Blizzard Greetings
❄️! I missed sending my usual weekly Tuesday email because we were digging out the 20-30 inches of snow we received from Monday's blizzard. I give a range because we had a recorded 73 mph winds which created incredible drifts. We were out of power/wifi for 34 hours. A huge thanks to the Kentucky utilility workers who traveled 17 straight hours to come to our rescue on our street.
There were countless others who traveled from so many states to assist everyone who was affected, I only chatted with the ones from Kentucky who worked in front of my house. First, let me get some business stuff done first and then I'll give you more snow details. - Saturday, Feb. 28 is the last day to redeem your Bonus Days Coupons
- Monday, March 2 is the last day to receive
a free Stampin' Positioner tool in the Stampin' Up! joining kit. More details.
- Local Event - March 6 is the last day to register for the in-person stamping event on March 28 that will be held in Norwell, Massachusetts. Register here. (I hope all the snow is gone by then!)
You can see more photos than I show here on my facebook page, including some videos. As I type this on Wednesday morning, it just began snowing again a half hour ago. Not really what any of us need - physically on the ground or mentally! I hope you enjoy my blizzard account and I'll be sure to make it fun & lighthearted. But, I also have a not so hidden message. Snow can be very pretty and fun, but it also has an opposite side that can potentially wreck havoc and danger. Precautions and preparadeness make a big difference. My friend had a tree that landed on her car. I am sure there are many other stories & situations that happened too. I've just been out of the loop without power or access to local news. This is the night before the storm (I've never shopped when it was this crowded). Everyone goes to the food market to stock up on essentials and not so essentials. I was actually prepared with enough food, but then I decided to invite my parents over for a Sunday night dinner before the storm and had to get lasanga ingredients. My husband is a first responder and got called into work on Sunday. He came home for a quick lasanaga and then went back out again. We didn't see him again until Tuesday night. We woke up on Monday morning to a very dark house. We still had power, but all of the wind had plastered the snow/ice to all the windows so we couldn't see outside. Power went out at 9:30 am. My kids and I decided to scrape some of the snow/ice off the windows so we could take stock of what was happening outside. You know that brown pampered scraper I use instead of a bone folder? It made a great ice scraper! We opened the windows, braved the
wind and scraped little peep holes. What we saw was a white out winter scene. Not only could we hear and feel the wind howling, but we could now see it. All while bracing for a tree to fall. My house is surrounded by very large pine trees. Over the years, both we and mother nature have cut down trees, but there are so many others still standing. We live across the street from a traffic island (triangle).
I noticed that the telephone pole on the island was bent. I called the non-emergency number for the fire department to let them know (figuring this wasn't an emergency because the whole town was out of power). Broken telephone pole (I'll find out later it's actually broken in two places). You can barely see the fire truck! We watched them get out, see the pole, walk around through the wind and snow, point down the street and point to our house. We find out later why. At this point, we realize we'll be out of power for a while which will affect our food in the fridge & freezer. I took a picture of what's
inside (to prevent opening & closing). The day prior, I filled up four one gallon jugs with water and froze in the freezer to act as ice blocks. I put one in the fridge, one in the freezer and leave two in our basement freezer. I also filled four coolers with snow and move some important items into the coolers in hopes of keeping them usable. Snow is a great insulater and I knew if it melted, we had plenty more fro replenishing! There was no way we were venturing outside to begin storm clean up and I knew my husband wouldn't be home (so we didn't have to dig him a spot to park), so we rided the storm out by doing tasks that get pushed aside. My daughter and I sorted hundreds of recipes in my two binders and huge pile (that
was set aside for "later"). I'm not lying when I said, this took hours. I had also started a bread dough the night prior, hoping to be able to bake it in the morning. Well, I didn't get it in the oven before the power went out so decided to give it a old-school try and cook it on top of our wood stove. Not bad, if I don't say. It's not pretty and the bottom
got scorched, but the rest of it tasted pretty good and gave us something fresh to snack on during the day. We are lucky to have both a wood stove to keep warm and a propane gas stove so we can cook (just not the oven). We had reheated meatballs for dinner because we knew those wouldn't last the power outage. If you don't already have a head lamp, I strongly suggest getting one. I personally think they would make great wedding gifts for newlyweds. Another vital emergency item is a rechargeable light/lantern. We bought ours from luminaid.com they are awesome. You can also purchase them for disaster and refugee relief which I like. Ellen recommended them to me years ago. That's how I was able to re-charge my phone and see to read. The kids and I played a few rounds of Uno and listened to our old fashioned, battery/solar powered radio and then went to bed early. We woke up to sunshine and LOTS OF SNOW! We decided to eat a good breakfast (of more bread & fruit) and then head outside to battle the snow. I gave
orders of taking our time, taking frequent breaks and not stressing. This particular type of snow is called "heart attack" snow because it's so heavy. As I mentioned way above, we had a lot of drifting which means some areas (not much) were only a few inches and some were up to 30 inches, way above the height of the snow blower. The other hard part of all this snow was the 12-18" that was already on the ground from a few
weeks ago - we are running out of places to put all this snow!!! The snow at the end of the driveway, which was pushed in by snowplows was filled with salt, slush and too concentrated for the snowblower to push through. It was tough going! Our neighbors came over to help out and then once we got through, my son went over to help out neighbors with the snowblower because they don't have one. As I was shoveling (four and a half hours worth), it gave me time to think. I grew up as a child of a first responder and now am married to one. That's all I know so I'm used to being self sufficient, as well as accepting help from neighbors. It made me think of all the other spouses and children of first responders who need to be self
sufficient while their family members are out helping others. If you have a neighbor or friend who is in this same situation, please help them out. Not by saying "if there is anything I can do let me know" but by just helping out. They will be so very grateful (and will be a great neighbor to you in return). Remember I was talking about our pine trees earlier? Well, one of our huge pine trees did fall. In fact, it fell onto wires across two lanes and then cracked the telephone pole in two places! We never heard it fall because of the incredible winds and snow it landed on. National Grid (our electric company) had a truck by these wires all night, so I knew they were prioritizing this. So many households were affected by this outage. I spoke with and thanked the crews who came up from Kentucky (and other places like I mentioned above). I gave them what I had,
water and homemade goods (made the day prior to losing power). Just like helping the spouses of first responders, I urge you to help those first responders too - even if it's "just' with a heartfelt thank you. I know that means a lot to them. A day later, I see that crews are still driving around helping those who still need help. The road directly in front of us is still closed because of the problems with the fallen tree. Schools and local businesses are still closed. First responders (my husband included) are still doing double shifts. This storm was a whopper of a storm.
Although I didn't have access to any of the news reporting, I think it will go down in the record books competing with the blizzard of '78. Today, I'll be cleaning out the fridge and seeing what is still viable. I'm also looking forward to a nice hot shower. Be well my friends and take good care of your neighbors. |
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