Hello. My name is Earl.

It was nice and warm today - 45F!!! That made the snow wet enough to make a snowman. Meet Earl. We're not sure how long he's staying with us.









FiG was in no mood for sharing the glory of my creation.








Snow Toddler, meet Earl. Earl, Snow Toddler.

Keeping up with the Germy Jonses

FiG is sick again. This time it's bronchiolitis. Since several of the kids in her class are coughing and I know at least one of them has this exact diagnosis and it's a contagious virus, I'm pretty sure she picked it up at school. She seems to have a mild case but also has some pneumona-like rustling in her right lung so she's on antibiotics now. I just hope not too many other kids end up with this, but bugs tend to race through classrooms with speed and purpose. She should be feeling better by Monday.

Going to sleep and staying asleep have been easier with FiG for the last two weeks...of course she hasn't been feeling well for those two weeks. So we'll see what happens next week. We do seem to have fine tuned our bedtime routine and going to bed isn't as awful a proposition as it was a month ago.

I'm told that we could see temps at or above 30F tomorrow. It will feel humid and balmy. Can't quite plant veggies in the garden, but it's going to feel really good. And we'll be able to get our cars washed!

In other news I'm knitting myself a sweater. It's a challenging pattern and my first two attempts at adult sweaters (both for me) ended up as gifts for women much smaller than me. Two valuable lessons in gauge will hopefully lead to success on this third attempt.

Jailbird Chronicles

My positive and calm energy made a big difference last night. FiG fed off it...until she killed it. I brought her into bed with me at 10pm when she still wasn't asleep. She fell aslepp quickly in my arms, but it took an hour and two visits to the rocking chair to move her into her own bed without waking. And then she was up an hour later at which point A-Mo put her in bed with me and he slept in the basement. FiG kicked me all night so I feel like hell today. I'm sporting the "I haven't showered in 3 days bed hair" today so hopefully people will leave me alone.

There's a cold wind blowing this morning. We're headed back down into the single digits for a few days.

Jailbird Chronicles

It's the end of the week and I think we've made some progress with FiG's sleeping. From entering the crib to falling asleep was only 30 minutes tonight. She has gotten up in the middle of the night every night for so many nights in a row but since the crib rail was re-installed on Monday night, she has woken up later each night and has stayed up for progressively shorter periods of time. Our work is not done, but we feel good about these improvements.

Two big pieces of news on the day: FiG had a bloody nose at school. No accident, just the dry air. Which leads to new piece #2: the temperature climbed to the positive side of zero today. We've had more than 80 hours of sub-zero temps and the kind of wind chills that make you feel like your sinus cavities are freezing inside your head. It's really messed up when you think 5F feels warm.

Rewind this crazy day...

At the end if the day it hailed.
Twice.
















Good looking mulch job, don't you think?








Playing in the back yard under puffy white clouds and a gorgeous blue sky with mom's new gardening gloves.









Breakfast.

Spring Revere-ence

The leaves are coming! The leaves are coming!

The aura of spring

With the ice storm last night and the rain today, you can now see faint hues of color in the flora. The landscape has been gray for so many months. And while there isn't much in the way of green yet, there's a tremendous amount of color. Tree bark is vibrant again. Trees and bushes are plump. Shades of pink, orange, green, and yellow glow from the stands and groves. Leaf buds are just about to burst open. Spring is here. A great sense of relief came over me today.

Our garden is perking up. Tulips, daffodils, yarrow, chives, peonies, columbine, day lilies, sedum, and the plant with yellow flowers by the back door that I've never known the name of have all woken from their winter slumber.

Spring in Minnesota, in pictures

The first day of Spring:









The second day of Spring:









Eight days into Spring:









Yesterday.

29

Today is the 29th day of below zero temperatures this winter. The average is 30 days. We have had the same snow on the ground since December 1st. No wonder we're all sick of it and everyone's moping about the temperature. Mittens are dingy. Coats need to be cleaned. Our bodies are dry. But we might see 40 this weekend and our clocks will shift so there's more daylight at the end of the day. Things are looking up. We just have to keep in mind that today may be the last day this year that we will have long underwear on.

On the lighter side....the FiG update for the week is that I taught her how to eat a popsicle the other night. The first two approches were bites followed by grimaces. The third approach was when it all came into focus for her. She figured out that she could suck on the frozen treat and not hurt her teeth. She really enjoyed her first popsicle. It was really fun watching her in the process of discovery.

The me update is that I leave town this afternoon to the annual Women of the Wool knitting retreat. I'm looking forward to working on fingerless gloves for my friend, Behmarama. I'd like her to have a chance to wear them before next fall! After that, it's fingerless gloves for my sister-in-law, Mirmaid. It's only one weekend and with a reiki session, walks in the woods, naps, and catching up with 21 other women of the wool, I know I'll be lucky to finish the first pair.