New Mailbox Lock and Keys

 Praise the Lord! The post office locksmith came today and replaced our malfunctioning mailbox lock. We do not have to go to Warsaw to pick up our mail any longer. Delivery will be resumed. 

Today at our Robin Hood monthly lunch the table decorations were themed around Valentine's Day. At my table I was surprised to see a lady who had lived in a Robin Hood condo previously but had moved a few years ago with her husband to an independent living apartment. Her husband died not too long after they moved.

 She was with a gentleman who lives in one of the condos. Aha! I thought to myself there is a romance going on there. She announced that the two of them are getting married April 11th. Love abounds.

Not Frozen After All

 Tomorrow it will be one week since we were unable to open our mailbox. We tried several sources of heat. We bought a can of de-ice stuff and tried several times. It became obvious that the lock was not frozen but broken somehow. Since we cannot see the mailbox tower from our house, we have had poor luck catching and talking to the delivery lady. Today we finally had success. We were able to take our mail out while she had the panel door open to fill the boxes. She is going to hold our mail at the post office until a repair/replacement can be done. According to her, there is a huge backlog, and it will probably be at least a week until the lock is repaired and we can access our mailbox. My husband filled out a repair request yesterday morning. We are headed in the right direction.

This afternoon as I went to the checkout at Walgreen's, I spied some Dubai-style chocolate in a display. I have been wanting to try this. It is very expensive candy though. $2.99 for one patty/piece. 

On January 5th I ordered a spoon rest on Amazon. I noticed this while browsing for a Christmas spoon rest. I did not see anything I liked, but this red spoon rest popped up. OK. I can use it at Christmas but also year-round. It took this long for it to be shipped. 

It is large enough for a cooking spoon.

It is so easy to go through each day oblivious to the things around you. A few weeks ago as I washed my hairbrush, lots of little round plastic "knobs" fell off. With a careful perusal of the brush, I realized it had maybe only a third of the knobs left. Today I bought a new brush. I tried it out; whoa, the static is really bad right now. I dampened the brush and my hair did lie down. New Year, new hairbrush. 

What new things have entered your life in 2026?

Won't Budge

 When my husband went to get the mail on Friday, the lock was frozen. He could not open it. Our mailbox is a "slot" in a communal tower about half a block from our house. He tried our candle lighter, heating a rod with his propane torch and inserting it, using a small pen torch directly on the lock. The key would not budge. He tried again yesterday. Sadly, our two local newspapers (Warsaw and Fort Wayne) come via the mail as the publishers no longer use home delivery. It is now Sunday, and we still have not been able to retrieve our delivered mail. I was also hoping to receive some birthday cards. I doubt we will get the mailbox open tomorrow on my birthday either. Maybe on Tuesday.

On Thursday, my sister-in-law gave us a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle to work on. We put the last few pieces in this morning. It was an interesting challenge.

A few years ago, one of our puzzles came with a sturdy cardboard lid holder with notches. My husband adapted the idea into wood. It has been very handy since it does not tip over like the box lid standing on its bottom does.

We have had lots of cardinals at the birdfeeder the past few weeks. Yesterday 5 males sat in the backyard pine tree looking like scarlet Christmas ornaments. My husband kindly brushed away the accumulated snow that blocked the opening of the feeder this morning. There has been a flurry of activity since then.

I am starting to feel a bit bored. I finished my Bible study questions yesterday morning. I decided to sort through our "stamp drawer" yesterday afternoon after my husband's comment about what a mess it is. I do not usually keep much printed material in there other than address labels, but sometimes I will stuff items inside "temporarily". I found sympathy cards from when my sister-in-law died 4 years ago! Obviously, it has been a while since I sorted and cleaned things out. I tried the various pens in the drawer, tossing many that had dried up. It does look better now. Alas, hidden clutter is still clutter.

Now that my See's fudge is almost gone, I bought some Private Selection (Kroger store brand) dark chocolate sea salt truffles. They are very good, but kind of pricey as is most chocolate these days. They were on sale, and I would buy them again if they are on sale. They come individually wrapped so should stay fresh though being in the house of a chocoholic these are not likely to last long. They are 75 calories per piece. 

Although we will probably end up with 5 inches of snow and have bitter cold, we are warm and snug in our house and able to keep busy with projects and hobbies. I am praying for those with ice. That is a nasty situation. Hope everybody affected by this massive storm system stays safe and warm.

Patterns in the Snow

 

Yesterday's wind sculpted waves into the light snow it blew around. 

This was the scene from my bedroom window.

Another force of nature on the snow are the birds that come to our feeder. Some are ground feeders like the juncos. Others have to get the spilled seed on the ground because they are jostled off of the feeder by bigger more aggressive birds. They leave lots of tracks.

It is a sunny day with blue sky, but only 12 degrees so far this afternoon. That may warm up overnight as a new snow storm arrives tomorrow morning. We are enjoying the win by the Indiana University Hoosiers to become the national football champions. That adds "sunshine" to our day as well.