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Friday, February 11, 2022

Heigh, ho, heigh, ho, shut in by snow, we work and work to find a plough...

Once upon a time, in the far away fifties, my grandmother came from Cleveland to Akron for Thanksgiving dinner with her family. The weather was so balmy she wore her spring coat.

She did not go home for a week because the area had a thirty or forty inch snow fall. The city had front end loaders out trying to move the snow. Well, that was then. Once in a lifetime, eh?

One weekend, a couple of weekends ago, we had such a massive snow fall we could not move our cars without moving a lot of snow. The weekend my loom faerie appeared, I was stunned and grateful. It turns out a friend who was parked on the street went for her. Last week the same scenario, except K got her truck dug out enough to literally bull her way out of her corner of the drive.

The subsequent weekend, repeat. Our first six or seventeen inch fall acquired another eighteen inch topping. I recruited a young man from my trailer complex to work on the mess. The only appointment transferred from last week to this that I intended to keep was the hair appointment.


My hair would be cut or I would know the reason why. I called David, who had removed a good deal of snow by shovel, because his snow blower is in the shop, and explained lovely as the trail to the cars was, not wide enough for my walker. Nor flat enough on the bottom.

He toiled again, and I was able to get through wearing my ice grippers and using a lot of caution. We consolidated our errands to K's truck, and I got in grocery shopping and script pick up while she did her errands. The haircut was yesterday, and I've been urging on the sunshine all week.

Yesterday worked out very well. I slogged through the icy slush on the walk and got into my car. Once on our road, the way was clear. All the crews did their jobs, snow was piled high and away. From now to the end of the month, the only precipitation is rain! My haircut was achieved!


Even the dog was impressed. I think she found it better than crumbs on the floor. Easier to look at, at any rate.


Except for one day devoted entirely to reading my way through my three books, I wove and napped. The books are finished; today was simply weaving and napping. 


I'm down to two last bobbins. I'll finish tomorrow and start working toward towels.

Of the three books, I quite recommend two, Suzanne and Gertrude, and the much thicker volume, The Elephant Whisperer. The latter is Lawrence Anthony's account of founding his internationally known African animal reserve, Thula Thula. He was internationally known and admired for his environmental and conservation work. It is said, at his death, members of Thula Thula's elephant herd, which he had saved from death as "rogue" elephants, gathered around his home for two days of elephant mourning. I believe that.

45 comments:

  1. You are getting impressive amounts of snow.
    And like here, getting work done indoors while the weather plays outside!

    Animals know. I think they are more developed than us in some ways...or we have lost many natural skills

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  2. Hari OM
    So glad you overcame the fierce white obstacle and got the shearing you so longed for... and I'm impressed as ever with your efforts indoors! YAM xx

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  3. Hope you have seen the end of snow for this winter! I will see if can find the Elephant Whisperer at my library as an ebook - sounds very interesting! You must be relieved to have had your hair cut.

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    1. Anthony wrote several books. I will be looking them up.

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  4. Gosh, you folks sure have been hammered this winter! We have had hardly any snow, maybe a foot total, all winter. It's quite melty this week!

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  5. You are doggedly persistent! Glad you got everything done, plus a haircut! Sheesh, you've received a lot of snow there!

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  6. That the elephants mourned him is a very fine tribute. I will hunt those books down. Thank you.
    I have a busy week coming up and must schedule a shearing session for myself in there somewhere. Weather won't be an issue if the forecasts are to be believed.

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  7. That's WAY too much snow! When I need a haircut, I desperately want one and the locks are out of control. Glad yours got tamed. We have very similar haircuts!

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  8. I see your hair sticking out in that first photo, a sure sign that a haircut is overdue.

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  9. I'm glad you were able to get a haircut at least, and finishing three books in one day? Wow. I assume they were already partly read, but still, that's impressive.

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  10. I started cutting my own hair during the Covid lockdown. I am still doing it and happy with the results. I know it looks presentable because my daughter complimented my cut at Thanksgiving dinner. She can be brutally honest and would have told me if it was bad. Glad you could get out. My weather is so pleasant here. Chilly mornings and sunny afternoons. Just so many boxes to unpack and find a place for the contents.

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  11. You got the blockbuster snowfall. Just about now we want no more snow and more mild weather. At least the snow is melting. Nice haircut. Elephants are majestic animals and they have wisdom that is not fully understood.

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  12. Excess snow (and rain in my part of the world) can make for challenging times. I'm glad you were able to get to your hair appointment and get to some other errands. If rain is on the way it will hopefully melt a lot of snow but I guess then you might get ice and that too is not good. The towels are a beautiful colour. Enjoy the weekend and please take care.

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  13. It would take more than a,few giant snowfalls to keep you from your hair appointment! Priorities!

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  14. I read that book and it was excellent. Another book is "Elephant Company" about elephants hauling refugees through incredible odds Burma. Thanks for bringing that book out! It is one I will re-read. I loaned it to my daughter.

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  15. This has been quite a stormy winter with lots of snow here too. You did well to get out and about like you did, despite the conditions, walker and all. You are one determined woman.

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  16. Very nice new "do" Joanne. Very uplifting in more ways than one :)

    XO
    WWW

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  17. Good grief Where are they putting it all?

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  18. You have really been hit with a lot of snow. I'm glad you could get someone to come out and shovel. Your haircut looks good and I bet it feels good too!

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  19. Intelligent creatures are elephants and seem to be like us in so many ways. I follow the Sheldrake trust for orphaned young elephants who are nurtured and then sent back into the wild. But they always bring their young back to show their keepers how they are progressing in life.

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    1. Elephant intelligence is wonderful. Alexander intuited and understood it well enough to serve him to be a friend.

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  20. I definitely believe that elephant story - they are very intelligent creatures. Glad you got the hairdo - mine is on this next Wedbesday - in my case I just could not get an appointment - she was all booked up.

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  21. I also think elephants are wonderful animals and we do not know everything about them. More than once I have used your book recommendations here and was happy about it.

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  22. If you enjoyed "The Elephant Whisperer" try "The Elephant in My Kitchen". I am sure you would enjoy that too.

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    Replies
    1. I'm hooked. I will be reading all, including his wife's book.

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  23. I haven’t had a haircut since November- can’t explain why , exactly. I just wasn’t in the mood, I guess. Fortunately it’s the kind of do I can just rein in with a rubber band.
    Your resident dog looks like a close relative of my loved and now departed Coton, Mamie.

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  24. Nice haircut! I know it makes you feel so satisfied to have gotten that accomplished. I do not know how y'all deal with all that snow. I admire you!

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    1. I do not know how y'all deal with all that heat. I admire you!

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  25. Two days of elephant mourning! What a powerful and meaningful life that man must have lived.

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  26. I don't know how you do it. Just used to it I guess but that much snow and I would be a basket case. I'm glad you finally got a clear path out. And the elephants, of course they did. Intelligent creatures.Just think how different the world would be if humans had recognized that all life is intelligent, not just us.

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  27. I have a fantasy about being cut off by snow in a remote area. I think I would like it if there were enough provisions to keep me going and a real fire.

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    1. A fantasy about an idyllic adventure. "Cut off" = sequestered, and with food and fire through to the end. Books? Drink? A solitary game?

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  28. Like the haircut, Joanne! I was letting mine grow out quite long during the pandemic, but got it cut last November when things were looking up and before the new mutation reared its ugly head. Starting to need another soon... but will wait and see if things improve.
    You are so brave to face driving in the snow, but I guess you are used to it. Do be careful though...

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  29. I am reminded of my great grandfather, who came from Holland to visit my grandparents one winter at their farm in snowbelt country. One April day it was snowing outside and he asked, "does the winter ever end in this country?"

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  30. When the snow melts, where does it go? If I recall correctly, Ohio is fairly flat. Does it just sink in to the ground, or what. In WA, mountain snow is collected for use in the summer since it doesn't rain all that much. WA is 11 inches shy of average snow fall, and thus far it's not looking like we'll get anymore. So, that's not good.

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    1. Streams and rivers, north to Lake Erie, here at the Continental Divide. It also sinks, to refresh aquifers, and my well.

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  31. Dear Joanne, I read your "snowed under" and try to imagine it. In Tove Jansson 's books I come near to that feeling - blue day-light shining through high walls of snow in Finland.
    You have a lovely haircut - and I envy you: I had to postpone my appointment with the Figaro in Berlin end of December - and now I will go to Berlin not this week (as planned) but mid-March (thankfully I hadn't made an appointment yet). I cut my fringe, the rest is just growing in the direction of "Francoise Hardy" - as I had that experiment with letting my hair cut very short in summer 2021 I still have a decent look :-)

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  32. I wish I could experience one winter with lots and lots of snow once in my life. Like Tom, I have fantasies of being snowed in with plenty of firewood and other provisions.

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  33. I can't even wrap my mind around the amount of snow you have had. Well, the spring flowers will be especially pretty, at least.

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  35. My goodness I think you folks are good with the snow. Hopefully this is the end of it as we get closer to March. Glad you were able to get a haircut. Looks great. Take care.

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  36. Dogs must find the lack of hair on human beings rather puzzling.

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