Your Hippie Dippie Weatherman with Your Hippie Dippie Weather, Man!

I'm as much of a hippie as one living in Northern Illinois can be.  I did have dreads at one point(in high school, they were purple), I'm a tree huger(they need hugs), I listen to what Grendal defines as hippie music, I wear 'typical' hippie clothes in the summer(sarongs and skirts made from old sari material), etc. etc.  Guess the one thing of the stereo typical hippie-ness that I haven't done is the drugs.  No urge to.  My mother and auntie in Hawai'i always told me that if I ever moved back to the Big Island I would end up living in the Hippie town(never learned the name) not too far away from Hilo.  Honestly, I probably would.  Hippies are good people for the most part.  Haven't met one that I disliked.

There is snow outside which is a huge contrast to the white, warm beaches of Hawai'i.  I was born in Hawai'i and raised in California and Georgia since my parents were in the Air Force.  This is the longest time I've ever lived in one state(about 13 years) and, unlike the other women in my immediate family, I love it!  I remember visiting my grandparents up here for Thanksgiving and Christmas and loving the snow.  I never remember complaining about the cold.  I complain now but when ever there is a snowfall I am watching it like a wide eyed child.  Its always pretty.  Our husky loves it and will ask to go out if he realizes there is fresh snow on the ground.  He either eats it or flops down on his chest with his butt in the air, in the deepest mound he can find, and scoots around so his entire front half is hidden.

I've been feeding the squirrels around Grendal's house.  I missed having one that I could feed.  At my parents house there is a female squirrel that I call Chubs that will patiently stare at the backdoor when there are no peanuts out for her and will get within 3 feet of us, and allow us to toss nuts at her feet.  I called her Chubs because, well, she was a chunk!  It was spring time and I just thought she was a chubby squirrel.  After a point, though, the weight was gone and then there were three little squirrels in our yard.  She had babies!  But yeah, there are some squirrels here that I'm tossing feed out to.  They're gray squirrels rather than the red that Chubs was.  We have Stubs(has a tiny tail and may not be a yard resident), Scrapper(because he fights and eats the scraps since the other chase him off), Biggie Small(he's a big squirrel but thin right now), and No Name(no distinguishing marks so no clever name).  We also have a mated pair of Cardinals in the bush right outside the kitchen window, so I've tossed out bird seed as well.  Hopefully they'll stick around through the warm weather, despite the fact that the street will be torn apart when the township puts in a sewer system.

The tree is up in the living room but no decorations yet, but there are lights.  I believe we're waiting for the nieces to come over but it always eds up with Grendal and I decorating the tree, which isn't a problem.

Oh!  Here is the picture of my altar:

 Yes, there be dragons!  You can see 3 out of the 4 statues I have.  I also have the Chinese gods representing Happiness, Long Life, Wealth, and Peace around a little container, my wooden athame, the plethora of tarot cards, two date books(this year and next), part of my besom, and other odds and ends.

And this is the statue of Bast that keeps enticing my cat to get up where she shouldn't be.  I put a nice little flower head piece over her and that bracelet has tiger's eye beads.  I'm an odd one(pack rat in some cases) but everything I have has its uses.

Okay.  Enough yammering out of me because I have some business to tend to!