2.2.2026

Happy Groundhog's Day!  Because this was my dad's birthday and both my parents are from the Punxsutawney area, this was always a big day in our house!  

With all the snow and extreme cold temperatures across so much of the country, it was no surprise that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, predicting 6 more weeks of winter!

We went to see my mom twice today.  Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers!

2.1 - High 22.1/Low -1.4
2.2 - High 27.5/Low -6.5

1.31.2026

Jim moved into the control room to sand the plaster.  He got about halfway finished before he had to stop so that we could go to church.

High 19.5/Low 3.6

1.30.2026

It's been a tough week for my mom - she fell again on Monday night, hitting her head on the bathroom sink, causing forehead swelling and bruising and later black eyes.  She seemed to do okay, but the last couple days have seen more decline.  I got a call early this morning that they thought maybe she had a stroke or the brain tumor is bleeding/swelling.  Hospice was there when I got there and Jim came a bit later.  She seemed to rally a bit, so we'll see how these next days go.

In the afternoon, Jim started sanding the outside wall.  He has the sander attached to the vacuum to hopefully eliminate dust - it really sticks tightly to the wall, so it's a workout to do the whole wall!

All done - it will be ready for painting!

Love to see all the dust in the vacuum as opposed to all over the room!

High 14.1/Low -4.1

1.29.2026

Jim finished up the skim coating in the control room and moved to the outside wall...

All done here too!

High 22/Low 1.6

1.28.2026

 Jim has started the wonderful task of taxes for us and my mom.  Ours are always complicated by my typing business.  I do my part of the paperwork and then turn it over to him to do his magic!

This afternoon, he had made a Craigslist sale.  He met the person at Stewart's so he could get diesel fuel while he was out.  Once he got home, he squeegeed all the muck that has dripped off my car lately!

Jim's 6" round steel piece came in the mail - he's going to use this to make the wine rack in the kitchen!

He's started making the first connection cuts in the pieces for the kitchen island...

Making more cuts...

He'll have to order a bit more steel to complete this island base, but he has pieces to get started on.

High 23.4/Low -0.9

1.27.2026

 Mixing up plaster for skim coating...

In such a small, tight place, this was a messy job.  Jim had plaster droppings all over his face and clothes!

But it looks great!

High 17.1/Low -0.3

1.26.2026

It continued to snow all day, but Jim headed out after lunch to plow the driveway.  We probably got about 18" of snow - the view from the man door looking out... 

Unfortunately, the snow blower was frozen and the blades wouldn't rotate at all.  Jim had to get a shovel and then the spud bar to clean out the blades well and try to get them moving...

Success!

Working down the driveway...

Kind of hard to tell, but this was Jim's view looking out at the road - you can see how high the snow is piled up...

Then working up the driveway - you can see how deep the cut is...

Walking out to uncover the generator...

That's a lot of snow behind the house and on the air conditioning unit!

Once Jim got the driveway cleaned, I went to see Mom.  I stopped at BJs Wholesale Club on my way home and it was like the apocalypse - never seen such an empty parking lot!  I was all by myself in this area.

High 18.8/Low 7.1 - storm total about 18"