MORE SNOW!

I took this picture on Wednesday, 2/24/10, which was two weeks after the last big blizzard. Most of the snow disappeared on Tuesday the 23rd when we got a lot of rain.

This was Wednesday, also. For the life of me, I don't understand why the snow plows plow the way they do. Is it so hard to plow along the curb of our cul-de-sac? No cars were in the road. Instead, they piled a bunch of snow right here, between our driveway and our next door neighbor's driveway. Where there is maybe a foot or two of curb space. If that. And this pile has shrunk considerably in the last two weeks. It probably extended out into the road 15 feet or so. Which means that we had to shovel that much out into the road. I'm really quite upset at the crappy plowing job they've done this winter. We pay a lot in property taxes, and I'm sorry, but I just expect the snow plows to get closer to my driveway than 15 feet. Especially when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground.

This picture was taken on Thursday, during our most recent "blizzard." The school superintendent sent out a message on Wednesday evening saying that Thursday would be a one-session day, which means the kids get out of school two hours early, because of the expected blizzard. It snowed all day Thursday and into Friday. But it seems like there's hardly any on the ground. It was very windy, but still. Where did it all go???

This was Friday morning. This is after the plow came through. Nice, isn't it? They made one straight line, backed up, plowed that line that goes from left to right, and then left. I understand that there's only a few inches out there, but come on. Last night it was all ice, chunky, slippery ice. They didn't even salt the cul-de-sac this time. I'm so annoyed. Can you tell?

So is this robin and all his robin friends. They flew back up north just a bit too soon. I think we're going to have nests under our deck again this year. They've been hanging out on this railing a lot, and the nest from last year is right under this part of the deck.

I love the snow, but I am so ready for spring.

No Dog is an Island.....

.....but Ferris seems to be stuck on one! I had him out in the backyard for a little bit today. While I spent 10 or 15 minutes picking up the pool cover clips and trying to put them back on, he spent the time sniffing for critters around the shed. Earlier this week he had been able to fairly easily walk on top of the snow to go potty. However, the last couple days were warmer and the snow was mushier. If he took his time he was okay, but as soon as he started to run he would sink. When I was done trying to fix the pool cover, he started to follow me on the snow, but gave up and just stopped walking. So I picked him up and carried him out front. I threw and he chased a couple small snowballs around the front yard. Then he went to the raised landscaping bed, which has almost no snow left on it, and just stayed there. He walked around it trying to figure out a way to get back to the concrete without getting on the snow. Eventually he just sat down and waited for me to go get him. I think Ferris, and just about everyone else in the Northeast, is ready for spring!

Sledding!

School was cancelled again today. Rachel spent a good part of the day working on school projects while I worked, and then we went sledding!

More snow and Quick Trip to Harrisburg

This is what my van looked like when we woke up today. We had to shovel out the driveway for the third and final time for this storm. We decided to shovel the entire driveway this time, not just half, since I had a job scheduled Monday morning.

Almost there. What I didn't take a picture of was the horrible job the snow plows did. They didn't plow very close to the curb, so we had about 10 extra feet out into the street we had to shovel. Plus we had to shovel out our mailbox so the mail lady could get to it.

These are the pathways we shoveled in the backyard last night for Ferris. They were covered up again by morning. We had to shovel pathways for him because the snow is taller than he is. And he likes to walk around and find the perfect spot to do his business. We waited until tonight to clear them out again.

After shoveling the driveway (and street) we drove to Harrisburg to have an early Christmas with Fred's family. These are all of Rachel's cousins on Fred's side.
We made fleece blankets for all the kids and Fred's parents. Soccer blankets for Kati, Delaney and Haleigh, cheerleading for Jade, and Phillies for Zach and Meemaw and Pawpaw.

Rachel got a Rubiks cube 360 from Aunt Karri and Uncle Drew. Here she's explaining it to Uncle Jim and Jade.

After all the presents were open we had dessert. Pies, cakes and 17 different kinds of cookies. My mother-in-law always serves a great meal, and the desserts are to die for. What I didn't get a picture of was the earlier commotion in the kitchen. She had made seafood bisque, and it was in the crockpot. One of Fred's brothers was trying to heat up the bisque a little faster, so he took the pot out of the crockpot and put it on a burner. Needless to say, the ceramic pot broke and seafood bisque was everywhere. They got it cleaned up pretty quickly, but for the rest of the day the dogs kept going over to the stove and licking underneath it.

Half an hour later, another brother got a pan of rolls out of the oven, burned his hand and sent the rolls flying. The rest of the food was served with no problems! And it was all very good.

After dinner we headed home. We were worried, with good reason, about the roads in New Jersey getting icy. When we got home it was obvious they hadn't plowed our neighborhood since before we left for Harrisburg. It would actually be three days before they plowed again.

Snow!!

This is snow hanging off the roof right above my van, which has snow piled so high it almost reaches the gutters. Two seconds after I snapped this picture, SOMEONE threw a snowball and it knocked the snow off the roof. :)

Update #3: 5:00 p.m. Fred is back out shoveling again. There's probably a good 6 inches on the driveway since the last time he shoveled. I didn't help this time...I'm working on a job that has to go out Monday.

Driveway, right after we finished shoveling.

Update #2: 3:00 p.m. We shoveled the driveway, and by the time we finished, it was covered again. It's snowing heavier now than it has all day, and it was even thundering, which was kind of cool. It's supposed to continue snowing heavily until midnight....I'm sure we'll hit the two foot mark.

Update #1, 12:00. First plowing of the cul-de-sac. We're hoping he puts it all in one pile so we can make a good snow fort. And look! My neighbors are actually having furniture delivered, on a snowy Saturday!

Saturday, 12/19/09, 9:00 a.m.