Random 5 for December 14, 2025 – Snow, nature, machines, old people problems, schedules

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The view from my deck this morning. Looks like old black and white film.

Happy winter! – We woke up this morning to snow! Lots of it. More than predicted. I have a birthday party today so I’m hoping the roads will be cleared by then. We haven’t had a lot of snow, but it always falls on a day that I have plans. Murphy must be visiting.

Ok, it is beautiful! – But inconvenient. There are days I wouldn’t mind a nice snow in, but mother nature never picks those days. Enough grousing about that!

One more thing – There is no morning Starbucks run until the roads improve. Today my rarely used coffee machine decided not to work. The manual is written in tiny light gray print on cheap beige paper. Whatever happened to black and white? Another thing to google today. Orange juice doesn’t cut it for me first thing in the morning, but it will have to do.

Old people problems – We took our cat Sasha to a new vet this week for a consultation. We’ve been there before, but our route was long and windy. Surely there was a more direct way or so we thought. I was in the back seat soothing an unhappy cat with the beloved husband driving. He had looked up different roads on his desktop and wrote down directions (old school). Maps and roads rarely match and that happened again. I pulled out my phone. The beloved husband is not a GPS techie, so I was in the back seat (with a yelling cat) trying to give some directions. There were some disagreements about exactly where we were but we got there. We rarely use GPS because we go to familiar places. I need to practice. Maybe I can project my phone’s GPS system on my car screen. We don’t have “the subscription” for the car. So much to learn. It gives me a headache. Sasha is ok. She might need a minor procedure but no big deal. Next time we may go the old way.

Another crunch week! – December weeks fill up quickly. Another “old people problem” is that many are doctor or medical appointments. The follow-ups to my September sinus issue all fall this week. (It took several different docs to guess what was wrong and they want to see me again. Maybe I am an experiment!) Factor in some fun get-togethers and “no driving in the dark” and the daytime hours get booked. Every year I say I’m not going to let it happen and every year it happens. At least I don’t get my mammograms in December.

So how was your week?

48 thoughts on “Random 5 for December 14, 2025 – Snow, nature, machines, old people problems, schedules”

  2. Ahhh, a moment of diversion from the mountain of boxes that surround me in every room. Thank you for that. Your car is new enough it likely has CarPlay (for iPhones). I don’t have a GPS nav subscription but use Waze (instead of Google maps-and seems to be less headache inducing while giving advance warning of debris on roadway ahead, slow spots, accidents, etc.) and it displays on the screen with the nice lady patiently saying ‘at the next signal, turn left in 750 ft.’ even if she has to tell me 6 times about navigating the second turn from confusing roundabouts. Being in a new neighborhood, I couldn’t live without it or get anywhere on time. Good luck.

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      • It should be built in when you plug your phone into the USB port. Depending on the settings of your particular make/model, it’s pretty easy. If you can figure out the nomenclature of your car’s manual (nothing seems easy in mine to look up but I usually can muddle through eventually), it’ll walk you through it fairly simply. Having that feature is can be a real lifesaver and definitely keeps the blood pressure within safe levels. Wish I had a solution for the coffeemaker. Hope you guys stay safe and warm. It’s going to be back in the upper 60’s again today 😳

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  3. It’s freezing this morning. Yesterday too . . . but after today the temps will rebound and we should have a 2 week stretch of temps in the 70’s. I’m like you on preferring temps in the 70’s rather than in the teens!

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  5. We got a ton of snow, too. It is gorgeous, but shoveling it in 13 degrees sucks. If you have an iphone, you don’t need a subscription. Just get a phone cord and plug it in to your car like you’re charging your phone and you can project the gps to your car schreen. You just hit the apple car play button. Poor Sasha. And poor you, everyone knows not to talk to me if I haven’t had my morning coffee!!!

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  7. The snow is pretty if you can just look at it – driving in it – forget about it. I took the bus to Downtown Detroit, catching it at the end of my street, so I never had to take the car to work. I even took driver’s training in the Winter and still don’t like driving in it. I hope you made it to you birthday party and didn’t need to stop at Starbucks on the way. I use instant coffee since it’s just me drinking it. I’m done with the snow, ice, high winds and bitter cold and Winter doesn’t even arrive for another week!

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    • The roads were cleared fast but the snow is hanging around. It’s 17 this morning. Way too cold for me. Except for a few years at the beginning of my work career I always drove to work in any kind of weather. You get used to it but parking in the city is tough with a lot of snow.

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      • That is very cold for your area … too soon for all of us as it’s not even Winter. Commuting by bus was great for me as I read for that 30 to 40-minute trip each way (except bad weather could make it twice that long), but it also did not sharpen my Winter driving skills either. I drove to the diner as I started at 6:45 a.m. and in really bad Winter weather, my boss picked me up and I just walked home (about six blocks). Sometimes if it was cold or miserable, he’d drive me home too. He was like a grandfather to me in many ways. But I drove to school for three years, before switching to finish at Wayne State University which I could get to by taking the bus. Parking is at a premium in Downtown Detroit and so I was happy I could take the bus there. It’s very congested and you could walk from block to block faster than by car or bus.

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  8. Ah! The romance of snowy days: Hollywood movies, sleigh bells, the silence of falling snow. And memories of childhood with snowmen and snowball fights and sledding. It can be lovely, but it comes with its own problems.

    I doubt if we’ll have snow. Just rain, rain, rain for the next ten days. Fortunately, I’m safely away from any overflowing rivers.

    I have a couple of fun lunch parties this week. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m behind with my Christmas prep. My printer broke down, and I can’t get the new one started, plus, I need to get a tree and prepare for my Christmas house guests.

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  10. Your black and white snow is beautiful and looks like a Christmas scene. Very mild here! I can relate to “old people’s problems.” May next week be less adventuresome for you. Calm week here with a visit to a cemetery to put out artificial poinsettias for my parents’ graves.

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  12. I dread the day that we have to go somewhere we aren’t familiar with – so far all our “have to go to’s are within a two mile radius of us. That won’t last I’m sure but it’s nice while it lasts. We had an icy driveway (and snow) this morning so couldn’t go to the grocery early – had to wait and go with the masses of people who go during normal hours (we are the first to go into the store on Sundays since we’re early birds!). Well what an experience THAT was – had to be thousands of people in there (OK…..maybe hundreds……or maybe not quite that)……anyway, we know where everything is so we didn’t have to wander – just “hit” the places we needed to and came home. Our “high” today was 28. High? Hmm….. Anyway, hope things stay calm for you through the holiday! That black/white photo is beautiful!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • We did a quick grocery trip on Saturday during peak hours. It was a sprint from aisle to aisle to get what we needed and get out without getting run over by other carts. This particular store does not have electric carts which is helpful in not getting run over by drivers who don’t know how to handle them.

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    • Since today is Sunday and our local TV station doesn’t do news on Sundays, we had a hard time initially finding out how much snow was around and how the roads are. Here we got around 6″ or so but most of it fell overnight so the roads were ok. It’s also Sunday so most people slept in. We were predicted to get 1 to 3 or a little more at the worst. The storm must have moved more north and hit us more than expected. The ski resorts will be ecstatic! Forecasts have been so off that they have almost stopped predicting an inch count.

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  14. It’s snowing here today also, plus we had 7″ on the ground so it’s white out there. No coffee? Now, that’s a problem. I have a machine we use every day, a second machine in a box on a shelf, and in the attic I keep an old Mr. Coffee for dire emergency. Directions and maps have come a long way. It’s hard to read written directions when driving which is where GPS either in the car or on the phone does come in handy. If you have GPS capability in your car, you shouldn’t need a subscription for directions. They offer subscriptions for all the bells and whistles. You can probably find a You Tube for your make of car and figure out how to use it. If not, you can buy a phone holder and pull it up on the phone. It does use some battery so if you have a charger handy that helps. Thank you for the chuckle about no mammograms in December. 🙂

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    • I was thinking of the phone holder route. I think Dan’s daughter tried to connect his phone to his car and it didn’t go well. His phone is similar and his car is also a Toyota. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in early November (20+ years ago). Surgery (twice) was in December and the way 6 month follow ups fell it was always December. Back in those days you didn’t get an instant answer so there would be a couple days of angst until you knew all was well. I started to move it out a month year by year. Now I’m on yearly in spring. Much better.

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      • Yes, spring is better for facing those challenges. Congrats on 20+. Using a phone in a car can be done by connecting to the car or just by using the phone. For instance, when my daughter drives our car, she just pulls up directions, sets it in the holder, and it works just fine. When you go to Starbucks the next time, pull it up on your phone and hit ‘directions’ which is usually an option along with website, etc. You can just sit it in a cup holder and see if it gives you the route. If it does, you can use it for going anywhere without trying to hook it up to car computer.

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  15. What is it about doctor appointments in December? I do everything I can to avoid them and then their offices call me and say I have to reschedule and all that’s left is December. It’s my Merry month where I live in a Christmas bubble oblivious to all the chaos on earth. So bloodwork in the morning—I forgot about it—and wellness appt with primary care doc Thursday. Another doc appt end of December. Hopefully done after that. The snow is beautiful. I miss it. But wouldn’t want to miss a birthday party because of it. SSNS uses the GPS and all the similar things that do things for you. I am old school except for the automatic park assistant.
    And no driving here after sunset which we take full advantage of because we still drive at night. NoBODY on the roads or in the stores 😊

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  17. It was pretty this morning with the new snow, but took awhile to clear things. I don’t think we got as much as you did…an inch or so, but icy. At least it snowed overnight and not during the day when we were trying to drive around. I can’t live without my GPS…can’t remember how we did this before. I just put my phone on the seat next to me and let it talk to me, I love when I know a better route and the voice has to keep say it is recalculating. Often I just need the phone for the last few turns so it has to put up with my alternate route until then.

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