Friday, December 20, 2013
When we arrived home from the little house in the city on December 3rd, I had no idea it was going take until last night, December 19th, to get out into the world again! Last night everything was a go. The roads were passable, it was not snowing, no freezing rain fell from the sky. We decided to make the trip into town for supplies, and to finish my Christmas shopping. We had the roads mostly to ourselves, but for the sanders.
We now have our potatoes and carrots, cheese and bread, and two new vacuum bottles for Attila. Attila has been drinking cold coffee for a few months now, as his old vacuum bottle had lost its seal. He was holding out for a sale; it never materialized. He bought two small vacuum bottles, only because two were a lot less expensive than one larger one. And, at last, I managed to purchase Attila’s Christmas present.
This morning it is snowing again. The weather report for areas south of us is full of freezing rain warnings. We will not be venturing forth while those warnings are in place, which will spoil any plans to visit family before Christmas. Scuppered again!
Thinking about the weather reports, it seems to me I had better get baking. If we lose our power in these ice storms, it is possible we will be unable to prepare Christmas treats! Suddenly, today is baking day!
Terra got in touch with me this morning to ask about staying at our little house in the city, if she gets stranded in town after work this weekend. It is very handy that our little house in the city is walking distance from where she works! We leave a little bit of food there as well, so she should be well sorted if she gets stranded in town.
Attila is tired this week. The snow plough where he works broke down, and it has been a real challenge to keep the work flow going smoothly with all the snow we are getting. Our trip to town last night was a real break for him. We ate out! At the only restaurant that is safe for me, McDonalds. When we got home Attila got the fire going in the masonry heater and headed for bed. I stayed up for the next few hours, in order to close the damper on the masonry heater, once the flames had died and only glowing embers remained.
I stand at the window, watching the snow fall heavily from the sky, and the blanket over the earth swelling white. I am thinking of Kate Rice, the prospector, who lived in remote areas, without a partner, and then with a prospecting partner. How disconnected, how free, she must have lived, away from the ebb and flow of the disingenuous ways of the world. Her world fell apart when her prospecting partner passed away and business men started taking an interest in her assets. “Success” doesn’t seem to make balanced people very happy.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Attila left before dawn, removing several inches of snow from his car windows before he headed down the road. Today he will come home before dark, as it is Saturday, his short day, which is shorter in the winter than in the spring, summer, and autumn.
I had a nice chat with Harriet this morning, who was making baked beans while we chatted. Technology allows that now, the ability to move about a room while speaking on the telephone, which still seems decadent to me. Harriet calls when everyone at her house is asleep, and we chat until someone there wakes up, then she is off and busy.
Terra wrote to say the roads where she lives, near our little house in the city, are horrid. A half hour drive home from work took her an extra hour to traverse. She arrived home safely though, which is the best news.
There is a Christmas party today, a one hour drive from here, that I would have liked to attend. But the roads are snow packed, the weather unpredictable and subject to sudden misbehaviour. We are staying home, plans scuppered again. Just as well, lots to do here, with toting wood and shovelling snow. And after all, I have had a big outing already. Just two days ago I went shopping for groceries in a store!
Mist and I remain content at home, content to watch the snow from the window; watching Attila.
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Worldly Distractions
Weather
-5°C
Date: 2:07 PM EST Friday 20 December 2013
Condition: Light Snow
Pressure: 101.2 kPa
Visibility: 4 km
Temperature: -4.5°C
Dewpoint: -5.9°C
Humidity: 90%
Wind: ENE 9 km/h
Wind Chill: -8
-5°C
Date: 11:00 AM EST Saturday 21 December 2013
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -4.8°C
Dewpoint: -5.8°C
Humidity: 93%
Wind: calm
Quote
“Nothing ever becomes real ’til it is experienced.”
John Keats
While you’re deep in snow, we’re having unusual warmth here in central Carolina–71F today, some 20+F above our usual. It seems an odd weather year in many places.
Wow Wendy, that is balmy weather for Christmas! I agree, the weather is unusual, and getting unusualer and unusualer very year!
I know unusualer is not a word, but I like it!
Wow, that is a LOT of snow! I hope the electricity and your web connection hold strong!
We lucked out in mid-New England. We had a lot of snow but then it warmed up – a lot – and within a few days, there are now bare spots showing on the front lawn. Removing snow is already starting to get old, and the older we get, the more troublesome it becomes.
Thanks Joan, I have my fingers crossed about continued hydro service! If we have power our Internet connection usually works. If the phone lines come down we will lose our Internet connection, but that only happened once, the first month we lived here. So far, so good.
It was raining ice when we got up this morning, and then it was snowing again. The trees are groaning under the weight of sodden snow!
I am with you Wendy, removing snow has become old, old, old, just like us!
Still, since Christmas is approaching, I am able to kid myself that it is a lovely white Christmas. Sometimes denial is the only sane way to approach a situation!