Snowglobe Snow

Today it is snowing again, big fat flakes that make our place look like a shaken-up snow globe. It's sticking but it won't last long.

March snows are like that--quick to come and fall, and quick to melt. The exception might have been that blizzard we had on this date in 1993, when the snow fell so heavily and so deep that trees fell everywhere and we were a week or more without electricity.

For us, the power being off in winter isn't too much of a problem. We have plenty of backups in place. (Summer outages, as we learned this past year, are another thing entirely and we need better plans in place for those.)

But today's snow is a pretty reminder of winter's passing. My first daffodils are bravely holding up their heads in the cold; I think they know that the snow will soon melt--even now the sun is trying to peep out through the flakes.

We're having an inside day. Larry is painting the doors of the log room, a project that has been left unfinished for too many years. It is surprising how quickly the years go by, and we realize that I got the doors half finished 5 or 6 years ago! We found the red paint I used before (we thought) and he started painting yesterday. What a shock when we found that it wasn't red, it was hot pink! I mean really bright, rosy pink! Where in the world did that paint come from? I have no memory of buying it, unless it was when we painted granddaughter Hannah's room at my son's house while he was in Iraq. But I honestly do not remember buying such a bright color even then. For her room we used a dark red (and I just now realized where my original red paint went), pale pink and lavender. So this paint? No idea.

Anyway, that necessitated a trip to the store yesterday for red paint. I am loving this color, called Candy Apple Red. It's a rosy red, very bright and pretty. The room will look so good when he's finished.

I am canning beans again today-kidney beans, big limas and black beans.I made 17 pints of white bean soup the other day, and 30 of pinto beans the week before so this will complete the bean stockpile for a while. Canning them makes good sense with free natural gas for cooking, and I got a great deal on canning jar lids at the auction last week--about 14 dozen for only $12.50. I also got lucky at Goodwill back in December and bought 4 boxes of jars, most of them pints, for $3 a box. With those prices for supplies, and no cost for utilities to do the cooking and processing, these beans are much cheaper then buying canned beans at the store. And we have a quick meal option whenever we need it. Beans are a good food for my diabetic husband too.

This afternoon I will be working on finishing up my plans for the creative writing workshop I'll be teaching to upper elementary students on Friday. Writing with kids is so much fun; their creativity is inspiring. And after my day at the school, I'll be seeing my sisters! We're planning a sisters day on Saturday, and that means exploring some junk shops and lots of talk and laughter.

Now, back to work...

Linking to the Rurality Blog Hop today. Be sure to visit and see all the great country posts offered in this week's hop.
Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.