from the porches

light-headed

It has been almost two (2) weeks since Truett and I have seen our grandchildren!

 We're in full withdrawal.

Our arms are twitching.

Our mouths are pukering at odd times of the day.

We're wandering around aimlessly repeatingly asking each other, "Did Merry Jennifer call today?"

And according to my fourth graders, "Ahhhh!  We're Freaking out!"

But tomorrow we get to see the grandchildren and we're light-headed with joy!

And we NEED a grandchildren FIX!

friends

This morning I worked with three first grade boys. 

One of the boys just couldn't stay focused. 

As we were heading back to his class, I told this boy that maybe he should try a little harder next week. 

Then the boy mentioned, "Ooops.  I think I forgot my pill this morning."

I asked, "Pill?  Why do you take pills?"

He answered, "Because I have hdh or something." 

Then I realized the child was probably taking a hyperactive disorder pill such as Ritalin. . .or something like that.

Meanwhile, the second boy said,  "Oh I've got that.  I have to take pills too."

Then the first boy said,  "Hey, we're alike.  Let's us be friends. Okay?"

Friends are made when you least expect it. 

lucky

I must be the luckiest person in the whole town of Fort White.  Saturday Truett and I ran up to Wal*Mart in Lake City so I could purchase hand warmers for my gloves.

We headed to the hunting and camping section, but there were no boxes of hand warmers anywhere.  I asked the clerk in the gun sales department and he told me, "Lady, we're all sold out and I don't know when we're getting anymore in.  They sold like hot cakes."

I started freaking out, actually becoming despondent for I knew the low temperatures were coming and I had that dreaded, miserable car-rider duty.  Little did I know how cold it would be on Monday (11 degrees) and today (19 degrees).

Well, as Truett and I were checking out of Wal*Mart, I glanced at the magazines with all the new diet plans and then I scanned the tabloids (poor Tiger.  He messed up, didn't he?)  Then I looked at the opposite shelf  at the Tootsie Rolls and Dentyne gum.

But way down on the bottom row was a box that said "Hand-Warmers". 

I grabbed the box and looked inside. . . but it was empty.

"Dang!"  I grumbled.

Truett suggested I check all the check-out lanes, so I did. 

One after the other, I squeezed behind people loading their groceries and sundries on the counter; and one aisle after the other proved empty of Hand-Warmers.

Then lo and behold, on check-out lane number 4, I spotted two packs of hand warmers.  

I snatched them up, clutched them to my chest like precious jewels, and hurried back to check-out lane number 9 where Truett was unloading our groceries from the buggy.

"Yes!" I thought.  "Monday and Tuesday are covered!"  I knew my hands would be warm for at least two days.  But I needed three more packs to make it through this week.

Well, today I picked up my mom for our Tuesday night supper in High Springs.  After I dropped her off I high-tailed it over to CVS Drugstore, where I had seen hand-warmers for sale.

Not seeing any, I wandered the store.  Up and down each aisle. 

I got distracted a few times in the toy and gadget aisles, but  ended up at the pharmacy and asked, "Do you have any hand-warmers?"

The pharmacist said, "Sure do.  Right at the front of this counter."

I looked all over the counter; but none were to be found.

"Darn!" I muttered.  "I'm in a pickel.   We have several more days of low temperatures and my hands cannot take the cold on car-rider duty.

So I decided I'd have to stove up and think warm, toasty thoughts tomorrow morning . . .and the rest of the week.

Do you want to know how lucky I am?

I am so lucky that when I checked out I asked the sales clerk, "Do you sell hand-warmers?"

Her reply: "We had a whole case this morning, but this is all we have now. 

And with that, she reached down and pulled out two packages of hand warmers.

Ah, I thought.  Wednesday and Thursday are saved.

That's how lucky I am.

On the other hand, on the drive home, I thanked the good Lord for the small  things He gives to me.

aggravating felines

One thing that aggravates me about this cold weather. . . other than our electric bill that will sky rocket this month, is the fact that these two cats, Punky (the orange one) and Roger, (the grey one) are constantly wanting out on the porches.

The minute my feet hit the hardwood floors of my house, these two brats start following me around.  First, to the feed bowl, where they nibble on a couple of pieces of dry cat food and manage to scoop out the ones they don't like.  It actually looks as if I've poured the food on the floor and a few morsels serendipitously landed in the bowl.

 Then the parade begins.  I go to the dressing room to check my computer, and not five seconds later, Roger is scratching at the door.  So I get up and let him in, with Punky right behind him.  But that's not all he wants.  Then Roger wants to go out to the front porch through the door in the dressing room.  So I get up from the computer and let him out.

Punky, meanwhile, hesitates until I shoo him to the porch and then I close the door, but not tightly because I know in five minutes both cats will want back in.  Sure enough.  Roger leaps on the door and marches in, but Punky hesitates and the cold air rushes in the house. 

I coax him, urge him, call him sweetly in my high-pitched cat voice, and finally Punky makes it half in and half out of the opened door.  If I move he will run back to the porch and the game starts again.  Yecht!

Meanwhile I hear Truett yelling,  "Close that door!  You're costing us money!"  And then Roger decides to zip past Punky and heads for the porch again and the game starts all over. 

I wouldn't be complaining so much about these two cats if the weather was warm because then the porches belong to the cats!  It's just so aggravating in cold weather.

time's up

Times up Winter! 

I'm now changing my thoughts and vizualizing beautiful spring flowers. 

a picture is worth..

How does that saying go? A picture is worth a thousand words?

Yeah, that's it.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

This is a photograph of two of our elementary students here in sunny Florida. 

Fooled you, didn't I. 

I bet for a moment there you thought I was going to show kids in shorts and tee-shirts.

But this is how our Florida children look this week, and according to the weather forecast. . . for next week, too.

For this entire week I have told these two children,  "I want to take a picture of you."  They said it was okay; but this morning I cleared it with their mom.

Aren't these the coolest hats ever for a Floridian to wear?

I just wanted to snatch them off their heads and bury my nose in the warm softness of the fur. 

But then I thought someone might think I was weird or something and call the cops and arrest me on the spot. . .right in front of all the car-riders and their parents. . . in the freezing cold weather.

I don't have a hat like these.  I don't even have a hat.  But I'm thinking that maybe it's time I start thinking about buying one.

holding our breath

If you are like me right now, then we are holding our breaths, waiting for the dip in the temperatures. 

We were lucky this morning because it was not in the teens, but 27 degrees when I went to work, even though the forecast said it felt like 21 degrees. 

Still, 27 degrees is cold for us, but knowing it was "warmer" made me feel warmer while I was on car-rider duty.  Then, when I left school today my car's temperature guage read 44 degrees.  "Yes!" I shouted as I headed for home.  "It's warm!"  But warm is relative, isn't it?

I found this photograph of a leaf I took three days ago at Merry Jennifer's.  It's odd how three days ago the nature of the trees and plants still showed remnants of fall.  Right now my roses are covered, the pets have a heat lamp for them to bask under, and an extra blanket is covering my bed.  We're holding our breaths until this cold snap moves somewhere else.

 
One child told me today that there's a 30% possibility of snow Thursday or Friday.  The last time it snowed here was in 1989.  I say, "If it's going to be this cold...then by golly let it snow."  That way we feel like we've gotten a reward of some kind.

So we're holding our breaths and figuring out ways to stay warm and toasty here in Florida.  Next week, I understand, we can exhale and get back to typical winter Florida weather. 

it ain't right

Yes, I used the word ain't because this Florida freeze we're having just ain't right!

It ain't right that Bee Boy has icicles hanging from his nose . . .

 
   
 or how the birds will probably break their beaks banging on the ice in Bee Boy's bowl!

 
We're supposed to have a record freeze tonight for the second night in a row.  It happened in 1989 and again in 1999.

My family remembers well the freezes in 1989 because we had no heat...no electricity. . .no nothing.  And to make matters worse, my twin and her family and Truett's daughter and husband were visiting us during that time.  Luckily, our neighbor had power and heat and water, so we trudged to his place and took turns bathing.

No.  It just ain't right. .. .and by the way, guess who will be standing out on car-rider duty tomorrow morning, looking like a human Popsicle?  ME!

So, if you are so inclined and are a teacher at my school, please...please..pretty please with sugar on it...please sign me in.

Or, if you are a parent and you see my Rudolph nose or my hands shaking or my goofy looking ear muffs, please...please...pretty please buy me a cup of cocoa. . .but just don't laugh.

But wait! Here's a plus:  I have my handy-dandy hand warmers to help alleviate some of the cold.

No, it just ain't right to have this cold weather in Florida!

The Cardinals are certainly enjoying this frigid weather

farewell annie

On New Years Eve as I was photographing the Blue Moon, I heard a dog yapping deep in the woods.  But I thought nothing of it.  

It was just a dog chasing a rabbit or a deer or a coyote or whatever they chase by the light of a full moon.

 
  Yesterday, New Year's Day, a thought flitted through my brain that I had not see Annie all day.  In fact, the last time I saw her was when Ears Flat Back was leaping on her face.

Oh well, I thought.  Annie's just laying in the sun somewhere in the yard keeping warm.

But this morning, Clay called me and said, "Mom, I think Annie is dead up by the bank in town."

So I drove to town and sure enough she was laying in the road while cars veered around her body. 

 I came on home to wait for Clay to return so he could retrieve Annie's body; but in the meantime a friend of ours, Jim Lance, called Truett to tell him about Annie. 

So I headed back to the bank area and Jim was kind enough to pick Annie up and place her in his truck.

 Thanks Jim.  You're a real friend.

I blame Annie's death on the blue moon. . .on her being deaf and not hearing the car approaching ...on a drunk driver coming home from a New Year's Eve bash too drunk to slow down for a dog in the road.. . .on the fact that we felt sure we didn't need the electric fence anymore. Boy were we wrong about that one. 

I will miss you, sweet Annie.