Chit Chat in VOLTVILLE Thread #2 :)

[rave]

3 days out of 11. Not good. BUT...the weather forecasters can't even predict tomorrow so maybe it won't be that bad. One can hope.

Try Weather Underground. It seems to be quite accurate even for a ways into the future:
Weather Forecast & Reports - Long Range & Local | Wunderground | Weather Underground

We got lots of ice covering all the trees and grass but the roads are still very clear. limbs and trees are going down everywhere but we are very safe as all the trees are far from the house.

View attachment 305225

No i still haven't got a photobucket account but I will soon. Then everyone can see my pics.View attachment 305228

Glad to hear that your roads weren't bad. This storm has been catastophic for a lot of people.

Here's one you might like: Flowers for Algernon: Daniel Keyes: 9780156030083: Amazon.com: Books

It's on Kindle, and it's sorta sci-fi and sorta a romance, but definitely a good read. I read it long ago and also in the past year, and both times, I really enjoyed it. It was made into a movie called Charley, but I don't think the movie was very popular. Probably not nearly as good as the book.

Flowers for Algernon was required reading when I was in ?Junior High School? CRS! Very good book.

I got so busy talking about books, I never did tell you anything about tutoring, but nothing unusual happened today. The kids read some, did a word search, and a Mad Libs.

Then I went grocery shopping and bought a lot of stuff. Getting everything into my freezer was a challenge. I have a bag of bagels that'll thaw, so I'll be eating bagels like mad for the next few days. Other than the bagels, everything is packed into my freezer as tight as it'll go. We're supposed to get a snowstorm, so I'm glad I did the shopping before it, so I don't have to either go out in bad weather or do without a lot of food. I wouldn't starve. There are always odds and ends to eat here, but we needed fresh fruit and stuff like that.

Playing Freezer Tetris is always a bit of a challenge, but it's far better than not having enough in there. Good to hear that you were able to stock up before the storm hit.

Time to say good night. Celtic can do the winter scenes. Tonight, I give you an old-fashioned diner.



This is in Jim Thorpe, PA. I wanted to eat there, but it was closed, so I took this photo through a window.

I've seen this one before, and loved it then as I do now. It doesn't look like a photograph. Instead, it more closely resembles really good art. But, of course, photography is art as well.

Raven - Sorry to hear you are caught up in al this bad weather. Here is hoping spring will be here soon.

Weather-wise, I'm not in bad shape here at all. Next week may be a different story. We've got a clipper beginning right now to add some inches to our snow cover, but it won't be more than a few inches. The folks in the path of Winter Storm Pax are the ones having trouble. I'm glad to see that Celti, Awsum, Jerry, and Sandy are all faring well through it though. That's a relief.

We had about three inches of snow Sunday night that I cleaned up, just in case we got more. The temperatures have been below freezing all week so it didn't melt much which made it good thing I cleaned out the driveway. There was about a foot more on the ground this morning when I got up and it's been switching from snow to sleet to rain and back and forth all morning. Right now there's a lull, but it's supposed to snow again late this afternoon and into the wee, small, hours of the morning. I can't decide when I should start cleaning it all up again. Then we're supposed to get another clipper system on Saturday. I'm sick of snow, cold and winter!

On the up side, Mrs. Awsum has a five day mini vacation, two days for the storm, two days for the weekend and Monday for President's Day. Sad, but most people don't remember it is celebrate Washington and Lincoln and think it's a shopping sale day.

Good to hear you're doing okay. I'm pretty darned tired of winter too.

I know it, Terry. It's a bit of a long story, but it could have been me, who died in that freak accident at the age of 18. If I had said "yes", instead of "no", I would have been one of the victims. That has haunted me, since the day that it happened.

Oh my! That would haunt you.

I thought I heard someone walking around the neighborhood last night and Hubby says he heard someone, too. So, in addition to the coyotes and/or dogs running the neighborhood, we also had peeps walking the streets.

It was a full moon last night. That always gets the critters around here riled up.

****

Celti - when you go to PhotoBucket, click on the last of the four options available for sharing your photos. That will automatically copy the URL into your clipboard. When you want to put the URL into your post here, just paste it directly into the post without using any of the icons that you usually would use for adding pics or video. That will get rid of the URL brackets around your photos. Which are really cool, by the way. Pun intended.

Things are okay here. I've been keeping the home fires burning. Literally. It's an endless battle to prevent the furnace from coming on during the day. During the night, I'm hoping that it doesn't come on much. I haven't heard it in awhile. I'm looking forward to the warm up next week because that should take a good bit of the pressure off. It'll be rainy and warm, and that'll help to remove the snow cover. That's been problematic when it comes to gathering tinder.

 

[JerryRM]

Good morning, Voltville Peeps.

Hi Raven, I haven't talked to you in a while. Mea culpa.

I have more snow to clear today. I call it "snow", but it's really water and ice. I may have to use dynamite.

 

[SandySu]

I'm back from the barn. The little bit of snow falling this morning never amounted to anything. Whew! I'm so glad I have a Subaru with AWD! They hadn't plowed their driveway at the barn, and my car went right in and out again when I was ready to go home.

Penny was fine, though she had little globules of ice all along her neck on the side the mane doesn't cover, and they were in her mane, too. I gave her a good grooming -- she's shedding a lot now -- and switched to her other heaviest blanket. Maybe I should have put the lighter one on. It's significantly warmer than it's been. The temperature in my car read 35 as I was driving home from the barn, though the bank temperature sign only read 32. Still, that feels so good after the extreme cold.

I groomed Penny before doing anything with the clippers. She still doesn't like the sound and retreats when I turn them on, but today she accepted a carrot while I was holding them. Then I held her lead rope and, while they were running, I moved them all over her neck and body, and she didn't seem to mind too much. In fact, after the first few minutes doing it, she went back to eating the pile of hay in front of her. It looks like it won't be a problem clipping her, though it'll take a lot longer than I've tried her with them yet. But if she's not afraid of them in 5 minutes, I doubt she'll become afraid when a longer time elapses. She may get restless standing while I clip, but then I can do it in several visits if need be. Anyway, I'm so glad she's decided to accept the clippers! I plan to continue getting her used to them from now till May, when I figure I can actually clip her. By then, maybe she'll fall asleep standing there when I do it. Then the only problem will be luring the other horses inside so she doesn't get panic stricken being in the barn alone. This is a problem that developed in this barn, and maybe it's because she's outside with the other horses all the time instead of in a stall sometimes, and maybe it's just that she likes the other horses better. Her pasture mates at Deb's picked on her, so it probably wasn't so traumatic to be separated from them.

 

[rave]

You've got the patience of a saint, Sandy. Just sayin'.

 

[SandySu]

Here's something wildlife lovers will find interesting. Rave, I especially thought of you.

 

[SandySu]

Can you believe it? The city of Oslo, Norway, has a garbage shortage and has to import it from other countries. See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/w...age-of-garbage-it-turns-into-energy.html?_r=0 for the full story.

 

[SandySu]

No one posting but me. It's time to say good night. For Valentine's Day, I thought pink roses would be appropriate.

 

[Uncle]

@ "SandySu" . . .

Really "like" the Video . . .

AND - Although I know they are not just for "Me" - THANKS - for the Roses . . .

 

[celticluvr]

Thanks Rave for the tip on copying from Photobucket.

 

[SandySu]

Good morning, folks. It's snowing again. It's not supposed to amount to more than an inch. I plan to tutor this afternoon. I hope the snow doesn't prevent that, but I think it'll be OK.

 

[SandySu]

There was an earthquake last night in the South. This is big news there, though in California, it's pretty common to feel one that size. See Magnitude-4.1 earthquake in South Carolina rattles homes, residents in SC and Georgia | Fox News

I suppose no one here felt it?

 

[Renolizzie]

I laugh at 4.1 earthquakes. I have been through quite a few 6 and above I lived in Seattle and California. Surprisingly, we could get a really large one here in Nevada but we haven't had one since I have lived here.

Good morning peeps.

How's the weather doing in your parts of the world all you peeps.

I'll be back later to find out the results of the weather poll as we are going shopping and eating lunch out today. Yay!!!!

 

[Uncle]

Well - Here is the forecast for South Florida Weather:

Currently
Partly Sunny 74°
RealFeel® 78°

Today - Feb 15
Sunshine and some clouds Hi 79°
RealFeel 80°

Tonight - Feb 15
Clear to partly cloudy Lo 55°
RealFeel 54°


Tomorrow - Feb 16
Mostly sunny Hi 76°
RealFeel 82°

 

[SandySu]

Well - Here is the forecast for South Florida Weather:

Currently
Partly Sunny 74°
RealFeel® 78°

Today - Feb 15
Sunshine and some clouds Hi 79°
RealFeel 80°

Tonight - Feb 15
Clear to partly cloudy Lo 55°
RealFeel 54°


Tomorrow - Feb 16
Mostly sunny Hi 76°
RealFeel 82°

I'm envious! Well, 80 degrees might feel a little too warm, but mid-70s sounds nice.

It's in the mid-20s here right now, and that feels a lot better than single digits or teens!

 

[Qew]

Hiya Volties! I've never felt a big earthquake, but we had one here in Michigan, I think it was around 1980 or so. All I remember is a quick feeling like I lost my balance for a second and then back to normal. I never thought twice about it until I heard it on the news later, oh, so that's what that weird feeling was.

Nothing much has changed in the weather here, but we are supposed to get temps above freezing Tuesday and Wednesday. YAY!! Chance of light snow tonight, tomorrow and Monday. The snow has been sitting around for so long now that it is getting dehydrated and shrinking. I just want to wave bye-bye to it and wish it a happy life, somewhere else.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

 

[celticluvr]

Woodland, AL

44F right now

high of 48, low of 28

I miss the Summer. Gimme HEAT!!!!!

 

[tmcase]

Hey Volties. I haven't been feeling very chatty lately but I'm lurking.

We are in for a couple of storms, one is hitting us now, Windy and heavy rain. Suppose to be worse tomorrow with gusts to 60 mph.

I ordered a couple kindle books that Sandy suggested. Stranger in a strange land and Childhood's End. I also figured out how to transfer books on my Kindle to my iPad so now I have plenty to read.

I hope you all have a good long weekend and are staying warm.

 

[Uncle]

I'm envious! Well, 80 degrees might feel a little too warm, but mid-70s sounds nice.

It's in the mid-20s here right now, and that feels a lot better than single digits or teens!

So will I - especially when I get back North this coming Wednesday for the week . . .

Hope "awsum" pops-in and gives a weather report . . .

AND - I hope everyone in the way of bad weather is staying Dry - Safe - and Warm . . .

 

[SandySu]

Hey Volties. I haven't been feeling very chatty lately but I'm lurking.

We are in for a couple of storms, one is hitting us now, Windy and heavy rain. Suppose to be worse tomorrow with gusts to 60 mph.

I ordered a couple kindle books that Sandy suggested. Stranger in a strange land and Childhood's End. I also figured out how to transfer books on my Kindle to my iPad so now I have plenty to read.

I hope you all have a good long weekend and are staying warm.

When you read the books, let us know how you liked them. The teacher wants book reports!

 

[SandySu]

I got back from tutoring a while ago, but I made dinner and ate it before giving a report.

Recently, the boy and I discussed slavery. It came up on Martin Luther King Day. So I found a very short piece about slavery and then more about the Underground Railroad, which always fascinated me as a child. He was interested in hanging as a form of execution for the people caught harboring slaves. I told him about it briefly, describing how they made a loop with a rope that would tighten around the victim's neck. He was interested in this, and didn't have a piece of rope or string so I could show him how it works, so next time, we'll practice tying a hangman's noose.

Also, next time will be Presidents' Day, so I prepared some stuff about Washington and Lincoln, though today, the kids wanted to do a word search with the presidents' names as the items to search for. It was a hard word search, but my printer decided to spit out 2 copies when I only asked for one, and for a while, the kids have wanted to have a competition to see who could complete a word search first, using the same one independently of each other. This was their chance! I like for us all to work on them together. I want to encourage a spirit of cooperation, since, IMHO, they are too much in competition with each other already, too focused on winning instead of enjoying the process. But when they saw the 2 identical word searches, what could I do? I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. So they started out sitting next to each other at the same table, but there was lots of peeking at each other's papers, and though I've said several times that cheating is a bad thing, they still do it every chance they get. So then I separated them. I also gave hints to them when I found a name that neither had circled yet. The little girl stayed one ahead of the boy, and as the names were found, the remaining ones got harder and harder, and the kids were getting tired, too. Then the boy said he quit, which I allowed, since he had worked hard, well beyond what I would have asked. The little girl, however, plugged away, refusing to quit. Finally, when she was nearly cross-eyed with fatigue and concentration, she decided to leave the last few. I left the word searches with them so they could work on them more, if they wanted. The little girl is really good at word searches! She can find them faster than her brother or I can. And she is doing it mostly by spelling out the words or names or whatever. Her brother knows how to read a lot more words, though the names of presidents were more or less unfamiliar. I had gone over them with him before, but not so he knew them all.

What the girl learned from this word search is that the presidents' names were listed below alphabetically. So when I found one and said the name, she had to hunt for it. I'd give a hint, like the first letter, but she had to find the name in an alphabetical list, so she is learning alphabetizing a little. Also, when I'd see a name in the puzzle and give a hint, I'd say to look in the upper right-hand corner (or wherever). The girl has problems remembering which is right and left, so she got practice at that, too. And it can't hurt that she laboriously spelled out the name and then carefully circled each letter. I bet most adults, given her limitations, would not have wanted to do it for 5 minutes, much less the hour or so she spent on it!

Their homework is to finish watching the movie they only saw half of last weekend: The Polar Express. Then they have to write a review, which the girl tried to do, but the boy hadn't. As I was leaving and discussing the review, the little girl said she was scared by the movie, and didn't know how to spell a lot of things, for instance, "scared." I told her to just do the best she can, not worry about spelling it right, just approximate the word so that later, she'll know what she meant, and next time, we'll go over how to spell the words.

I've seen this before, where a child is afraid to write creatively because she can't spell what she wants to say. Worrying about spelling in such a case gets in the way of creativity. Of course, spelling is important, but not if you don't write for fear there'll be words you can't spell.