http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/ Free forum offering free stuff,grocery coupons,printable coupons, free magazines, coupons, discounts,free samples, discount codes, bargains, deals, chat and arcade. en Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:30:41 GMT vBulletin 60 http://img.afullcup.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/ http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/mbpnursy/204-snow-cold-snow-cold.html Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:12:42 GMT All day yesterday till about an hr. after darkness set in, a beautiful barred owl took up temporary residence in a tree brach, appeared to be watching the 2 big bird feeders. Nope, not what you think, it was not after the birds or squirrels, as the squirrels were not around at that time, & the smaller birds continued to fly to & from the big red feeders w/o the owl making an attempt to grab one. We believe it was watching for the mice that hang around under the feeders, under the snow. Yes, mice do tunnell under the snow, have their own roadways, and will quite often come up to the surface.

Last wknd. through Mon.: we had several days of temps. in the single digits during the day then below zeroes, average -15, ea. night for 4 nights. Then the wind kicked up, switched to the north, which means the Snow Machine gets turned on High. We had several days of snow, light, fluffy, what a lot of people around here call "heiffer dust", anywhere from 6 - 12 inches ea. time. So far, we have 138 inches of snow since first snow in Nov. & we are in the middle of Jan. We still have to get through Feb, Mar, & April.Since the snow is so deep, the squirrels that come into the bird feeders use their "roadways" up in the trees to get to the bird feeders. They cannot travel on the ground, get lost & buried in the snow.

I finished a trade last night w Fohrenburger (Howard). It was supposed to be unusually cold last night & cool today where he lives, he had this in his location line: Location: Florida - North Pole Weather Again - Who Left Their Doors Open & he made sure to tell me this last night in the last pm, after I told him that it might reach single digits for a high this Sat. & Sun.: One more thing, PLEASE. SHUT YOUR WINDOWS/DOORS. Obtw, it is supposed to be in the 70's Friday and Saturday.

Yeah, Howard, just rub it in, rub it in................... ]]> mbpnursy http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/mbpnursy/204-snow-cold-snow-cold.html http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/mbpnursy/130-wild-life-u-p.html Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:36:13 GMT Dh & I live on 100 acres between Marqutte & Munising. Our backyard extends right out to the edge of the woods, & here we have several bird feeders as well as 2 huge feeders on the yard that hold 50# of sunflowers each. Sunflowers have more than doubled in price the past yr., so we have changed to bird food that is a mix that contains millett, corn & sunflowers.
Now that the super cold below zero weather is hear, the squirrels are visiting the feeders on a daily basis. Two years ago we had 11 squirrels at one time on the yard & on the feeders. 6 were gray & 5 were black. Something happened, we are not sure exactly what, possibly disease, but many did not return this spring & summer. We had only 4 what appeared to be litter mates, romping & playing in July, then they too, disappeared. We did not have any grays or black squirrels until the first of Dec. We have seen 2 grays & 2 blacks @ 1 time, but the real unusual one is a squirrel that we have named "blondie". This squirrel is not a true albino, does not have red eyes or pink nose, but his fur is a lt. blonde color, not quite white. All 5 of these squirrels are very skitish. They will be about 25 ft. away from the house, & when the patio sliding door is opened, they scamper up the nearest tree. The other squirrels that we had for yrs., I could walk out of the house, off the deck & get about 5 ft. from them before they would run. Hopefully this batch of younguns will get habitualized to us & our 13 yr. old dog, our 4 legged beloved son, Renny, who is a black & white English Springer Spaniel.
We have numerous jack rabbits & cotton tail rabbits living around us, & quite often during the summer will see them mate, then several wks. later the babies are kicked out of the nest, the yard will be full of young rabbits, everywhere you look. & to top it off, dh has 3 beagles, rabbit hounds, in kennels behind the pole barn, & these dogs can see most of the yard, & are constantly teased by all the rabbits.
We also have numerous white tail deer around us, however, the numbers have declined greatly in many areas of the U.P. since we have permanentley moved up here in 1995, due to heavy winter snowfall. We also have turkeys, who often will make the birdfeeders on the edge of the woods their home in the spring, until they cannot take the human commotion any longer.
Our yard has also be visited Many Times over the yrs. by black bears. One night, something woke me up. I turned the spot light on & aimed it at the feeders at the edge of the woods while standing at the sliding door in the dining rm. Sure enough, one really Huge bear sitting at the edge of the weeds, just staring at me, while another dropped down onto all fours from a standing position, as that one was the guilty party for knocking down the hanging feeder. The "thump" when it hit the ground was what woke me up. There was another bear to the right, plus a bigger one in the very back, all I could see was it's eyes. I opened the sliding door enough to yell at them to get outta here, & all 4 of them just slowly walked into the woods.

We have also had a black bear come right up to the patio, right by the sliding door, 8am one Sat. morning a few yrs ago. He was standing & eating from a 50# feeder, then apparently did not care to stand up, dropped onto all 4s, then put it's nose in the air, sniffed, then headed right for the gas grill, sitting about 2 ft. from the house & sliding door. Dh & I stood very still & very quietely at the sliding door & watched to see what this bear was going to do. All it did was sniff the grill, then turned & lumbered away.
We also have a good size trout stream that runs through our property, as well as a pond just over the hill from our huge garden. Dh is in heaven here, as we have the 100 acres, plus starting at the edge of our property & heading 4 miles east, is State land, plus to the south of us is paper company land. So just tons of hunting land for dh, & plenty of chances to see wildlife. ]]> mbpnursy http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/mbpnursy/130-wild-life-u-p.html http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/mbpnursy/127-my-first-ever-blog-entry.html Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:12:26 GMT Well, there's always a first time for everything!My first ever blog entry.
Most of you know that I am a RN, BSN, recently retired after having spent 10 yrs. working at Marquette Branch Prison, yes, that's how mbpnursy came to be. Before becoming a Correctional Nurse, I spent many yrs. as med surg, peds, geriatrics & home care.
I have been a couponer for 30 yrs., but finding this site in Sept. '07 changed my coupon ways for the better & eventually I quit lurking, joined, became a supporting member and also a q trader.
I live in the central U.P., Upper Peninsula of MI, & 10 mi. inland from Lake Superior, where we get "system snow", north wind that pushes the storm across open Lake Superior, & picks up moisture that turns into snow & dumps the snow several miles inland. Often the local weather man will say storm approaching, & not give an expected snow total. Quite often we get anywhere from 6 to 12 inches at a time. We are well ahead of our yearly average. Need to put on my Thurs. To Do list: ph. Mich. State Univ. Experimental station & ask what our snow total is to date.
MSU Exp. Station: yes, about a 10 hr. drive from East Lansing to Chatham, but the station serves the community & MSU well. There are both dairy cows & meat cattle raised there, along w experimental grains & their growing processes. It is a treat to go in the spring through early fall, usually around 3:30 in the afternoon, & visitors can bottle feed the Holstein calves.
It has been sunny but bitter cold today, & it seems almost impossible for snow to be produced when the actual air temperature is 3 deg. F.
Not much happening today, now that I am retired, my life is less hectic. Was able to get through to the Walgreens District Manager's Admin. again today, she assured me the DM would call me in the morning concerning my recent store visit. I am know in the process of taking on the local Wags & the ASM & SM's refusal to allow me to use the $1/1 manfctr. q for Reynolds wrap & Grnier last wk. I nicely fought for change last fall in the Mqt. Target & Wm, & I WON at both stores. See the story here, Post #33: http://www.afullcup.com/forums/targe...ml#post1230678
I live in the land of forrest & mountains, a small village is about 3 miles from me. Here is just about everything needed for daily living: USPS, a credit union, a bank, a small pub that serves brkfst, lunch & dinner, a small restaurant that is only open a few days a wk, a laundramat, very small township library, fire station, a windshield replacedment store, & what we call the Co Op. This is a combination food, home & hardware store.
I make sure I cruise the Co op very few days for clearanced or sale items. Yesterday, my best find there ever since moving here permanentely in '95. Progresso cardboard containers of broth are on sale, 6/$8.00, & the date is good through Feb. 14, 2010. Reg. price $2.84. The WM broth is $1.48. So I went home, dug up my 8 qs for $1.25/1 & went back to town, & bought 8 chicken broths, w q makes them .08c ea, along w 2, 4# bags of Kibbles & bits marked 1/2 off, & a sml. box of granulated Spenda, 1/2 off, plus I had a .55/1 q. My total OOP was $6.62, & the original retail price would have been $37. Those are my kind of deals!!! ]]> mbpnursy http://www.afullcup.com/forums/blogs/mbpnursy/127-my-first-ever-blog-entry.html