I was thinking about poor Moore and all the others in the surprise snowfall this past few days, wondering how all were coping. It's one thing when the cities and towns are equipped to deal with it, quite another when it's that unusual. At least I hope you were all able to keep warm and fed. A power outage can wreak havoc with freezers, but at least almost everyone has a barbecue for cooking those joints of meat. A neighbourhood feast...?
Here are a couple of pics, one a video, of my Nickie in Whistler as the Olympic torch came through on Friday. He is very excited! The friend with him holding the torch is James Mitchell, a buddy from here that he recruited as one of his right hand pitch-men for the club crawls. I'll see if I can retrieve the pics of Mike frolicking in the NZ summer too.
Our kitchen reno headache continues, but at least I now have some water in the place. Once the faucet is properly in place, I'll post a photo or two. I do like the quartz counters, so much more sensible than the trendy granite, and a much more neutral backdrop for whatever decorating I choose to do.
How is everyone's week shaping up? Are you all enjoying the snow yet?
That has to be exciting having the Olympics near you, Kae. Is there enough snow yet for the skiers? That would be nice to get some fresh powder on those mountains. Its mild here---about 66 F. degrees and sunny. In the next couples of days the temperature will be dropping.
KaeEll, the snow wasn't too much of a surprise, fortunately, so I'd stocked up on a lot of basics, we brought in firewood, and snuggled in. However, this particular storm was a wet snow, which made it heavier than the pretty one we had a few days earlier. No one went anywhere until today, and now that we've all begun to dig out, we have to prepare for another ten inches or so, beginning tomorrow!
Some of our neighborhood kids have been able to make some major contributions to their college funds by shovelling! And yesterday, a group of non-English-speaking men made their rounds through the neighborhood as well, so we were able to get some essential spaces fairly well cleared. It's a good thing that we had these people and the kids available, because there's no way that Jim could have handled all of it.
Jim was going to try to take my car (which is bigger and heavier than his) up to Harris Teeter to restock our supplies, in anticipation of this next round. He realized fairly quickly that even my car (which is not an SUV) wouldn't be able to manage it, because the roads are still so bad. Our SWEET new neighbors (the ones whose baby boy had the seizure last fall, and who were burglarized in November) have a jeep, so they were kind enough to take Jim up to the store. Earlier today I had glanced out the front window to see what all was going on outside. I'd heard some voices, and some other general activity. There were three little neighborhood girls in our neighbor's front yard, and I'm guessing that they were probably somewhere around eight or ten years old. I couldn't tell who they were, because they were all bundled up, and just far enough away that I couldn't see their faces. But one of them had little Gabriel (the two-year-old boy) on a sled, and was pulling him down his driveway. Really cute! The other two little girls were building him an ice fort!
Poor Lucy is the one who's had the most difficult time. She's thirteen now, and can't deal with the ice and snow like she could as a puppy. Of course, she needs to go out, and it's a real ordeal. Jim and I just finished bringing in some additional firewood, and while we were outside, Jim stomped out a slightly larger area for Lucy to explore, in our back. She doesn't understand why she can't go running across the back yard, to bark at all the activity on the other side of the street. Everytime she tries to do it, though, she sinks into two feet of white stuff (or more, depending on the drifts), and is a bit too feeble to turn herself around easily. Poor little puppy...
Our grill is covered, and the cover is covered with snow, but if we had to use it, we could. I also have some cast iron skillets that belonged to my grandmother, so I could always use the fireplace, if I had to! This all brings out the pioneer spirit in me! LOL... Nevertheless, I'll be glad when February is over, and spring has a fighting chance to make an appearance.
Way cool for Nick in Whistler, KaeEll... If they need any additional snow, I'll be more than happy to FedEx him some.
-- Edited by Moore ideas on Monday 8th of February 2010 05:47:20 PM
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Well, thankfully us down here in Southern VA didn't get nearly as much snow as Moore and other DCers did. I have a couple of friends in Manasses and in Vienna who posted all kinds of crazy pictures on FB. We are suppose to get another storm today or tomorrow. I really hope its not too bad as we have family coming in Thursday and Friday for the wedding. My poor Arizona family is going to die in this weather. I am heading to the dollar store today for some cheap gloves and hats. Ugh, while I do love snow I have to say that I am sick of the stuff and thought i had moved to VA to get away from it. I mean I have to go back to CT in 3 years, I had wanted a break.
Anyways, that is awesome for Nick. How great that he gets to be so close to the festivities of the Olympics. Winter Olympics are probably my fave because of the figure and speed skating. And I really hope that your kitchen renovation gets moving more quickly, and soon too.
Oh, ugh to the heavy wet snow fallen in the Washington area. That stuff is nothing but a pain in the neck. And, of course, it's the very stuff that causes the most damage because of its weight. I really hope this freaky series of storms passes quickly for all of you stuck in it.
Forgive my impulse for the geography comment, Sundancer, but Toronto, where we live, is a good 5 plus hours plane ride from Vancouver. It's hardly "near" us, lol. Vancouver itself rarely has much of a snow base, and so the winter games that are scheduled to take place near the city, as opposed to up in Whistler where they have a 1000 centimeter base and is in wonderful shape for skiing etc., has had to truck in thousands of loads of snow. Silly plan, if you ask me, but then again, no one did.
Time for me to hop into the shower before the electrician comes to do whatever he must to get my kitchen back to a functional state. A money pit, this damn mini-reno.
Shelly, it's really unusual for us to have this much snow, so don't regret your move to Virginia! I seriously doubt that this will happen again next year, and you'll have a much earlier spring than you would've had in Connecticut.
If we get the amount of snow they're predicing today, we'll break a record that's been in place since the 1870s. Lucky us!
Good luck with the electrician, KaeEll. I hope he's able to get your kitchen back in working condition.
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Yeah, no kidding. Tess was right when she mentioned New Englands famous May frosts. The sad thing is I didn't get to this house in time to plant any bulbs, so I won't be getting flowers this year. I hope to buy though before fall so I will be able to plant them then.
This snow is insane, I do feel for all of you in the Northern part of the state. Its nice to be by the ocean where I guess typically the snow is less.
That's right, Moore. You haven't had this kind of snowfall since 1877!! Now THAT'S a record!! Lucky you to have it in your lifetimes.
And now back to my geography bug. Last night on Jeopardy all three of the semi-finalist collegians didn't know that Christchurch is a city in New Zealand! Has basic geography become another subject ignored in elementary school? It's one thing not to know the square root of, say 269, quite another not to have the faintest notion of the world's cities. And while both of the two finalists in final jeopardy knew that the centre of our galaxy was a huge black hole, they didn't even come close to the geography of our own planet. Is it just me, or is this unbalanced?
Forgive my impulse for the geography comment, Sundancer, but Toronto, where we live, is a good 5 plus hours plane ride from Vancouver. It's hardly "near" us, lol. Vancouver itself rarely has much of a snow base, and so the winter games that are scheduled to take place near the city, as opposed to up in Whistler where they have a 1000 centimeter base and is in wonderful shape for skiing etc., has had to truck in thousands of loads of snow. Silly plan, if you ask me, but then again, no one did.
Thanks for the information. I knew, Kae, you live in Canada, but forgot what city. Your profile says "Barbados". I know that Vancouver and Toronto are no where near each other. I think we had this discussion before when I told you I have a friend here in Houston that goes to her other home every summer which is Meadford, about a two-hour drive north of Toronto.
We lost power for about an hour, but were VERY lucky that it was restored so quickly. It's bitterly cold here because of the high winds, and because of those winds, it's possible that we could lose power again. We haven't seen a snow plow come through here since round one (and this is unusual for our neighborhood), so I have NO idea when we'll be able to dig out.
I'd cooked in advance yesterday, but had become complacent about the fact that we hadn't lost our power at all through this. I was prepared to heat everything in my grandmother's iron skillet, in the fireplace, if necessary. As soon as the power came back on, I put everything in the oven, even though it was only 4:30 pm, and a little early for us to eat. Okay...a LOT early for us to eat, but I wanted to be sure that I didn't have to use that skillet. LOL... We haven't eaten yet, but at least everything is hot now.
I guess I'd better do some additional prep for tomorrow -- just in case.
We broke our record, and I say "Thank God" because if we'd gone through all of this, and then hadn't even broken the freaking record, I would've been significantly irritated! But I'm tired of this now. Time to dig out, and move towards spring.
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
All that snow in all the wrong places, eh? There is no justice, lol. I hope all of you bear up well throughout that mess. It makes the first little sprigs of green all the more welcoming, non? Here's to the crocus!!
One more day until the big deal opening ceremonies in Vancouver tomorrow. All the TV stations here are inundating us with the hype, the carry-on and general hysteria. I'm already tired of it. Nick is so busy I've not heard a word from him since last week. Mike called yesterday, though. Love skype. He's languishing in the sunshine and plans on spending another week there in NZ before lolling for a week in Venice Beach before heading back here. He says it helps the jet lag, lol. Then he says it's back to the grind of working for a living. Tony is back to California on Monday for two more weeks of Walmart, taking a weekend off to ski at Tahoe's Squaw Valley. I guess I'll be back on duty again, helping with the kidneys.
The electrician never showed yesterday, called at the last minute to say he'd be here today instead. &*^%$#@ I was tempted to give him a diatribe on how inconvenienced I'd been to accommodate his scheduled visit, never mind this new date, but kept mouth shut. His business card will be torn up and tossed, though. Somewhere there MUST be a tradesman that will appreciate the business, keep his appointments and know what he's doing. Somewhere...
Shelly, you must be knee deep in wedding everything! Good luck with it all.
Sundancer, about a year or so ago, I fooled around with the location status on the profile for this board and switched my location to a warm sunny place and never gave it another thought. I DO live in Toronto, not Barbados, although I sure wouldn't mind the change of scene, especially these days.
Here's a pic of the kitchen, such as it is. I'll edit it back in in a bit.
-- Edited by KaeEll on Thursday 11th of February 2010 11:19:38 AM
Sundancer, MY profile has me in Martinique! LOL... Yes, we all got bored one day, and switched our locations, at KaeEll's suggestion. We move around the world a lot. If you want to play too, just go into your profile, and pick some location you might like to visit. Then switch it again, once you're tired of "being in" wherever it is you initially choose.
Unfortunately, we DO have some lurkers from China, and they're not playing; they're really from China. Since this board is by invitation, it's a little creepy to know that they found us!
KaeEll, you were right not to chew out the electrician yesterday, because he probably wouldn't show up today! However, you have my absolute permission to tell him what you think AFTER he's completed the necessary work. He needs to know that his "no-show" policy caused you great inconvenience... I hope it all goes well for you today, and that he doesn't waste your time again.
We have someone digging us out again this morning, and I truly hope that this is the last time it's necessary this winter! Like your kitchen project, KaeEll, we've unexpectedly spent hundreds of dollars just to keep a few small locations clear of snow, and for only two-day intervals! Please, please go away now Mr. Snow. We Virginians don't mind seeing you briefly, but we don't want you to stick around.
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
KaeEll, the kitchen looks FANTASTIC!! Despite all the headaches, I think the results are beautiful. Thanks for posting the pictures. LOVE the counter top.
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
I wouldn't mind changing my location right now. Its cold and rainy here in Houston. Meanwhile, I have had a busy day. I applied for a part-time job and got it. I will be teaching swimming a Fitness place and some office work. It is very nice there! Then I took a 2.5 hour Bridge lesson. Tonight I have to be early to the square dance hall this evening because I am in charge of decorating. I had some people offer to help me.