Another STORM! OF! THE! CENTURY! is coming our way

I had my last counseling appointment today. It was good. It felt good to end today. It felt good to say, "I have met and/or exceeded the goals I set in place last summer". It felt good to see my progress. I told my counselor that some people see counseling as a crutch but I see it more as a railing. It’s there to help you when you are feeling weak, ill, or carrying too much. Once you are stronger, well, and empty handed, you no loner need the aid of the railing. Today, I let go of the railing.

My trip to my hometown was good. Well, that’s not exactly the word for it, though parts of it were good. It was also a very difficult visit for a variety of reasons. I am glad I left Friday noon instead of Saturday morning. As I drove through Winona, the snow hitting my windshield was plinking like ice crystals. I drove in and out of that until I hit the first Madison exit. Traffic came to a complete stop and was backed up for about 20 minutes. Once I got through that, the sleety/plinky snow turned to SNOW. It took me almost 60 minutes driving in second gear to get what normally takes me 10 minutes. I think we got a foot of snow overnight that first night.

It started snowing again on Saturday, but this time it was wet, heavy snow. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephews spent the night at my parents’ house Saturday night instead of driving home in the blizzard. It was a fun family slumber party. (Except we all slept in separate rooms of course.) Sunday my dad had to get up and clear the driveway and sidewalks again.

The church parking lot was just getting plowed as people showed up for first service. It snowed/rained throughout much of the day. I tried to leave town Sunday night, only to turn back and crash at my parents’ house for one more night. It turns out that it was good I turned around since the slipperiest roads were just a few miles north and towns along that road had cancelled school altogether rather than delay for 2 hours like much of the rest of the area. I took off for MN around 10am and got home around 2. I have a lead foot and sped much of the way and made great time.

While home I took lots and lots of pictures with the new camera. I really like it. I am still trying to find a good setting for taking photos outside with bright non-sunlight and snow, but other than that, I am really happy with it. I am now saving money to purchase an auxiliary flash and a telephoto lens. You can see the newest photos by clicking my Flickr badge on the right. Most are of family, friends, church, and the rest are of my hometown down town.

The newest issue of MDA Quest is online. To read the small article on Bob, click here. There is going to be another article on how we manage apartment living in the midst of also managing Bob’s disability. Not sure when that will be coming out, but another photo has been requested from me to illustrate it. Yay! (I took the one of Bob in the above mentioned article but someone else took the one of the two of us though they used my camera and I edited it for prettiness.)

We are being told to expect another 11-13 inches of snow over the next day and a half. They just plowed out apartment lot and will have to probably do it again Friday or Saturday. I need to refill out bird feeder and suet holder for the birdies. I don’t usually make a run to the grocery store but we might need some eggs and milk at the very least. We surely won’t be snowed in until Spring, so I think we can make it through the weekend at least. The birds, however, are not quite as lucky. Remember your fine feathered friends!