So what will today bring

You should keep and treasure all the horse scat you can get - make a heap in the back 40 and let it compost to garden gold.

I do the same when possible.

Cheryl

Pig manure is by far the best though, especially for roses.

Wrong dog. Harry would think about it (he can be quite mouthy; never with anyone outside of the family, though). Cash keeps his mouth shut unless he means it. He did pin the tenant's Siberian Husky yesterday. Dog just would not leave him alone and Cash had finally had enough. DH and DT had to pull them apart and then Czar apparently wanted a do over.

Elizabeth

I can see it now! I've never met Czar, but I know the breed!

I had the same debate before I shovelled. But was afraid that if the ice got thick, it would be really difficult to remove with the snow. Also, the TT is quite low, and last winter DH broke part of the bumper by turning up onto the driveway and hitting an ice-chunk that he thought was just a big snow lump. Hence, my deciding to go shovel. Also, if the HOA police come around, we have to have done our walks within a day - so, what the heck.

They did come plow our street yesterday, late. And then some guys came around with a back-hoe offering to clear drives. Huh? Anyhow, our 4 doors down neighbors - older Indian couple - took them up. DH was amazed - the guys pulled their back-hoe up onto the drive, turned the bucket upside down, and scraped. I'm thinking they'll be recoating the drive in the spring.

I know how that goes. Our street is kind of OK now, the main roads were all plowed clear and seem good. But, our drive is a rink. DH went to work, and called me from the good road to let me know that he almost landed the TT in the yard. Said he skidded/slid like crazy getting down the drive -though supposedly only went a little onto the grass. Wanted me to know that once I'm off our street it would be fine - but thought it would be a good idea to stay home til some more ice has melted. So, no stitch group for me this morning. Also - I need to be really stitching, and the Amethyst Dreams is big to take to crowded stitch-in at the shop, plus, we chat so much, well...

So, another morning of laundry and stitching.

Ellice

Ah, youthful memories - whose job it was to go lime the manure hill. At the NC barn in the summer we had a kind of berm/heap from the barn - 30-40 horses. The stable hand put the loads into the pile, and some local farmers would come to get it at times. But, to keep the pile from getting too gross, flies, stinky, etc - we'd dust it with lime powder. Yup, my favorite chore - put on the muck boots and go deal with that heap of s***. The lime did help, it really didn't stink too badly. OTOH, I think my allergy to straw kept me from really smelling much at any of the barns.

Ellice

I had a feeling as I wrote I should pick Harry !

Don't blame him, I believe a dog should only be asked to tolerate so much, in that respect they are human-like, the Popeye Syndrome.

I didn't actually witness it, but when DH told me about it, I said that Czar had to really push to get Cash to fight with him. Except for the neighbor's Yellow Lab, Cash totally avoids conflict. And he really has been working at not getting into it with Czar, but the Sibe just wouldn't leave him alone. I'm glad Cash came out on top or Czar would be completely insufferable from now on!

Elizabeth

Yeah, he's a pretty classic Siberian. DH said that even though Cash had him pinned, neither dog was backing down. My response was that if Czar wasn't backing down, Cash couldn't afford to, even if he was on top! Cash isn't dog aggressive, but he does read other dogs very well and would have known not to let go. I'd feel bad about it if Czar weren't such a little sh*t in the first place (he's cute, but he's still a little sh*t).

Elizabeth

LOL - it's a back big postage stamp compared to the old house. And I'm not hanging at a barn until I lose some weight, and can afford to. But, our yard is in serious need of help. We were bad gardeners this year, and I'll be really busy in the spring fixing, feeding, etc. And deciding what to do with the Cryptomeria which lost part of its top - but now has a big 6' shoot comeing up. Let's all hope I get a job so we can take care of life and the yard! I do however, use some gardener's mix with manure, and keep it on hand (well, in the garage) - so all the stuff we planted has done well - til now. And Causin It, the Weeping Pussywillow - is actually showing buds - totally out of synch.

Ellice

Good call not bringing in Amethyst Dreams. We were pretty full this morning with 10 of us showing up. Dawn says she's got hers out is working on it again. And I think she's pretty much in the strip the Silk Lame Braid camp.

Donna in Virginia

I thought it likely. There's no way I'd bring a large project to stitch in with that space....

I'll send a note to Dawn about the silk lame stripping. I left it full in the upper Right vertical stripes and lower left zig-zag. But, stripped it to actually 1 silk, 1 metallic for the upper left diamonds and lower right squares. But, now in the fans I have it at 1/2 thickness - which is 2 silks, 2 metallics - and looks ok. I'm afraid that full thickness will pull too much attention - but not convinced yet. DH approved of the look. And my having done the million (well, more like 30) French knots in the Cresta d'Oro. I was pleased, only had to redo 2 of them.

Ellice

Sigh!

I've been so close to just saying "I need a break" getting in the car and heading for the airport.

Hey Cheryl ! At least we can take comfort from the fact that we are unlikely to get a ginormous earthquake, snow, ice or freezing rain, I'll take that willingly over that ! ~ "gloating" here of course !

True, but I do get little earthquakes and one (or more) of them did some damage to my basement. Which needs to get fixed soon....

And we don't get freezing rain, snow, ice

Cheryl

I'd go for that. Goes with why I don't really want to lice in California - as I'm convinced it will fall into the ocean any day now. I can deal with hurricanes - as in FLA.

FWIW - another day, another ice rink on my driveway. DH is reffing high school tonight - 2 rinks - woo hoo! So, when he left this a.m. It was with his ref gear bag - which is pretty hefty (though not as bad as his goalie bag). I went out to the garage with him, watched him slide down to open the door, put his work stuff in the car, pop the trunk, go get the paper - wheeee - then come back for gear bag. I said - why don't I just slide it to you - his response - it'll end up in the street! Fortunately, no spill, he got it in the car, and they all slid nicely down the drive. Almost hitting the across the street neighbors trash can (out for pick-up). It was 25 in DC, and about 18 F here at the house when we were doing this. At least he finally took gloves & a hat (refusing scarf for closer to 0).

Hoping to get out later this afternoon - without falling on my face or too generous behind.

Ellice - not really moping about the weather - lets me feel justified running the fireplace, and setting next to it while stitching.

This AM the kids tried using the pile the plow guy leaves at the top of the drive as the start of a long sled down the driveway.

If I didn¹t need the driveway (ok if DH didn't need to come up the drive), I'd make one heck of run from the top of the heap do the street. The snow needs a day or two to solidify to make runs on the hills.

Cheryl

Dont you have stuff to put on the driveway to melt the ice? There is, of course, "salt", calcium chloride. But I use urea; a very high nitrogen "fertilizer". It is reasonably useless as a fertilizer, but, unlike salt, it does not damage anything. I always have a bag by my front door once the snow comes. Jim.

Did your letter carrier leave you a coupon for $2 off any brand of ice melter?? They were doing that here. The only problem I find is that the ones I have had don't work when the weather is really cold, the way it has been here (e.g. -35C) Now it is warming up (-12C) the ice melter works wonderfully.

Dawne