Hazy Shade of Winter: Update Number Three

It is now 3:00 p.m. and it is still snowing. Since I have some people coming to see the house tomorrow, I decided to get back out and tackle the rest of the shoveling and also dig my car out so that I can leave while they are here. Forty five minutes later, I am sweating and I have downed about 20 ounces of water in five minutes (rare for me). I'm glad that I skipped my workout this morning--between the two shoveling efforts, I have gotten about an hour and fifteen minutes of cardio. My motto is that one should never physically exert oneself more than necessary, so I will remain stationary for the rest of the day.

The amount of snow on the roof of the car:

Kenna "helping:"

Now, off to take another shower...

Hazy Shade of Winter: Update Number Two

Okay, so it's still snowing at 10:30 on Friday morning. We're now about 36 hours into this, although the snow that is coming down now is much lighter than it has been. Here's what we woke up to this morning:

Poor Kenna couldn't even get off of the porch to do her morning business, so I knew that I would have to get moving on the shoveling.

See that little bump in the middle of the photo? That's the mini Weber grill.

Look how pitiful:

Most of my measurements read about 18-20 inches, although there is way more in places where the snow has drifted. In any case, 18-20 inches is quite enough and it kept me from being able to go out my front door. So, I shoveled my way out the back, opened the gate a little, and trudged through the snow until I got to the front of the house.

I haven't even gotten to the car yet, and I might not. I'm not going anywhere for a while and we're supposed to get a little sun later today, so I'll wait until later to decide when to work on this project.

This one is just for Father of Ken--I didn't do a single thing to make it easier for the postal person to get to my mailbox. This is payback for not taking the packages that I left for them last week, hanging in a plastic bag from the mailbox. Instead of taking the packages, they stuffed my new mail into the plastic bag and drove on.

So, yeah, this has been fun. Thank God for neighbor Jeff, who has kindly plowed in front of my car twice--once last night and again this morning. That cuts down on my work, so he'll probably be getting some cookies soon. The county plow has been by once this morning, but it isn't clearing the roads, just keeping the snow from accumulating too much. There is at least half of an inch of snow and icy slush on the road and I will not be venturing out in that.

Hazy Shade of Winter: Update

The snow hasn't stopped all day and it is now getting heavier. The wind began to pick up late this afternoon and there have been gusts between 25 and 35 mph, making it difficult to see the street outside of my front window. I took some photos just before it got dark tonight to show my gentle readers how much snow we have gotten today. Enjoy!

I never get snow this far back on my porch:

Taken through the door--I refuse to go outside in this. Kenna has no choice.

By 8:00 tonight, we had so much snow that it was creeping up over the screen of my door.

Just kidding ;-)

The snow made me extremely hungry, so I made bolognese sauce this afternoon along with French bread and then tonight I made a loaf of challah. I think I have run the dishwasher three times today.

The official advice is for everyone to stay inside and off of the roads until at least tomorrow morning because it's only going to get worse overnight. I am grateful for my warm dog and my warm bed.

Up next: a new Obsession and some Reminiscing...

Hazy Shade of Winter

Well, gentle readers, the latest snow storm has arrived in central New York. Here's what we woke up to this morning:

The snow is coming down rapidly and we're supposed to get 1-3 inches an hour for most of the day and tonight. Thankfully, Kenna and I have plenty of things to do within the comfort of our warm, dry house.

Hazy Shade of Winter

So, last night we got an unexpected snow storm that dropped about six or eight inches of new snow on our fair hamlet. I was supposed to go to church for the 7:30 Ash Wednesday service, but after getting stuck on the way up the hill out of my neighborhood, carefully turning around and heading back, getting stuck on the way up the next hill, carefully turning around and taking an alternate route and praying that I could make it home, I decided that if I wanted to live to see Easter, I had better stay home. By this morning, poor McKenna and her six inch legs were having a hard time navigating through the snow:

After realizing this week that I had three containers of leftover chicken parts in the freezer, I decided that a snowy day was the perfect time to make some chicken stock. It is chilling in the refrigerator now, to be finished tomorrow:

In other news, I received a box from Mother of Ken today with some new "Reminiscing" material, so look for that to be posted soon.

Hazy Shade of Winter

So, Kenna and I spent this past weekend in Maryland, helping Tricia move into her new house on Saturday and hanging out in DC to see the Barack Stars perform on Sunday. You may have heard that there has been some snow in that area lately--here's a little taste of what it looks like. For more detailed information, go to Leah's blog, where she has chronicled her "Snowcation."

My car, next to Mt. Duke Court:

A close up of the snow:

One of the parking lots in the area--they all look like this:

Some video of Leah, Tricia, and Ken driving to and from Tricia's new house. Her development wasn't plowed very well, so getting in and out of there was fun, but at least we weren't the ones driving the U-Haul. For those members of our families who get nervous about us driving in the snow, please be aware of the following:

1. I did not exceed 10 mph on this road.

2. Father of Ken taught me how to drive in the snow.

3. I had both hands on the steering wheel at all times while Leah filmed.

4. McKenna was not in the car. She was safely tucked away at Leah's house and her life was never in danger.

5. Michael Jackson was with us all the way.

Enjoy!

Hazy Shade of Winter

I have a lot of things to post about, but I'll start with the weather for the past four days. On Thursday, I came downstairs to find the sun shining south of the house and this to the north:

And the clouds just kept rolling in:

The snow began to fall:

We had about half an inch within the first 30 minutes.

Friday was very cold, but Saturday morning we woke up to a balmy -5 (-12 with wind chill). Kenna shot me a look when I opened the door for her to go outside that clearly said "you have to be crazy. I am not going out in that."

Sunday morning wasn't much better, but we at least got into the 20s and had some sun. Early in the morning, though, things were pretty frosty:

Brrrrrrr. Thank God for down blankets, heated mattress pads, flannel sheets, and, most of all, my furry furnace of a dog (who is, at this very moment, snuggled into my warm bed with the mattress pad turned on).

Hey Santa: Christmas in Kansas

This year, I thought that I would share some of my family's most cherished Christmas tree ornaments with you, my gentle readers.

This is an ornament that Mother of Ken made several years ago and it seems appropriate to begin with it:

Here's the tree with lights, ready for us to decorate and Boomer ready to supervise:

The most famous and important ornament of all is the Egg Carton Santa that Father of Ken made when he was a child. It is the first ornament that goes on the tree every year and it has a special box of its very own:

Tags that belonged to our late, beloved first Boxer, Kramer:

The little bear with the bow tie:

Brother of Ken's very own egg carton creation--this time, a bell (I think) that is an homage to the Oakland Raiders:

The baby ornament that Mother of Ken bought the Christmas that she was pregnant with me:

The bear with the scarf:

The felt Wizard of Oz ornaments that everyone in our family has a set of:

Super Mouse:

Brother of Ken's Bednight Bear ornament:

Once all of those ornaments were on the tree, along with many others, it was time to put the angel on top. Kenna is helping Father of Ken:

Here is our table, set for Christmas dinner:

We had beef tenderloin with white wine and shallot sauce, puffed Manchego mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli and cauliflower, herb rolls, and salad.

For dessert, we had a variety of candies and cookies including (from the bottom left), homemade toffee courtesy of Grambi and Aunt of Ken, dark chocolate bark with pistachios and dried cherries, peanut blossom cookies, butter mints, Ina Garten's jam thumbprints (not worth the effort), and Danish wedding cookies:

The living room:

The Nativity set (or "activity" set as Brother of Ken used to call it) painted by Grambi:

A winter storm hit here on Christmas Eve, so we had sleet and snow coming down along with winds gusting up to 45 mph. We sent Grandmother and Uncle of Ken home early and then decided that we weren't going to be able to make it up north to Mother of Ken's church for Mass. This is the first year in my entire life that I haven't gone to church on Christmas Eve, but it just wasn't safe for us to be on the road, especially in the dark. It sleeted and snowed all night--it sounded like someone was throwing marbles at our windows. We were supposed to celebrate Christmas with Father of Ken's family, but the roads were not clear, so we had to wait until Saturday. Thankfully, we had plenty of leftover tenderloin to eat. Needless to say, no part of our Christmas plans took place as we expected, but everyone is alive and safe and we eventually got to see each other and that is the important thing.

There is still a lot of crap on the roads, several days later. In New York, I am used to competent snow removal, but in Kansas, that doesn't exist. I love Kansas, but the city manager here once said that "our best source of snow removal is the sun." They don't plow much, they don't treat the roads, and they just let people pack the snow down until the whole town is like an ice rink.