Chillin' with Patsy: The Sky Fell Overnight! (chicken little), Ptooties Gets Bill to Work and Home

Paisley, On

On Tuesday, Dec. 15^th we woke up to a dumping of fresh white snow. Yeuch! As Bill was getting ready, I asked him (from our warm bed) “did we get snow?” It was enough for the snow plow to have gone done the street so I suggested he take Ptooties today. That’s what he did even though I hadn’t prepared her for a drive today. Usually, I would cover the wipers.

There goes Bill out the lane

Ptooties will have no problem driving through the snow
especially with Bill at the wheel

I watched him go out the lane and then crawled back into bed for half hour. When I couldn’t drop off again, I played my Scrabble-Go games on my phone and then got up closer to 7:30. Lazy bones! I went down for my tea and heard that Wes got a call to go into work today. Not a nice day to go but he was grateful for the work all the same.

I opened the blinds when he left and crawled back under the covers

I knew I needed to get out for my walk (my own agenda) but also knew that I might need to push myself to do so. I got dressed and went down at 10:30 for a coffee and some yogourt to fill the tummy void and Susan and I chatted for half hour or so. Catching up. 😊 Upstairs, I decided at 12:15 it was now or never so brushed my teeth and headed down to get bundled.

Enough snow fell today
well, too much?

With the temperature around -8C/18F early this morning, I wasn’t expecting it to warm up much by noon hour. And it hadn’t. That -8C was more like -10C in reality. The sun did make an appearance a few times throughout the afternoon but not while I was walking. The snow had stopped and that was good anyway. I headed out, not sure where I was going at first.

crackers, cheese and pepperoni for lunch

As soon as I rounded the corner to the river walk, I decided to go that way. But wait! It wasn’t bare like most of the sidewalk so I hurried back and got my ski poles. 😊 Let’s test these babies out! It was slippery under the snow and on the hard-packed street down there so they worked like a charm. Well, don’t I look like a pro now! Ha ha. I took a few pictures down there with Nancy’s suggestion in mind. A before and after or an after and before is more like it.

No bright splashes here

I didn’t stay out long; it was quite brisk but I enjoyed the 2-mile walk. On the way back down Queen St. I stopped at the post office to pick up the mail. Nothing today but it sure is a treat receiving Christmas cards. Yesterday, we got two making a total of four. Obviously, when we’re in the southwest over Christmas, we receive our cards in April when we return. Nice but not quite the same, is it?

Here's some bright colour

Tree trimmers at work around the corner

Back inside, it takes me as long to get unbundled as it does to get bundled but I am certainly a lot warmer and can’t wait to get out of the overclothes! Sung and warm up in our room, I curled up with my book. Oh! I forgot to tell you that I have closed Exposure midway through the book. It’s one of those that I’m sure some people would enjoy, but if I’m not hooked completely in the story and find myself wondering ‘why am I reading this?’ then I don’t waste my time. End of story. For me.

Across from the camping, a line of little evergreens that I didn't
notice before
Must be the snow that makes them pop

No sunshine yet, things are looking pretty wintry
here in Ontari-ari-o

You shouldn't have to stand on your head for this one
I'm looking down at my ski poles and boots
That is the depth of the untouched snow

This one I’m reading is the one I picked up at the Barn Exchange box. 😊 Yah, that’s what I’ll call it. Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last. It is different, interesting, comical in places. So, I’m still reading it. After a few of the long chapters, at 3:30 I went down for my afternoon tea and to prepare some meatballs for supper. I’d received a Keto recipe by email, I get them from Jennifer Banz weekly. Some are worth trying, many actually and I’ve had successes.

Black Beauty isn't on his way anywhere today

Of course, I don’t have quite the right ingredients so here I go improvising. I’m using ground beef rather than ground sausage. So, my fingers are crossed. It says oven cook but I’m going to try them in Madame IP because I’ve done meatballs in there before. I’ll use the oven for the Pillsbury crescent rolls instead. I sliced up some Yukon Gold potatoes since I find them on sale a lot at Walmart. That would explain why we're eating more spuds right now too.

The tree is NOW finished
The kids and grandkids ornaments are hanging

I finished my tea downstairs while doing all this prep and since there were 24 large meatballs, put 12 in the freezer and 12 in the fridge for tonight’s supper. No rush, it is early and Bill isn’t home yet. Then I got back into my book. Yesterday, on my way back from work, I drove around by the Paisley Fire Hall. It is a volunteer fire department so I wasn’t surprised that no one was around to answer my knock. Hmm. I wasn’t sure what to do about dropping off our toy for the drive.

The fire hall where someone met me tonight

Today, I went online and found a Paisley F.D. page on Facebook. We missed the drive deadline, Fri. Dec. 11^th. Crap! So, I sent them a message asking if they had a suggestion of another one accepting toys. This afternoon, I got a response and can drop it off tonight at 7. Either at the fire hall or at a house on Queen St. S. I guess I’m going for a walk after supper. 😊 That’s okay, snowy evenings can be pleasant.

So, Bill got home later than usual, around 5:30 and at 6 I went down to cook the meatballs and potatoes. Everything was done at the same time but the meatballs were a disappointment. I won’t do that recipe again. We ate 8 of them and I’ll warm the last 4 for lunch one day. I hate throwing anything out that can be eaten. They weren’t terrible, just not so good. ☹ There are 12 in the freezer that we’ll eat ‘hidden’ in spaghetti sauce.

Everything else was good but the meatballs
were borderline

After we ate, it was already 7 so Bill drove me to the fire hall rather than have me walk. What a sweet gesture. I would have been fine with all the lights outside but it meant crossing a bridge and he knows how dark water freaks me out. Funny, huh? Well, we all can’t be brave, now can we? A nice volunteer fireman was waiting in his truck for me so I’m glad I was there on time for him.

Perhaps this explains how we're eating now!
Ha ha

We did the dishes; Bill packed his lunch and we came upstairs. The Voice finale is on tonight and I wouldn’t mind seeing which judge wins but because we haven’t followed it most of the season, we haven’t invested any thoughts in the contestants enough to sit for 2 or 3 hours watching it. In our room, I finished my blog and then sat on the bed and read my book.