pieces of the puzzle: it's still winter

Yep, it's still winter here.... in case you were wondering.... You wouldn't know it though if you lived down south. Many people don't even know Alaska is part of the United States! How sad is that? And too many people see the two letter state abbrebiation AK and think Arkansas!

We find it interesting when we watch the morning news (national) that other states can have blizzards and zero degree weather and 10" of snow and gusts to 55 mph, and it's always recognized on the national news as NEWS! Chicago is buried today with 10" of snow. A train was tipped over yesterday due to high winds. But you never heard about all our container vans that were blown over due to high winds this week. Yes! Shipping containers weighing 11,000 pounds were knocked over like dominoes! Or that we've had temps dipping to -9 at night with wind chill factors of -35 for most of the week. Last year we had record snow fall well over 200". Never heard a peep about it on the news.... I wonder why Alaska isn't recognized as being newsworthy....

Here's the week in review at our household:

Blue Jays versus the Yellow Bird....

Bird DOG that is.... I've noticed ears of dry corn laying about in our back yard lately and just thought the Blue Jays had carted it off. I keep a plant stand up on my outdoor table filled with dried corn on the cob for my Blue Jays to enjoy during the winter months. It stays out of the weather pretty much because there's a second story deck overhead that protects it. It's an easy place for the birds to get a little snack. But our little Sadie Girl has figured out that somehow this is food meant for her and she wants her share as well. A picture is worth a thousands words. Do I need say more?

Grandbaby turns 2 months!

My most favorite little grandson turns 2 months today! Okay, so he's my only grandbaby so far. But two months, already! How time flies. He is just so adorable, I can hardly stand it. I get to visit with him at least once a week and we're developing a good rapport with each other. He's already indicated that I could just possibly be his most favorite grandma (out of three of us) and he likes coming here to visit me best of all. :)

Personally, I think he's already advanced for his age..... But I could be just a tad prejudice.

And, yes, it's still winter.... The temps have been to near zero or below for several days. We're having a heat wave today as it's almost 20 degrees outside. It's been snowing all day and we've accumulated about 6" of very light, fluffy snow. You don't need a snow shovel for this though, all you need to do is blow and it flies away!

Despite winter conditions,

I've got a few Valentine decorations up, although I don't do much in the way of decorating for this holiday. I love little splashes of red here and there and especially chocolates wrapped in red celephane! Or just chocolate. I love chocolate. I got like 12 boxes of chocolate covered cherries (CCC) for Christmas this year. Did I tell you that? My family all know how much I love them, but 12 boxes....? I may still have some come next Christmas! I've tried buying other variety of candy since Christmas and my husband not-so-politely reminds me I have candy at home.... I have to tell him that one cannot live on CCC alone; variety IS the spice of life! And I do love variety! I hinted that I expected a box of chocolates for Valentines Day, but we'll see. Some times he's not so good