Thursday, February 11

Snowmegeddon

That's what they're calling it. Here's a brief history.

We had measureable snow in November. We had about 2 feet just before Christmas. January was relatively peaceful.

Then came February.

We had only a few inches on Feb. 2, but it was cold and stuck around. On February 5, the second snow of 2010
hit. The first flurries showed up late afternoon. It didn't lo
ok like much when I went to bed that night. Maybe a few inches. Then during the night, the real snowfall came. When I awoke at 7:30 a.m. we had this:

And it kept coming all that day.

This one on the left is a picture of my back deck, taken though the glass doors.
Those two lumps are my garbage can and my table. As you can see by the drops on the glass, it was still coming down when I took this picture. That's why it looks so hazy; it's viewed through the snowfall. Measurements vary by area, but I think we had something like 28" when it was done.

The next day everyone started digging out. The day after that I was able to get out of my neighborhood and fill up my gas tank and make a grocery run. The bread aisle was decidedly picked over, but there was bread. Of course, I got there early, hardly anyone in the store. But the parking lot was plowed. All of this was good because ...

We got more. Can you find the trash can now?

The guys manning the road plows worked like dogs, they really did. But even so there were many areas that hadn't been plowed before the second snow hit. And thousands of people in my county have been without power for days. Families moved into hotels or just shifted to a friend or family member's home. Trucks got stuck in the snow. The plows and tow trucks sent to get them out got stuck. And although it only dumped a measly 10"-20" inches more on the area (about 14" in my neighborhood) this second storm came with very high winds. The plows had tried to forge on, but eventually they were called back because the drivers simply couldn't see. And it kept on coming until about 7 p.m. last night.

I was out around 4:30 p.m. trying to make a start on clearing my sidewalk and car. I have this power shovel that was a gift a few years ago and it really came in handy. Not much good on the first snow, just way too deep; but handy for this second snow. Also, getting an early start helped a lot. Then I went out and finished up this morning. The sky is blue and the sun is shining, so getting the worst of it done early meant the sun could melt whatever I couldn't get scraped up. Here are some more photos.



Skiing, anyone? Below is not my house. I couldn't get a good picture of my roof because of a tree, but I've got a similar ice situation. I've been swinging a garden rake in the general direction of the gutters, trying to keep the icicles to a minimum.








Yes, that's my car. I'm rather proud of the job I did, getting it dug out.




This photo, below, is where a bobcat (is that what they're called?) piled snow around a tree. We've run out of places to put it.








And my sidewalk. That's the power shovel leaning against the front door. As you can see, I left scrapings, but the sun has already cleared most of that up.
Plus I used a wee bit of my salt stash wherever the patches looked especially nasty. Also around my tires. If you ever see bags of salt in the store, get yourself one. Never mind that you don't expect snow. It won't go bad, and you'll thank me for it eventually.

Thursday, February 4

Time, Please

The main problem with life is all this other stuff you have to get out of the way in order to get to the stuff you really want to do. Take jobs, for example, which are just about paying bills, really. And the bills are just a by-product of the jobs other people are doing in order to get the money to pay their bills that somebody else sent them! It's a big vicious circle, is what it is.

And what now what I really want to be doing is reading and crocheting. I'm collecting books and patterns like crazy, and if I live long enough to collect enough money to pay the bills without the job (gotta pay the bills, so the next guy can collect his money and pay his bills, and so on) I am going to be so set. I've also been buying yarn. Not as devotedly as with the patterns and books, because the yarn thing can really add up to a lot of money; but when I come across something particularly luscious, I can't stop myself from getting it. If I ever have the time to just sit and play around with yarn and pattern and techniques, I'm going to have a blast.

And books. I read all the time. I'm either reading a hardcopy book or listening to an audio book. This is great because then I can crochet and read at the same time! I read books from the library and buy books from stores. I collect and reread books. And it's never enough. Some I have to devour right away. Some I set aside, allowing anticipation to build and plotting ways to carve out big blocks of time so I can sit and just read without interruption. It's hard to do at home because people know I'm there and will insist on trying to get in touch with me. Tell people you are going to spend a few quiet hours just reading and you'd think they were on a suicide watch the way they line up to talk to you.

Don't tell me I can just read them later. I know that technically books won't go bad if I can't get to them right away. It's not like there's an expiration date ... well, okay, there is on a library book, sort of. And the lady at the yarn store assures me that yarn doesn't go bad, either. In theory, both will wait patiently until I can get to them.

But I don't want to wait. I want to do all this stuff NOW. So here's my plan. If everyone just stops doing this work thing, if we do this all together, then there won't be anyone to send out bills. And if there aren't any bills, we won't need the money, so we won't need the jobs. And I can stay home and read and crochet. With my phone off the hook.

Are you in?