Ten Things of Thankful - A New Year

Although I have felt grateful in many ways these past few weeks leading up to Christmas, I wasn't up to blogging during that time, so I took a break knowing that sometimes it is necessary for me to do just that. (No, I did not have Covid, so that in itself is a huge thankful.) I am linking up as always to the blog hop Ten Things of Thankful hosted by Dyanne of Backsies Is What There Is Not. 

1. That the storm that was forecast for Christmas Day waited until early the next morning to begin in full force

2. In looking back at this past year we now felt so thankful for the ice storm that enabled us to take care of those widow makers and weakened branches that were left from that storm because the snow storm this week dumped a lot of snow on the branches to the point that we thought we might have to have more branches removed by the professionals. As it turned out, we had one day when the temperatures got up to above freezing and the sun came out and the snow slid off many of those branches.

Sunshine melted a lot of the snow on the trees 

3. We didn’t lose power during this week-long storm, but we were prepared in case that were to happen, i.e. flashlights by our bed, battery operated lamps out on the counter, thermos filled with hot water, containers of water ready should we not have running water, warming light turned on by the switch box in the well house, batteries in the radio, a supply of food that can be fixed easily when one doesn’t have power, etc. We knew it was going to be colder than usual even after the snow would begin melting a little.

Shards of ice formed after the water had
completely melted a little earlier

4. A neighbor who has a Bobcat scraped the lane of the snow and ice, so that those who wanted to venture out onto the road and had the kind of vehicles necessary to navigate the deep snow could get to their destinations 

In our area, the hilly country roads are not the first to get the benefits of the snow plows, and since our vehicles are lower to the ground, we just cancelled a couple of appointments and decided to wait until I felt safer about driving. We still have some snow on the ground, but the lower elevations just down the road a ways are almost completely free of the snow on their properties.

5. A neighbor who has a chainsaw sawed a small limb that did fall on the lane.

6. Family members who had reasons to travel this week when many flights were being cancelled, were able to reach their destinations safely.

7. Besting my total score in a word app game I played on New Years Day and besting my former single word score in the same game

8. Being able to watch a couple of movies at home that made me think 

One made me think about what I eat and another caused me to reflect on how stressful situations may impact our lives. 

9. The different kinds of snow that we were able to witness this week

There were large wet flakes falling slowly and vertically toward the ground, very fine flakes being blown quickly horizontally by very strong gusts, and at other times seemingly being blasted straight toward the ground, mixtures of snow and sleet, and the one type that appeared one evening that looked like snow with sparkling sequins, or ice crystals, and made the world look magical the next morning after having formed snow puffballs on the trees.

Zoom in on the photos to get a closer look at the puffballs and the crystals.

Snow puffballs on the trees

Snow crystals on the ramp

10. Recognizing the ways tools can be repurposed

This week I realized that our extension pole window cleaner with the wide microfiber sleeve would be the perfect way to push the accumulated snow off the vehicles allowing the job to be done relatively quickly.

The car appears to be winking 

***The closeness and love I feel for and from my Savior and for the love I feel for and from my husband and our family

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