HiJacked

What a crazy week this has been! We were hit hard by a blizzard Tuesday evening, which left everyone crippled Tuesday night and most of Wednesday. At the height of the blizzard, our high efficiency furnace vents continued to become drift-covered and would have to be dug out, as the furnace would quit every 2 hours or so. Also at the height of the blizzard, my man was experiencing some chest discomfort and shortness of breath. We were able to get him to medical attention early Wednesday afternoon. All tests came back normal, which was a huge relief to us.

Saturday a friend called because she had just received a troubling email from me. According to the email I was stranded in the UK and needed financial help to get home. When I attempted to access my email, I was completely locked out! The password had been changed. Through some fancy footwork, we were able to get back into the account, change the password, get the hijacker's email deleted as a contact (which they had inserted into the account), so that they would not receive notification that password was being changed. While we were in the email, the hijackers came back in, locked the system up, changed the password again. However, this time when I got the email link to change the password, their email was no longer notified and we were able to get in and delete everything and shut the account down. YIKES! Amazing what these hackers can do. My apologies go out to anyone who received that email.

I learned a valuable lesson from this...don't use free email accounts! There is virtually no assistance you can get if something like this happens. I have read many tales online today about just such a thing happening to others. We were lucky on that one because an old email of mine was still attached to the account. I was able to get into the old email account with some quick thinking and fancy footwork.

And today, when I thought I'd FINALLY get to sit down and do some relaxing yarn and needle work, I was loving on the big boy Toivo and found a flea. Yes, a flea. Middle of winter, middle of an indoor cat's back. He is now isolated in the guest bedroom, where I currently sit blogging away. Everything else is vacuumed and/or headed for the washing machine. I'll call our vet in the morning and see if I can get some flea medication for all three without having to take Toivo in. I did capture a flea and put it in a baggie. Let's hope they will do that, because Toivo and vehicles are not a pleasant combination. Traveling just doesn't agree with the boy. Seriously. He explodes. Out of several ends. Not pretty for anyone involved.

So, now I'm wondering..."what next?". Maybe I'll sit down and work a bit on the man's felted clogs. I am nearly finished with the first clog and I showed the boy and said "Here's dad's first slipper. You think that will fit?" If you've not felt knitted items before, let me tell you, the knit item pre-felting is Gy-normous! You should've seen the look on the boy's face! Then I explained to him the wonder that is felting, but he still thinks I've knit these too large. Can't wait to take my boys through the process of felting. Oh, and Mr. Tweedy is off the needles and I also cheated on the clogs and began a pair of socks. For me. More on all that later.

What follows is my limited photo documentation of the blizzard of '11:

It all begins:

As the day turns to night, the snow begins drifting up the back door:

The drift grows as the wind and snow blows:

(Notice Heimo's ball? Apparently we were keeping him busy through it all!)

The drift reaches the door handle:

Snow sticks to the window screen, obscuring wooden kitty's view:

The viewing hole grows ever smaller:

By bedtime, we are no longer able to see out the back windows:

The following day, good friends (including boy with young man hat), come plow and shovel us out, so that the man (who is experiencing chest discomfort), doesn't have to go out in it.

Drifts have taken over the yard. Waist high in places, fence high in others: