was only sporadic.  I ran a few hills, including the one by Valley Health and a few minor upslopes in the residential area behind (what I usually refer to as The Suburbs).  I stopped and petted one very cute dog.  I ran for 37 minutes, which is how long I ran last Sunday, the last time I increased my run time.  That is about how long it takes me to run a 5K, give or take a few.

So I feel pretty good about that.  I still have not made my final decision about the Reindeer Run. I’ll keep you posted.

 

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Weather or Not I’m Lame

Posted on March 17, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Did you know that Tuesday is the first day of spring?

I particularly like the bare trees.

This is the view from my front porch.  I stepped out with my Tablet to capture a graphic demonstration of why I forgot that it is almost spring.

I’ve seen bigger snowbanks, but still.

Here is a view in the other direction.  My only pleasure is to see the bare sidewalks.  I have not been running lately and want to start again.  Perhaps tomorrow.

I love my tree.

This is not the best shot of this tree, I see now.  I thought as I took it that it might be better to move off the porch, perhaps even across the street.  However, I was in my slippers.  Hey, I bestirred myself to get off the couch.  I only have so much oomph on Lame Post Friday.  Or any other day.

Earlier this afternoon, my friend Kim and I went to a wine tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor.  We were not best pleased with the cold temperature, and even less so when it started snowing.

“Who ordered this?” she demanded.  I denied responsibility.  At least the wine tasting was good.  Perhaps I can write more about it in another post.

For right now, though, it is Lame Post Friday, and the best I can do is share these pictures and gripe about the weather.  You would think I would be in a better mood, if you thought about me at all, which I do not seriously expect.  Actually, that last sentence gave me a chuckle, which improved my mood.  Finishing my blog post improves the mood even further.  I hope to see you all again on Scattered Saturday, even if it does snow.

 

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Second Snow Day — With Pictures

Posted on March 4, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

We could rock this.

I really have enough to do another Scattered Saturday post, but I took some pictures this morning so thought to have another Blogger’s Snow Day.  Here is an update of the picture I used with yesterday’s post.  As you can plainly see, there is less now than we got with the Nor’easter of 2016.  Additionally, our delightful next door neighbor used his snowblower to clean out the end of our driveway last night.  We only had to deal with the snow that had fallen since.  We have nice neighbors.

Can you even see the Rose of Sharon?

Here is our backyard, as seen from the deck.  The Rhododendron is completely obscured by the evergreen.  The Rose of Sharon, if you can see it, is quite oppressed.

As you can see, a quite rockable amount.

Here is the end of our driveway; as you can see, our neighbor helped a lot.  When I saw this before Steven and I began to shovel, I declared to him, “We can rock this!”

Not so good for the mailman. The paper deliverer, luckily, has quite a long throw.

As you can see, our front steps needed a bit of work.  We did OK enough to get mail today.

It’s looking a little sad, I must say.

Here is the tree in front of our house. I don’t know if you can really appreciate its oddness underneath all the snow. When people are coming over for the first time, I always tell them to look for the house with the funny-looking tree in front.

An attempt at a picturesque tree.

I tried to get a couple of pictures of the neighborhood trees.  I love how they look with the snow on the branches, especially against a grey sky, which we had today.

I walked down the street to get this one; it is even better in person.

Just before I went in, I got one more, which I also used as wallpaper for my Tablet.  I have never done that before, but when my Tablet offered me the chance to “use as wallpaper,” I thought I would give it a try.

Well, I wanted to share it here, but apparently I failed to upload it into WordPress earlier, and my Tablet is not cooperating.  I confess to feeling irritated and ill-used.  Additionally, I declared today in the title as another Blogger’s Snow Day.  I will just mention that my laptop is not back to its full capacity: I cannot get my touchpad to work (YES, I googled it, stop telling me to google it!  Sheesh!).  I am going to stop typing, hit Publish, and get back to enjoying my Saturday.  I hope to see you all on Wrist to Forehead Sunday (as I feel certain tomorrow will be).

 

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A Winter Wonderlame

Posted on March 3, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

How about a Blogger’s Snow Day instead of a Blogger’s Sick Day. Winter has returned to the Mohawk Valley, and it has come back with a vengeance!  There was no chance for Mohawk Valley adventures today; all were advised to stay at home if possible.  Additionally, Steven and I have been having computer problems.  Let me tell you, “google it” is not always advice that yields results.  I’m just saying.

Be that as it may, we are now one day into Steven’s Fabulous Four Day Birthday Weekend.  In addition to computer problems, our DVD/VCR player seems to be on the fritz.  Or perhaps it has died, just to be optimistic about these things.  At least we have cable back.  It took a brief vacation when we lost power earlier, also briefly, thank God!  So we were able to watch Blackula earlier.  I had DVR’d it from TCM last October.  I may get a full post out of the viewing.  We shall see in future days.

The sign says “NO SMOKING,” but I think Blackula is smokin’ hot.

Right now, what a surprise, we are watching Snapped.  I do love murder and mayhem.  In the meantime, the snow keeps falling.  I went out and tried to shovel this morning.  I met with some success, but you couldn’t tell as the snow kept falling.  More recently we heard our neighbor out snowblowing the end of our driveway.  What a great guy!  I’ll have to bake cookies and bring some over.

The abominable snow vehicles!

This is a picture from last year’s Snowmageddon.  I did not face such depths this morning, but tomorrow morning I might.  That could be worth a blog post.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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I Felt Super!

Posted on February 4, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Ah ha ha!  (that was a triumphant laugh)  I went running again!  I took two days off, because it was just too cold for me, but this morning it was 30 degrees when we got up, so I said, “Hey!”

I waited a couple of hours first and ate a banana with peanut butter not quite one hour before I actually went.  It was not much above 30 by then, but I thought I could rock it.  I was right.  I ran on the sidewalk instead of the road for the most part, because it was covered with enough snow to give traction.  Sometimes I thought I saw ice underneath the snow, so I exercised caution.  My middle-aged shuffle is good for that.

I had run for a half a block before I realized it was snowing. Snow?  Oh well, I could still rock it (but not rocket, if you see what I mean).  I had on leggings, a long sleeved t-shirt, a hat and gloves.  I wished I had also worn a scarf, especially when the wind picked up.  Then again, running without a scarf, I think, “Oh, if I had a scarf to cover my cold face, how nice that would be!”  Running with a scarf, it’s, “I can’t get this damn scarf to cover my face right and now I’m fogging my glasses!”

As I ran, I thought about the blog post I would write, especially the title.  It is Superbowl Sunday.  Could I work that in?  How about alliteration on Sunday?  Then I looked around at houses, feeling happy when I saw the occasional Christmas decoration still up.  I don’t really get over my post-Christmas let-down till spring.  Sometimes it lasts till it’s time to start thinking about Halloween.  When I wasn’t looking for greenery and wreaths, I was hoping the cold air would not give me a headache.

Regarding that last sentence, it was a forlorn hope. As I type this, I’m afraid I got one and it is getting worse (remember, the more you complain, the longer God lets you live). However, I see that I am over 300 words.  Short for a Running Commentary but long enough for a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  I shall stop blogging and nurse my headache.  But I ran for 26 minutes, the same as I ran on Thursday, and I felt pretty damn good about it. Happy Sunday, everybody.

 

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Teeny Tiny Steps

Posted on January 14, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

It was another crappy day weather-wise in the Mohawk Valley.  We were relieved that Steven did not work till 11:30 this morning.  I should have taken some pictures when the sun was still up, but I can’t think of everything.  I did walk to the post office, since the mailman (yes, ours is a man) did not see the post cards and letter I had attached to our mailbox, so I will attempt a short pedestrian post.

Sidewalks were not consistently plowed, and I was soon out on the road, left side facing traffic, OF COURSE.  There was glare ice under the snow, so I walked very slowly, taking teeny-tiny steps.  Earlier I had seen on Facebook a post from Rock City Runners asking if anybody was braving the weather to run.  A few were.  I, alas, was not.  As my feet slipped out from under me, I realized this was the right decision.  If I had been running, I would not have remained upright.

A neighbor stopped at a stop sign offered me a ride, but I told her I was good.

“I need the exercise,” I said, which was quite true.

“You’re a brave woman!”

I was flattered.  The paths through Meyers Park were not plowed, what a surprise, but the road around it was.  I could see the ice shining at points.  I laughed at myself for the teeny-tiny steps I was taking.  I had been singing “I Will Survive” while Steven and I had shoveled the driveway (aided by a kind neighbor with a snow-blower, by the way).  I kept singing it, teeny-tiny stepping in time to the music.  It did my heart good to sing about being a strong woman, although I assure you my husband has NOT tried to break me with good-bye.

I purchased more post-card stamps after I mailed my stuff, enjoying a brief chat with the fellow behind the counter.  I did not realize or had forgotten that post-card stamps are now Forever, like first-class, so I felt happy to purchase a hundred.  Lots of postcards!

I walked up Main Street to get home.  I confess, I did not enjoy my walk as much a I usually do, because of the ice.  However, I did not land on my ass.  I’ll call that a win. Maybe I can start running again soon. Happy Saturday, everyone.

 

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More Murder and Mayhem on Monday

Posted on January 9, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had a plan today that I was going to come home from work, write my postcards (which I neglected to do over the weekend), walk to the post office with them, take the long way home, then do a Pedestrian Post.  I felt certain there would be plenty to observe and comment on.  Herkimer is good that way.  Well, as my day at work wore on, I realized I am not feeling well.  Am I coming down with a cold?  SAY IT AIN’T SO!  In any case, coming home and lying down on the couch started sounding better and better.

When I left work, I felt happy that it was nowhere near as cold as it was all weekend.  How pleasant to walk to my vehicle and not have my face hurt!  I did not even mind that I had to brush wet, heavy snow off my SUV.  Ah yes, it snowed.  I had to utilize my 4-wheel drive to get into my driveway.  Damn!  Steven’s car is small and NOT 4-wheel drive. I figured I’d better do a little shoveling.

As I worked at it, a neighbor told me that Steven had done it once already, but the plow had been by again.  I thought that was nice of him to tell me, in case I was thinking unkind thoughts about my husband (I wasn’t).  I did not do a very good job shoveling, but I tried.  And I decided that could count as my exercise.

Anyways, now I am sitting on my couch, cooking, typing, and watching Snapped.  So I see that it is over 250 words into my post that the headline makes sense.  I find that highly amusing, but perhaps that is just me.  I ended yesterday’s post questioning my future as a blogger, but not feeling up to answering my questions.  I feel in the same state now. However, I have over 300 words and an alliterative headline.  I am going to hit Publish and hope for the best.

 

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I Don’t Feel Abominable, Just Tired

Posted on December 13, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I just can’t get away from Tired Tuesday.  But what do you want from me?  I worked all day, got my boobs squished (see yesterday’s post), then shoveled my drive way.

Yes, winter returned to the Mohawk Valley today, and I guess it could have been worse.  Roads were pretty bad when I drove into work shortly before 6 a.m., although I know the plows had been around.  I enjoyed that weird personality quirk of mine that I laugh at bad weather.  I chuckled all the way from my car to the building, being careful not to slip on the slush. I just kept looking up and marveling at the sheer amount of snow coming down.  It did make me laugh.  Luckily it did not keep up at that great rate all day.

There was not a massive amount of white stuff on the driveway, and it was still coming down, but I got out to at least take off a layer.  I TOLD Steven not to come with me, because his back is bothering him, but he joined me anyways.  I guess most spouses don’t do what the other one tells them to do, do they?  I almost never do myself.

What I am really looking forward to now is that first cup of coffee tomorrow morning (again, see yesterday’s post).  I told all my friends at work that I would probably show up with a BIG smile on my face.  So that will be two days I show up at work smiling: laughing at the snow, then giddy over the coffee. Perhaps the giddiness will carry over and I will write a better blog post.

I think this is one of my co-workers.

I thought I would just throw in the Abominable Snowman for good measure.  I think he is kind of cute.

 

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Don’t Reindeer on my Parade

Posted on November 20, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

The Reindeer Run 5K in Little Falls is looking increasingly remote.  I feel so sedentary lately!  I have managed to bestir myself to take a few half-hour walks, so I do not completely harden into a concrete slab.  Oh yeah, like I would ever be rock hard!  But heavy as a rock.  Perhaps concrete flab.  In any case, I managed to go running this morning so will attempt a Sunday Running Commentary.

Winter weather was in the forecast, and when I woke up sometime in the very early morning, I thought I heard sleet against the windows.  We woke up to rain and wind that makes an old witch like me look at the sky fearfully.  I figured a run was out of the question.  After coffee and scrambled eggs, I began to question it.  Steven said it was snowing, but when I looked out the window a few minutes later, the precipitation had abated.  After waiting for my food to digest, I got into running clothes.  Of course it started snowing again, but after I wrestle myself into two sports bras (don’t you DARE say TMI!), I run.

The snow had turned to rain by the time I got outside.  As I started to run, I questioned my determination.  I had said to Steven that a 20-minute run would not kill me.  Still, there exists a lot of discomfort short of death that I might like to avoid.  Never mind, I told myself.  I have been putting on a few pounds once again.  Running was a good idea. Presently the rain stopped.  The sun even started to peep out from behind the clouds.  This was all right.  The wind was still pretty fierce, but I had a headband over my ears and my sleeves pulled over my hands.  I could do this.

I did not run any hills, but ran up and down the sidewalks, avoiding puddles and mud.  I could keep this up for 20 minutes.  Maybe even longer.  Let’s see, how far away was the Reindeer Run?  How much longer than 20 minutes would I have to run to be in OK shape for a 5K by then?  I think the run in on the 9th of December, giving me two more weekends to increase my run time.  Then I thought I could probably run a 5K regardless.  Nobody cares how slow you go on these community runs.  No doubt I could keep moving on determination alone till I got to the finish line.  People are nice; they would still clap for the fat old lady huff-puffing along.  It might be fun.

As I walked my cool-down, I felt wonderful.  The hot shower felt even better, and my chocolate milk recovery beverage was delicious.  I am still on the fence about the Reindeer Run. Any advice from my readers?

 

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