Okay you snow people...wt"heck"

[ileneg]

It's been heavily snowing here for 24 hours which is rather unprecedented for the Baltimore/DC metro area and we're up to just over 2 feet and it's HEAVY stuff -- NO laughing at me Do, Keith, Vince Runza, Michigan Vince, etc!

Okay, so while there is no denying the beauty of it, cause it really is absolutely gorgeous, I do have one question for you snow people. Ummmm what in the heck do you do with helping your dogs manage in this stuff? I suppose like people, your dogs must be used to it.

My, now 18 month old, puppy LOVES it and would stay out for hours if we'd let her (which we won't). My adult dog held his blatter for as long as he could before venturing out the dog door to relieve himself. Yes, the snow is just about as tall as they are and yes of course we continue to shovel a small area for them - but this is crazy!

It's heavy stuff - hmmmm didn't I already say that? Well anyway, it is still falling and I can't take another 800mg of motrin for another 6 hours - LOL!

Okay, deep breath, I think I feel a little better now. Sometimes you just gotta love the off-topic section.

ileneg

P.S. I just had a quick vision of what this weather must do to Keith's favorite people. Oh my they have to deal with this stuff too and it's no little task. ...(and I digress - guess I'll go back outside now...again)

[karunnt]

I hear there are a lot of accidents so just stay off the roads or use public transport. I wish we had some snow too.

[4local]

"P.S. I just had a quick vision of what this weather must do to Keith's favorite people. Oh my they have to deal with this stuff too and it's no little task."

ileneg, snorkels

~ Dave

[Spotted_Doe]

Wow! Two feet is a LOT for y'all!

Ah yes, welcome to the world of shoveling all day, for days. Dogs around here are used to it and owners shovel spaces for them to go. Keep in mind that we also live in the country and no one here has fenced yards (or sidewalks, or streetlights...) so dogs can run anywhere they like for the most part. But that's only once the roads are plowed or we'd lose the dogs in the snow.

I was driving past a neighbor's house yesterday who has 3 horses. They have to shovel a huge area of their pasture for them and I was thinking how darn lucky I am to not have to do that! Course, most of these people have super heavy duty snow blowers, but it still takes time.

In the winter, we often spend more time taking care of the areas outside our houses, than inside.

I'd suggest getting the snow off your roof (as much as you can anyway). Your building codes aren't the same as ours, so I don't know what your snow load limit is. Take a Motrin before bed and you'll sleep like a baby.

[Vince]

Originally Posted by ileneg

I do have one question for you snow people. Ummmm what in the heck do you do with helping your dogs manage in this stuff?

Two words...

"Snowblowers, Baby!"


Best Regards,
~Michigan Vince

P.S. Sure glad Michigan dodged the bullet on this one, but believe me, I have felt your (back) pain!

[Vince]

Hi Again Ilene,

Here's another couple options for ya (for the next snow storm)...
Best Regards,
~ Michigan Vince

P.S. You might need a jar of Vicks Vapor Rub to put a dab under your nose to get you past the smells.

[Thom]

Sorry guys I couldn't help myself....it was 65 degrees today though





Thom

[ileneg]

Originally Posted by karunnt

I hear there are a lot of accidents so just stay off the roads or use public transport. I wish we had some snow too.

No snow? Don't the Winter Olympics start there this coming week

[karunnt]

Originally Posted by ileneg

No snow? Don't the Winter Olympics start there this coming week

It's 7dec Celsius right now at 10pm. The games are in a ski town called Whistler a little north of here. But I doubt if they have tons of snow either. Should be interesting to see how this goes.

[ileneg]

Yep - I'm officially freakin' out!

We were originally only supposed to get a couple more inches of snow to add to the 28 we got this past weekend...BUT NOW it's a(nother) BLIZZARD! I've never seen anything like it...got another 8 inches over night and it's still coming down! I don't think we've ever had this much snow at one time.

Gorgeous on one hand and scary on the other, the wind is so crazy right now...I can barely see the trees across the street.

Okay Ilene...breathe...relax...it's all good...breathe...okay, I feel a little better now.

ileneg

P.S. Guess it would be a really good day to "cold call" too bad that's just not my thing.

[Thom]

Originally Posted by ileneg

Yep - I'm officially freakin' out!

We were originally only supposed to get a couple more inches of snow to add to the 28 we got this past weekend...BUT NOW it's a(nother) BLIZZARD! I've never seen anything like it...got another 8 inches over night and it's still coming down! I don't think we've ever had this much snow at one time.

Gorgeous on one hand and scary on the other, the wind is so crazy right now...I can barely see the trees across the street.

Okay Ilene...breathe...relax...it's all good...breathe...okay, I feel a little better now.

ileneg

P.S. Guess it would be a really good day to "cold call" too bad that's just not my thing.

OK it is an official snow day at your house ... get 3 layers of pants and shirts on
... get the terrorist type ski-mask on and head out for a snowman first...tear the limbs off the nearest trees for arms ... just don't let your Mom see you do it ... next dig tunnels under the drifts and where the snowplows dumped there stuff and crawl through them until one collapses and you almost suffocate (just kidding) ..now that you are thoroughly soaking wet and cold ... head in and drop your clothes on the floor and get some hot chocolate ..not hot cocoa ... and enjoy the rest of your day .. you worked hard this month ...why not act like a 9 year old.

Little Thom:-)

[MOS]

Originally Posted by ileneg

P.S. Guess it would be a really good day to "cold call" too bad that's just not my thing.

Probably not Ilene, since just about EVERYTHING is closed! I'm just hoping we don't lose electricity again. It caught me off guard when it happened Saturday so I'm prepared this time! I feel so bad for the people who are still without electric and aren't expected to have it until Friday.

[ileneg]

Originally Posted by Thom

OK it is an official snow day at your house ... get 3 layers of pants and shirts on
... get the terrorist type ski-mask on and head out for a snowman first...tear the limbs off the nearest trees for arms ... just don't let your Mom see you do it ... next dig tunnels under the drifts and where the snowplows dumped there stuff and crawl through them until one collapses and you almost suffocate (just kidding) ..now that you are thoroughly soaking wet and cold ... head in and drop your clothes on the floor and get some hot chocolate ..not hot cocoa ... and enjoy the rest of your day .. you worked hard this month ...why not act like a 9 year old.

Little Thom:-)

spoken like a true Floridian -

[duffmarketing]

Originally Posted by ileneg

spoken like a true Floridian -

Here's another one....

DAMN I'm freezing my arse off $&%# it's 40 degrees and it's almost 11:00!! It was below freezing last night. I know because there was ice outside when I went out for my first smoke of the day. I only have two jackets...one is leather and don't have any fluffy stuff inside to keep me warm and the other has some fluffy stuff but it don't look good on me. What the hell am I to do now? And I don't even have any snow to play in!

[ileneg]

This thread is crackin' me up...

All fun and kidding aside, we are extremely grateful that we contine to have our electicity on, especially since no power means no water.

The snow really is beautiful, though I could do without the wind...but this too shall pass/blow on by .

ileneg

[duffmarketing]

Glad you have power, water and heat. Hope you gots a stockpile of crackers too!
We Floridians don't have to deal with much snow of course, but damn those hurricanes! Talk about windy!

Originally Posted by ileneg

This thread is crackin' me up...

All fun and kidding aside, we are extremely grateful that we contine to have our electicity on, especially since no power means no water.

The snow really is beautiful, though I could do without the wind...but this too shall pass/blow on by .

ileneg

[karunnt]

Losing electricity is really traumatic. I lost it for about 6 hrs a couple of years ago and I thought that was bad. It must be really tough for people that lose it for days.

I would make a lot of hot chocolate and do a lot of reading. The best way to get through this is to wait it out and stay off the roads. It's pretty easy to get into accidents.

I was driving into Buffalo, NY from New Jersey and at 9pm I came into the city there were no cars on the road. This was a major city and there was no one out. All the lights were on but the city was completely deserted. Really strange.

After driving around a while I realized that there was a driving ban.

[duffmarketing]

I spoke above about hurricanes... The worst one I personally experienced (Ivan) put our lights out for about 2 days. I had stocked up on ice, beer and vodka to be sure! We were under a curfew, even during the daylight hours of the next day. My wife and I walked down to a boat ramp on the lagoon and two cops in an SUV ordered us back home! The storm was over...we were just sight seeing. Here's some of what it is like (but trust me, I'm not seeking sympathy, especially from you Ilene! I don't know which I would prefer, 2 feet of blinding snow and cold, or hurricane winds and rain... both can keep one holed up for a while!)

Photo I took of a deadly twister which Ivan spawned (this one killed one man... there were dozens more that killed a lot of people, like several DOZEN peopl in the area)



Here's a video someone took of the same tornado:
http://www.panamacityvideo.com/video...-sept-15,-2004
(you can see that they had about the same vantage point that I did)

That tornado is what killed our power. I had gone down to our watering hole which was across the street from the Gulf of Mexico (which was behind me as I took the twister pic) to take pics of the huge waves when I looked around and saw that thing. As soon as I snapped the picture the power went out, I went home, and me and the Mrs. "hundered down" as the hurricane force winds starting picking up more and more... we were in for one helluva scary evening as we listened to the radio simucast of the TV weather and heard the weatherman broadcast new tornado warnings about every 15 minutes.. and keep in mind, it is dark, we have candles going, the wind is about hurricane strength beating against the apartment, howling etc., all night long! And we were about 90 miles east of the eye!! (would have hated to be in Pcola that night!)


Here's looking out my front door as it was raining sideways...


I have another picture of me peeing in the middle of the street the next night (power was still out, it was pitch black, nobody was anywhere... almost everyone on our block had evacuated) - in case anyone wants to see that! lol - Hey I just had to do it!

Oh yeah, and before people tell me I was crazy to not evacuate... the next year as Hurricane Dennis was churning at a cat 4 or 5 in the gulf, we bolted toward NE Florida... damn it all, we encountered torrential rains all the way to our destination.. could only drive about 10 MPH on the interstate, and ran smack dab into the middle of an ongoing tornado warning just east of Tallahassee... we had the radio on and they were also doing a TV simulcast and they said "Tornado in Madison RIGHT NOW"... lo and behold, I was barely able to make out the big green sign on the interstate that said "Madison 1 mile". LOL Meanwhile back home, my friends and family who stayed behind said they only got a little wind and rain. Should have stayed home because that was the road trip from hell! (had a cat with us.. the a/c in the car went out, while it's raining sideways, bad neighbors at the motel, and on and on... misery!)

Sorry to hijack Ilene, but since it's off topic and we're discussing bad weather, I had to chime in with our side of the story down south! Every year I dread hurricane season, wondering if we're going to go through that again. So that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

(I'd like to hear other's bad weather stories! If we need another thread, let's do it and I'll move my long ass story over there! I like watching Storm Stories on Weather Channel.. but you probably figured that out already! lol)

Originally Posted by karunnt

Losing electricity is really traumatic. I lost it for about 6 hrs a couple of years ago and I thought that was bad. It must be really tough for people that lose it for days.

I would make a lot of hot chocolate and do a lot of reading. The best way to get through this is to wait it out and stay off the roads. It's pretty easy to get into accidents.

I was driving into Buffalo, NY from New Jersey and at 9pm I came into the city there were no cars on the road. This was a major city and there was no one out. All the lights were on but the city was completely deserted. Really strange.

After driving around a while I realized that there was a driving ban.

[4local]

Bringing things back to Ilenes neighborhood, in the mid '70s I lived in Arlington, VA. There was a blizzard that paralyzed DC and the fed. People abandoned their vehicles on Key Bridge, I-95 and the parkways. They walked home and stayed home for days. I spent a few days with a Georgia Peach from Valdasta, GA. Developed quite a taste for sweet onions.

Then there was the bad year I had in Buffalo one week. Almost fell into the raging Niagara river.

Then there was the morning we woke up in Santa Rosa, NM to severe snow storm warnings. We were headed home after a cross country RV adventure. The snow was already starting to fall when we headed east barely ahead of the bad weather.

The storm caught us in the Tennessee mountains and got worser and worser. But I was determined to get home so I kept going. Traffic went from semis strewn along the interstate to zero by the time we got to Cherry Hill, NJ.

Karunnt is right. It was the strangest feeling being the only vehicle on the road in a major metro area. By the time we got to the Jersey shore, it had rained a little but nothing more.

The next morning crowds gathered to gawk at the motorhome. It looked like hell all covered with road crud and icicles with wind trails down the sides and caked snow around the wheels and streaked brown snow-mud on the windshield.

That trip became legendary. To wake up at 7am in Santa Rosa, NM and try to outrun a major snow storm to fall asleep exhausted in Manahawkin, NJ at 2am after driving straight through. They may still speak of such things at the local Moose to this day.

Kissing my Arizona dirt,

~ Dave
<={-;

[ileneg]

South Florida - can't remember if it was Hurricane Rita or Wilma that ripped my mom's screened porch off and hurled it from the back of her house over to the front of her neighbor's house, ripped off roof tiles, broke windows, had her and her hubby taking shelter in a bathroom and knocked out their phones and power for more than a week...I have never heard her so scared! And of course we don't have to look any further than New Orleans to feel thankful it's just another blizzard.

All things relative, seriously, it's all good. I'll take the snow anyday (especially since I still have power)!

ileneg

[ileneg]

Originally Posted by duffmarketing

(I'd like to hear other's bad weather stories! If we need another thread, let's do it and I'll move my long ass story over there! I like watching Storm Stories on Weather Channel.. but you probably figured that out already! lol)

Let's do it - Storm Stories

[duffmarketing]

Originally Posted by ileneg

Let's do it - Storm Stories

Cool... I got a traveling snow story, not quite a adventurous as 4local, but still worthy of a mention.. I'll go post it at the new thread.

[MOS]

Originally Posted by 4local

Bringing things back to Ilenes neighborhood, in the mid '70s I lived in Arlington, VA. There was a blizzard that paralyzed DC and the fed. People abandoned their vehicles on Key Bridge, I-95 and the parkways. They walked home and stayed home for days. ]

Are you referring to February 1979? I'll always remember that snow event.

[4local]

Sounds about right Marcy.

[ileneg]