Snow and Sledding

We've seen a lot of snow and cold weather lately. Late tonight more snow is arriving.

But, I haven't seen much sledding.

When I was young, sledding was a popular past-time for all the kids in our neighborhood. It was also a popular past-time for my kids when they were growing up.

You know the routine - begging to go outside and  putting on layers and layers of warm clothes and boots to keep you warm.

Once kids were outside, they did not want to come back inside. But when they did . . .

You know the routine - standing on the porch brushing off the snow with a broom, coming in and peeling off layer upon layer of warms clothes, boots, gloves and scarves and piling them up on the floor, running to the closest warm air supply in the house and then going to the kitchen to drink hot chocolate.

Those were the good old days when kids were not inside attached to electronic devises playing games.

I wish I had pictures to post of when we played outside in the snow. We sledded on the common wooden sleds, large pieces of cardboard and even hoods from old cars. The latter was suitable for many kids to ride at the same time - the older ones sat on the outside edge so they could guide with their legs and feet if need be.

We built bonfires out of anything burnable to keep us warm.

We rode down hillsides (which there are plenty of in West Virginia). All the neighborhood kids gathered at the best places for riding. We had a person on watch at the bottom of a hill where we met up with the road. If the coast was clear, we continued on to the road to see how far the sled would glide before coming to a stop. The only problem was, the longer the ride, the longer the walk back to begin again.

Our kids made igloos and snowmen. When they were little, they even slid down small mounds of snow in our yard, sitting in their small plastic bathtub they bathed in as a baby. They also slid on inner-tubes - large and small. They flew down the steep hills, hitting bumps and soaring through the air.

1983 - two oldest sons sledding in their baby bathtub down a small man-made hill in the front yard. 

My dad watching on.

1990's

I can still hear their shrieks of laughter and see their red cheeks.

Do you have any snow remembrances to share?

Posted by Janet Smart  on Writing in the Blackberry Patch.

Country Winter Scenes

Everyone has to eat in the winter, even the livestock. This farmer is making sure they get their morning meal.

My son has been busy trying out his new toy. The machine is a BCS walk behind tractor we bought this summer. Our old Troy Built, which gave us 30 years of good service, needed replacing. Andrew built the dozer blade attachment. We sent for one of the dozer blades, (they cost over $400), but each one we got delivered to us did not attach right. There was something wrong with every one of them, so we sent them back. Andrew said he could make one better, and he did. His design for attaching it works much better than the manufacturers. We told him he needs to ask the company if they are interested in his design, but he hasn't made a decision.

This is Sycamore Creek Road on Sunday morning.

I love this old  barn that sits along the road.

Looks like this feeder needs filled up again.

This little woodpecker is working hard at one of our suet feeders.

This little titmouse loves peanuts.

So do the blue jays! But one of our blue jays is a little greedy. He will get his first peanut way back in his throat, then put another one in his mouth before he flies off. I don't know how he keeps from choking.

This little bird reminds me of a chipmunk from the side view.  He looks like a sparrow, but his belly is golden. Maybe he is a red-breasted nuthatch. What do you think? (You can click on all my pictures and enlarge them)

Hope everyone is enjoying winter. I'm getting a little cabin fever myself. Our area is supposed to get more snow a few hours from now. How about you, are you snowed in?

What to do

I have been busy with things and I haven't been posting a lot. I am tired of posting about snow.

But what do you do when the snow will not disappear?

Right now I am watching a herd of deer in the field in front of my house. They are scuffing their hooves through the snow and nibbling at whatever they can find beneath the fluffy white stuff. They look beautiful standing in the white backdrop of the snow.

this picture was taken a few days ago, we are now covered with snow again

Our bird population grows and grows. I think they have spread the word about the people who buy the suet and the 50lb bags of birdseed.

I think this year we are having a winter to tell our grandchildren about. Our grandparents don't have anything over on us. We now have snow stories that will match the ones they told us.

When I was young we sledded on everything imaginable. Of course, there was the standard wooden sled. But we also used large pieces of cardboard and hoods of cars!

We stood around large bonfires lit to keep the hands and feet of sledding children warm.

We had snowball fights, we built snowmen, we flung backwards on the snow and made snow angels.

Of course, we did all of this after our moms bundled us in layers and layers of clothes, hats, gloves, coats and boots.

What a mess we made at the front door when we ventured back in from the cold and snow! Mountains of wet boots, outerwear, coats, hats and gloves piled on the floor. We ran to the heaters and our mothers made cups of hot cocoa to warm our insides.

I love the titmouses. . .


the cardinals. . .


the juncos, the woodpeckers, the chickadees, the wrens and the finches, but I am looking forward to seeing the first robin of spring.

Rain, Snow, Sleet. . . Take your pick

It's been raining all day and we have the high water to prove it. It got a lot deeper than this, but I couldn't snap a picture after dark.



But now it has turned into a wet snow. I guess we'll see how much has accumulated when we get up in the morning.


Are you wondering if February is good for anything besides snow and Valentine's Day?

I found out a few things I didn't know when I was researching my February children's column for Two-Lane Livin'.

I bet you didn't know that February 11th is National Inventors' Day, in honor of Thomas Edison.

Of course, everyone knows that two of our most famous presidents were born in the cold month of February. . . but did you know that February 14th is Ferris Wheel Day? I didn't.

I found that February is also a good time to buy clothing on clearance. I was at Wal Mart a couple of days ago and I got two skirts for $3 each, 2 blouses for $3 each, one pair of pants for $3, three shorts for $2 each and a blouse for $5. I hardly ever pay full price for clothing and I thought these were pretty good deals.

I guess we should be glad that this is not leap year or we would have to put up with 29 days of yucky weather. . . I am ready for the first blooms of spring! How about you?

I close this post as I listen to the sound of the snow plow rumbling down the road.

Weekend Trip

Snow was in the forecast for Friday and Saturday, especially in our southern counties. So what do we do? We take a trip on Friday to Pipestem State Park, which is in Summers county!

The trip down was uneventful and the only snow we saw was on the slopes of Winter Place as we passed by. But, what a difference a day makes. We woke up on Saturday morning to a winter wonderland. Pipestem ended up with I'd say a foot of snow on the ground. We were snowed in for the day on Saturday. This is the first time we ever went on vacation and our car never left the parking lot until we left to come home.

I took so many pictures, it was hard to figure out which ones to post. I thought I'd post of few pictures of my favorite parts of our stay.

Our room was on the 7th floor and the deer entertained us down below our window. They rutted in the snow for any food they could find.



The little ones were so cute. Their fluffy hair reminded me of wolves.


They looked so cold with their snow covered faces.



We took a walk in the snow. The only place we walked was on the roads, everywhere else was covered with a foot of snow and I didn't bring any boots. I looked like a red bird in my coat.


We walked to the playground. We decided eating on the picnic tables was out of the question :)


But the view from the restaurant on the 7th floor was beautiful.


You usually go on vacation to relax. But, my husband spent hours removing snow from on top of and around our parked car. I made fun of him when he packed a scraper, broom and snow shovel in the trunk of our little car. I guess he got the last laugh. Here he is sharing his broom and scraper with another lodge guest. Charley is the one on the right.


After walking in the snow and shoveling out the car, the lobby fireplace was a warm place to go and relax.



Wouldn't it be nice to soar like the birds over the frosty, snow covered hills?



We found out that, unlike a lot of people we met, we really do not like vacationing in the winter, especially during a snow storm. But we did enjoy ourselves and tomorrow I will post pictures of my favorite part of our trip.

Out and About

We got out from under the covers and out and about this morning before the snow started.

In 2008 I posted here about Mail Pouch Tobacco Barns. We have one just a little ways down the road from us. I took a picture of the back side of it on the way to town.


I also took this picture of turkeys following each other across a field. There is usually around 2 dozen turkeys in this field along with a herd of deer. I guess they knew I had my camera with me and decided not to show today.


On the way back, no one was behind us, so Charley slowed down so I could take a few pictures. The barn is slowly falling apart. I'm afraid it won't last through the winter without collapsing.


These pictures were taken during another snow storm which is coming through today and tomorrow. We didn't make it home before the snow started to come down.



It's the leaning barn of Fairplain. I feel like taking some long boards and propping it up.



And here are three horses braving the cold and snow across the creek in front of our house.


Hope everyone's ready for the cold weekend ahead of us.
Bundle up, or better yet, stay inside if you don't have to go anywhere.

Snowy Feathered Friends

I just had to post a few pictures of our feathered friends.

We got a new camera for Christmas and we have been trying to figure it out.

"I need a hat and scarf!"

"Make room, here I come!"

"Brrrrrr!"


"I'm so cute!"


"Help! Where's my perch?"

"Let's go! I'm out of here."


"Topsy Tervy Woodpecker"


"Togetherness"

"Breakfast at the local Feed and Seed."

I love watching our birds! I don't know where the Blue Jays are, I haven't seen any yet. I don't know where the pigeons are coming from. We're in the country, we're not supposed to have pigeons! I guess someone forgot to tell them this is not the city.

The price of bird feed has gotten so high that I was wondering if we could afford to feed them this winter. The cheapest bird seed we found in Ripley was at the local Tractor Supply Co. Before Christmas it was only 9.99 for a 50 lb bag. We bought two bags! I wish we had purchased more.

Do you feed the birds in the winter?

Warm Winter Wishes!

I wanted to wish all my snowbound friends warm winter wishes. . .



before I show you some pretty snow pictures.

one of our maple trees

our apple trees

bird house

grape vines and blackberry bushes . . . brrrr

Catawba trees

our poor little doe

down by the creek

down by a neighbor's barn

our holly tree

our lovely sycamore tree

It's still snowing.

Here's hoping the electric doesn't go out from the weight on the lines.