These are the hills behind us, looking out of our back window.
As you can see, it snowed!

We had several hours of snow flurries during the day today and almost all day yesterday:

Unfortunately the temp just hovered around freezing, the ground wasn't frozen and we also had some rain so it didn't last very long ..

 

Spring is on it's way though, according to the Almanac:
"Winter may end in a snowy blast in many regions, but hold on to your hats! The updated 2024 Spring Weather Forecast favors an early spring and warmer than normal temperatures across much of the U.S with a few exceptions".

The couple of sunny days we had last week coaxed some of our apple trees into opening their pink blossoms:

                         

And at the edge of the meadows, protected by shrubs and the big oak trees of the adjacent little forest, I discovered the Osoberries (Indian plums), usually the first of the native shrubs to bloom, are flowering as well!

                       

    

After navigating the soggy meadows and muddy trails I'd noticed lately that my left sock started to feel damp and when I stepped in a large puddle a couple of days ago the freezing cold water suddenly seeped in!

 

 

It actually ripped even more the next day and several other spots are looking 'suspicious' so it was time to retire them.
I actually bought these in 2002 in Tillamook, only 45 minutes from here, when we visited the Northwest in a small camper.
They served me well for 22 years!

So, out with the old, in with the new:

                                       

Aren't they the cutest? Even when raining cats and dogs these surely will put a spring in my step! (and only $24.98 at Walmart).

While all that weather is doing it's thing outside I'm keeping myself busy with the usual: a little blogging, knitting, researching what to plant in my raised beds this Spring, puzzling .. like this one I just finished:

It's one from a box full with puzzles of different sizes I borrowed from our landlord:

I don't like this painter, Thomas Kinkade, at all, with his overly romanticized and sugarcoated reality but hey, they will probably get me through this stretch of winter weather, and than some!

I've also been trying to get a handle on how to make sourdough bread but so far I created a 'hockey-puck' ..

 

... a, slightly better, 'canon-ball' ..

                           
                   And  .. 'the brick':
                                                                                

All were edible, especially when toasted and as croutons or breadcrumbs, but today I surprised myself and produced this fairly decent, albeit way too pale, sandwich bread:

I guess there's hope!

I found a guy, Ben, on YouTube who threw the whole tedious business of careful preparation, kneading, rising, proofing, etc, etc out of the window and came up with the - '10 Minute SIMPLER Sourdough (For Lazy People)'- method.
From making a starter to baking a bread he simplified the whole process so even a cave(wo)man .. or me .. can do it.
So my plan is to make a new starter, following his method, and start from scratch. You can't blame me for trying!

That's it for this week. It's still snowing when I write this on Saturday afternoon, but I've seen rain as well .. which is probably a good thing since we'd have a couple feet of snow by now!