May Day Snow Storm

I always like Ice Sickles. This is on the east side of our garage about noon today, May 2nd.

Last evening, May 1st, MAY DAY, the wind started to blow, rain turned to snow! This morning, our windows were covered with caked on snow and Ice. Our power was off from 3 AM until 5:20 AM, then on for about 1/2 hour. I'm happy to say my husband quickly made a pot of coffee! Then it was off another 5 hours. He also put a big pot of ham hocks and bean soup on our wood burning stove.

I snapped this photo when the storm was full force. This was out our patio door. It even got worse after that, we could not see across our street. Our area is protected so I can only imagine how bad it was out in the open. Most everything was closed today and I-90 and most roads were or still are closed. The police department has put out a statement that anyone out and about with out a 4 wheel drive will be fined. There have been numerous people getting stuck and creating even more problems. .

This is a photo towards the same area as above photo. Notice the overhang drift on our hedge and on our neighbors vehicle.

The back of our house after the storm had let up some.

A view toward our back yard and the drooping Lilac bush!

Our Dog was checking it out trying to get up enough courage to get of the deck. He finally did but it was very deep and hard for him to get around.

Now if he had been 1 or 2 yrs old rather then 11, he would have enjoyed it a lot more!

Another snow drift under our cloths line.

The poor Robins didn't know what to think of all the snow.
There were many birds hiding under the snow ledges

and under the snow drooped lilac bush.

We are still expecting another 3" to 4" snow tonight

but tomorrow it should get to the high 50's and thaw a lot of this away.

There are areas in the higher Black Hills that received 2 to 3 feet snow!
We are hoping this helps fill some of the very low lakes.

A Blessed Happy Birthday

My sister-in-law is _ _ years old today, April 26th! I know she wouldn't appreciate me telling her actual age! She is young at heart and that's what counts. We love her!

We give thanks to God for her and for another year of life. She always adds fun and laughter when we are together.

Its not fair, not a single grey hair!

This is my sister-in-law with her mother and her two brothers.

This is my brother, my sister-in-law, me and my husband in the back row.
My parents sitting on the bench.

SURPRISE! I can't help but smile when I see this photo. I can't remember what was so funny but I remember we were all in tears from laughter.

I hope your day is very special, it would be fun to celebrate with you!

God bless your new year of life!

Spring showers bring May flowers?

See these dark clouds, This was early last evening and the first thunder storm this spring. We really need the moisture so we are hoping for more of these in the next few days. We did receive some fresh smelling rain but only about 1/2 inch. Every bit helps and we give thanks for the moisture.

I have never been able to capture lightning on a photo. This was my last evening attempt. You can see how dark the clouds were about 7 PM. You can also see our flowering crab apple tree and the blossoms just starting to open. Today was so cool and windy. High was only 40 degrees.

Spring flowers are much later this year then most. I checked back on my 2007 blog and these were blooming march 18Th. This year the first daffodil was open April 12Th. There is not as many flowers this year due to such hot, dry fall and still dry this spring. I took the picture above at night with a flash, that's how I got the dark background.

These are cute little spring flowers, I have them growing all over. I think this is some type vining Vinka.

These are very hardy,
the Grape Hyacinths!

This is a bush in front of our house that has been there forever, well not quite, but since before we moved in about 30 years ago. It gets many tiny white flowers on in early spring.

The Tulip 2 days ago. The tulip as of today!

Our garden is tilled and ready to plant. Soon, maybe next week, I will plant onions, radish, lettuce and sugar peas. These all love it cool and I would expect temp's to warm up fast in May. 70's and 80's!

The special treat!

Tuesday my husband needed to go to our local farm store for a small part for our Garden tiller. He found a special treat for our 11 yr old dog! As you can see, it is a cow foot. Who would think a dog would love one of these ugly things!

It took him awhile to fall in love with this big ugly tasty treat. He was carrying it all over the house as proud as could be. I think he really had something else in mind like sneaking it outdoors to bury it. Dogs are very good at that trick.

Here he is hard at work chewing on it and eating the softer part. It takes quite a bit of chewing and hard work to get a taste. But he loved it.

Now he teases with it and can't wait to show it to everyone who comes over.

You can see how much he has already pulled out from around the bone.

The main object is to hopefully clean his teeth!
What will they think of next! They already have pig ears and snouts.
I just knew you wanted to see this unique dog treat!

A BIG PROJECT

For the last several weeks, about 1 month, Papa Porcupine and I have been busy cutting out over 600 pieces for the new Porcupine Mission Felt board.
This is the large Betty Lukens Through the Bible. They are Brilliantly colored and a excellent felt teaching visual.

We cut, cut and then cut some more. It actually was kind of habit forming and fun. Kind of like knitting or crocheting in ones spare time.
We finished up this huge project this week and even though it is quite an accomplishment, it is almost a let down since I kind of miss the cutting.

We know we could have ask and received help with the cutting but it was cold, snowy and a very good winter/spring activity for us.

You can see how thick and good quality the felt is. We needed to use very sharp good quality scissors also. These are probably the best scissors I have ever owned.

Here are both our scissors! Can you tell the difference?

You got it, The lower pair are left hand and belong to my husband. He actually cut out more then I did. He also purchased wood and made the folding board. It is a 32" x 48" board. We covered it with main water & sky background by duck taping it around the folding board. The other backgrounds or overlays will stick nicely to that. It really is fun and we pray this will help the Bible Lessons come to life for the children. It will take a lot of practice and preparation!

We also had a good size pile of scraps. Nice very thick white felt.

I'm saving some of the largest, longest pieces in hope they will come in handy for some craft for the Porcupine mission. I would be happy to hear any ideas you might have!

These 600 figures all fit nicely organized in two large box's, every cut out has a number on it and fits on the outline with the same number. You can see where the small Jesus figure is not on the top layer.

Each sheet has a label on with the numbers and description to make it easy when picking figures for the Bible lesson to be taught.

Now this is all the figures my husband has put together to teach a certain

lesson for the next time he has the Children's service. Can anyone figure out what will be taught with this felt board?
I will look forward to reading your comments!

The big 30!

Guess who is 30 today? ? ?
ITS
Our youngest son-in-law!

Just look at that big smile!

Its nice to have a little best friend dog that can fit into your sweat shirt!

Looks like it was a hard year and he is all tuckered out! God bless your 30th year of life.

March in/out

Our first few days in March were warm and sunny, 60 to 70 degrees. I guess you would say March was in like a Lamb! Well look what happened the last day of March, you got it, snow and cold, 17 degrees and about 6 " new white snow. I guess that was the out like a Lion. Not too ferocious though! I've always heard that saying but just haven't payed much attention to it on previous years.

This picture really doesn't show the amount of snow but you can tell that we were blessed by not having a strong wind. There was a lot of ice under the snow since the first inch or so melted as it hit but then quickly froze. There were a few accidents early in the morning but none involving school bus's that we work with.

You can see how beautiful this white snow makes the area. Many schools around the area were 2 hr late start due to the snow and ice. Some areas had much more snow and up to 15".

This picture is after it had started to thaw off the road. Today after 60 degree weather you would have no idea there was that much snow the morning of April 1st. It is amazing how fast things have started to green out under the melting snow. My dad always calls a late spring snow, poor mans fertilizer. What a blessing from God on the dry earth.

You can see how the snow has thawed and the lawn is greening out.

Actually I took this picture of the bird feeder. Look at it real hard, there is a red cardinal bird eating from it. I know, I had to look twice when my husband spotted her. I have never seen a cardinal here before. I did read in our news paper that there has been one spotted in our city last fall and this winter.

This is the same picture just pulled close and enlarged. This is the only picture I got before it flew up high in a tree. We hope to see this female cardinal again! There are many Robins now and the wonderful praises of all the birds sounds lovely. I hope you can all take some special time to be still and listen to the birds.

God's voice breaks through as he addresses the nations in Psalm 46:10 Be still an know that I am God!