Spring, Beanie Babies, And Five Inches of Snow

7:26

The Nelson's

Donna In Her Beanie Baby Museum

A Case Full of Beanie Babies

Donna With Her Bear

Dinner

It's now 7:15 and I have been up for a half an hour.  It's light enough to see the lake, the snow covered trees and car, the white lake, after a day of snow fall.  We must have gotten five inches easily over the past twenty four hours, most of them coming last night. Lake effect snow warnings are in effect, four to seven inches possible, over the next twenty four hours, a nice Spring welcome.

Unfortunately, yoga was cancelled yesterday though the roads and weather were acceptable.  In fact, after making more cookies and decorating them in the morning, Evie did go off to the YMCA to get in her work out.  I did some yoga at home with a video, not the same as a class.  And I walked the Woodlawn/Victoria woods.  At first, I checked out the lake to see if it might be good for skiing.  I literally sunk into slush of two or three inches and discarded that idea.  The fact that no fishermen were out should have been an indication.  I walked through the woods and ice pellets as it was not cold enough for snow, just ice.  The snow, at least in the morning, was crunchy, the sky overcast, an easy walk through the bare woods.  It was not much of a work out but at least it kept me off the couch for forty five minutes.

A Basement Full of Beanie Babies

More Animals

Stuffed Animals

The snow began in earnest during the later afternoon and evening.  We were invited to dinner by Sam and Donna Nelson, friends of ours from the old days at Bud's Carriage House.  They are both retired teachers, live in Busti, and we usually get together a couple of times a year.  They live just about 15 miles from our house, so the ride there was fairly easy, in fact, when we arrived the sun was out.  We had a great dinner, pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, just perfect for a cold late winter evening.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the tour of their house. Unlike ours, which is basically sparse, without much decoration or knick knacks, the Nelson's overflows, with stuffed animals but mostly bears of almost any origin and well lit case after case of beanie babies, twenty seven cases of them, which Donna has collected and organized for over twenty years.  It's an amazing display of beanie babies, organized according to theme.  The Halloween bears are all together, as our the patriotic beanie bears, in stars and stripes, and the Christmas  beanie baby bears.  In their living room, Donna has a fake Christmas tree up year round and decorates it with the bears of that particular time of year.  When we were there, the bears had a St. Patty's Days theme.  They have a special room just off the entrance, with about eight cases of beanie babies, much like a room you might find in a museum.  Bear after bear sit in their cases, staring out at the viewers. Their living room is also decorated with bears, many sitting on the couches and chairs, even a carved bear coffee table.

We thought that was it until Sam took us downstairs, where case after case filled their basement with more bears, all organized again, by theme.  Sam had picked up most of the glass cases when Crawford Furniture went out of business.  Donna estimates she has a couple of thousand bears, if not more.  It's an amazing display even if you don't particularly like beanie babies or teddy bears; neither of us has seen anything like it in a home.  We cannot wait to take our granddaughters over this summer because they will love seeing all the stuffed bears and beanie babies.

Original Beanie Baby Store Shelf

Nelson's Great  Kitchen With Two Of Their Five Ovens

We stayed until 8:30, enjoying each others company but it was snowing fairly hard outside, so I thought we better get home, a good idea.  The ride home became more or more scary, as the snow was so heavy it was literally blinding, and the roads were slick, so if you tried to stop quickly, you would slide.  We drove very slowly, kept to the center of the road, if I could find it, moving over only if a car approached. Fortunately, everyone was driving slowly and carefully, aware of the weather, and no one tried to pass. We eventually made it, Evie white knuckled most of the way.  It was wonderful to get home and be warm and cosy.