Hand Slam and Happy Little Birdies

Walking into work today, I managed to smash the top of my hand into a metal door push bar thingy.  I'm not entirely sure I didn't break anything, but I can at least type, so I'm going to just hope that it stops hurting and being lumpy be the end of the day.  And wonder why on earth I'm such a freaking crazy klutz?  Seriously, it's a massive door, HOW DID I MANAGE TO HIT IT?  Ugh.

However, I do have some pictures of my beloved fat little birdies when we had snow!  Turns out, nature has camouflaged birds so that normally, if they are flitting about on the ground, you really can't see them.  I am also trying not to put every.single.photo. taken of the birds.  Don't you want to see a thousand different ways they arraigned themselves on my lawn?  No?

So many happy little birdies.

Look at the cardinal in the middle!  And how happy and fat the other birds are.

I love sitting curled up in my armchair, with a book, my dog and a cuppa watching the birdies and squirrels flit around the yard.  It makes me really happy that I lean towards a 70s style bush, if ya know what I mean, so that the birds are very happy to live in my yard.

It's probably for the best that find large dog sweaters is hard.  She doesn't need to be a clothes hound.

Snow days!

It's was our third snow in December.  That is just weird and unnatural.  But it did make for a really pretty house!

View from back porch.

Front porch view, with our lights.  Yes, they are Halloween themed.

Front of Hobbit House, well blanketed in snow!

My poor car, Horace.

Oh no!  Ramona's Jack Ball is down to just a nose.

Front yard tree, covered in snow.

Ack, overladen branches threatening the internet!

Pirate Monkey is unfazed.

So.Much.Snow.

Our crepe myrtles, bowed down.

Snow berries!

Fat little birdie!

Snowy pine needles.

Icicles that formed on outside lights.

Blue hopped up and gave me a hug!

How Blue and I dealt with the snow.

Linked up at:

A Snowy Night with Downtown Durham Lights

Edited to add: wow, so much for scheduled posts.  argh!

After our delightful meal, we went wandering through downtown Durham, taking in the lights under the snow.

Wildly flattering picture of me, right?

View from above, towards the ball park.

Tree walk, part of a fundraiser for area nonprofits.

There were a bunch of really pretty trees, and they look awesome at night under the snow.

DPAC behind the trees.

I really like the tulle on this tree.  It's hard to tell, but it was really glittery.

Love the elephant topper, and all the ornaments are various computer parts.

I like the Hope topper, and the use of picks/etc for the top.

Love love LOVE the blue lights and the little house topper.

ATC lights!

Staggering Throught a Winter Slushieland

Don't make me explain
this to you.

Oh, the joys of winter.  A weird wintery mix graced our fair cities yesterday.  It was slippery nastiness.  And I had to go to work.  Which got me to thinking.

Why on earth, with the technology available to us, and the fact that most of the people here have laptops and phones with tethering, is there not a basic foul weather plan that involves everyone staying at home.  Not, come in, but take your time.  But stay at home, it's just stupid to drive in terrible weather.  By the time I woke up at 7am, there were already dozens of accidents on the freeways.  I doubt they were all doctors, nurses, firemen, etc.

Yeah, you might end up having to pay some people who don't really have duties that they can do at home.  But if no one is in the building...does it really matter that your janitorial staff got an extra paid day off?

What an easy way to build morale and goodwill in a workplace.  We know when storms are coming, it would be fairly easy to make sure that everyone who could, took their laptops and files home with them, and we kept people from feeling like they HAVE TO COME IN, because otherwise their boss is a dick about it, or Junie from marketing is going to gripe about it, or you have to use a sick day, or whatever.

Also, 4 wheel drive is not a magic button that makes you impervious to weather.  Get off my old giant car's ass, or you're going to slide into me, and then I'm going to beat you to death with my coffee mug.  If we're on a single lane street, and you can't pass me...it's because we're in a neighborhood and the speed limit is way lower than you think anyways and really: fuck you, it's an inch of icecrap, slow down.

It's a chilly willy day!

Last night, the snow started to fall silently, sneaking up on us while we planned an evening out.  In the night, while we slept, it turned into ice pellets (sleet? wintery mix? icy rain?) tinkling against the windows.  Today, it's alternating between soft snow and tinkly pellets.  The dog has enjoyed her romps (and adores her coat) but seems to get cold toes rather quickly.

Eventually, I'm planning on hopping in the shower, so we can roam the neighborhood, bearing packets of hot cocoa and cookie mix.