Watch out Pepe'

When I got to work this morning and opened the front door I was greeted by a very familiar scent... an odor, some might say. It was the unmistakable essence of skunk... not outside, but inside the office! It wasn't strong enough for me to suspect that Pepe' Le Pew had taken a short-cut through our end of the building last night, but it was pretty clear that he had been close. Probably trolling for that petite femme skunk (or poor little black kitty that accidently walked under a freshly painted fence... it happens) that he noticed earlier in the evening, behind our office.

"Hellllooooo babeee... Yoooo hoooo... come now my sweet, do not hide from zeee love, do no run away, zeee night it is young."

Spring is in the air, and the skunks are thick. Anytime it gets above freezing around here this time of year, the skunks get that ol' feelin'. We catch a whiff of them around the house almost every night, and we can always count on Gabriel to let loose with a crazed barrage of barking if one gets too close. Thanks buddy... you saved us again. Last night when I was taking the trash out, I opened the front door cautiously and rattled the trash bag ahead of me, just in case one of them happened to be lurking in the bushs. Thankfully there weren't any. This time.

But sadly, the drive to find that darling femme skunk must also make them oblivious to cars. On my drive home from work this afternoon, along Highway 65 (between Ozark and Springfield) I counted at least 10 skunks on the side of the road. After passing the second one, I closed my vents and put the air on re-circulate. They have a lot of character, even in death.

So here's to you Pepe'... have fun, but let's be careful out there.

The blizzard of 2011

Hmmmm... no, not the Dairy Queen kind of Blizzard...

This is all that's left in our front yard from The Great Blizzard of 2011 (that's what we are calling it now, by the way. It was a hefty snowstorm, but I'm pretty sure that the folks living in northern Minnesota or upstate New York would get a good chuckle out of that description).

A prior engagement?....

Yesterday, along with 14 other honored recipients, President Obama presented former President George H.W. Bush the Medal of Freedom at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Those set to receive the Medal this year were notified in November of 2010... November of 2010. According to news reports son George W. Bush could not attend the ceremony, due to a prior engagement. You know, maybe it's just me, but if I had an 86 year old father who was receiving the Medal of Freedom, I think I might just rearrange my schedule to fit it in. But then again, what do I know...
"Oh dang, daddy... I've got a dentist appointment that morning. Sorry 'bout that. I'll catch you next time, I promise."

More snow... seriously. Enough already.

This isn't northern Iowa.
Here's a shot of the MoDOT Road Conditions Map, taken at 9:00 this morning. The purple roads are covered with snow, and the blue roads are partly covered. I'm sitting here at my computer at work (on break... don't worry) watching it come down. It's fairly fine, light snow, but it does add up after a while. I would guess we have a little over an inch... inch & a half maybe, here in Ozark. It started early this morning, pre-dawn and is supposed to continue most of the day, with an eventual total of anywhere from 2 to 64 inches. No wait... it says 4 inches. The way it looks now, I would be surprised if we get 4 inches. But then again, I kinda scoffed at the "blizzard" warnings we were getting last week. And that didn't turn out so good (ha). Oh well... not much we can do about it. YEA!!!! more snow! That's the spirit. Ugh. At this rate, Pam may not get out of school till June. ;) Oh... and just for an added kick, it's 10 degrees out there. 10.

Her journey is over...

Patricia, Pam and Clara at the house in West Plains
Patricia, Clara and Debbie in Maui, Hawaii
Clara (left), with her sister Bertha and two of their brothers on the family farm near White Church, Missouri
Pam's mother, Clara Smith, passed away this morning. She would have been 95 this coming March. Alzheimers is a cruel disease... but it's good to know that she is free now. This has been a long time coming, so it wasn't anything that was sudden or unexpected, but it's still a sad and difficult thing when it finally happens. Good bye Clara, thank you for being a part of my life all these years. I miss you. We all do.

After-image

Here it comes...

Image from the National Weather Service site (NOAA) from around 2:00am February 1, 2011 showing the mass of weather streaming up from Texas and Oklahoma into southwest Missouri. It's 27 degrees with light rain & sleet.

8:00am Tuesday update: I haven't bothered to measure it, but it looks like we have gotten about an inch to an inch and a half of sleet so far, and it's still coming down. Apparently that's just the base for what is coming later today. Debbie texted Pam at a little before 4:00 to say that they couldn't go any further (they were at Vinita and their windshield wipers kept freezing up and they couldn't see). They will wait there till daylight to try to make it the rest of the way here. Yuck. Our office is closed today, thankfully, and schools all over the area have called off classes. I'll be surprised if they even have school Thursday or Friday, as much snow as they are calling for, and the bitterly cold temperatures coming. It's starting out to be onehellofa week. Oh... and Pam just announced that the snow has arrived. Oh yeah... there it is. Pretty (ugh).