Pink Snow?

Direct from the Bathroom Cam, Snow descends on the back yard again, Sunday afternoon, April 17. 

The crocus finally had enough of this goofy weather and decided to close up shop and go back to sleep for another year.  It was just too much for them.  The snow didn't stick around long, thank goodness, but oh, boy, we are supposedly in for a doozy on Tuesday and Wednesday...here's our forecast:

Tuesday: Snow after 1pm. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 36. East northeast wind with gusts as high as 28 mph.  New snow accumulation of around 2 inches.

Tuesday Night: Snow and sleet, possibly mixed with rain, becoming all snow after 1am. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 33. Northeast wind between 21 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. . New snow and sleet accumulation of around 5 inches.

Wednesday: Snow likely, mainly before 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 35. North northwest wind between 16 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of less than 1 inch possible.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. West northwest wind between 7 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. 

On the Official Weather Map of Wisconsin (from NOAA) our entire state is colored a beautiful bright pink, which on the Meteorologist's legend means Snow, Snow and Yes, More Snow.  In honor of Spring, Mother Nature could make the snow Pink.  That would at least be pretty.  I remember way back in the day when our sons were little, I used to read them the Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and that silly Cat had those kids so worried about the Spot that turned their entire snow-covered yard into Pink Snow.  I think I'd welcome Pink Snow this time around.  Why not?  Something to liven things up a little bit.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the greenhouse during the coming blizzard...I guess the best bet will be to haul all the plants back into the house in case of a Greenhouse Malfunction (not to be confused with a Wardrobe Malfunction but darn near as catastrophic!)  I'm not worried about the greenhouse itself collapsing structurally--Carl's homemade hoops are insanely sturdy and well-built, I think we could hang a motor from them) but I am worried about the plastic not being able to hold up to the snow load if we really do get as much snow and ice as they are predicting.  Time to find room in the house for 30 flats. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........stay tuned for tomorrow when Karen tries to wrestle the old plant stand all the way from the Back Eight to the house.  (Why didn't  I think of this before everyone went to bed?)

We did manage to get the little Peony lamp half soldered this weekend.  I actually took my turn with the soldering iron, I figure it's about time I learn how to do this step because Carl doesn't always have time to work on stained glass.   So, on Sunday, we hauled all the paraphernalia out to the greenhouse and that's where I soldered all afternoon.  There's a lot of fresh air in the greenhouse and we were able to vent the soldering fumes outdoors nicely using a fan. 

It was nice in the greenhouse, the temperature was around 60 degrees.  Here I am concentrating on the project at hand.

 This is the first time I have ever soldered a stained glass lamp; I've soldered flat window panels before but not lamps.  And it shows. 

Carl was hovering over my shoulder, "Don't try to paint with the soldering iron!  Never paint, just do what I do, here let me show you.  See?  Dab at it---push the solder in there, see how that forms a nice bead?  Ok, now you can try again.  You're painting again....don't do that, ok?"

I did my best to 'do what he did' but Carl wasn't too sure about my abilities.  Finally he gave up and went back to working on cleaning up in his Giant Shed O' Sh....(Oh pardon me!  I mean his Giant Shed O' Stuff)  It's a family joke around here, we refer to Carl's big shop/shed as the SOS Building--Yes, the clutter inside definitely needs Help, but No, the acronym doesn't stand for Save Our Ship.  That's where he keeps his stash of Things To Build Someday and yeah, he's creative, no dispute there, but he'll have to live to be a thousand to use up all of his junk.

So, I worked on soldering the lamp for about three hours and then Carl stopped cleaning and decided to help me solder for awhile and between the two of us, we finally had the shade off the form just before 8PM.  It still needs reinforcing wires, a bottom rim, and the inside soldered, but it was in stable enough shape that I could perch it on a lampbase and see how the colors look.

 There it is, the 10" Peony, hot off the form and still coated in soldering paste and with the original pattern piece numbers written all over it, oooeey and gooey.....Yuck.  I hate soldering paste, it's messy.  You'll see this one again, after I've mastered the soldering process and it's all cleaned up.

I guess that's what I'll be doing tomorrow,

 While the Pink Snow falls.