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« Previous EntriesSo this is Winter
Friday, March 2nd, 2012Earlier in the week, I had almost forgotten about that white stuff that falls from the sky.
Of course, I know where we live and it is hard to forget the snow from last year. This could have been the least snowy on record for February, but it was not meant to be. No, that funny 29th day killed that plan thanks to Mother Nature sending us a dose of reality. As of Tuesday, we had only received .6” of snow during the month. With a storm coming on Leap Day, we were going to easily go over the 1.2” record.
The photo above was taken right before I went to get JSL from preschool on Wednesday. The snow had started quickly and was making an impact. By about 4:00, it looked like this outside the house:
Thank goodness we all made it home safely, although skidding on the road was an issue. This morning, schools throughout the area were closed for the first time this season. The boys stayed home with me as more snow fell. After lunch, I went out to take some photos and get rid of the giant boulders of snow at the bottom of the driveway from the plows.
So my question to you this week:
How has the winter been by you? Mild, typical, snowy, tropical, or something in between. Share below and let me know what you think.
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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Aloha #193
Enough With the Weather
Friday, September 9th, 2011Weather – not exactly the topic of choice for a blog post, yet it is one that is on my mind. You see, in my part of NY, we expect weather issues in the winter. Ice and snow often keep us home, make driving treacherous, and cause damage to our home. This is not usually true in the spring, summer, and fall. These seasons are relatively quiet most years.
Mother Nature apparently decided that she was going to get our attention this summer. Over the last two and a half weeks, it has been wild, wacky, and down right deadly in certain locations.
Tuesday, August 23 – The boys and I just got into our car that had been serviced. As I turned the key, the car started to buck violently. The boys did not seem to notice. I got out of the car. This is when I felt dizzy and like my knees were going to go out from underneath me. This should have been my clue, but I was tired and getting ready for a romantic 10th Anniversary getaway with TechyDad. Thanks to Twitter, I quickly learned that what I had felt was not my car – it was an earthquake. Yes, in NY we were experiencing the quake that started in Virginia. Linda Carmical wrote about the social media connection and how word spread.
Sunday, August 28 – Hurricane Irene, came up the east coast and left a major impression on regions that were a lot further inland than ever expected. Thanks to this monster storm, we had to cancel said trip to Disney World. Roads were flooded throughout NY, bridges closed, and rivers running into homes that are gone. We were so lucky, but so many others were not.
For a few days, the weather was quiet. The sun came out. People started to clean up, repair homes, and move back into areas that had been evacuated by the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. Then it changed.
Sunday, September 4 – While at a birthday party, my father called us. He wanted to let us know that there were tornado warnings throughout the area. Sure enough, when we looked outside the wind was wild and the sky rather black. The party was over and we knew that closer to our house was getting better. As we left Chuck E Cheese, a clap of thunder shook the entire parking lot. A car alarm went off, and the sky was lit up with bolts of lightning. As we drove you could see the ominous sky fading behind us. By the time we reached our home the news of a tornado in Amsterdam had been confirmed. Here is a video that was filmed of the Tornado crossing the NY State Thruway (at about 5:48 in the video):
This seemed to open the rain up to the area again.
Monday to Thursday, September 5-8 – Yes, Mother Nature decided to dump more water on the area already inundated with flooding after Hurricane Irene. Welcome the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. Pieces were not picked up and inches of water were back all this week. Back to school has been gray, rain filled, and nasty. The Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, along with countless other creeks and waterways are over their banks. Watching the reports out of Binghamton, NY and other areas just breaks my heart. At midnight on Wednesday, areas in Schenectady County that had been evacuated during Irene were once again in chaos. People were told to leave immediately as water started to spill into the streets.
My heart goes out to all of those who have been dealing with this horrible weather and damage. We will be working on a project to help locals with items that are needed. Of course, I so wish we could bring some of the water to those in Texas. Thanks to the drought that area could really use it to help stop the raging wildfires.
So my question to you this week:
Do you recall many natural disasters from your childhood? If you do what were they and how did they change your life? Dare I ask . . . how is the weather by you?
I hardly recall any other hurricanes in our area. I remember them going to Long Island and places south of us, but no flooding in our region like this. This week, we are expecting the sun to return, which is much needed. Of course, this flooding will be an on going issue with any additional rain for months.
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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Aloha #168
The Trip That Never Was Thanks to Hurricane Irene
Monday, August 29th, 2011For weeks, I have been writing up posts to schedule. At one point I had two weeks set and would not need anything until after Labor Day. Two guest posts are set for this week alone. I was on a roll, things were flying onto my computer from my fingertips. Then things changed. Our world became obsessed with watching the news, checking on weather reports, and debating what to do.
I should be on the road to Long Island, NY right now (writing this Sunday afternoon). Instead, I am home watching record amounts of water fall outside my home. I am numb. Worry for family, friends, and our own home is not letting all of the reality set in. All I can do is sit here and wait on my bed with power (for now), but no internet or cable
You see, Tuesday morning I should be getting on an airplane. TechyDad and I decided in late July that we were going to just do something crazy. We were going to figure out a way to do a 10th Anniversary trip. We looked at several different options. In the end, we wanted something magical, something that would remind us of our honeymoon. Of course, that was a trip to Walt Disney World.
My in-laws agreed to watch the boys for the first time ever. I was nervous about a quick trip (we booked in the end of July) and leaving the kids to only get back home the day before school started, but they would be fine and we needed this.
Then something happened. Hurricane Irene decided to slam everyone up and down the east coast. My in-laws asked us to try to go on Saturday. I could not do it. The storm appeared like it was going to be so much more in the NYC/Long Island area that I wanted to be at home to keep an eye on things here. Friday night, I was so restless. I tossed and turned. The what if aspect of everything was killing me. Sure, perhaps we would have a flight, but could we guarantee being able to travel from here to there? Right now, TechyDad’s parents have no power. There was no way I could leave two young kids with them for five nights without power. That was not fair.
So, just before noon on Saturday, I made a tough call. It was time to call our airlines and travel agent to cancel our trip. We needed to focus on getting ready for the storm and not worry about how/if/when we could get to our flight. Our airline was fantastic. We are not reimbursed, but have credit that must be used with us back home by a certain date. We can handle that.
When I tried to call Disney to cancel on my own, the woman asked how she could help make my day magical. With tears in my eyes and obvious sadness, I told her she could make Hurricane Irene go away. She immediately got serious and said she was so sorry. In the end, our agent called and we were reimbursed for the package we purchased.
Now, as the storm is likely at the worst. How will this week be? I know I should be thrilled that my family and friends are safe. I am, do not get me wrong. Still, with each passing day from Tuesday to Sunday it will sting. I will think about the meal we are missing. I will morn the special trip that should have been. I will be ok, but it hurts. I shouldn’t complain since the last six weeks of dreaming of the trip helped make the summer bearable. The weeks went by as we planned to meet friends, eat special meals, and more. This last week of summer vacation for the boys is going to be hard. We will be picking up the pieces from the storm, assessing damage in our basement, and wondering how and when we can reschedule the trip that we needed. Yes, I really am ready for 2011 to be over since she has been so very evil in too many ways.
Update from Monday morning: Sunday was a long day here. The rain intense and the wind got worse into the dark evening. We were SO lucky here. Some issues in our basement that we now have to look into, but no major damage. Unfortunately, others within our area were not so lucky. Irene may have only been a tropical storm when she came into our area, but she packed one hell of a punch. Mud slides, dams bursting, lakes in front of houses at the base of mountains – a massive mess. We never lost our power here, but across the street they have none right now. Sheer exhaustion from no sleep for days caught up. I went to a room where I could not hear the howling wind and fell asleep on TechyDad’s chest. Today, he managed to get to work after closed roads leading to Vermont were just reopened. Now to see what we can do around the area to keep our minds busy.
One other thing, I really wish people would stop talking about the over-hyped nature of this storm. Should more people have died? Perhaps they have not seen some of the damage and more that is coming NOW thanks to all of the flooding that is still not at the worst level. I think a lot of people living inland and in parts of South Carolina and Virginia would beg to differ. No, NYC was not destroyed, but lives were forever changed up and down the east coast. The fact that people were safe is not a fail, but something we should celebrate after the mistakes from Hurricane Katrina. We need to remember that less is more in the case of a hurricane – especially when it is not as much damage in some very populated areas. To those with damage and picking up the pieces – my heart goes out to you.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – 10th Anniversary Edition
Monday, June 27th, 2011As I have mentioned before, Friday was my 10th Anniversary with TechyDad. He went to work, NHL went to school for his last half day, and JSL and I stayed at home to do some cleaning. We had someone stopping by later in the day to check on a clogged bathroom sink. Thanks to this sink, we were forced to wash hands in the bathroom tub.
The day did not exactly go as planned. You see, thank goodness the plumber came early. He showed up at 11:30-ish instead of 2-3. I had to leave shortly after to pick NHL up from school. When he left, we knew we had some large issues. He said he would go to lunch, get supplies, and come back about an hour later to get to work. In the end, he was at our house until about 7:30 at night. Our initial plans were shot and even other items had to be changed. Still, we made the best of the situation.
The Good:
We went to my parent’s house to have cake with the boys before putting them to bed there. Thanks to fumes, we could not stay in our house. Here are the delicious cakes that we had
Once the kids were FINALLY into bed, TechyDad still wanted to head out to dinner. Since it was almost 9:30, we had limited choices. I recalled a new Sushi place not too far away, so off we went to Mr. Fuji Sushi. Our experience at Mr. Fuji’s was amazing. The food was delicious, the people there super nice, and the atmosphere wonderful. Since it was so late, we ordered two appetizers and three sushi rolls to share.
To start we had Age Tofu and Vegetable Tempura
Then we had a Philadelphia roll, Avocado Peanut roll, and Sweet Potato roll
Yes, I believe this is the best sushi I have had in a long time. We will definitely be heading back to Mr. Fuji again soon.
The Bad:
We thought that the plumbing issue would require snaking the pipes. When they tried to do this, the snake refused to go down and kept going up into the pipes instead. When JSL and I left to pick up NHL at school, they were debating a few options.
- Try to go in the attic and snake things and it may last 1-2 years IF we are lucky.
- Replace the old pipes in the section that appeared to be the root of the issue with PVC pipes.
- I went to pick NHL up and bring the kids home for lunch.
The Ugly:
When they arrived back at our house, I saw them hauling a long section of PVC pipe. I knew it was the best thing, but I was paranoid and worried about things. As they started to work in the basement on cutting the pipe open, it started to get more complicated. They could not get to the top of the pipe from the basement. Suddenly, wall removal was needed. Yes, I think I aged several years in this afternoon from making big decisions on the fly and listening to the noises in my house. I knew that they were capable, but it was driving me batty.
The guys came back upstairs to give me the news and I immediately knew we made the right decision. You see, the pipe in the basement was nearly closed shut. The old material has basically closed itself shut. I never went to look in the basement until a while later. I gave permission to remove wall to get at the sink pipe within there. The hole got larger than this, but you get the point from this view:
After a lot of power tool noises and labor in the bathroom with the wall and pipe fighting, they finally got that sucker out. Check this bad boy out. Yes, this nasty object was pretty much what was happening down stairs in the basement as well. Here is our corroded galvanized pipe from within the wall:
It was not an easy job, but these guys were amazing. They dealt with my paranoia and got the work done and well. They even cleaned up the mess when the tiles on the wall next to the sink spontaneously fell off – no I am not joking. Apparently, they were not put on right by previous owners. This was good under the sink since nothing was ruined getting to the pipes behind the wall. I was too sick at the mess during that time to take a photo. I am also sparing you from photos of the basement pipes and sludge that came out of them. Let’s just say old toothpaste and soap are not pretty nor do they smell nice.
In the end, the pipe is fixed, a few more will need this down the road, and we need a massive bathroom rehab soon. More good news, the pipe works and we have a new faucet that is not leaking. Thanks to spray that was used during the cleaning process on the tiles/pipes, there are horrible fumes in our house. It has been a rough few days and we are so very lucky that my parents are here for us.
So there you have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly of our 10th Annversary!
Psssst. . . if you need a good person for home repairs in my area – just let me know. This work, along with the roof, and broken main water valve were done by the same person. Highly recommend.
Iced Over Mess
Monday, March 7th, 2011I interrupt regularly scheduled blog posts to announce that Winter has NOT left the building yet. The groundhog clearly did not specify where Spring would be coming early.
*sigh*
Over the weekend Mother Nature had some fun with those of us living in the north. First, she gave us warmer temperatures. 50 degrees in early March is not too shabby. Snow mountains that were here a week ago looked more like oversized ant hills on lawns. Sunday we watched as the rain came down very steady at times. Then, as the day moved on, the temperatures started to bottom out. Before we knew it, we were well below freezing and the rain turned to ice.
It is hard to concentrate on anything, including sleep, when ice is pelting your house. This morning schools in the entire area went from 2 hour delays to closed. Even our front door was glazed with ice. At first it was stuck shut. Imagine using that as your excuse not to get into work.
The trees are a mess thanks to the rain freezing on them. This is a little one on the side out front:
Ice is heavy and the tree in our yard is hanging down. If it large limbs fall I fear we will not have power, and may need repairs to the house itself.
Every little noise outside is going to keep me on edge. Excuse me while I go run for a blanket to hide under.
Knee High Up on the Roof
Monday, February 7th, 2011About a year after we bought this house, we learned a new winter term. What is this winter vocabulary item that will now haunt our winter lives? The word is ice dam.
We learned about ice dams the hard way. One late winter morning, I woke up and heard dripping. I slowly turned on the light and saw water coming in our bedroom. Yes, we had a leak there and on the other side of the wall, in our bathroom. We had no clue what was going on. We called a handyman that we knew and he came over. When he went on the roof he immediately saw we had a few giant ice dams that were allowing the rain to flow back into the house via the roof shingles.
Ice dams are something to be feared as a home owner in the northeast. If you drive around and see pretty icicles hanging off of homes, it typically means there is more going on up over the roof. Our fear of water coming into the house from ice dams means that TechyDad is constantly outside raking our roof and working on the ice.
The windows in our upstairs room allow us to get a first hand look at the lower section of our roof on the one side. Checking the ice dams has been very depressing this year. Saturday morning, we were scared of the weather report. It said a lot of rain and ice was coming our way. We went out and bought supplies to target the ice dams after others had suggested this technique. We wanted to make channels for the water to flow off of the roof and not back into the house.
When we came home from Home Depot with the 50 pound bag of calcium chloride, I went and found an old box of knee highs. TechyDad and I filled four of them to begin the experiment. After about an hour, we could see that they were doing something, so we went and filled six more knee highs to tackle the ice dams before the rain. We noticed an area of water pooling in one section and worked there. Sure enough, these nifty knee highs did the trick. The opened up an area for the water to flow off the roof.
So far so good. Of course, next year we plan on installing some heating coils on the lower roof section and other problem areas to try to prevent ice dams from forming. And if you are wondering, I will never be able to look at knee highs the same again!
Saturday Surprise at Home Depot Thanks to the Ice
Saturday, February 5th, 2011Dear NHL and JSL,
This morning we decided that we had to head to Home Depot to get some calcium chloride to put on the ice dams. Daddy and I heard that if we put that into some panty hose, that it would help to make channels for the melting mess. Our hope is that this project will help us avoid water coming into our bedrooms.
As we pulled into Home Depot parking lot, we realized it was the first Saturday of the month. That is when they do the Kids Workshop projects set up. After we grabbed 50 pounds of calcium chloride, I took NHL to check out what the project was.
We started the project together, then Daddy helped JSL to get started. You both enjoyed doing this and decorating it when you were finished.
Luckily the project did not take a long time, so we were back home to set up what we hope will prevent the roof from leaking in. Here are your finished projects at home.
Now we are keeping busy by cleaning the room upstairs. Both of you are so excited to have this space for a playroom. Hopefully we can work together as a team to get this going and finished soon.
Love,
Mommy
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If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.
Spring 2011 Will Come One Day
Friday, February 4th, 2011Wednesday, while Punxsutawney Phil was getting pulled out for his Groundhog Day show, we were digging out from an icy and snowy mess. I have to admit that I think Phil may have “said” he didn’t see his shadow just to avoid being on the dinner table around the country. Seriously, this winter has been crazy for so many people across the United States and beyond.
Here are some recent shots from the storm:
As you can see, we are running out of places to put the snow. I was outside for 2 hours shoveling. Thank goodness a neighbor felt bad and used his monster snow blower to clear off the end of our driveway where we had been severely plowed in. Before dinner, TechyDad raked the roof for quite some time.
So this mess has me thinking about Spring. My question for this week:
What are you most excited about for Spring 2011?
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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Aloha #137
Snowpacalypse – February 2011
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011We knew it was not going to be good when the meteorologists in the area refused to disclose information about Wednesday’s weather. They finally started to talk late Monday night. That should have been our first sign to RUN to Florida.
Instead, when I started to hear about the snow fall totals for the area, I started to laugh. And by laugh, I mean hysterical slap stick style laughing. Horrified laughter started as the panic set in.
Why you ask? Well, they are telling us to expect 18-30 inches of snow!
No schools in our immediate area delayed or canceled school. TechyDad took NHL to school this morning, and I brought JSL to nursery school. When I got back home, you could not tell that I had done anything this morning.
This is the pre-Snowpacalype photos of the front and back of the house.
What you can not see here are the snow piles in the front by the street, and on the side of the house.
Hmmm. . . anyone have a good deal on a snow blower?
No, it won’t help us now. I do think that if we get one it would stop all of the future snow from coming. Well, a girl can dream at least. Now off to figure out if I should go and get the boys from school now instead of later. Oy!
Where did my car go?
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010As everyone knows a giant storm hit the northeast of the United States Sunday into Monday. For days we were told it would not come into our area, then it suddenly hugged the coast a lot more and BAM – 10-12 inches of snow were here. The difference with this storm was the drifting snow. Snow banks around the house were several feet high in sections. At one point I looked outside the window and could barely see my car. Although not a great photo, it does get the point across.
The wind had taken all of the snow from my neighbor’s roof and planted it on and around my car. Thanks to this, I knew I had to go outside to get some photos. I got my snow gear on and went on an adventure. Please be my guest as I show you around our house.
We will begin with a view of the front snow piles and yard:
Then it was time to check out my car. Here are views of the back and front. You can see where all of the snow from the roof landed. It was tough trying to get there thanks to the depth of the snow.
After that I opened up the fence to shovel a path to the back door. Here is the yard:
I did not expect to stay outside long. After being in bed sick for several days, I knew I shouldn’t do much. Of course over 30 minutes later, I was shoveling out a path from the back of the house to the front. Chalk that up under a dumb moment. It felt good at the time, but later on I knew it was a mistake. TechyDad also posted some photos of his time out in the snow.
So did you get snow by you? If you did, how much? If no snow by you, would you like some?
The wind is still pretty bad today. If it settles down I have a feeling the boys will demand to go outside and play in the snow.
