It took us all of yesterday to recover from the stress and disappointment of Tuesday.  We were both emotionally ready for the surgery and anxious for it to be over and finally learn what we are facing as far as a cancer or no cancer diagnoses.  Now we are back to square one as far as knowing what we are dealing with with John's heart situation.  We do have an appointment with a cardiologist next Thursday afternoon.

On the bright side, I guess, postponing the surgery has allowed us to do some jobs that we thought would have to be put off for a month or so.  John got out the four wheeler and drag and worked up our driveway getting out the ruts and low spots.  It's now nice and smooth.  As I mentioned in earlier posts, our shrubs took quite a hit with the snow this past winter and were pretty well smashed.  Since the ground is still pretty damp and soft, he hooked up a strap and used our truck to pull them out.  They popped right out.  Now we have to decide what we are going to put back in that space.

Since my birthday is today and John's is on Monday, we have decided to get out of town for the day tomorrow and head over to Grand Forks for some shopping and then watch a track meet.  Our weather has been nice and warm, but next week looks like a return to winter.

It's hard to believe that a week ago we were digging out from another 10 inches of snow and now it's  just about gone, the grass is turning green, and there are buds on the trees. Our Easter weekend has been beautiful with warm, sunny days.  Since John's surgery is this Tuesday, we thought we should take advantage of the nice weather and get a few jobs out of the way.  We started Saturday off by hauling all the screens outside and washing them. John also did some raking in the front yard and hosed off the apron in front of the garage.  The car tires deposit quite a bit of gravel on the apron when we drive into the garage.  John and I did take the time to put the screens in our bedroom windows--it was so nice having the windows open overnight and getting fresh air in the house.  The most important job of Saturday was baking apple pies for our Easter gathering.

Hard to believe the snow was almost to the bottom

of the basketball net

 

Easter Sunday we were off to church and following the service stopped back home to change clothes and then head to Matt and Sara's home.  They hosted Easter dinner for 14 people with everyone bringing a dish or dessert to share.  We had a delicious meal and a fun time visiting with the Minnesota grandkids.

Sunday turned out to be a pretty nice day with warmer temps which meant more melting.  We were off to church in the morning and then watched Tiger Woods win the Masters.  Not much else happened on Sunday.  Yesterday was overcast in the morning and then rain in the afternoon.  Since it was a dull day, we decided to head to Bemidji after lunch and take care of a couple of things.  I got an email from my doctor informing me that I was overdo for a blood test, so we stopped at the clinic to take care of that first thing.  I also needed to get my glasses adjusted and since the eye center is right down the hall from the lab, that was our next stop.  I waited 20 minutes for a one minute fix.  A little grocery shopping followed before heading home.

Today was our first real taste of Spring with sunny skies and temps near 60 degrees.  John spent some time outside cleaning off the portion of our front deck that's not screened and I cleaned the window over the kitchen sink.  It was so dirty from the winter and now it sparkles.  John also charged up the battery for his mower and got that ready.  With his surgery next week followed by four weeks of no lifting, he wanted to get the mower ready so he could mow the cemetery for Memorial Day.

It is unbelievable how much snow has melted over the last 24 hours--between the rain and warm temps, a big dent has been made in the piles around the house. We got our first good look at the shrubs by the walkway and they are definitely toast--we'll have to pull them out when John is recovered. Now we have mud and puddles to contend with around the house, but our driveway and gravel road are in good shape.

Bushes are crushed and broken

 

Now there is a clear path to John's shop

 

 

 

Huge piles are now just about gone

It will take a little longer for this one to melt

Sorry to say, it snowed all night and is still lightly snowing now at 7 p.m. Listening to the radio this morning, we were surprised to learn that schools in the area were starting two hours late.  At that time it was snowing hard and visibility was just about zero.  We thought they were trying not to cancel because of so many missed days this winter.  It wasn't a half hour later and the closings began--everything was pretty much shut down.  All the interstates were closed and didn't open up again until this afternoon. 

As I mentioned yesterday, John had backed the four wheeler into the garage so he could get a running start plowing.  That didn't happen--the snow was way too deep and heavy for the four wheeler; however,  he did get the snow blower going and cleared the apron in front of the garage and paths to the wood stove and his shop.  Thanks goodness so much of the snow melted before this storm hit.  There are big piles again, but nothing like what was here when we first returned home from Texas. 
We feel like we are back to square one and starting all over.  John was close to getting his truck out of the big shop, but that won't happened for a couple more weeks now and the gravel road and driveway will probably be a mess for several days.  As I mentioned before, tomorrow will be sunny and the melting will begin again.

Matt was just down here to plow out our driveway.  He got it down pretty good, so hopefully we'll see bare ground in another day or so.

Yesterday we were out the door by 7:15 a.m. and heading to Bemidji for my semi-annual appointment with my arthritis doctor.  This is usually just to see how my aches and pains are doing and to renew prescriptions.  Once I was finished at the clinic, we headed off for breakfast at Hardee's.  We received some coupons in the mail, so decided to give their breakfast a try--we both thought it was pretty good.  Then we were off to do some errands.  John needed a new battery for his truck, so that was first on the list.  We also hit the grocery store and Home Depot.  We looked at screening and outdoor carpet--trying to decide what we'll need to redo the porch.  Hopefully that job will get started once Sam in through done with college and John is recovered from surgery.

Today was spent in anticipation of the huge winter storm that has been in the forecast for the last week.  One day we're told we'll only get a dusting, and next they tell us to prepare for a blizzard.  Well, we are in a blizzard.  The snow started about 3p.m. this afternoon and has been falling steadily along with very strong winds.  John charged up the battery for our four wheeler and got it running.
He moved our car way to the front of the garage and backed the four wheeler in facing out.  The plan is to raise the garage door and be ready to start plowing the drive.  The snow blower is also right by the door and ready to go.  The only bright spot is that the temps will be near 50 by the weekend and it will be a fast melt.  Bad side--the sump pump started running in the basement, so the water table is high around the house.  Will continue the snow story tomorrow.

 Today about 5 p.m.

Yesterday

With the weather remaining on the cold side, John and I have continued to do odd jobs about the house.  One task that we both dislike is cleaning out the freezer in the garage.  We thought this was a good time to tackle that project as we could empty out the freezer and not worry about the food items defrosting.  It didn't take very long to defrost the freezer, sort through and organize the food items, and then put everything back again.  We had really gotten the freezer pretty well emptied before we left for Texas last winter and are just starting to restock now.

 

John's also been organizing his wood carving supplies and took a day this weekend to made a nice wooden rack to hold his carving tools.  He also stained the table he made for Sara and only has lacquering left to do. I set up a card table in the den and have kept busy working on a new puzzle.

Though the weather has been quite chilly today, the past several days have been well above freezing and the snow has been melting very fast.  We went to town the other day and could see water running in the ditches.  So far our basement has remained dry, but water is running into the old shop.  Fortunately there is nothing of importance sitting on the floor.  With the snow finally away from the overhead shop door, John was able to get into the shop and check on his pickup.  After such a brutally cold winter, the battery was dead, so a new one is on the shopping list for tomorrow.  He should also be able to get the four wheeler going again.  Once the last of the piles are gone, he'll be able to use the four wheeler to grade the driveway.

Even though everything is brown, it is good to see the grass and driveway again.

The weather forecast is calling for another big storm, but we're hoping it stays south of us.  Our driveway and the gravel road are in excellent shape (much better than we anticipated) and we sure would hate to have to start over again getting the driveway clear of snow.

I haven't posted for a while, so thought it time to catch folks up on what we have been doing, which is nothing much.  Our weather continues on the cold side with daytime highs only reaching into the low 30's. With piles of snow still surrounding the house, we are still stuck inside the majority of the time.  However, the snow is slowly melting which is really a blessing as it helps with the flood situation to the west of us.  Our driveway and road were completely clear and dry but then we had about an inch of new snow yesterday which led to mud.  This afternoon things have pretty much dried up again.

Snow piles are slowly moving back and we can see more

lawn everyday

 

This is the snow pile John was standing on a week

ago and could reach the top of the basketball 

back board.  Now snow is well below the net.

John kept busy last week making a new table for our daughter-in-law, Sara.  She has been busy sprucing up their home for graduation.  This table is to have a glass top for displaying deer antlers .It  is still waiting to be stained.

 

After about a week and a half, I finally shook off my cold and started feeling better.  Since we are stuck inside, John and I decided it would be a good time to clean out and re-organize our storage closet.  That led to doing the basement and garage.  Since John has a heated shop now, we decided to remove the old work bench from the house garage and put in some more shelving.  We still have a little more sorting to do, but hope to have this job done by the end of this week.  

We have been out and about a little for doctor appointments--I got an injection for my hip and John had his pre-op physical on Monday.  He also received three immunizations at that time and has been suffering with a very sore arm.  These immunizations are to help bolster his immune system and prepare his body for the removal of his spleen.  We are now pretty much in a holding pattern until his surgery April 23rd.

The weather is suppose to warm up this weekend with the possibility of rain.  Hopefully the snow will go on the west side of the house so we can finally reach our pickup truck and four-wheeler.  With all our cleaning up we need to make a run to the landfill.