Ice Storms and the Eight Year Ago Milk Prices

Hello and Happy Lunar New Year day 2.  Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent today. The sun will Pisces ♓️  at 10:52 am. We have awoke to an ice storm. These pictures but the last two are from last year in March 2025. The last two are this morning as of the writing of this post. Last March we had one of the worst ice storms that had occurred here since like the 50s. It was really scary trees were falling from the weight of the ice. The power lines were down for over three days. We used a generator for four days. It was costing almost $50 dollars a day to run everything here we needed to use. Gas prices were a bit higher at that time. We all felt like we were back in Hurricane Isabelle in 2003. We had lost power for nine days and we moved into our fifth wheel camper as we had a smaller generator and we were running our neighbors house too. They were elderly and it was September in NC so need I say more……. HOT! The girls and I washed clothes outside in a water trough. Anyway the ice storm had brought those memories back last year. 

The apple trees can be so tough

Riding in the car and Bruce turned on the brights. 
 

This morning February 18, 2026 right out my living room window. 

The cardinal in the tree. It’s still icing right now. 

Look at those prices that camp up yesterday. Thought I would share this. We certainly could use some of those prices again. Then maybe the wages will match buying food again. When Bruce and I got married in 1968, we struggled but we had a car payment, rent and car insurance, home phone and power bill, water bill etc. we could pay the bills and still have enough money to buy groceries/gas. No we didn’t have extra money to buy extra stuff but we did buy diapers sometimes as I used cloth at the beginning and then it was a real struggle. The washing machine my dad had bought me the plumbing in the wall ended up being messed up and was leaking on the neighbors below us. We didn’t know as the tiny kitchen had the set up for the washer. At that apartment I made the curtains with my Singer sewing machine. I actually didn’t like that machine at all as it was always in need of a repair. Finally I sold it in the Tidewater Trading Post and was able to add a little to get a newer machine. The Singer machine was from the 50s. I could sew like a pro with the new machine. I was making little crafts and paintings selling them at little craft shows mostly at schools in Norfolk. The struggle was real for sure. It fed my need to create. Well better go for today…… much love and be Full of the Fire Horse 🐎 Energy. 

Good vibes, 

Dawn Gallop 🏇 

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Days 11-20 Scribbles Project Happy Lunar New Year

Hello and welcome so glad you stopped by for a quick visit. Today is the New Year Happy Lunar New Year 2026! We welcome in the Fire Horse. It’s a sixty year cycle. It will be the same as 1966. Bruce was born in 1966. This year for his birthday he will be celebrating the big 60. Manifest your future today. The next cycle will be in 2086. Firehouse years are revolutionary. You have 600 times more power to make your manifestations happen. Manifest what you want to happen today and for the next two days. Happy Lunar New Year. Prepare for transformation. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) Solar Eclipse. 

These little drawings are from a sketch pad that should’ve of went in the trash but with the scribble project it has gave me a great little expression of art not mattering what it looks like. It’s just fun and it can be as simple as a dot. Any expressive mark is perfectly fine. It’s been great I actually look forward to see what I can just make any marks and be done. This is part of the 100 day project as well. You can choose to so whatever it’s your art. The sketch book was chewed up by Rosie and one day it fell in the car and got wet. I have had this sketchbook since around 2010. Now I am using it up and enjoying the process. 

Thank you Scribble Project. 

When the little boys came over and we had a little scribble project as well. It was fun and there eyes were so wide when I brought out the newsprint paper. 

Kenso our King takes a step 

The other 1-10 are HERE

Brooks was like put this lid on. 

Kensos’ Valentine’s Day picture. So cute.  They are calling for snow again tonight. We did manage to get out some of the maple sap buckets. The snow has melted some. The porch is clean of snow. The gator belt keeps breaking down so Bruce keeps trying to take off the parts that shred and keep on going slow. The seedlings (flowers) are doing well. The other day  Bruce helped me to get to the greenhouse and I was able to enjoy the warmth and sunshine. Good Vibes!!!! 😎 

Much love and respect, 

Dawn Gallop 

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Maple Sap/Syrup Season Begins

Dad I wanna help. Let me, let me! Hello and welcome it’s that time of year. Bruce and Cody spent most of morning out in the woods setting up lines and getting the area ready. More pictures to come. We started collecting the sap the first year we were here. Not knowing anything about it as we had both grown up in the south. Yes I know in the south hickory trees can be considered. I grew up in Newport News Virginia and Bruce is rural NC. My parents and his parents were both working hard families. We both were latchkey children. Here I have digressed. The first year was a learning experience. It was so much fun and exciting. Today it’s actually going to be 48 degrees so the sap will run. So basically I am no expert on the subject as this will make our 5th year of making syrup. The temperatures will freeze at night then once it warms enough during the day the sap will run. It is really fun. The first year the snow was deep and we cut our lines to reach the buckets which were on top of the snow. So when the snow melted the buckets fell and then the lines were too short to reach the buckets. Rookie mistake!! 

 

Brooks 

Baker 

Baker said greenhouse. 

They were such great sports and never complained. Baker if he falls he won’t use his hands to get back up. I sat in the gator and the boys took turns getting in and out of the gator. The snow was still deep enough and very crisp making it hard to walk around in. I hope today your cup is full. Sending much love for a sweet time of the year. 

Good vibes, 

Dawn Gallop 

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Valentine’s Day continues……. and Blueberry Pancakes

Hello and welcome I spent most of my Saturday with these awesome two adorable little guys. My grandsons Brooks and Baker. They brought me and Papa of course Valentine cards. It was so cute they had colored on them and had stickers. Papa put his heart on his phone. They are so sweet. We made them blueberry pancakes and sausages. They are showing me their blue hands. Those blue lips and teeth. The fun of yummy food. I know you remember those days when you ate a colorful food and stuck your tongue out and it was the color of your food. Good times! These blueberry pancakes were homemade gluten free. Note Brooks has on an old shirt of Dusty’s as on his way over he had got carsick and threw up on his clothing. I washed everything and dried it so they could go out after it warmed up some. 

Uncle Dusty showed up look at Bakers smile. Cousin Riggs appeared on the TV. Waving at Riggs! 

Bruce and I had got them these toys https://a.co/d/03pFNOr5 it’s the Crayola. You color on the critter then scrub it off. It comes with markers too. They love coloring with markers. 

We have a lot of our own maple syrup more on that to come….. stay tuned 

I love how Brooks is looking at his blue fingers 

I found more Valentine 💌 Pictures 

We I see this one it’s like I seriously aged. That’s the price of the body that lives in pain. It seems you age more. 

Colten used to buy me Hersheys candy bars every time he went somewhere. I miss that! Colby buys me the 90% bars all the time and you know I meant to tell you that they are now $6 bucks a piece. I came remember buying two for $3. Then it went to four and five. Now it’s one for $6. 

The power of Snapchat (Snapchat made me do it) 

I had made the necklace so many years ago back when I used to buy my jewelry supplies at Ornamentea which was in Raleigh. I loved that place. Cynthia Dyce she is an amazing woman. I really miss going there. Good times. 

Those 90% candy bars I have been eating for years probably over 20 years. One time my aunt had got to my house and I was at the foot doctor that day. I told her to just walk in as I would be right behind her by the time she got there. She was sitting at our kitchen table and one of the candy bars was sitting there. She took a bite and spit it out. Said oh my gosh what is that? Of course she had never had pure dark chocolate. I always tell everyone when I share it, it is an acquired taste. I love the chocolate. Ledger doesn’t like chocolate, Kim doesn’t either. My mom loves it too. This is the candy bars that is $6 dollars now for one. I know chocolate is expensive. 

I have always made my children pancakes and when Garrett joined our family he told me one Sunday those pancakes fall from heaven. Ever since then Bruce always repeats it. I would do shapes and such for the littles. When my oldest ones were little I made apple cinnamon pancakes every Sunday unless we were at church. For a long time I had worked at a church as a babysitter. There was a huge nursery and the moms would drop the kids off and little tiny babies so they could attend services without having to worry about their children. I loved the job. I was there most Sunday mornings and nights and Wednesday nights, plus if they had a meeting I came to. They paid well. This was back in the 80s and nineties. I left in 1992. If I needed to I could carry my children as well. Usually I didn’t unless I had no choice. On Wednesday nights we had supper meals. Bruce loved that! It was a small fee I wanna say like a 1.50 to eat each Wednesday night. The older ladies at the time always had a delicious southern style meals. Good times!!! 

Crystal was like in the third grade here. In the fourth grade she cut her hair in a pixie and everyone called her a boy, she didn’t like that. She was as cute as a button with that really short hair. She would even put cut Bobby pins in. I created a collage scrapbook page here. Fun! Note the saying Creative people are seldom tidy! I can vouch for that. Our minds are too busy creating things. It’s true. 

Then this can you believe it I painted the bulletin boards at the schools for three years look http://creationsbydawn.blogspot.com/2014/03/bulletin-boards-bulletin-boards-three.html

Another heart in nature. The Millpond. 

I hope you had a great Valentine’s Weekend. Tomorrow is Monday the 16 of February we will be heading into the Lunar New Year. Shedding your snake skin and unto the Energy of the Fire Horse. Be energized!! Embrace change. 
 Much love and sunshine, 

Dawn Gallop 

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