Valentine's Day

May St Valentine help you love and be loved the way he loved.

Ok, that's confusing, but you get what is meant.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Here is my main squeeze!

Ashtabula Snow Days Continued.

Pax Christi! Any and Everyone,
Here we are in the frozen North (Northeast Ohio that is). Speaking with friends in Southwest Ohio did give me warm sense kinship to hear that they were getting snow. Misery does love company, don’t ya know?

It’s strange how you can acclimate to the cold. It got up to a balmy 28º F and it almost felt like sweater weather, although it is back to frigid 6º F with a wind chill that would make unprotected body parts fall off. We are getting about 10 inches of cold blowing snow right now. Even students are getting tired of the weather and not getting to school. They are missing their friends, parties, after school activities and field trips. The little guys are exhausted from the effort needed to put on all that clothing, plus they look like multicolored ticks as they plod and clomp their boots out to the buses or walk home.

The older students find it hard to look cool when they are freezing. How do you impress the opposite sex when they can’t even see it’s you? The Jr. High kids hate having to stand inside the school doors to wait for the buses, but hate having to stand outside the doors to wait for the buses and ice over. Come to think of it, such confused emotions must seem normal for many of those young folks. Yes; not; do; not; will; won’t; like; love; lust; hate, all felt in the span of about 5 to 6 ……. minutes. What’s a little freezing with a day like that?

The poor Jack Russell terrorists get lost in the drifts when they are forced outside to "do that thing". They don't have to be called twice to come back in.

May God grant you the peace your heart is searching for.

Any Answers?

Why is it no one has a suggestion to answer to the previous post?

I don't get it

Why is it that sorrow seems to last longer than joy?
......... that evil seems to win?
........ that sinners can't stand a saintly person?
........ that jerks can hurt, but because you are trying to follow God's rule you don't hurt back?
........ that a peaceful mind is a figment of the psychologist's mind?
.... that life can make you feel tiny?

God bless and keep you.

The Surprises of Life with Babka

When we moved here to Ashtabula, we just needed a house close to my dad’s home. He was ailing and we wanted to be of help to him and my step mom. We bought a “century house” across the road that had 1 ½ acres, and lovely fruit and black walnut trees. We knew the house needed some work, but we thought we could handle it. SOME work was an understatement to the max. After replacing the roof, heating, wiring, windows, doors ceilings, plumbing, floors, curtains, kitchen counters, and kitchen sink; then adding cooling, shower in the basement, plaster, wallpaper, paint, molding, a sink and shelves in the pantry and a dish washer in the kitchen; Oh, and heating, insulation, doors, roof, and air cleaning to the 3 bay garage (in which there are no cars or lawn equipment, but that’s another story); Oh, and putting up a fence for the 4 dogs, taking out the 21 foot above grown pool, replacing the deck and building a garden shed; my husband, Pop, declared the house done! He did not plan on his wife, me, Babka.

You see he had asked me if I wanted to change the cabinets in the kitchen. I said, “No, I’ll just paint them.” Well that was when we were just going to “flip the house” and move after my dad did not need us anymore, which he does not as he is now with my mom having game night parties in heaven. Now that he wants to stay here, maybe FOREVER! I will need more storage in the kitchen and a ½ bath in the pantry. Pop said, “WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THIS EARLIER!” To which I responded, “You didn't tell me we were staying so long.” The long and short of it is that the kitchen is a mess again and my semi-retired husband is very busy in the shop making cabinets and shelves and trim and molding. Heaven knows we do not want Pop to pop from boredom with so much time on his hands.

I’ll let you know how it is going.

I cover you all with the Blood of the Lamb

Ashtabula Snow Days

If you don't like snow, stay out of Ashtabula, Ohio. Although, December '06 was mild to the extremes, February is frigid to the same extremes. A few years ago Ashtabula gave a new meaning to "April Showers" with 15 inches of snow showers that stayed for a week. People here are in such need to be out of doors that they invariably plant their gardens too soon. The seed stores love it because they sell double the amount when people need to replant. (Guilty as charged! But, well, I've only been back in the area 4 years.) Then the snow will come early and the potatoes don't get dug up and become volunteer seed for the next year. Next year, I, the Babka, will not have to plant at least 2 of the 4 rows of potatoes I planted because Pop, the potato digger, did not get them dug before the first snow of October. Of course, they could have been dug in the mild December, but we were working on the deck then.

This year we were in school and got 14 -15 inches of snow during the day and did not close early. Ashtabula City schools did close for the subzero weather, but opened again when the temp got up to 5º and the "emergency days" were all used up, save one. Maybe the little children of A-town can stand walking to school at 5º, or waiting at the bus stop. Not what this old lady was use to in Kentucky. 2 inches of snow would close Northern Kentucky schools. Hey there are lots of hills, turns and narrow roads in Northern K.Y.

We're havin' a heat wave. It is warm enough now for the salt to start working. Praise God!
May the Lord bless and keep you, Babka.