You will be surprised to hear....

Monday, 3:11 pm

By Kate

Mar

09

2009

It’s snowing out. Again. We’ve had our 6 inches so it can stop now.

And, bless his heart, the snow plow guy scooped a huge pile right into the end of my driveway. Nice heavy wet stuff that will freeze into a solid block of ice tonight if I don’t remove it soon. Thank yew Mr. Snowplow man.

The rest of the snow might melt in the near-ish future. We’re having intermittent March daily temps and the sunshine is much warmer these days. So, there is hope that spring might arrive sometime in the next couple of months.

I was reading a lawn care manual yesterday. It said that I should be outside putting down lime and fertilizer and sprinkling grass seed this week. The earlier the better. That made me laugh. There is at least a foot and a half of snow still on my yard in the places where it didn’t drift to three and four foot piles. We’ve now added another half a foot with more coming tomorrow. I am absolutely positive that, underneath all that snow, the weeds are waking up and preparing to make a run for it at the earliest opportunity. I wish the grass was as determined.

Winter isn't done yet...

Monday, 2:37 pm

By Kate

Mar

02

2009

Winter dumped another foot of snow on us last night. I’m being somewhat conservative here. I haven’t actually stuck the yardstick into the snow to measure exactly. I’m sure there’s more than a literal foot, but what’s a couple more inches in the scheme of things? And since the temperature dropped like a rock, I guess I’m going to have to shovel it. The snow is not going to melt any time soon. I think I’ll wait until it stops snowing, however. Just doesn’t want to quit.

Have you ever wondered where the urban squirrels go during a snowstorm? I have. And this morning I discovered one little red squirrel huddled next to my sliding glass door. He had carved out a little cave between the snow and the glass and had his fluffy tail curled around him. I assume he was soaking up a little of the warmth that undoubtedly passes through the glass. When I opened the blinds, he looked at me and I looked at him (with surprise). Suddenly it was as if an electric current blasted through his little body. Kind of like a cartoon. I am sure every hair on his body stood straight out and if he could have spoken it would have come out as EEEEK! And then he was gone, barely leaving footprints behind.

I’ve only recently started seeing red squirrels here. They are a new addition. And very inquisitive. Maybe this was the same one, but several mornings in a row there has been one sitting on top of my woodpile looking in the kitchen window. He stares at me and I stare at him. He seems very curious about what’s happening on the other side of the window. Or perhaps he’s reminding me that there are no peanuts left and he’s hungry. As long as he doesn’t figure out a way to get in, we’ll get along fine.

_________________

In case you’ve been vaguely wondering…

Daylight Saving Time begins in six days, on March 8. I, for one, am looking forward to it. Of course, we’ll lose some light in the morning, but we’ll get most of that back by the end of the month. Longer days...give me longer days.

Oh my

Sunday, 1:45 pm

By Kate

Feb

01

2009

So, I scanned the weather report a while ago. The computer models apparently have been all over the map for the past four days, which made forecasting the upcoming storm difficult. For a while, the Appalachian region was going to get walloped. Then the models started pushing the storm eastward out over the water. And then the two storm fronts that were supposed to merge down south somewhere got waylaid and will, apparently miss each other. One will skirt the coast and give us a little bit of snow. The other will sail out into ocean, gather strength, then come barreling up the coast—meeting a strong cold front. Now I’m beginning to hear words like bombogenesis and the biggest snow storm of the season. Maybe even 20 inches of snow.

Because weather forecasting is an inexact science, we’ll just have to wait to see what we get. I hope they’re wrong. Where would I put 20 inches of snow? WHERE?

But I’ll plan for the worst. That means....

Today I haul lots of wood in the house.
Anchor the tarps so they won’t blow away in the gale force winds.
Go to the grocery because I’m out of almost everything. Chocolate is on the list.
Anchor my snow shovel where it won’t get buried or blown away.
Make sure batteries are all recharged.
Cry a little bit.

Honestly.

Someday I will talk about something besides the weather. But it has been an undeniably intrusive factor in my life lately. It rules everything. I loathe snow. It used to be fun when I didn’t have to shovel the wretched stuff. Now it seems like that’s all I do. Shovel. Chip ice. Shovel. Shovel some more. Chip ice. More ice. Shovel. Etc. Only about 58 more days of this to look forward to. 

Either way....

Friday, 9:07 pm

By Kate

Jan

30

2009

Looks as if we’re getting weather again on Monday and Tuesday. Being a coastal storm, it’s hard to predict what will happen here. If the storm tracks to the east, we’ll get buried in snow. If it tracks a little bit inland, we’ll get torrential rain. Either way, the end result is lousy. Rain and massive snow melt mean floods. Most likely in my basement. Heavy snow and I’m packing my bags and running away.

Today was stage three of getting rid of ice from the last storm. I’ve been whittling away at the ice pile at the end of my driveway with a pitchfork and salt. I thought I’d gotten it down to a manageable size, but when I got in the car to run errands, I discovered pretty quickly that the ice pile was not whittled away quite enough. And I was out of salt. I got good and stuck. One of my neighbors came out to help. We chipped away at more ice and dumped an entire bag of kitty litter on the ice to see if I could get some traction. It helped enough for me to get out of the driveway. But there was no way I was getting back in without getting rid of the rest of the ice pile.

Soooo...I looked in the local stores for some salt. None to be found. I had to visit Wally World where I stocked up. I came home, parked on the street, and opened the trunk to haul out the bags of salt. The trunk lid and my head met soundly and suddenly there was a rush of blood pouring down my face. I slipped and slid into the house to see what damage I’d done to myself. Turned out to be a rather small cut on my head just a couple of inches above my hairline. But the path I left behind me looked as if I’d butchered a small animal. Good grief. What a mess.

Patched up and feeling fine, I resumed the de-icing routine. It took a while, but the ice loosened up enough to break up with the pitchfork and, finally, I was able to shovel away the crumbly bits. Enough to get back into the driveway.

At this point, I’ve had enough of winter. Really. And we’re only half way to spring. I’m not sure I’m going to survive it this year. I have so had it. Right up to my wounded noggin.

We're getting something today

Wednesday, 6:17 am

By Kate

Jan

28

2009

Good morning. It’s snowing outside. Depending on which forecast I listen to or read, we could face 12” to 20” of snow today or 6” of snow and a lot of ice or some snow, some ice, and a lot of rain. I love the certainty of it. The only thing I can say for sure...we are getting something. The schools are all closed, though. Just in case.

I am prepared for anything. All my batteries are recharged. I have plenty of oil for my oil lamps. My solar powered LED lamp is fully charged and ready to go (I used it every night to read in bed, anyway. Love that thing.). I have wind-up flashlights, a wind-up radio with a weatherband, and also a wind-up gizmo to charge my cell phone and my Kindle. I have enough candles to light a cathedral. There is enough wood in the house to keep me going for days. I have a ton of staples to cook on the wood stove. And I have a French Press coffee maker with plenty of coffee.

That should cover the necessities in case the power goes out. Then again, it might turn out to be a rain storm and I’ll get a flood in the basement. One way or the other, something’s gonna happen today. I’ll let you know. Or if I don’t turn up for days, guess you’ll know the power went out.

It finally stopped snowing!

Monday, 3:03 pm

By Kate

Jan

19

2009

Well, I think it’s done snowing. Here’s what I just love about the weather forecasts. They all said we’d get from 3” to 6” of snow yesterday and maybe another 1” to 2” last night through this morning. By my calculations, that adds up to a maximum of 8 possible inches. And you know what? The forecasts were so wrong. Not even in the ballpark.

There is so much snow on my deck that Abbie has to stand on her hind legs at the sliding glass door to see over the snow. There’s a good foot and a half of new snow out there.

I haven’t had to go anywhere so I’ve been putting it off, but now I gotta go shovel the wretched stuff. Naturally, the lad is away for the long weekend, so he gets out of shoveling what is probably the last snow storm of his vacation. Unfortunately, I did not make arrangements with the snow plow guy in time, so I have to do it. Possibly, when I do make arrangements with the snow plow guy, it will not snow again for the rest of the winter. It’s a nice thought, but instead it’ll probably snow harder.

I guess I’d better stop putting off the inevitable and go get it over with. Ick, ick, ick.