It was 8 degrees outside this morning at 7am. So cold and still lots of snow so this girl didn’t want to go outside. I heard rustling and found her under the tree and one round ornament on the floor.
Author Archives: glenalmus
December Snow
We had a beautiful crunchy snow fall yesterday.
About 8 inches of it.
These photos were taken this morning around 8:00.
Woodturning
I realized if I’m going to include some of my artwork here I needed to also include Dave’s woodturning. He’s been cranking out the bowls like mad. They are beautiful and he is learning as he goes.
I’m trying to find different ways of using the bowls. Here I have fabric scrap triangle I’m accumulating while making a star quilt.
Just had to include this photo of Dave and Duke at the vets. Blood work was good so Duke can continue taking his pain killers.
Ice Storm
On November 15th we had a full day of sleet and freezing rain. We lost power around 3:00 in the afternoon.
Reading Mendelwitz’s Guide to Drawing by candlelight. It got very windy that night. Dave said he could hear the popping of tree branches.
We woke up to an icy landscape and more branches on the ground than I’ve ever seen. The above photo is the front yard. Somehow my photos have gotten out of order so bear with me.
You can see the icy tops of the white pines as the sun is coming up.
Our poor siberian elm in the back yard took quite a hit.
Branches everywhere…and leaves. Many of the trees still had leaves so when the ice clung to the leaves it was just too heavy and caused so many of the branches to break.
Above photo is looking toward the front yard from the back path to the house. That is the sunroom.
The pine is sagging from the weight of the ice. That building is the garage/cottage.
Ice on the asters
Dave is cooking french toast on the woodstove.
These branches fell on the fence – totally crushed it. This building is what we call the shed. It is two stories and is where we store most of our garden equipment.
Looking toward the house from the backyard.
So many big and small branches – and a deep layer of leaves. We are still cleaning it up.
Duke is having a hard time getting around with so much debris in his way.
Looking toward the orchard from behind the cottage.
The cable we had installed in this siberian elm in the front probably saved this tree.
A big pine branch fell on the power line to our house (seen in the photo above) so we were without power for 3 full days. Our neighbors lost power for 2 days.
Colin helped with the apple pie for Thanksgiving.
A branch fell on the fence in the front too.
You don’t get to see Smokey very much. He always moves around too much when I try to photograph him. This is about the best I can get. He likes to rub up against the dogs. You can see Dukes legs behind him. Smokey is ready to dash outside. He doesn’t come in the house but does come into the mudroom to eat and sometimes to sleep. I think he usually sleeps in the barn – even on frigid nights.
Fall Color
Here are Len and Duke. This cuddling is all Len’s (the beagle) idea. I’ve probably mentioned that Len has thyroid cancer and Duke (the goldendoodle) is 15 years old and has arthritis. I’m not sure they will make it through the winter. Sad to see them in decline.
I enjoyed the fall color of the columbine in our native garden. I read that severely wet weather can dampen the fall leaf color but I noticed that this year was the best year for fall color since we’ve moved to the Shenandoah Valley. Other years have been very dry. I’m hoping for a year of average precipitation evenly spread out for 2019!
Frida
I’ve been consumed with a desire to draw and paint these past few months. I’m very frustrated with my rudimentary abilities. I know that it will take lots of practice and I just have to be patient. I’m trying! I ordered some better paints, brushes and paper than what I have and I’m acting like a kid waiting for Christmas. The paints and paper should arrive this Friday and the brushes must be on the slow boat across the Atlantic. The little tracking icon has shown them “in transit” for a week now. Actually, the little icon is an airplane so I don’t understand why it is taking so long. See!
These are leaves from around the house.
And here is my watercolor of same.
Len Len waiting for a treat.
Dave has been chopping wood from the ash tree we had taken down. That pile will be there – just off the patio- for a while. He was trying to decide where to move the wood and we decided to save ourselves the work of moving it since we will just have to move it back to burn it in the woodstove. This will be good for the winter of 2019/20.
Family
These photos are from mid October.
My daughter Samantha and her boyfriend Luca and I hiked a small portion of the Elliott Knob Trail. They are both fun to be around. My camera says the trail is in Swoope but I think an online trail guide I saw said it was in Craigsville – maybe it is both.
A family photo – Damian (who had just had surgery to repair a knee ligament), Sam and Luca in front. Me, Dave and Colin in back. Not sure what Dave is doing…
I realized most of my photos don’t include people so I’m trying to take more with people especially when we have visitors.
My cousin Gib and his wife Diane came for a short (and I mean short – a little over an hour) visit. It was good to see them – it had been about 20 years. We showed them around our place and had a simple lunch. They are from Gold Beach Oregon.
Fog and Flood
A soggy mess. The lady ferns don’t seem to mind.
A lot more rain since Sunday and some very heavy rain late yesterday.
These photos were taken this morning and the water was still running this evening.
Foggy this morning – almost like the earth was giving off some of the excess moisture.
The birds have been all over this dogwood tree.
Finally, some beautiful sun today.
Heavy Rains, Heavy Creek
We got more rain on Saturday, September 22 and into the following day than we did from Hurricane Florence. I don’t remember the total but it was a few to several inches.
The fence in the foreground is the property line. The bridge is on our neighbors property. See the stream of water through the fence? That usually isn’t there.
The stream of water going by our neighbors house and into the creek comes from the stream that forms during heavy rains on our property along the road. It doesn’t form on our property – it comes up hill from the northwest.
Country Roads
September 21
I took these photos in or near Harrisonburg. I was up that way taking a quilt top to be quilted and decided to go to an apple orchard. I couldn’t resist stopping and taking these photos.
The September Garden
September 19 and 20
A profusion of asters!
White snakeroot under the arborvitae.
These photos were taken just a little over a week ago. Since then we’ve had so much rain that it is now looking very soggy. I hope the asters perk up and the ones that only have buds will flower. Too much rain can be as bad as too little.
Duke got in some cleaver so Damian is getting the burrs out of his fur. Sometimes we can pull it out and sometimes we have to get the scissors and cut it out. That can be real painful after we just paid to have him groomed.