Freezing Fragments

Wait!

Click here for Winter Switch winter wear

There are a number of things I like about snow; the beauty of fresh undisturbed snow; the fun memories that we make playing in the snow; having a chance to capture gorgeous snow covered landscapes with my camera. In other words it is great to visit, but I am not thrilled to live in it. So I created three variations of the above Winter Switch for those who feel the same. 

Gotta love winter, NOT!

A photo posted by Nita Davis (@artistixnetwork) on Nov 11, 2014 at 7:01am PST

We have one car and I am the designated taxi driver. This photo was taken on my first run of the morning. About an hour and three additional inches of snow later, I tried to take my other daughter to work. Rear wheel drive, hills, snow and ice just don't go well together. We got a mile from home when we hit the first and smallest of the hills we needed to go over.  Twenty minutes and 200 feet later I turned around and went home.

Mrs. G commented that we should put a bumper sticker on the back of the car to let people know it is rear wheel drive so they don't get mad or think we just have no clue how to drive in the snow. So after my morning runs I got to work on the perfect bumper sticker. My first design had to be scrapped due to a senior moment. It read 'Front' wheel drive instead of rear wheel drive.

Available in both bumper stickers and car magnets

Enough about winter! How about them 49ers? Not sure where that came from especially since I am not a football person. On to a few of this weeks revelations.

The universe doesn't hate me! My third wish is on it's way to being answered.

Carol at Never...Ever...Give Up Hope posted a weekly sum up that included this article she wrote at the beginning of the month that reminded me I was able to accomplish much more when I took on more than I thought I could possibly handle. I still am not 100% sure which direction I am headed but at least I am in motion! 

The Berlin Wall wasn't nearly as thick as I thought it was.

Now for a bit of fun!

I can't wait for spring to try these out!

So how did your week go? Let me know in the comments. Are you a Fragmented Blogger? If so, Mrs. 4444's is the best place! Just click the Fridays Fragments button and start fragging!

When Cows Fly!

When pigs fly was a favorite euphemism of my Grandmothers. Growing up I am certain I heard it at least a dozen times a day. She was a hillbilly and a writer making for a rather interesting imagination and vocabulary. I soon learned that there was not a more emphatic no than 'when pigs fly'. 

For the first 40 years of my life I had no doubts about the aerodynamics of four legged farm animals. Pigs, cows, sheep, goats and even the family dog did not fly! It was a law, or so I thought.

That was of course until I saw with my own eyes that cows in Iowa seem to have discovered the joy of flight. Imagine if you would my shock at discovering that my Grandmother may have been wrong all along. 

It happened on a sunny summer afternoon along a two lane road in the heart of Iowa. My fourteen year old son who had just got his learners permit was driving when we saw a pick-up truck pulling a cattle trailer approaching in the oncoming lane. From behind the trailer we saw a flash of black and white sail through the air only to land in the center of our lane and casually walk to the side of the road. As my son hit the breaks, I exclaimed "What on earth was that?"  "It's a cow mom, A COW!" 

Just then a calf flew out of the trailer, and I repeat, a calf FLEW. It did not fall out of the trailer but jumped flying through the air. Landing smoothly, the calf proceeded to walk toward the cow. By this time my son had slowed to a crawl and was honking the horn as we came even with the front of the trailer. 

A third cow must not have been convinced she could fly, for just before the end of the trailer came even with us, the last cow jumped out of the back of the trailer and unlike the two before, her landing was anything but smooth. She was okay though and got to her feet and wandered off to join her friends. The driver of the truck must not have realized what had been happening as he never slowed down, and soon he was gone. To this day I wonder what he thought when he got wherever he was going and found his trailer empty. 

So the next time you hear 'when pigs fly' just remember anything is possible even if only a little bit.

image source

Wild Ride Stage 2

Stage two of the wild ride wasn't so bad. After sleeping through the night, or maybe I should say oversleeping, we piled in Val's car and were on our way. Although we drove the same distance in a shorter period of time, it really wasn't bad. It does help to be able to stop where and when you like.

Both my granddaughter and grandson are pretty good little travelers, having done quite a few trips back and forth between Virginia and South Dakota. However, this year my grandson was a bit more excited to get to grandma's house.

It was rather funny, he did not do the "are we there yet?" but chose instead to ask every ten or 15 minutes where we were. Finally I decided the best response was to tell him the mile marker number, state highway number and the name of the state we were in, that satisfied him for a few minutes.

image courtesy of morguefile.com

The 1500 mile trip went rather quickly and for the most part smoothly, although we did have to change our original route due to flooding along the Missouri river. In all reality I do believe we were all in a bit of a hurry to get back to South Dakota as I did not take very many photos during the trip. Although from time to time one of the kids would point out something and say Grandma take a picture.  It is a good thing they did or there would not be photos of the drive to add to there vacation scrapbooks. So here are a few of the things that caught their attention.