Life in the Bristolwood

This morning, I mentioned the icy pellets that greeted us here in the Bristolwood….and so, when you read the above header, believe me, it was written tongue-in-cheek!  After I had written my entry, I ventured out to the back deck to de-ice the sagging lid on the hot tub. However, I had to wait several hours until it warmed enough to finally pry the icy mess off. By five this evening, I (finally!) had been able to bang the shovel enough to scrape the icy mess off the deck itself. Messy, messy, messy!

When I listened to the radio this morning, before getting up,  the announcer said there was about 1/4″ of ice on everything. He spoke to reporters in various areas of the state and in Pennsylvania as well….they all seemed to report 1/4″ as well. I guess because we are in the “higher elevations”, we were blessed with a double portion!

I guess it is good I didn’t plan to barbecue today, eh?

The poor lid on the hot tub looks much better without all that ice on it!

If you enlarge the picture below, I guess it would be a fairly good visual definition of the word “frozen”!

I suppose my friends would chide me, as I am the original winter person……this, however, just isn’t winter! When I think of winter, I think in terms of snow, wind, more snow, being snowbound,  sledding, hot cocoa, and getting warm by the fire.  This is such a quirky winter, and today was the epitome of quirkiness!  We were awakened to sleet (the weatherman defined the little “round balls” falling from the sky this morning as sleet), then this afternoon, we were further blessed with a goodly dousing of rain. Tonight, we are told to expect two or three inches of snow.

On the news this morning, we were told about a milk truck making an unplanned entry into a restaurant north of Buffalo, because of the icy conditions. Most schools were closed and people were advised to stay home, safe and sound today. We gladly obliged!

Enough complaining, as I was somewhat industrious in spite of being busied with ice removal as well.  I made up three different batches of soap today. I had not made soap in months and months…after the breathing difficulties I experienced,  Mark and my mother both wondered if the soap making aggravated or caused the whole problem. I decided to just refrain from making soap for a while. Unfortunately, the problem recurred even in the absence of making soap, convincing me that the problem might be more stress-related…..

It was nice to make up some batches and I enjoyed doing this.  I had become rather efficient in producing small batches previously, and I was able to accomplish this quite easily today. I had gotten a call yesterday from a past customer asking for several bars. I explained that I hadn’t made soap in a long time, and that I would be making more soon.  Her call was certainly a great impetus to get me in gear once again.  One thing I do know. My house smells terrific no matter what the weather brings outside!!!

Last evening, I was so tired, I went to bed far earlier than usual. I must have been asleep by nine!  I can’t even remember when I went to bed, but by one o’clock, I was wide awake! I tried to convince myself that I needed to get back to sleep, but myself refused to listen!

 I picked up my cell phone and began looking at blogs that I was unable to read while my laptop was down. I didn’t make comments, as I cannot comment on Blogger from my phone. That is one of those many little chores I need to check out. I went to Google and typed in William Wilberforce, and began reading all about his life in Wikipedia.  I cannot think when a movie has impacted me so much as Amazing Grace has. Wilberforce lived such an amazing life….one that seems like it was, for the most part, well spent.

Time seemed, as it usually does in the middle of the night!,  to pass so slowly. By four, I decided I *really* needed at least a couple more hours of sleep.  There was no way I was going to function, staying awake most of the entire night! Finally, I drifted off to sleep…

I awakened shortly after seven to the sound of pellets splashing over the rooftop. Ah yes, the weather forecast was for rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow…..This is not the type of weather one looks forward to and I was certainly reluctant to climb out of my cozy warm bed. But, alas, two sets of Scottie eyes beckoned me to get up and go out into the cold, windy outdoors! Of course, as the tiny pellets pelted my face and piled atop my head, the Scottie boys decided to romp about, sniffing and wandering back and forth, much longer than usual!

Hopefully, and the weatherman said it *might not* happen, the temperatures will rise up a bit to above freezing so some of this ice will melt. Then, we are looking forward to some snow….only a couple of inches. This has been another ridiculous winter as far as weather is concerned! So, off I go to scrape some icy junk off the hot tub cover before it is ruined!