New Roof (104/365)

TIME: 6:05 pm

PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Shingles

*~*~*

We had a new roof installed today - well, partial, they are coming back tomorrow to finish.

HH had shingled the roof back in 2014 - recently though, we had some leaks appear in SD's newly plastered bedroom ceiling and in the kitchen.  Try as we might, we could not figure out where they were originating.  We decided to suck it up and hire some professionals to tear it all off, repair any boards, install a barrier and a roof vent and lay down new shingles.

Overall, it wasn't as expensive as we anticipated, but still...I hate spending that kind of money.

Snow Day (027/365)

TIME: 11:14 am
PLACE: Home
SUBJECT: Looking out my window

*~*~*

We actually had an accumulating snowfall today.

Frost Gradient (012/365)

TIME: 7:40 am

PLACE: Looking out the 2nd floor bathroom window
SUBJECT: Frost on shingles

*~*~*

A bit frosty this morning.

Thankful I don't have to scrape my car windows in order to commute to work.

Boxcars from the Car (009/365)

TIME: 4:31 pm

PLACE: North 17th Street
SUBJECT: Boxcars

*~*~*

Another grey dreary day.  It made the overtime I had to put in a bit more palatable.

I did quit about 2:30 and left to get my haircut.  While driving home, I realized I had no photo for today.  When I slowed down to cross the train tracks, I quickly took this picture.

Not a great photo, but a photo taken today nevertheless.

Fog (004/365)

TIME: 8:17 am
PLACE: Bedroom
SUBJECT: Fog

*~*~*

We had a bit of fog this morning; it decided to hang around all day.

Oreo (068/365)

TIME: 11:07 PM
PLACE: Home
SUBJECT: Oreo

When you are 12 years old – for her size, tthe equivalent of 77 human years – your Friday nights include a lot of napping in your bed.

Old Lady (003/365)

TIME: 9:01 pm
PLACE: Home
SUBJECT: Oreo

Miss Oreo is now almost 12 years old.
Her black coat is turning white.
She has thrown out her right hip several times over the past couple of years and now walks with a limp.
She gets aspirin every morning for her aches and pains..
She moves about a little slower, sleeps a lot  more and makes huge old doggie sighs all the time.
She is a good dog.

One Dog, Two Angles (023/365)

"Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well."
-Bonnie Wilcox

TIME:  6:36 PM
PLACE:  Living room
SUBJECT:  Oreo

She is almost 9 years old.
That’s 68 in human years according to this calculator.
She is overweight.
And getting ever grayer..
Still, she will plop over on her back to have her belly rubbed.
How many 68-year-old humans do that?

The Birds (331/365)

“From the shaken tower
A flock of bells take flight,
And go with the hour.”
 
Alice Meynell (1847-1922), British poet (Mrs. Wilfrid Meynell). Chimes (l. 2-4). . . Come Hither. Walter de la Mare, comp. (3d ed., 1957) Alfred A. Knopf.

TIME:  3:29 PM
PLACE:  Target parking lot
SUBJECT:  Flock of birds

Oh man, is it feeling like winter today.  Such a cold and gray sky.  I took MonkeyBoy to Target to buy him a new belt so his pants don’t sag.  On our way to back to the car, a huge flock of birds flew overhead.  It took me a little bit to get the camera out of my purse, so this is the tail end of the swarm.  The beginning of the flock was more dense.

The Family (253/365)

“What greater thing is there for…human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent, unspeakable memories.”

George Eliot (English Victorian Novelist. Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1880)

TIME:  9:23 AM
PLACE:  The Hill, St. Louis, MO
SUBJECT:  Building detail

My dad picked me and DramaQueen up at 8am this morning to go to the Hill for cheese, salami and bread.  This building is across the street and east of J. Viviano & Sons on Shaw Ave, where we stopped.  There is a sign for Di Gregorio’s Market (5200 Daggett Ave.) on the front of the building, but I don’t know if they own the it or not.  In any case, I like this detail on its front.  I’ve been working on my genealogy again, and this sign is very apropos right now.

Smiley Face Doodles (251/365)

Gimbel's Manager: Why are you smiling like that?
Buddy: I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite

Love, Faizon, and Will Ferrell, perf. Elf. Dir. Jon Favreau. 2003. New Line Cinema. DVD.

TIME:  7:01 PM
PLACE:  Union Hall
SUBJECT:  Business card box

We were at a function this evening at HH’s Union Hall.  DramaQueen became bored and doodled smiley faces on her dad’s business card box.

Happy Rain Print (217/365)

“The thirsty earth soaks up the rain,
And drinks and gapes for drink again;”

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), British poet. Drinking (l. 1-2). . . Seventeenth-Century Verse and Prose, Vols. I-II. Vol. I: 1600-1660; Vol. II: 1660-1700. Helen C. White, Ruth C. Wallerstein, and Ricardo Quintana, eds. (1951, 1952) The Macmillan Company.

TIME:  5:38 PM
PLACE:  Back driveway
SUBJECT:  Outline in driveway of HH’s work van after the rain

It rained this afternoon.  And it cooled down to 76 degrees.  AND the HH is working overtime.  Cha-Ching!

Sanitary (129/365)

Young Tantor: Mom! Are you sure this water's sanitary? It looks questionable to me!

Tarzan. Dir. Chris Buck and Kevin Lima. 1999. Walt Disney Pictures. DVD.

TIME:  7:00 PM
PLACE:  Baseball fields
SUBJECT:  Sewer cover

After MonkeyBoy’s baseball game tonight, StellaDella was definitely NOT sanitary.  Her grubby, little body was thrown straight into the tub when we arrived home.

I Got A Rock (105/365)

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Pilot, Writer and Author of 'The Little Prince', 1900-1944)

TIME:  4:31 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Rocks

Sunday, while visiting Dana in Podunk, I noticed that there was quite the plethora of rocks laying about the farm fields.  I mentioned that fact to HandsomeHusband.  He said that they are from frost heaving (the upward dislocation of soil and rocks by freezing and expansion of soil water…he didn’t say that part – I looked up the official definition), farmers hate them (they ruin equipment) and are usually granite brought south by glaciers eons ago.  Granite? Glaciers? Extremely old?  That did it, I wanted one.  While we were taking pictures, I chose not one, but two rocks to come home with me.  HH was not too thrilled about having rocks in his Corvette, but nevertheless, he indulged me by placing them in a bag and gingerly setting them in the back of the car.

Horizontal Stripes (087/365)

“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.”

Albert Einstein (German born American Physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. 1879-1955)

TIME:  3:46 PM
PLACE:  My bedroom
SUBJECT:  Stripe shadows

We are supposed to get ANOTHER 3-5 inches of snow late tomorrow afternoon – which should all melt by Wednesday and then we are supposed to get up to 71 degrees on Saturday.  Nutsy!  ~*~*~  Anyway, I forgot to put the memory card back in my little camera and could not take my weekly photo at the parking lot at work.  When I returned home I went upstairs to change into sweats and noticed the shadows coming in my bedroom window.  I decided to try to get all artsy with my shot today.  You know what they say about wearing horizontal stripes…I hope they don’t make me look fat.

A Brick Fleur De Lis (070/365)

“Grey brick fleur de lis
Found in a messy garage
Now displayed as art.”

Sujomi, Fleur De Lis Haiku, 2011

TIME:  6:05 PM
PLACE:  Front porch
SUBJECT:  Decorative brick

In the course of the big garage clean-out last weekend, not only did we find the 1949 Chevy steering wheel, but also this fleur-de-lis brick.  I know it didn’t come from our house <= it’s built out of wood.  In any case, it’s a nice decorative architectural piece.  I have placed it alongside my growing collection of Haeger pottery on the shelves of the barn wood hutch that sits on my front porch.

Glacier In The Gravel (047/365)

“Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier.”

Barbara Kingsolver (American Writer and Activist. b.1955)

TIME:  3:56 PM
PLACE:  Back driveway
SUBJECT:  Ice patch in the driveway gravel

What a difference a week makes.  Our temps hit 70 degrees today and it is only supposed to get down to about 54 degrees tonight – crazy.  With the warmth, much of the ice covering our ground is or has melted away.  We had some small patches of ice remaining in front of our garage door which is in the shade most of the day.  I messed around taking photos with my 50mm lens.  This photo is a crop from of one of the pictures I snapped.

Tornado Watch (365/365)

“In some places it's known as a tornado. In others, a cyclone. And in still others, the Idiot's Merry-go-round. But around here they'll always be known as screw-boys.”

Jack Handy (American Writer and cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1991-2003. Famous for his Deep Thoughts comedy sketches.)

TIME:  12:21 PM
PLACE:  Looking west
SUBJECT:  Sky

As I was taking down the Christmas tree, the tornado sirens went off.  That, of course, made DramaQueen go into hysterics.  Then, when I went outside to continue with the de-Christmasing of the porch trees, lights and garland and to watch the skies, it threw her into a tizzy.  “Come inside!!!! Come INSIDE Mom!!!  Oh my god…is there going to be a tornado? Are we going to be ok!?!  Mom! Come! In! Side!”  So I went inside, got my camera and went back out.  MonkeyBoy came with me.  He thought the weather was pretty neat.  I took another couple of shots, we started up the porch steps and all of a sudden, a wave of wind and rain hit.  It was like someone turned on a switch.  We barely missed getting soaked.  MB was impressed.  DQ was hysterical.  We all survived.

Office Space (349/365)

Ms. Angela Li: All right! A two percent raise and a space heater for the teacher's lounge.

"Lucky Strike." Daria. Perf. Nora Laudani. MTV. 26 Mar. 2001. Television.

TIME:  1:15 PM
PLACE:  Work
SUBJECT:  Space heater & file drawers

As in other parts of the country, we’ve been experiencing below normal, bitterly cold temperatures here in the Midwest.  My office is located in the lower level of our building.  We have the most craptacular HVAC system ever.  It is always cold in my office (even in the summer, I have to have wear sweaters) – and with the weather we’ve been having it is simply freezing!  I am so thankful that I have a space heater, even if it is an older model…it keeps me warm and that is all that matters.

Hawk (297/365)

“I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.”

James Wright (1927-1980), U.S. poet. Lying on a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota (l. 11-12). . . New Oxford Book of American Verse, The. Richard Ellmann, ed. (1976) Oxford University Press.

TIME:  1:44 PM
PLACE:  S. 77th Street
SUBJECT:  Hawk

Today started out a little slowly and painfully for me.  I had attended an informal 25 year class reunion last night and did not get home and to bed until 4am this morning.  The way I felt when I crawled out of bed at 9am just reinforced the fact that I am definitely NOT 18 anymore *ahem*.  At noon, my Aunt Alice – my mother’s older sister - had a 75th birthday celebration at her daughter’s home.  It was overcast, but was warm and even though rain was in the forecast, none appeared, so it was very pleasant sitting outside in my cousin’s backyard and chatting with the relatives.  It also helped that I was feeling better from my previous night’s escapades.