48°f/about 9°C, beautiful sunny day but very windy. Last night was thunderstorms, hail, lightning, and apparently a tornado warning, but we slept right through that.
Wild, wild weather! The wind today was incredible, blowing things around. One of our antique malls called and said the eibd was pushing in the garage doors which form our back wall, and a few things had broken! They were moving other things away from that wall. I can't get back in to rearrange until next week, as i am leaving for granddaughter Cassie's wedding this weekend. I'm sure it will be fine until I get back.
It has been busy days here. I am working hard to get me ebay room cleaned out and am about 75% finished with that project. I take totes of stuff out, sort it for booth or thrift. Then price what I am keeping, which of course means research. It's slow and time-consuming, but i have priced 13 totes so far, and 8 of those have been put into the booths. So, progress! In addition, I am also painting a few things: a high chair, a small table, an old chair that will be sold as a "garden chair", a chest of drawers, several picture frames, etc.
Yesterday was haircut, pedicure, and booth restocking day. Larry ran errands (picking up oil change supplies for the van, post office to mail an ebay sale, etc) while I got prettified, when we added stock and tidied booths at both locations before coming home. I made steak, baked potatoes and broccoli for dinner before we pretty much collapsed in front of the fire. Still no TV, just haven't had time to go pick out a new one yet, but we have really missed it.
I've also been getting into a little spring cleaning, and that feels good. Chasing winter's dust out the door! Larry has been doing cleanup around the garage, getting manure spread on the gardens, and tidying up his workbench. Pretty sure the heavens are going to crack at that last one, as he has never done that in the 10 years he's had that workbench!
My long campaign to get him to cut back on drinking is finally paying off--- he has realized the damage it was doing to his health and has switched to zero beer (0 alcohol, 0 calories, 29 carbs) during the week, quit drinking any hard liquor, and has his Guinness, in moderation, on the weekends. Hallelujah! He has more energy, is less tired, and is much, much more cheerful and easy to get along with. It has been a hard slog, friends, but we're getting there. I know there may be some backslides, but I am thrilled that he is finally doing this by his own choice.
In other news, I heard Spring Peepers today! Also saw the first snowdrop in bloom, and was buzzed by a pollen-laden honeybee who apparently was working the buds on the silver maple. I worry about that bee; surely the wild bees haven't opened their hives yet? The weather will turn cold and snowy again Sunday, so that will not be good for them.
It was lovely to have the doors open and to go outside and putter around in the flowerbeds a bit, and to have coffee on the porch. Oddly, I am not feeling the usual urge to get out there and plant lettuce, which I have often done in February. Just not feeling it this year, and I think I am beginning a gradual reduction in the amount of veggies I plant. I think. We shall see as the season progresses.
I was thrilled to hear of the Supreme Court decision today that the Orange One's tariffs were illegal! What great news! But, it has cost businesses, and us, dearly. The other great news was Springsteen's concert tour. Yes! Finally, people who are listened to are stepping up. It often takes the artists to make the first strong move, doesn't it? Politicians are too worried about their own skin.
Of course, our state continues to slide into the Dark Ages. A vote to allow 18 year old to carry concealed weapons without a permit, a change to election rules to hide information about donors to political campaigns, moving ahead with legislation to allow data centers to be built in some of our most pristine wilderness, and the list goes on and on. It's infuriating that they are so backward, but a whole slew of Democratic candidates, many of them women, are running this year. So maybe there is hope for this benighted state yet.
Leaving you with this photo of our thermometer, taken 11 years ago on this date. Our low that day was -16°f/-26.6C. Brrrr! Link to that post here.
