The difference of a day

This is what it looked like out my window on Saturday.  On Sunday it started snowing.  And snowing.

And when it was all done, this is what it looked like on Tuesday before the plow came down our little street.

Our little street going the other direction.

The main intersection in town - East Shore and Main Street.

Along Main Street - still snowy but plowed.

A car in a parking lot on Main Street.

The Huron River

A snowy field

There's a house hidden behind all those trees and snow!

Loved the way the wind blew the snow off the roofs of these barns.  Especially the one on the right.  Amost a perfect circle.

Fresh snowmobile tracks.

About 1/4 mile from the Green Oak Shopping areas.  Still very snowy roads.

The parking lot at Costco.

Looking at Friday's from the Costco parking lot.

Homeschooling Challenge

I am giving my homeschoolers the day off for President's Day tomorrow.  And it might be a snow day for the public schools which always makes them mad when they still have school - though it's not like snow causes them any trouble to actually GET to school considering most days they stumble down the stairs still in their pajamas to do school.  If I were a really prepared kind of homeschooling mom, I'd have a President's Day themed challenge but I don't.  Instead, it's on The Alps.  The kids took this quiz on Friday and both got 90%.  Without looking up answers, can you get at least 50%???


1.  How many countries do the Alps span?

• 3
• 9 
• 7

 2. What did DaVinci find in the rocks that made him think the mountains had come from the sea?  ____________________________ 

 3. Where did the rocks at the top of the Matterhorn mountain come from?  ____________________________

 4. The Tehys Ocean was between which two continents millions of years ago?

________________________________________

 5. The Molass Basin was created from the tectonic shift of what?  ______________________________

 6. What filled in the Molass Basin north of the Alps?

_________________________________________

 7. How do glaciers turn the very bumpy rocks of the Alps into smooth rock?

___________________________________________________________________

 8. During the last ice age, what covered the Alps leaving only the tips exposed?  ________________________________

 9. Global warming is melting the ice faster which will do what to the mountains?    ________________________________________

 10. In 200 Million years the Alps will be:

• 1/4 as tall as now
• 1/8 as tall as now
• 1/2 as tall as now
• 3/4 as tall as now

Being a homeschooler in MY homeschool isn't so easy!

More out my window

I took these out a different window.  The little half bath window to be honest!  We have some really tremendous icicles growing there.  I took these at dawn one morning and the light comes from the street light.  I used a super slow shutter speed to capture that light but it did make the pics a bit jiggly since I wasn't using a tripod.

I watched these icicle grow about a foot in one day when it was slightly warmer.  Today is supposed to be warmer too and I can't wait to see if they grow more or just break off.

Those tiny greenish lights you can see behind the big tree out in the middle are aliens.  Actually they are lights from houses across the lake.

This one is actually through the living room window.  I liked how the reflection of the living room shows up on the left side of the picture.  You can see the antique handmade snowshoes that we probably needed last week!

Back to the bathroom window and a slightly different angle picking up more of the neighbor's garage and a slightly less jiggly picture.

My Winner

Equestrian Girl might only be 13 but she's the most goal oriented and driven kid I've ever met.  Last year she set some pretty steep goals for showing her horse, Stanley, and she hit ever one of them.  Last night was the Michigan Paint Horse Banquet and my little girl was a big winner!

After getting her trophy belt buckle for #1 in Youth Trail with Daddy.

Posing with the belt buckle and looking just a tiny bit smug.

With our friend Sheri and her big belt buckle win for Novice Amateur Champion.

Along with the belt buckle, Equestrian Girl got the pink garment bag below for Reserve High Point Novice Youth Champion and the green chaps bag for #2 in 13 and Under Western Pleasure.  The other things displayed were for various other classes where she placed in 13 and Under and Novice Youth.

Next year her goal is to be #1 in our zone of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, win the Championship for Novice Youth, and make top 20 in the nation....I sure hope I can afford to help her do it!!

Winter and Church Bells

This is actually a picture of Lake Michigan during the big arctic blast snowstorm a few weeks ago.  What looks like mountains are actually just frozen waves topped with snow.  That's what this winter has felt like for weeks now.  Just plain cold and frozen.  And I LIKE winter!

There's a little white church on the lake very close to our house.

This isn't the church and if I weren't so lazy I'd go take a picture of it but I'm quite content in my chair right now.  It's a stand in church.

This morning I heard the church bells.  And I looked outside and the sun was shining and the icicles were dripping madly and I could actually see spring in the future.  And I thought about those bells.  How many people are lucky enough to live close enough to a church that still rings bells?  It's a beautiful sound and I really wish they'd ring them way more often than just at 10:00 on Sunday.

Out my window

It's been a really cold, snowy winter even by my standards.  Being outside for any length of time takes some planning and stamina and taking the camera isn't usually in my plans because falling on the ice IS in my plans and I don't want to be holding an expensive camera and see it go flying.  So photos out the window it is.

This is a small Globe Spruce.  I worry that the weight of all the snow will break branches but there are little critters that live in there and the snow surely blocks the wind and makes it warmer.

This Japanese Maple looks like it's clinging to it's last papery leaves for dear life.  It also looks like it's reaching towards the south.  I think it wants to move.