February and Three Dog Nights

Can't wait to be looking at Dragon Wing Begonias!

(But that would be June, not February)

 

  Scenes from our home and neighborhood

Here in NW Wisconsin, we pretty much go with a monochromatic color scheme from November through March! You can see that our bright red picnic table was trying to give us a bit of color, but...

I don't understand why the dog likes to be out when it's MINUS 17 degrees F. as it was Saturday.  I make sure to call her in after a few minutes, but she seems to think it's her responsibility to bark at the birds, squirrels, bunnies, and any passing vehicles before settling in for her morning nap on her bed in the library.

Then there are the ice fisherpeople.

They drill a hole in the ice and stand in the cold for hours.
Do they not know that fish is available at the grocery store?

 See the open water not far from where they're standing?

Accidents do happen:

 At least they hadn't driven their vehicles out onto the ice,
as some folks at Lake Geneva did.

Photo from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 6

It seems this wasn't such a great place to park after all.

Februaries Past

I'm missing Bridger and Misty (above), both now gone. Really, we've been having three dog nights here lately, and we're down to ONE DOG.  :-(   Carla from The River Flowing blog had a great idea, but I'm afraid Mr. C. has steeled himself against any suggestion of a GSD puppy. Thanks anyway for trying, Carla. xo

One sweet and happy dog.

She doesn't mind getting all the attention.

P.S. The Good News Is:  It's supposed to be in the 30s this week, so I think our cold spell is over. I'm looking forward to an upward trend in the temps.

Linking to: Judith's MOSAIC MONDAY

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From Frostbite Falls, Wisconsin -

Valentines! And Burned Cookies??

 I WON A GIVEAWAY!!!

Look what came in the mail from Arlene of Nanaland blog.
A lovely Valentine card and a pair of pretty fingerless gloves.
Aren't they just the perfect Valentine color!!
Thank you, Arlene!
Y'all be sure to stop in at her blog today.

An unexpected Valentine from a dear friend, who talked me into starting my blog back in February of 2010!

There was more to the package, but I forgot to include it in the photo, like the dark chocolate Dove bar which I ate before I had a chance to remember that I could take just a bite and save the rest for later. Who comes up with those dumb theories anyway. Deb makes her own beautiful cards and of course she knows how much I love dogs and the James Herriot stories.Thank you, my friend!

And now on to a couple family Valentines

You might notice that there are two types of Valentine cookies in the collage above: Pink and not so pink. The pink ones were baked in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes.

The second type is the forgotten in the oven another 4 or-5 minutes after the timer went off slightly darker variety. They needed just ONE MORE MINUTE. But who sets the timer for one additional minute?! It looks like I should have. I'm going to blame it on my cute and distracting helper/decorator, because I walked away and totally forgot about them. Anyway, they were not burned, miraculously (because I bake them on heavy jellyroll pans), but they weren't quite as pretty. On the other hand, they had a much better crispy crunch, so they are my favorite. Crunch is a very important factor in my world. Next time I will probably bake them in a 350 oven for 12+ minutes to get a crunchier cookie without that less-than-desirable color which makes everyone reach for the pinker ones instead. And if they, for some reason, need an additional minute, I will be sure to set the timer.

***

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Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, everyone!