Alex and I took the dogs for a bike ride - the snow is gone, and we are back to Spring!

We have power!  We finally got power back Sunday afternoon- a little after 2:00.  All day Saturday we kept monitoring the PG&E website where they were estimating we would have power back by 8:01 p.m.  Around 4:00 p.m., the site suddenly changed from 530 houses affected by the power outage in my neighborhood to 19....and no estimate for those 19.  They didn't even have a idea what the problem was.  And yes, we were one of those 19 houses.  When I got up Sunday morning, still no update.  Around 9:00, there was a crew in the area, but still no update.  I think they finally updated the site around noon - still no estimate, but at least they acknowledged there were crews on site.  Finally, the lights came on!  Hallelujah!  Yes, we can manage to run the house with the generator, but it isn't my idea of a good time.....

Some photos of the snow:

The fence around the pool - you know it's wet snow when it builds up on a 3/4 inch fence this tall.....

The hummingbird feeder:

The heads by the fountain:

The Mazda - and no, I didn't drive it to work.  I did take the Volvo though - no power at work on Wednesday, so I got sent home.  We were able to open one branch around noon in the East side of Redding, but everyone else was closed.  We were able to open normally on Thursday, since City of Redding got power restored for our locations.  

The trees out front - we didn't lose many more branches than a normal wind storm, which surprised me.  There were trees down all over the neighborhood - a few of them into houses.

AJ took Luna out to the field to play in the snow....

Let's play "Good news, Bad news"!
Good news:  we got 12 inches of snow Tuesday night at our house.
Bad news:  we got 12 inches of snow at our house Tuesday night.
Good news:  the bank was closed Wednesday
Bad news:  the bank was closed Wednesday because they had no power and neither did we.
Good news: the new generator works great!
Bad news: the pellet stove fan died
Good news: we have a portable heater that works
Bad news: no internet
Good news: we have Dish and movies and the generator powers them
Bad news: I just heard we are not expected to have power back until Saturday
Good news:   Give me minute....I think I'm out of good news.....

Cindy sent me a picture of her place Sunday morning...

So I sent her a couple of pictures from mine.....

I had just finished pruning my rose bush - Cindy said she couldn't find her rose bushes if she tried......

The baby quilt is finished!  I really, really like how this one turned out, and how fast it went together.  Definitely a keeper pattern.

And on to the next quilt.  AJ requested a quilt for Wes, who's getting married this June.  AJ went with me to pick out the colors (which really means Nancy at the quilt shop picked them out, we just had the option to agree of disagree with her choices.)  Here's the fabric:

And here's the design on the wall.  I've started sewing the strips together already - another quick quilt.

I'm keeping AJ around as my color consultant.  I was wanting to start a baby quilt for a co-worker, and I found the pattern I wanted, but couldn't get the fabrics to look right.  I thought it was the blues and grays not going together, and AJ kept saying it was my white.  I gave up after three trips to the fabric store and worked on another quilt.  Last weekend, I went in and started all over, skipping the white on AJ's advice.  I really like how it turned out!   

We took the dogs for another bike ride yesterday - we are greening up for Spring!  (So are the weeds around here - spraying the weeds in the yard is on my to-do list for the day.....)

Ralph and I made a quick trip to Santa Rosa on MLK Day...and traded in the RAV for a 2017 Volvo XC60 (I think that's what it is anyway.....)  Here they are together in the car lot......

We had beautiful weather going as well - I haven't been to Santa Rosa in years.  Here a shot of the delta as we drove through.....

Last weekend was extremely productive - AJ and I made a clean spot in the garage......

And I got some quilting done, with a little company on the side.....

I also had a business trip to Sac on Wednesday - and once again, the weather was beautiful!  Here's the view from my room:

The score it 1-1 now! AJ and I took the dogs out with the bikes again on Sunday, and I did NOT fall down this time!  Koori was a perfect angel and we got along just fine.  We even road around the neighborhood a bit after we went down the the field.  We went a little later in the day than usual, just in time to catch the sun setting:

I also finished up a baby hat and blanket to go with the baby quilt I made.  The blanket is made out of the same flannel as the backing on the quilt.

It's official....I can no longer run with the big dogs......or bike with the medium dogs, in my case.  Alex has been running Luna on his bike and yesterday was such a beautiful day, I thought I'd run Koori with them.   Before I reached the end of the block, I'd taken a fall.  Luckily, nothing but my pride was seriously injured (though I feel it more this morning...)  A little road rash and bruising, but I sure don't bounce like I used to.  Ouch!  

I re-did the main bath again - new purple towels and a new shower curtain.  I like it!  I got gray towels for our bath, but it isn't very pretty, so no pictures.  I really should decorate in there too, but I just never seem to get around to it.

Alli's aide from school sent me this picture Friday.  They went on an outing to the Mall in Redding, and Alli was enjoying a raspberry frozen drink.

We had a jewelry party here right after New Years, and I did get some earrings and a bracelet made, but most of my time was spent teaching and looking for needed items.  

Leona was over, and she designed her own earrings and bracelet, but had me do the wire work for her.  It isn't hard to do, but she was worried it wouldn't look good if she did it.

My first finished project of 2019!  And just in time - the baby shower was Friday....  It turned out very cute - the back is flannel, so it's nice and soft.  I have enough of the flannel left to make a receiving blanket too.  I have it ready to crochet around. along with another blanket I had from a prior gift that I didn't use.  

Happy New Year!  In many ways, I'm very glad that 2018 is over - such a terrible year in many ways - the Carr fire followed by the Camp fire, Ralph's health deteriorating, stress from all of the above...but it was also a good year.  AJ got to spend time in Japan, and came home happy and healthy, we did some great hikes and adventures together, a cool road trip to Georgia with Margene, time with girlfriends, and time with family.  Here's how 2018 looked to me - these are the photos for my 2019 calendar: