Valentine's Day

I saw this quote the other day:

Falling in love is easy.

But staying in love is very special.

How true.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Town vs Ridges in the Wintertime

After a very mild start to winter, we are finally getting hit with snow and cold. A couple weeks ago we got a foot or so of snow at our home on the ridge tops, and 7 inches or so down in town, along the banks of the Ohio River.

That is generally the story. Less snow in town. More on the ridges. This past week was a perfect example.

We left town around 4 pm. There was maybe an inch of snow. The streets were clean. It had snowed all day, but didn't really stick.

The  picture above is a mile or so out of town. Not all that far in miles, but elevation is the story here. Moundsville is down in the valley, right along the river. If you stand in the middle of town, you can look in any direction and see the hills of the surrounding ridges. 

Where the "ridge runners" live. 

That would be us.

When I posted these photos on my Facebook page, a friend of mine left this comment about the above photo - "oh no way!!!!"

Can you guess that she lives down in town? 

We left the main road you saw in the above photos, and started back our dirt road. Oh yeah. 

Definitely deeper.

These are the tracks from our turn into our driveway. Or should I say our spin into our driveway. I should point out that I was not driving when I took these photos. I was safely in the passenger seat, while George drove. And let out a "wheeee!" sound as we spun up the driveway. 

Why do guys think it's so fun to slide? 

It rather terrifies me.

At home we had 7 inches of snow. We had traveled 6 miles to another world. 

I started shoveling, and discovered that some places had a half inch sheet of ice under the snow. Not a fan of ice! Nor is George, despite his glee at sliding into the driveway.

Many times, it's hard for people in town who never venture out into the country to understand when school gets cancelled. Or people call off work. Or are late if they attempt the trip. 

Once in a while, the opposite problem happens. I remember driving to town one day in the rain. As I started down the hill into town, I noticed the car coming up was creeping. I will always be thankful for that car, because it was the warning. It was warmer up on the ridge, and it was just rain. But as the elevation dropped into town, the temps did too. I slowed down, and crept down the hill. At the bottom, I saw a car in the guard rail. I met the salt truck who was just turning to go up the hill. I crept the rest of the way to town, put a sign up that said CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS on my store, and gingerly walked across the black ice to the mailbox. I then got back in the car, and headed for home before it got any worse. And while the salt from the salt truck was still fresh and working it's magic.

It never did freeze on the hills that day. But town was a black ice skating rink.

Winter. 

Gotta love it.

Watching a Chicken Hatch

We got to watch the most amazing thing a couple weeks ago...

A baby chick hatching out of it's shell!

It's a struggle.

 But that struggle is what gives it the strength to live outside the shell.

It was inside an incubator on our son's farm,

where it had all the warmth it needed.

It pecked and pecked and pecked and then....

it finally broke free!

For a few seconds it stayed all coiled up in a little ball.

But then before long, it stretched out.

And it was immediately hard to believe it had been inside that egg!

Talk about CRAMPED quarters!

No wonder it was desperate to get out!

In a day or two, it had dried and fluffed out it's feathers.

How cute is that?

Pretty cute!

Love Signs

I spent a good bit of last week working on signs. 

I was either painting my own,

or unpacking ones I had bought for our shop.

Since Valentine's Day is around the corner,

my focus for one of our large display windows is...

What else?

LOVE

Not just romantic love, but also family love.

Cause you know, it makes the world go round.

Hey, I should put that on a sign!

Some Christmas Favorites

It's hard to believe Christmas has come.... and gone already! It still looks like Christmas at our house, I haven't taken down any of the decorations other than the tree. It's finally cold, so it just now FEELS like Christmas. I'll get around to taking them down one of these days, but I'm not in any particular hurry. It still feels somewhat like Christmas in our shop, because there are still lots of decorations on the floor - at 50% off! A good time to stock up for next year!

I'll share 4 of my favorite pictures from our family Christmas celebration:

Our daughter Jessica has been Santa/Present Passer-Outer for many years. This year she had a helper, although his hat was a bit too small. But you know what? When you are one year old, that just makes you even more adorable.

John jumped right into the job of helping pass out climbing on presents. 

The toy box was made by my dad, and was my sisters and then mine when we were little girls. My sister has had it since our parents both passed, but this year she gave it to John for Christmas. And he promptly climbed into it, and spent a good portion of the day sitting in it.

Friends of ours made the covered bridge. They also make barns, outhouses and other buildings. For several years, they made them, then sold them at local craft fairs. They no longer do the shows, but will make them for special orders. He mentioned one day that boys liked the bridges because they liked to run their cars through it. We had been thinking about ordering one of his custom buildings, and that sealed the deal, We wanted the bridge for John. Not only were they kind enough to accept our order (when they already had more orders than they planned for the season), but then they wouldn't let us pay for it. We will always treasure this generous, handmade gift from dear friends. And John loved it! We got so tickled at him peering through the bridge.

Great Christmas memories!!!

Christmas in our Shop

I'm a Christmas worrier. I'm afraid to wait until the last minute to shop; what if I get sick and can't? So, I usually try to get done a couple weeks ahead. We were running late this year, and didn't go shopping until the weekend before. And guess what happened? I got sick - from Christmas shopping! Oh the irony! Apparently I picked up a cold from one of my fellow shoppers. We shopped Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon - and Monday I got slammed with a cold. Aack!!! I've managed to keep the shop open, though my hands may fall off from washing them so often to try to keep from passing my cold to anyone else. By evening, I'm exhausted, and sleep all evening on the couch, running a fever which I typically do with a cold. Bah humbug! It's now Christmas eve morning, in the wee hours. 2:30 to be exact. I just woke up, went to the kitchen to get a drink, and am now wide awake. All that sleep must be catching up with me. But, I'm happy to say I'm feeling much better. I think I'll live after all! I glanced at the outside thermometer while I was up - it is 74 degrees! In the wee hours of Christmas Eve! Unbelievable! And raining. There were a line of storms moving toward us, but they must have fallen apart. Such an odd December.

While I'm laying here wide awake, I may as well do something productive. I'll show you some photos of our shop this Christmas:

Sleigh ride!

Ornaments galore.

This was a candle sconce, Home Interior I believe. 

I took the candles out & replaced them with snowmen.

A little garland gave this old stepladder a festive look.

This was a door we cut into 2 pieces. 

A fast seller, I'll be looking for more doors for next year.

Prim wreath.

Some pine and berries dressed up this nativity.

Window display.

The base of this is a wreath. 

The cardinal's nest nestled right into it. 

Nest nestled. 

I'm getting sleepy again!

Good night!

And Finally Some Snow

We have snow! It's been so odd this year, 60 and even 70 degree weather in December. It's not that unusual to get warm days here and there, but day after day? Crazy! Today was the first time this season that most customers that came in had on winter coats. And this evening, it snowed. This is the view when I opened our front door. I didn't step out on the porch - Baby, it's cold outside!

Hmmm, that would make a good song title. Maybe that's already been done......