Weatherman Got It Right

Damage to Birch trees across the street from work

A week ago Friday the local weather crews were saying that we would get a couple of inches of snow starting Sunday, the 20^th, with it then turning to rain, then sleet, and then back to snow.  They got it right.

Early Sunday afternoon the big pretty snowflakes started falling, quite heavily. By 2pm there was a good 2 inches on the ground and then the rain started; off and on all
afternoon.  Around 7pm the rain had all but stopped so I decided I had better move that slush from the drive before it froze into a super thick sheet of ice that wouldn’t thaw until spring.  By the time I was done there was a fine misty-sleet starting.  By the time we went to bed it was snowing.

My drive to work is 12 miles of mostly country roads.  It starts with 3 four-way stops within the first 6 miles and then a few traffic lights the rest of the way.  At the first 4-way stop, the flashing red light was out.  As I continued on, I noticed there were no lights in any of the houses.  There was no electric until I got within a half mile of work.  Dang, I was really starting to think no electric - no work, but nooooo we had lights.  Two block past work the electric is out again.  Gee, how luck am I?

In Michigan the count was anywhere between 100,000 to 110,000 homes without electricity and in our county it was 40,000 – 42,000.  I may have been unlucky that I had to work, but we were lucky that we still had electricity.

My boss brought his parakeets into his office.  He was staying with his sister and taking them there wouldn’t work.  Even though it was only for a day it was rather nice to have them chirping away.  We told him we need a mascot.  We almost did have a cat.  A mouse decided to move into the office area.  The threat of getting an office cat came up several times.

It has snowed several inches in the past 3 or 4 days.  I made a half hearted attempt to clear it.  My winters start with keeping in clear and liking to see the drive nice and clean.  As the plow continues to come through it gets to a funnel effect – two cars wide at the garage and then narrows down to one car wide at the road.  About this time of the year, I’m into the God put it there, God can take it away mentality.  Suppose to be in the mid to upper 30’s all this week. 

Poinsettia

I do not have a green thumb.  In fact, I’m more prone to killing a plant than having it survive.  So who would have guessed that last year’s poinsettia would sprout the red leaf.  I’ve never gone on line to see what makes a new bud be green or red. 

Normally, my annual poinsettia gets tossed around February or March because it gets too leggy and has few leaves.  But,the one from last Christmas decided it was happy.  It stayed quite compact.  Two weekends ago I noticed a tiny red bud.  Last weekend I could see that it was definitely going to be a red leaf.  This is what it looks like today.   

Notice how I’ve only mentioned weekend.  That’s my normal watering day.  I might fertilize in the spring or summer if I remember to.  The rest of the week my plants are more or less on their own.  

Not sure if this year’s poinsettia will be as happy.  It’s smaller.  Only a couple of leaves have dropped off since December.  So far it looks to be a keeper.  I might try tansplant one outside this spring. 

Storm of the Century

Living east of Lake Michigan we are used to what can be days on end of fluffy snow.  The snow storm of this past week was well forecasted.  At work we cancelled Wednesday deliveries.  If we would be open, there was plenty of work in the warehouse.  At 10pm Tuesday it was decided we would be closed on Wednesday and we started calling employees.  That was the decision of the majority of businesses in the area, and I believe it truly speeded up the clearing process on the major and secondary roads.  The county cleared our subdivision the second day.  THAT was a first.  We usually don't see a plow in here for three or four days afterwards.

I am able to work from home, so after sleeping in beyond the normal 6am and actually having a week day breakfast with the hubby, I logged in and started working at about 8am.  I heard the snow blower start up about 9am.  I share our snow blower with the neighbors.  He'll clear our driveway and then go do his.  Can't complain with that arrangement, eh?  I'll do theirs if I know they are running the kids here and there.

Around 10am I could still hear him out there, so I bundled up and went out with the shovel to clear the walkway.  There was a drift in front of the garage about three feet high.  John said it was a good four feet in the middle when he started to tackle it.  In that hour he had two passes the length of the drive, about four feet cleared around the drift and the front of the garage door with about haflt of the drift left to be moved. 

We were still talking when the mail lady came up the street to the west of us in her little jeep like vehicle and started to get stuck.  John and another neighbor went over an helped push her out.  I could hear them both tell her that she needed to call it a day.  No one really needed junk mail that bad. 

I finished moving the snow drift and created a path the width of the car down the rest of the drive.  Later in the afternoon the sun was out.  Another neighbor came over with a big a$$ snow blower and cleared the what snow had fallen since John and I worked on it, and all of what we had left untouched.  I baked some cookies and took them over as a thank you.  Me and baking - yeah, that'll be another blog.  All in all, the final count was 12" of snow.  Ten miles to the east had 18".

   

                                   

Why a Blog

I had a New Years resolution to join the 21st century and get on Facebook.  It wasn't what I expected.  In fact, I was rather disappointed.  I didn't realize it is quips, a couple of sentences, a short paragraph at most.  I was hoping to be able to read what our extended family and friends have been up to.  How are the kids?  What's new?  I want to share what Jack and I have been doing, general thoughts, and observations.  A three second glimpse isn't what I had in mind.  A blog should do just fine.

Twelve years ago we spent about a year in Prague, Czech Republic.  I maintained a journal during our stay.  I want to pull those old files and post on this blog.