Pummeled by Storm

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

As the Weather Channel predicted, we are getting pounded by this winter storm.  Maybe 4 inches overnight but the blizzard is supposed to be today.  Right now we're gusting to 45 mph with sustained winds of 33 mph.  Huge drifts in our backyard and Missy and Joe are loving it.  I'm not keeping them out for long stretches just because of the winds.  Plus as crazy as they are about running, their ears could get frostbitten and they wouldn't know something was wrong.  Not to mention balls of snow between their toe pads.

Grand Island is on the Weather Channel right now!  WHO HOO!   Bob said you can see our bank on TV right now.  No, don't have the link but should be easy to find.  Just google Winter Storm Kayla.  We're due for another 8-12" to come.  Our first winter here, first day of spring we got 22", all in one day.  Nice thing was it melted like 2 or 3 days later.

I was laughing out loud yesterday when all three of the school districts cancelled school for today before the first snowflake had fallen.  I couldn't believe they were believing the forecast when they are wrong like 90% of the time around here.  As it turns out, they definitely made the correct call.  Glad that kids are not having to get out in this mess other than to go sledding, etc.

We're hunkered down for sure.  Made a last quick run last evening, just as the snow was starting to stick and it has accumulated rapidly.  Our back door was drifted shut but it didn't take much effort to open it.  With 2 dogs, you keep doors to their playground open.

All I have to say is SNOWDAY!  Know my contractor won't be here nor should he be in this mess.  I do have a bridesmaid dress to hem as it is getting picked up tomorrow (if she can get out); otherwise, Dark Shadows reruns for us; as well as a Blizzard Day batch of popcorn!  WHO HOOOO!!!

VIrginia

[Darren Henry]

Whoa, that's some nasty weather. How cold has it been? I guess the good news is that your groundhog didn't see his shadow (or much of anything else,grin) this morning. Spring will be here in a month and a half, as apposed to 6 more weeks of winter.

I almost hate to brag about our weather this winter. Winnipeg [provincial capital 2 hours east of here] has only recorded 1 -30 C temperature in January. Twelve  would be more normal. Wednesday and Friday last week we hit +5 C here in Brandon or roughly 41F. Today we have a lot of icy patches on sidewalks etc... but warmed up to -6, which is around 21 or 22 F.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I took a bunch of pictures this afternoon, both of the snowdrifts and of the dogs and their snow antics.  Will definitely get them uploaded and posted in the morning.

So far, they are saying that Grand Island has 14.9" of snow; the most snow thus far for any location.  No one in Grand Island has lost power so that is good news as I know there are places in Nebraska without power because of the high winds knocking down lines.

Right now our temperature is around 26 degrees Fah.  I've not seen what the wind chill is and don't want to know as it was miserable when I was out taking pictures.  Brrrr.  One of our drifts is about 4-6" from the top of our 6 foot fence.  I've never seen drifts like that before.

I cannot believe how much the dogs love the snow.  I had to just about drag them in to get them in earlier.  They had been out for at least 30 minutes and had been wrestling in the snow so were both just about completely white.  They are now wrestling on the living room floor.  Nuts anyway!

Virginia

[Mike]

seems odd naming winters storms. you all must have been jealous of our named hurricane's .

I kinda miss hearing the sleet hitting the bedroom window and the sound of the snowplow passing about 30 mph. with the strobe light lighting the bedroom   and a new snowmobile waiting to ride.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

LOL Mike, I thought the same thing when I heard of a winter storm being named.  That was maybe 3-4 years ago.  Not sure as time flies these days.

Thankfully, the blizzard is over, at least in our location.  I'm sure Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, etc may still be feeling its effects but we're done.  I feel bad for Bob today as he gets the pleasure of shoveling snow and trying to dig out my car.  UGH!  Haven't ventured outside the fence so my car might not be buried.  I know some cars across the street are but they didn't have a barricade and I park right outside the garage door so it might just need windows cleaned off.  I don't need to go anywhere right now.  Do need a zipper from Jo-Ann's but can blow that off for a few days as I told the customer 2 weeks due to the incoming weather (he was here mid-morning on Monday).  Bob's smart about it and does shoveling in sections.  He'll do the front walks first to make sure we're in compliance with the city, then inside the fence and then the driveway, car, etc.

I've shoveled inside the fence when it's light but even that sends my back into fits.  Just one of the many things my fused back does not like.  Since he's over 60, he could actually call the Grand Generation Center and they would send over someone who would do it for a fee but he keeps saying that it's good for him to shovel.  Hopefully he won't overdue and have the big one.  Thankfully he seems to have inherited his Mother's genetics and the heart issues are on his dad's side with his sister seeming to have inherited those genes (boy was she p/o'd that she had the heart attack instead of Bob--she can be really weird when she wants to be).

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Some of dogs being idiots are included in here.

Here are some of front yard and drifting, steps on the front porch, mail box and so forth:







The rest of these are the back yard and side yard with some dog shots included.  They really have gone nuts over the snow and played lots of games: chase, hide and seek and so on.  Here they are:








Will add more later. Having problems getting them to load from PB correctly.

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Will see if I can get the rest of these to load now:













OK think that is all of them.

Two look kind of similar.  Back yard facing the alley.  One is almost white out conditions and the other is white out (or as close as you come without actually being white out)

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Final storm total is in and the total snowfall is 18.3".  Fortunately, several inches melted as soon as they hit the ground as the temperature was above freezing initially.

Virginia

[Darren Henry]

http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/huskerslover2001/media/Almost_White_Out_zpsqxonya9f.jpg.html

Yup, that's ugly---even for us on the Canadian prairies. Mercifully nothing like that so far this El Nenio winter.

Eighteen inches of snow ,eh? "Your mission-- should you choose to accept it" would be be to whip up some harness for your dogs and steal the neighbour kids toboggan   to go for that zipper/their romp. LOL 

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

LOL Darren. 

We only have 3 children on our block and I haven't seen any sleds or toboggans at all.  I'm sure the kids that live by Sunken Gardens have had a blast the last couple of days (we used to go sledding there when I was a kid--the house I grew up in is 4 blocks to the west of ours now).

Missy & Joe had a blast again today.  It was much colder today than yesterday though so they didn't stay outside as much.  Of the pictures that I posted, I really love the shot of Joe trying to leap higher than the snow drift, looking for Missy.  Cracks me up everytime I see it.  Bob said earlier this afternoon that the only dogs we've had that were closer were the two St Bernards we had.  These two have to be together all the time, whether it be sleeping on the couch or playing in the yard.

Back to the blizzard, no mail service for 2 days.  We got Tuesday paper about 8:30 Monday evening.  We both cracked up when the guy that delivers walked to our door with it Monday night.  The paper web site said that delivery would be late for the Wed paper.  I called a little before 5 and circulation desk said that they aren't delivering today and that tomorrow we will receive Wed paper along with Thur paper.  Weird, huh?  I was surprised about the mail but Bob reminded me that we don't have a sort center anymore so all of our mail is still stuck either in North Platte or Omaha sort center.  Probably has arrived in GI now since the Interstate is opened again.

Hopefully that is our one huge snow storm for the next 10 years.  LOL

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Today I elected to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things we were out of or running low on.  What an adventure!  Just as I signaled my left turn onto Highway 30, 4 snowplows approached, staggered making it impossible for any vehicles to pass them.  I'm not sure they were going even 5 mph.  Seriously, I sat there for 6 minutes waiting for them to get far enough eastbound on Hwy 30 so that all the traffic they had backlogged could get by.  Then, of course, the westbound lane I needed to get in had traffic.  This went back and forth for several minutes and finally I got through the intersection and was on my way.

Grocery store was busy but not horribly crowded so I was able to get in and out in pretty good time.  Drove carefully towards home and signaled my right turn onto Grant Street.  I could see my drive way and couldn't wait to get pulled in but first I had to get on Grant Street and my friends in the snowplows had really pushed a lot of snow onto the Grant Street side.  I have front wheel drive and an almost full tank of gas so I didn't expect any problems.  I was on Grant Street but all the way through the new snow provided by the plows and felt my tires start spinning.  I carefully gave a little more gas and felt my tires spin more.   Despite being a native Cornhusker, I haven't had that much experience in snow.  Leavenworth rarely got snow, usually just an inch or two of sleet or ice.  Anyway, I remembered Bob telling me not to "goose it" should I ever get stuck but to gently rock it back and forth, keeping my foot consistently on the gas until I freed it.  I implemented his advice and much to my amazement, I finally freed my vehicle.  Talk about elation!

We have a carwash across the alley and either the owner or one of the workers was in one of their pick-ups, moving snow off of their pavement.  I knew he was aware of my predicament and figured that he would come to my rescue should I need it.  I zipped into our driveway and started to unload the cargo area.  The guy from the car wash pulled up next to our driveway and congratulated me on freeing my car.  He said that he had been watching me and was ready to get his chain to pull me out should the need have arisen but that I was "rockin' it pretty good" so he figured that I would free the car by myself.  I laughed and told him that I was pretty fired up from having been able to do this myself, that it was the first time I had been able to do this.

So that was a nice up, having spent the rest of the day sweeping and vacuuming up dust downstairs.  Still need to mop the existing laundry room but otherwise it looks pretty good.

Virginia   

[Darren Henry]

Way to go girl. Bob was right about rocking, but I was taught a little differently. I t doesn't matter if it's mud,snow or sand all the horsepower in the world means nothing until your tires translate it to the ground. You need to use the vehicles momentum and to not spin the tires as this screws up their ability to grip the road. I was always told that shifting from forward to reverse under load was not good for transmissions and  sliding back as you did it cost you "running room". Dad's advise was to brake hard as soon as you felt the drivers slipping and get off the foot feed. Change direction and GENTLY accelerate down your old tracks until they started to slip again. Brake hard (to keep it from sliding), change direction and accelerate GENTLY. Repeat as required.

BTW cat litter and burlap strips like old potato bags are both big help on ice and hard packed snow. 

[Mike]

boy you sure got dumped on  Virginia.  I never want to see that again.   u used to have a doggie door to my front deck it was closed off and my dog could go out  but if there was snow he stated in a peed in the house when I wasn't looking . id close the dorr when I went to bed or work to be safe.