Sunday was warm enough that we didn’t need to bother with coats.
Monday morning we woke up to snow!
The snow didn’t amount to anything – it didn’t stick to the roads or sidewalks, but the forecast was for dropping temps, freezing rain and sleet. The schools were originally opening two hours late, but they later decided to just close for the day. The outlook for today is a little bit warmer, but still grey and rainy. I think I’d rather have snow than this slop.
It has rained. And rained. And rained some more.
84 Lumber is having a sale on gopher wood. The lower part of the lawn has always been a soggy morass, but now even the upper slope is muddy.
The only saving grace is that it is warm. Today had been pushing 60 º F (15-C) and the rest of the week looks to be the same. Heaven help us if this precipitation had been snow!
Like the obnoxious guest who keeps coming back, Old Man Winter has been hanging around far, far too long.
Monday it was in the 50s but yesterday morning the temperature dropped to the upper 30s, and it began to snow in the late afternoon. Now, “snow” here is a comparative noun. Or verb, depending upon your approach to these things. Maybe we got a quarter inch, and although the forecast was for snow overnight, this morning was hovering around 32° F and it wasn’t snowing. At all. I had a 10:00 doctor appointment, but when I arrived the office was closed. At some point somebody had managed to come in to post a note on the inside of the glass door, but nary a word to the patients. I did stop at a pet store to buy bird seed and a brush for the cat, but those people don’t know what to charge. They wanted $10.50 for a five pound bag of peanuts, when I could buy two of the same size next door at Costco! And I am NOT paying $7 for a brush when I can -and did – get one just as nice at the Dollar Store. Came on home and stopped to pick up a few odds and ends at the grocery store. The library was also closed – as were the public schools – so no joy there. Other people stock up on toilet paper when it snows (WHY?) but we stock up on books.
Shortly after noon it did begin to snow in earnest, but we only got 2 inches – max. A bit further north, Eldest Daughter said she had 4 inches, and the roads were slick. At the moment it is 37° and by the weekend it will be pushing 50° again.
Ah. The Board of Education has announced the schools must find a way to make up one day to have the kids in school for a full 180 days. What on earth are they going to learn in one day? Yeesh.
Well, not exactly a storm. It started snowing about 10 AM yesterday morning, and kept at it until sometime after 8 last night. In spite of it all, we only got about two inches, if that.
While The Squire and I were checking email this morning, a fox came into the yard, checking and sniffing around the birdfeeders. I went into the kitchen and scooped up a dish of dog food, which I carried out to the back forty. When I came back down the fox, of course, was long gone. I figured he’d headed back to the woods, sans squirrel, but The Squire said the critter nosed around and gathered up a mouthful of peanuts before heading off. “You could see his cheeks bulging out, and he was looking for more!”
Our church hosted a Quarter Auction last night. It was snowing great guns when we arrived and still coming down when I left the church. This morning, there was still a good bit of snow on the ground, but the roads and sidewalks had never accumulated anything more that puddles, and the temp had already climbed to nearly 40°F. After having about 60 people at the auction last night, braving uncertain weather, we had a grand total of 18 at the late service, when there was no likelihood of road trouble.
Sometimes I wonder about people.
We have hardly had any winter at all this season, but apparently Mother Nature had one of those “Hold my beer and watch this” moments.
It started snowing around 8:30 last night, and by 1:30 or so this morning it had turned to a mixture of freezing rain and sleet. Yuck. We only had an inch or so here, but it was treacherous. Sirens were going all day, and I heard a tree fall a little distance up the road when I went out to feed the birds. Blazer went leaping across the carport for his morning constitutional, but made a sudden U-turn when his feet hit the snow. He did follow me to the feeders, but returned to “dry land” and waited for me to come back.
It started snowing and sleeting again a little after noon, but it really didn’t amount to much. With the wind and the sleet, it sounded as if somebody was throwing pebbles against the window. At the moment, it is above freezing, so everything is slush, but it’s supposed to go down to the mid-20s after dark, and then the world will be one huge skating rink.
Local Grandson is a lineman for Baltimore Gas & Electric and was “lucky” enough to draw storm duty today. He doesn’t mind the work, but people who act as if he personally turned off their power, and the ones who insist they should be first “just because”, are, quite naturally, annoying and just make the work harder. If you see somebody up a pole, go take them a cup of hot coffee.
… because I overslept.
Tuesday and Wednesday were warm enough, even overnight, that we were able to move the papyrus plant outside and leave it. We really have to baby it all winter, because it must be kept above 55-F, but the past few weeks we’ve been putting it in the sunroom during the day, until this week when we were able to sit it out in the sun.
Wednesday night the temperature hurled itself downward, and it was barely 30º when we went to bed. I got up around 4AM and it was raining hard. When I finally crawled out from under the covers for the day it was snowing and blowing. We got a monumental quarter inch of snow, which melted almost before it hit the ground. By 10AM is was all gone. We had some ferocious winds – gusts up to 45 miles per hour. Anything not nailed down could be found in the next county.
Today it only reached 34° and was still breezy, but tomorrow and Sunday promise to be pushing 60 again.
Don’t like the weather? Stick around.
After a trip to Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) Austin is home and doing much, much better. He is not throwing up as much, and seems more alert and interested in what’s going on around him. He still throws up some, but babies do, and it’s not nearly as bad as it was. He has also gained a few ounces, which is a Good Thing.
His dad has been released from the military and is back at his day job with the electric company. So far this winter we’ve had only two days of snow flurries, but I know that won’t last, but he bundles up and enjoys climbing poles.
More power to him.
We woke up this morning to about an inch of snow! It’s been well above 40-F for the last few days, so it really didn’t amount to much, other than looking pretty on the trees and grass for a while. It was all gone by noon. Blazer thought it was lovely! The last snow we had was so deep he was buried, but this was just enough to “snovel” around and kick up his heels. Mind you, it’ll be Spring in two weeks, but the weather will do as it pleases.
Speaking of things doing as they please, Local Grandson called to tell us he and his wife are expecting a baby in early October. His mom’s birthday is the 5th, and that was the original due date, but now the doctor says it will probably be a bit later. I reminded him that babies, like the weather, and the economy, will do as they please. Apparently twins run in his wife’s family because he said he kept asking the doctor, “You’re sure there’s only one in there?” So now, we have four great-grandchildren, plus two-thirds and one-third.
Which doesn’t quite add up to a whole baby. Yet.
We’ve gotten two coats of paint on the ceiling, and it really looks good. We also put a coat on the trim. I think that will look better done in gloss, but at least it has a base coat. I got some samples of green paint, and we sloshed those on the wall to see which one we liked best. The jury is still out on that. We have a lot more of that blasted textured paint to scrape off yet before we can get too involved in that part of the project.
The Structural Engineer recommended putting extra posts under the dormer, and The Squire took care of that Tuesday and Wednesday. Where there were three, there are now seven posts; I feel as if I’m looking through the bars of the Folsom County jail, and the dog has gotten his rope wrapped around them a couple of times, but the SE felt part of the problem with the wall under the window was the extra weight of the second floor, and this certainly ought to relieve that. The good news is that because all we are doing is making repairs and not new construction, we don’t need a permit. Thanks Be To God. This place wouldn’t pass any sort of inspection; there are no footers, and there’s not a square corner or level floor in the entire place.
The Squire had an MRI of his head a few days ago, and he spoke with the GP today. Apparently, he has an effusion of the mastoid on the right side. Haven’t a clue what that means, frankly, but MRI does show a lot of “stuff” on the right side of his head. He has an appointment with the ENT on the 17th, so maybe we’ll get some sort of answers. I told him he needed to look for zebras. If there’s something odd, either The Squire or I will have it.
It snowed again yesterday – about three inches – and then turned to rain over night. When we got up this morning, it was very cold and everything was covered with a film of ice. It warmed up during the day, but was so foggy it was like driving inside a milk bottle.
And if I ever get to be in charge of things, people who drive in this sort of weather without their headlights are going to walk and right a bell, shouting “Stupid! Stupid!” like lepers of old. (This from the gal who stuck her hand into a running slicing machine, if you want stupid.)
I had to go to the store to pick up the makings for Butternut Squash soup for church tomorrow night, and see if two prescriptions had come in, as the druggist had to call the doctor for both of them. One was my fault; I let the bottle get too close to empty even though I knew it needed to be renewed. The druggist and I have been working on the other one for two weeks (see “Never Call a Doctor on a Monday”) so I will have to contact the hospital to see if they can light a fire under this woman. She’s a lovely doctor, very pleasant to see as a patient, but getting her to follow though on things is just shy of impossible.
It’s a good thing she’s not a cardiologist.
Eldest daughter is working on finding somebody to plow the drive, and she thinks he can be here tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow is supposed to be around 45 degrees so we may not need him after all.
I tried to slog out to the barn and feed the outside critters – you can smell “fox” all around the house – but I got about two-thirds of the way before I quit, and just tossed the kibble across the snow. The Squire and I have done quite a bit of shoveling, mostly so we can get to the bird feeders, and our time spent at the gym has made that pretty easy.
However.
Walking, plodding, staggering through knee deep snow can be deadly. I honestly didn’t think I was going to get back to the house. The Squire was just getting ready to come look for me when I staggered onto the patio. He said Blazer was barking at the back door, and sounded very concerned. He said he expected to find me face down someplace.
Last night, the dog thought he heard something out back that “needed barking at” so I let him go without the lead. He took one flying leap into the snow, which was about up to his ears, spun around in midair, and raced back to the door. I guess he figured I wasn’t safe out there either, and he ought to let Poppa know.
This photo was lifted from the Baltimore Sun. When the plows get stuck, you’re in big trouble.
Back when I was still working for Blue Cross, my car pool rider didn’t want to come down Route 7 in the snow, so she dumped me at the shopping center about a mile and a half from the house. I didn’t even have boots. By the grace of God, a friend had stopped at the grocery store for cigarettes on his way home and saw me standing on the median strip, trying not to cry. I’d venture to say that pack of cigarettes saved my life. Thanks, Hugh!
Ironically, Rt. 7 is a state highway and is always plowed, and she would have gotten home herself more quickly if she’d come this way, instead of staying on US 40, which had not been plowed.
thisendoftheswamp 