Please explain to me how it is a bad thing for Bernie to stay in through the convention? If Hillary

is so sure-fired to take the nomination, why does it matter if Bernie and the rest of us still want to "tilt at the windmills" on Wall Street and elsewhere? We still have something to say, so let us say it.

It can't be about saving money for the GE, because she can do that anyway, especially if she has the nomination as good as sewn up already. Don't assume that donations to Bernie would translate to donations for her any more than votes would. You don't know if his donors are in favor of her, or care strongly enough about her to part (most likely painfully) with their hard earned, much needed money.

It also can't be about not getting her public credibility damaged by Bernie before the GE, because a lifetime in politics has already put everything out there. Bernie won't put any new ideas into the heads of the RW smear machine.

So what is it that Camp Hillary is truly so concerned about? Let Bernie finish what he started. It doesn't really hurt Hillary after all, and it is giving voice to a lot of people and ideas that desperately needed to be heard. How can that be a bad thing in a Democratic Republic?

Last update to my storm pictures.... (Noon 2/10/13)

For those folks who wonder what the big deal is about a little snow, I will explain. It's not that we can't handle it, it's that we don't get this kind of snow so much anymore.

When I was a girl we had lots of snow in the winter here on the Maine coast. And the old folks would tell us, "You think this is a lot of snow and cold? My grandparents took the sleigh/car across the harbor to visit relatives when I was a boy." My husband used to wear his snowsuit under his Halloween costume and climb over drifts to visit houses back when he lived up north.

But my own kids, they've seen my pansies still growing in November and December a couple of years back. The weather is just different now, so having snow like this brings back memories. (And besides, we're running a precipitation deficit and have been for several months, so getting some good snow matters. )

Update: Well we finally look like winter should look! (Although the snowbanks aren't nearly as impressive as when I went to college in the mountains. I have fond memories of April sunbathing next to 15 and 20 footers!)

Video of the storm, and my husband taking measurements of the snow. (Updated at 2:40pm)

Cars at 5:00pm, and it's still snowing.

I'm not an artist, but I play at being one in my basement, along with YoungerGreenKid. (PIC HEAVY)

The latest pics of the new house.

Now that winter is over, it's time to start thinking about the huge swath of dirt which surrounds the place. I have discovered that raking compacted dirt is not fun, but I am sure I will have no regrets once we get the grass seed going.


Flower bed



Lower level flower bed



Flower beds as seen from the driveway



Husband and elder son making a trellis for the climbing rose



Ran out of lattice for the top, so it's not quite done yet. We're going to enclose the bottom of the porch in the same lattice work.



Younger son helped plant this Forsythia



...and also this dwarf Burning Bush



Prostrate Veronica, which will hopefully shore up the slope when it fills in.



Various colored cone flowers are planted here



Pot of chives. We live in deer country, so I was told to plant smelly things they don't like.



Pansies and Sweet Alyssum



Turned part of the basement into a teen hangout. I think this winter we'll add a foosball table too. (The kids are just loving the fact that they finally have a space for having friends over.)



Finally unpacked some breakables, but when we get the kittens this summer I will have to turn around and repack them. LOL



This is Charlotte. I think she is a flour sack doll, and could be fairly old.



You can see part of the pattern on her back. Whoever made her cut on the "sew" lines and sewed on some of the "cut" lines. I wonder if maybe she was a child's project?



In addition to the sweet little calico dress, she is wearing what I think is a muslin petticoat and a flannel one. Under those are bloomers, which you can see tucked away in the center of the pic. (She has no feet or hands.)