Wintry Again

About five new inches this morning---that's how much snow fell over night, and it's still coming down.  Fortunately, it's fluffy, so it moves easily.

Tomorrow's March.  

Will Mother Nature get the hint that we are pushing away from the table and really would not like another helping of that white stuff, even if it does make things pretty?

Probably not. 

Yesterday afternoon it snowed and some of the scenes were magical.

Some of the footing was not.  I slipped and fell in the afternoon shortly after going to the road where walking would be easier.  

That ice is still hiding underneath the snow waiting to for moments when we least suspect to give us a hard wake-up call. 

Fortunately, everything, including my camera, still worked when I got back up. I was just glad there was no audience to assign points on style, cuz I'm sure my landing was not pretty.

Speaking of landing, Annie has landed early this morning and has breezed through customs in Detroit after a 10-hour flight.  She is probably now in the sky, bound for San Francisco where she'll catch one last flight to Seattle----nearly 24 hours of planes and airports. 

In reference to an item I discussed yesterday about my grandmother's grave at Cataldo, my niece found her death certificate, and my brother discovered why the spelling error with her last name. 

The certificate was, of course, back in those days, filled out by hand.  It's very apparent that the proprietor at Ward's Undertaking Co. hurriedly scrawled facts while filling in the blanks on the death certificate. 

It looks like there was an attempt to cross the "t" in "Halter," but whoever filled out the form missed the "t." The cross appears to its right. 

From that point on, it's very possible that when some folks read the handwritten information, they figured her name was "Haller."  

I guess that's a clear case in support of the old saying "Haste makes waste."  

Amazing how minor the mistakes can seem and how huge their consequences.  Guess that's kinda like handing over the wrong envelope at the Oscars while tweeting on your cell phone. 

We, as a family, harbor no vengeance toward whoever made the mistake on our grandmother's death certificate----just keep thinking what might have been for our mother had the name been clearly written back in 1924.

But as I contemplate this situation, I must tell a story on Mother, who probably would understand this SNAFU about her mother's name much better than the rest of us.

As an artistic person, Mother had beautiful handwriting.  It was just hard to read. One time Northern Lights, Inc. came to turn off our electricity because the bill had not been paid. 

Of course, my folks were indignant, insisting that, yes, they did too pay that bill.  Mother even remembered writing the check. 

Well, after going back to the office and checking again, someone at Northern Lights found a folder with a single check in it.  

This was back in the day when no addresses or telephone numbers appeared on checks, and it's possible that in small town Sandpoint before zip codes, people neglected to put a return address on their envelopes.   

Turns out whoever was in the Northern Lights  "receiving" department had no idea who the "Tililis" were, so they could not record the payment and put the check aside until they figured out who wrote it. 

Well, after the discovery and a happy ending with no electricity still running at our house, I'm pretty sure that our mother, Virginia Tibbs, was much more careful about signing her checks.  

It happens to the best of us, so we just have to make the most of these glitchy situations. 

I do wonder, though, about the tweeting guy with the envelope.  I wonder if someone has told him, "You're fired!" 

If so, maybe he can get a job at the White House and sit on the Oval office couch, kick back and start tweeting with his cell phone while casual Kellyanne plops next to him and takes pictures with hers!

Guess I'll shut up before I get in trouble and go shovel some snow. 

Happy Tuesday.