Updates from Sollingerville

It's been a long time since anyone has posted, I can see. Here are the updates:

It was a hard time, getting back into a routine after our Christmas break. We're doing better at that.

Lydia was ill at the beginning of the week. She almost got sick at church! But, after hurrying outside to make it to the shrubbery, (which doesn't sound fun, unless you consider the indoor alternative) she felt better. And was able to wait until she got home. That took a few days of recovery.

Now that we finally have accumulated snow, it's easier to track the wildlife visitors to our backyard. No more signs of mice in the compost pile. The cat tracks aren't around the compost any longer, even though the snow reveals that the neighborhood stray does still visit. So, if the owls didn't take care of the mouse/mice, I guess the cat did. Not sure what we're going to do about the compost pile now . . . .

It's been very, very, very cold. But it's meant to be in the 20s again today. It's interesting, though, that the smallest amount of sun does make a difference. Yesterday, some driveways and sidewalks were melted free of snow, even though it was only TWO DEGREES FAHRENHEIT! Incidentally, those driveways shoveled by hand are cleaner than those done by snowblower. Our efforts did not go to waste.

Our gently sloping property is a good thing during the spring and summer rains, keeping water away from the house. But the gently sloping driveway is tricky when it's covered in ice. I've used most a bag of kids' play sand so far this winter.

That's the brief summary. My apologies for once again lacking in my e-mails. I've spent quite a bit of computer time this last week, getting ready with the first batch of promotional e-mails for the Homeschool Conference. Spam filters are complicating the process. Maybe they help stem the tide of unwanted e-mails, but they don't help those who need to send large amounts of e-mail to people who are genuinely interested in hearing from them!