Among Friends

[Snicks1]

Good morning all. -6 degrees here. It's been below zero for a couple of days, b'rrr! I have a hair appt. today so I have to get out in this deepfreeze, lol. I was out yesterday so it's not my first rodeo. But I still don't like it. Stay safe and warm!

[viva923]

hello all

we got 3inch snow fall

we gotthat ice rain afterwards

it is super slick and slippery

not much else.later guys

[mousiegirl]

@Bird mama   Possummink is missing, have you heard anything?  The last I did, she was going to a doctor about her painful hip, and this was over a week ago, can't remember exactly, probably longer.

[Bird mama]

@mousiegirl  I usually see Mary Kay (Possummink) on this thread.  Sometimes she disappears from this thread for little periods of time.  If you post with her on other threads has anyone said anything?

[Bird mama]

Mary Kay @possummink 

I don't see a post from you in the Community since December 30th in the "Tis the Season Let Us Mingle" thread.

Throwing up the bat signal - are you okay?

[mousiegirl]

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@Bird mama wrote:

@mousiegirl  I usually see Mary Kay (Possummink) on this thread.  Sometimes she disappears from this thread for little periods of time.  If you post with her on other threads has anyone said anything?

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@Bird mama   We both post on A Flurry of Fun, and posters are asking where she is.  We know she takes breaks, but over two weeks becomes concerning.  I don't get too concerned because she has so much family to be with, and chores such as getting on a tractor to mow lawns/property, etc.

[geezerette]

@mousiegirl 

@Bird mama 

I know that @possummink is several hundred miles north of me and we have had some record breaking horrible weather this past week, so I can only imagine how bad it's been for her.  I also know that she lives in a country setting, so it's possible she just has been busy keeping up with all that entails in these situations.  I know it's been challenging for me.

Hopefully, her absence is not because of ill health.🤞🙏

[just bee]

[Bird mama]

So, we had a winter storm that started Friday afternoon and went into the night.  We're talking rain, rain/sleet, snow and sleet.  Because I run cold, even on blistering summer day (lol) and because I lost power early in the evening on Friday, I refused to go outside on Saturday.  I didn't want to let cold in a house without heat and I didn't want to get cold only to come into a house without heat.

I didn't address the sidewalks and driveway until Sunday morning.  Jesus, Mary and Joseph did I get a workout.  I worked 2 shifts (each at least 90 minutes) in the cold and had to use 3 different tools.  One was a narrow spade that I used as as ice chopper; for the life of me, I don't know what happened to the ice chopper that I swore I had in the garage.  The next was 'Rusty', the square scoop mouth shovel that is older than I am.  Seriously I think it belonged to my late husband's grandfather.  The edge of the shovel that touches the surface is pitted and jagged, just what I needed to bite the hardened snow and ice.  Unfortunately Rusty is sized for a wee person, not some 5'10 - there was some stooping going on.  Next I used my polycarbonate Joe as in Snow Joe, with lift assist.

I got the driveway done from the garage to street and cleared the sidewalk that splits the driveway approach and the rest of the driveway.  I did the 2 1/2 squares that represent my responsibility on the north side of my property.  I was exhausted and I really worked my hands and wrists over slamming the spade into the ice.  I couldn't type much and had a hard time holding a cup of coffee.

I still had the concrete porch stairs and 8 squares of sidewalk in front of the house.  I knew the mail carrier was not going to be working on MLK day so I took Monday off.  II knew rock salt was out because we were having sub zero temps.  I googled melt ice is subzero temperatures and came across an article from CBS Chicago that was a godsend.

Calcium Chloride   Yesterday morning I popped into the local Auto Zone (who knew?) and bought 2 jugs of Prestone Driveway Heat.  I hit the grocery store on the way home and sprinkled the Prestone product all over the sidewalk as soon as I pulled into the garage.  I gave it 15 minutes to do it's thing while I put my groceries away.

Smarter, not harder - In little over an hour, my sidewalks and most of the porch stairs (shoulda bought 3 jugs of Driveway Heat) were done.  Yea I still had to use Rusty because the ice was heavy and I didn't want to break Joe but I have to say - best $20 I've spent in a long time.  We had sun and my sidewalks are dry as a cork.

[geezerette]

Since this is The Bird's Nest thread, I'll relate my morning bird story.

With this horrific weather, I've been feeding some seed on my back patio which faces south and is out of the wind.  I've cleared it off and the birds flock to it.  

This morning a female cardinal flew into my glass door.  She was really stunned and just lay flattened out on the concrete.  Normally I just leave them for a couple of minutes to see if they'll recover on their own (which they usually do), but it's so cold that I didn't want to leave her on that cold concrete.

I got a hand towel and approached her.  She showed no sign of flying off and didn't move--not a good sign.  I gently laid the towel on her and she started flopping and squawking like all get out.  Good sign.  

I scooped her up and brought her in the warm(er) garage.  But as I'm standing there with her wrapped in the towel I'm thinking to myself that if I open the towel to check on her condition and she's ok, she's going to get loose and be caught in the garage.  And if she's in bad shape, I don't know how to care for a seriously injured bird.  After all, I'm no @Bird mama!😉

So, I just cradled her in my arms for a few minutes to warm her up.  Then I put her (still in the towel so she wasn't directly on the cold concrete) back on the patio in the sun in the corner where I found her.  I threw out a few seeds for the other birds and went back in the house.

When I went back out a little later, she was gone.  No sign of her on my "rounds", so hopefully she recovered on her own.🤞🙏

That's enough drama and excitement for me today.😄