What I've been up to

    Part III of the storm wasn't much at all. We got another 1 to 1.5 inches of the white stuff.  After the almost 2 feet of snow from parts I and II, that was nothing. Hubs spent most of the day trying and finally succeeding clearing the lower part of our driveway, with a lot of help from the next door neighbor's plow guy, and his childhood friend Gary. It was a very large task, he wouldn't have been able to do it alone with just his snow blower. The berm at the top of that part of the driveway was over 6 feet tall.


    What I really wanted to tell you about today was an adventure I had after this past weeks Stitch n Bitch. Kim H and I went on a short road trip to Hobby Lobby. She needed something, I forget what, and as long as I was there, I found a couple of things I had needed! First, I found that they had some of the plastic rings I couldn't find anywhere else. The ones I use for the Lazy Kim's Cat Toys. I also found some black elastic thread to use in the top ribbing of my legwarmers. Huzzah!


    Of course, I haven't worked on them in days, since Hubs came home for the weekend, and I want to spend as much time with him as I can before he has to go back. In fact he's taking me out to dinner tonight, and this time we are actually going to go out, not just ordering in.


    I've also been enjoying watching the Curling tournament at the Olympics. I feel bad that our men's and women's teams aren't doing very well, but it's amazing to watch.


    Tomorrow I will get back to work on the legwarmers. Promise.

The Big Storm, Part II

    The last storm was bad, and when I went to bed last night, the weatherman was telling me that there would be up to another 6 inches by morning today. I figured I could break through that berm in four wheel drive, and get to Sara's to watch Owen.


    HA the weatherman was  *surprise* wrong!  When I got up and opened my front door, all I could say was "HOLY SHIT!" There was more snow last night than all of the more than 20 hours of the last storm! The walkway to the front door looked like it had never even been shoveled! The Jeep was buried so deep I wasn't sure we could get it out. But plow guy Matt got it out. He is a miracle worker.


    You see, we park on the side of the road, and the county plows throw lots more snow on our cars than you can imagine. You know how you get upset when the end of your driveway gets plowed in? The entire front of our property is where we park. There used to be 3 vehicles there, now there's just Hubs' truck and my Jeep.


    Needless to say, I didn't make it to Sara's. Again. I feel so bad, but I don't think she will get in trouble for not going in to work. I was really shocked by how much snow we got hit with. Here is a photo of the Jeep, followed by our shoveled walkway.

 

 

     And they are saying it's not over yet. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. KMN. It may not look like much, but the snow depth on the walkway is at least 24". Let's hope tomorrow's post is NOT entitled "The Big Storm, Part III" !!                         

My Storm Day Activities

    Today it's snowing a whole freaking lot. We have at least 8 inches already, and it's gonna keep snowing until sometime tomorrow. I'd been waiting all day for our plow guy to call, so I could go out and clean off the Jeep so it can be moved so he can plow. (<-I know that's a horrible sentence) He called a while ago, said he would call me again when he was almost here. He didn't. He beeped. So I got dressed again and went out.


    The first time I went out to clean off the Jeep, it was really coming down. I cleaned off the front, then the sides and roof. By the time I finished the back and walked around to the front, it was covered again. WTF. He is a really nice guy (now, he was a brat when he was a kid), and when I expressed my fear of trying to break through the road berm, he even moved the Jeep for me!


    I came back inside and fixed myself a drink. Then I hear shoveling noises outside. I thought it was Hubs' friend Gene, who said he would come shovel me out later in the day. Imagine my surprise when it was our next door neighbor! He had borrowed our shovel yesterday and didn't return it. I was gonna go over and ask for it back, but no one has been home all day.


    Aside from all that, I've been mostly knitting today! I've made some real progress on my legwarmers. Between knitting and playing free cell, I'm managing to keep busy.


    I've also been keeping tabs on various family members who had to be out today. My daughter Sara didn't have to work, but her Hubs did. He's home safe and sound. Son Jesse didn't have to go in, but future daughter-in-law Julie did. I hear that they let her go home at noon. I know she's safe because she's posted photos of their snow accumulation on facebook.


   I know son James and his wife Jessica are safe too. My mom is safe because she didn't go anywhere. Friend Kim and her Cherub are home, still waiting for word on her mom, who should be arriving home from work very soon. I just got word that she's home!! Friend Bonny is safe for now, but she has to drive in to work later tonight. I will be anxious about her until I hear in the morning that she made it home safe.


    Once Hubs checks in tonight, then I'll know that everyone I care about most is safe. I didn't sleep very well last night, worrying about the snow, and if I would have to get to Sara's or not. So around noon, I got really sleepy so I went in to lay down and try to take a nap. I laid there for about an hour, but couldn't get to sleep. I kept hearing plowing noises that I thought was our guy. Eventually I gave up and got up.


    I've also been watching this really interesting show on Netflix. It's called The Following, and stars Kevin Bacon. Wow, it's really good. It was recommended to me by friend Kim. I'm glad I gave it a chance.


    I hope if anyone you care about is affected by this horrendous storm, that they are all home from wherever they had to go, and that they are safe and warm.

After the storm

   At this point, all I can do is hope the storm is over. We must have over a foot of snow at this point. We have shoveled, and been plowed out. Maybe this afternoon I can get some work done on my legwarmers.


    Yesterday I didn't get to knit at all, we were busy at doctor appointments, grocery shopping, and picking up meds at the drug store. Hubs needed blood work, so that took a while.


    The bad news is that my Jeep broke. I made it home from Sara's house Friday, barely, parked it and swore I wasn't driving it again until it was at least looked at. I didn't get to tell Hubs about it until Saturday evening after he got home from work. With husbands, timing is everything.


    Friday night he was too busy venting about work. I would just have added to the stress, so I made the executive decision to wait. In the end it turns out that once again my instincts were correct. It seems that my right rear wheel was falling off. Two of the studs were broken off, and the whole thing was wobbling when I drove. That would have been the "whoop whoop" sound I was hearing when I drove.


   The good news is that it's now all fixed. And Hubs can return all those other parts he bought before he realized what the problem actually was. After he came home with my repaired Jeep, he was freaking out that he hadn't noticed the problem. And the fact that I had mentioned to him twice that there was a problem.


    So I get to babysit for little Owen tomorrow. I can't wait to see him! I just hope the roads are all passable in the morning.

the view from my front door

    Here's the view, before the storm hit. This is from about 11 am, 2.8.2013:

    I had first noticed flakes about 8:30 am. So ^ was after 2.5 hours. I wasn't impressed. But this morning, about 7:30 am, this is what I saw out my front door!

    Quite a difference, huh? Hubs is out there now, shoveling the walk and cleaning off the vehicles. That way, when out plow guy comes, we will be ready to move the cars. After we get plowed, I will go outside and get some pictures of the back yard, the snow looks so pretty in the trees!

As I knitted through The Storm...

    Well, the worst is over, Storm wise. It seems that we here in Hyde Park dodged a bullet. I am sure that other parts of town had some severe lightning and wind, but my little part of town didn't even have a blip in our electric or cable service. It didn't even get that windy!


    My Hubs called from work, in Fishkill, about 25 miles or so to the south, and they got hit with the storm pretty badly. It was very windy, but not too many trees came down. They were very, very lucky. He told me that he'd never ever seen so many lightning bolts in the sky.


    And here I sat, in my living room, knitting away like a fiend. I'm finding it takes an ungodly amount of time to knit just one row! So I only got to do maybe three rows! But progress is progress. I haven't even bothered to take any photos, as there's really nothing to see yet! However, as soon as I reach the part where I get to unravel stitches, I will take more photos. I promise.

Waiting for "The Big Storm"

    Well, here we are, waiting for the Big Storm. All day I've been waiting. Early this morning, I woke up to thunder, and thought "Here it comes!" But no. After a little while it stopped thundering, and raining. As the morning went on, the sun even came out!


    All day, I've been watching the Weather Channel. And all day, they've been saying that it's coming. Before I left to sit with Miss Malia, I went down and brought in all the pool toys, and my Queen chair. Also all the towels came in, and whatever else I could carry that might get blown away by "The Big Storm".


    While I was with Miss Malia, I was still checking the weather on a regular basis. After a while, they added a tornado warning to the whole mess. And the sun was still shining. As I sit here and write this, it is finally starting to look like it might just do something.


   To me, the most disturbing thing is our new-neighbors-from-NYC. They put up a big tent type awning thing over the fourth, when they had a party. It is still up. I wanted Hubs to call them and ask them to take it down, and tell them that if it ends up in our pool and damages the liner, they will be buying us a new one.


    These are the very same neighbors who, when the hurricane hit our area last year, never even put their umbrella down on their umbrella table, much less take it inside. Here Hubs and I were, closely watching a tree on the corner of our lot, fearing it could come down (it didn't). We all got very lucky with the hurricane, it didn't hit us too badly. But it could have.


    It seems to me that preparing for the worst just make sense. Wouldn't you feel guilty if something you owned got blown somewhere and caused someone to get hurt, or Goddess forbid, killed? I know I would. That is why I run out there, even in the rain, to bring inside any projectile type stuff. It's not like I have to worry about my hair getting wet or anything...


    Hubs has gone to work, and I get to spend the evening here all by myself. I think it's time to go look for some candles... you know, just in case.