The End of the Bla-Bla-Bla Blog.

My 54th year is no longer.  I had a birthday.  I am now officially on my 55th year, although I'm not liking the sounds of it.  I recently read that every 7 seconds in the United States someone turns 55.  The baby boomers are aging.  I felt younger,  immature, and more youthful at 54.  I liked saying "I'm 54" better than now having to admit I'm 55. I feel like now I really have to grow up, I am old.  I tell myself, "STOP"  it's only a number but it's still a new number for me.  I'm sure in two, to three, well maybe six months, I'll accept 55.   Can't be that bad,  hey Betty

White just turned 91-and look at her!  Most importantly, I'm still here.  I'm okay, I'm healthy, I'm functioning, and I'm happy to be here.  So, for now, this blog, "My 54th Year", comes to an end.  It was fun charting the progress at the yellow brick house, the adventures of Mr. B. and my three, along with the daily shenanigans of my three furry pals.  

There was lots of bla, bla, bla--my specialty. The renovations are slowing down at the yellow brick house, my three daughters are on the go in their busy lives, plus I started working again.  Life is changing for all of us  at the yellow brick house.  From my list of 54 things to do, many were accomplished this year, half done the other half I am still working on.  Most importantly, I blogged for one year.  My posts may become less as my life becomes more.  Busy that is.  But for now, I'm sticking with, "My 54th Year"  just because I like the sounds of it!

Don't Worry: Asteroid Headed Toward Earth.

The vapor trail of a falling meteoroid.

Right now, at this hour-1:30 p.m. the asteroid is approximately 21,000 miles away from earth.  No reason to freak out though.  At its closest point to earth, it'll be 17,200 miles away.  Scientists say there is no chance it's going to hit our planet earth- so they say.  It's the size of half a football field, and, oh by the way, did you hear about the meteorite that struck the southern part of Russia and injured 1,000 people?   At this moment, the channel I'm listening to, a happy newsman reports on this impending asteroid, and then quickly follows up with the story of the huge meteorite that flared through the skies over Russia's Chelyabinsk region early Friday, February 15th-that's today.  A huge, strong shock wave that accompanied this meteorite injured nearly a thousand people.  It blew out windows and reportedly caused the roof of a factory to collapse.  Many of the reported injuries linked to the blast were caused by shards of flying glass.  I have to wonder if Russia's local news reported on this meteorite?  I guess it doesn't matter, because I tend to worry more especially when I'm told by our reliable news media not to worry!

A worker removing pieces of broken glass resulting from the meteorite's blast.

A photo provided by the Russian Interior Ministry's Chelyabinsk regional branch shows people standing near a 26-foot-wide hole in the ice of Chebarkul Lake, reportedly created by a meteorite that fell to Earth on Feb. 15.

Didn't You See Her?

Poor Sadie.  Her dog bed is black.  And maybe you can make out a dog here, but I have to be honest and say that sometimes, especially at night when the lights are dim, it gets a bit difficult to see her laying on her black bed or for that matter, laying anywhere on the floor.  It's happened to everyone in this house.  We're walking through the room, and suddenly a hop, a skip, or a quick jump to the right or left to avoid stepping on Sadie quickly followed by the expression, "Oh Sadie, I didn't see you!"  No harm has come to our Sadie.  We humans are the ones that have been banged up from our clumsy falls into the wall upon seeing her at the last minute or tripping ourselves and falling over the back of the couch. Whew!  Disaster averted!  Again.

Wow!  See--there really is a dog there!

Name Those Footprints

 Every night at 9 p.m. I turn my outside porch light on.  One night last week, I didn't.  It was snowing,cold and the newly fallen snow illuminated the night.  My thoughts were, "who would be out tonight on this cold, blustery,winter night?"  Well...my thoughts were wrong.  Because there were two creepy individuals out that night, sneaking around my yard and into my driveway-attempting to break and enter in our parked car and jeep.

 the footprints come to a stop outside Lola's car-making an attempt to get in.

one set of footprints leaving our driveway walking to our neighbor's house...

here...the two friends...creeps/thieves walk together to go to the next unsuspecting home with vehicles parked outside.

Too bad we don't have names embedded on the bottom of our shoes.  Whether a name, an assigned number, or an address.  That's my point of view, after finding the two sets of footprints that circled around my vehicles at 6:00 in the morning after a fresh overnight snowfall.  The two owners of these footprints made the rounds in my neighborhood, while all the homeowners-working people-were sleeping--preparing to rise early, go to work and make a  living.  Unlike the two thieves in the middle of the night, that boldly and brazenly went about to steal what did not belong to them.  Infuriating to say the least.  The police were called, footprints were looked at, however; no arrests were made. They have no idea who belongs to the footprints.

The footprints stop at the jeep door,  where the thieves wiped snow off the window and door handle.  Luckily they didn't get in.

A Rosco Rug!

Mr. B. and I bought a new 8' x 10' area rug for the family room.  As we both carried it into the house and began to unroll it, I noticed Rosco watching us, being sure to stay out of the way but curious about what we were doing.  We unrolled the carpet and were positioning it across the floor, when suddenly Rosco jumped on top of it.  He was all over the rug in a matter of seconds.  First he rolled upside down on it scratching his back, then he ran around the perimeter smelling it, then the toys started to come out.  One by one he dragged his favorite toys over to the new carpet.  When he was finally finished with his fun, he layed down and looked at us looking at him.  Of the three of us, I think Rosco was the most excited to get a new rug in the family room!

First running...

then smelling...

carrying his toys onto the new rug...

one by one...

Playing.

Getting tired.

The End.  Time to rest on his new Rosco rug!

A Snow Fest is A Cold Fest

How cold was it?  With many layers of clothing on we are still very, very cold!

 January is a great month, at least in this part of North America, for local cities to hold and sponsor an annual event.  In this area, depending upon which town it is, it's called Snow Fest, or another town nearby calls their event Chili Fest, then there's Winter Fest, or Winter Carnival in another city-all held in January.  Regardless, it's all about snow and ice and really, really cold weather.  The colder the better--how else could the ice and snow sculptures stick around for three days?  Mr. B. and I stopped by and stayed a very short time.  It was just too darn cold, we walked really fast to look at these amazing works of art.  Or should I say--amazing works of snow and ice!   

Cold Mr. B. in front of the polar bear ice sculpture.

I liked this one--I think it's supposed to be 'Old Man Winter'

This was my favorite--'The Butterfly'   ah-h-h wishful thinking!

This One This Way Or That One That Way?

This way?  Or...

...that way?  Mr. B. and Lola like it here.  I say it covers too much of the brick, I want it to cover the bare wall above.

 I'm still trying to figure out what to hang above or over the newly painted brick fireplace that stops two feet short from the ceiling.  The brick stops and the wall begins.  I want to place something colorful in this empty space.  Seems everything I get; Mr. B. and Lola both agree, looks better when placed directly above the mantle...which to me, does nothing but cover up the newly painted brick.  I originally wanted to place glass tiles above and around the sides of the brick, then I received a clock as a gift, and I purchased a piece of art--which is painted metal...I think.   I just can't figure out what to hang, or where to hang it!

Maybe hang the clock this way.  Or...

... put the clock that way....or....

...place the clock here? 

I just don't know.  Perhaps I really haven't found the right thing yet.  I have to call it a "thing" because at this point, it's an unknown object to me.  It's yet to be seen...or rather... it's yet to be purchased!

High 4.

I'm waiting for it to snow, but I really think it's too cold to snow.  There's scant snow flurries in the background.

Snow flurries start to fall, then quickly stop. 

How cold is it?  Well, the temperature is going to peak at a high of 4 degrees Fahrenheit today.  That's minus 19 Celsius where my daughter lives. 

It's so cold, that the deck is protesting.  It's making loud popping noises.

I thought the trees were going to break and fall to the ground.  Every time the wind blows, the tree branches make strong, blustering crackling noises in the still of the day.  It's so loud.  There is no one to be seen outside today, and the schools cancelled because of the cold, cold weather.

...and there's Cosmo...slowly walking in.  The other two dogs ran back inside. 

Signs. Signs.

Everywhere signs.  Some of my favorites...with some of my favorite people.