Winter Wonderland

This is Winter!

Another three to four inches fell last night. I fired up the Snow Blower at 6AM and went to work. The plows had been by so I had some berms to blow out.

They are forecasting more snow for tomorrow. Around two or three inches more.

I LOVE it!

I finally lost the Icicle today. I didn't measure it this morning but it was around 55 inches.

As I feared, it took the rain gutter with it. What I wasn't planning on was losing the trim off the house as well.

I feel like I should have killed the icicle, which was inevitably going to die anyway, and save the rain gutter. However, I think I probably would have lost the rain gutter anyway, as it was full of big frozen chunks of ice. The icicle probably was all it took the bring the rest of it down. I needed to secure that trim better anyway. This gives me a reason to do it. . .when it warms sufficiently.

Here's a picture to honor the memory of a damn fine icicle and the scene of its horrible demise.

Icicle Report

The cicle has grown to 52.5" as of last night. Over night, we have received a couple of inches of snow in addition to the 13 and a half inches we got Saturday night. There is more on the way, according to the forecasts. Schools are closed. Flights have been delayed. People are getting stuck and spinning out. The temperature is hanging in the 20's. It's an absolutely FABulous winter.

Nothing was accomplished last night on the bathroom windows. We will be up there tonight...after I take care of the days droppings. They say it should snow until 1PM.

896 Words Saved

It took me two hours to do my maintenance with the Snow Blower. The snow was wet and slushy. It was very easy to plug the shoot with a big wet compressed ice log. I also took about 15 minutes to walk across the park and help a neighbor with a stuck car. My neighbor Ted and I walked over and got it rocking and it came right out.

My maintenance work would have been worse had I not started last night. It is still snowing so I will probably be out there again later on.

The Icicle is at 42 inches in length.

New Snow Terms Highlighted

I apologize but I can't stop commenting on the weather. Mostly because we are having the kind of weather that I really love. It's called Winter. You really should try it sometime.

We got about 5 inches of winter yesterday. It turned into a snowy rain (Snain) last night and then returned to a wet snow (Snwet) today and is continuing as I write.

I am about to go out and see what sort of maintenance I need to perform on the driveway and sidewalks. I snow blowed (snow blew?) the neighborhood last night and removed a good portion of the fallen snow. That was before it snained. It looks like all I have to do now is a cursory jaunt around the area to clear away the slushy stuff. (slushy stuff)

Then I shall attempt a bit of cross country skiing in the park. I may actually get to some stripping work on the windows today too, but I'm not holding my breath. However, I think Susan will have something to say about that.

Weather News...but not really

I haven't written in almost two weeks because there has not really been anything to update as far as progress on the bathroom. We are working on it. Phil is inching along with the finishing touches in the shower. Susan and I have been stripping and scraping the windows. It's a lot of long, boring tedious work that does not lend itself well to description.

I said I wasn't going to write about the weather anymore. I find it is a difficult promise to keep because the weather has a lot to do with our life right now. But I have cleaverly managed to work the weather into something concerning the house.

The temperature has been hovering around zero degrees farenheit for the past week. Every day has been clear and cold. I took this picture yesterday and have taken a real interest in this Icicle.

I just measured it and it is 44 inches long.

One of the reasons I have taken an interest in it is because it is hanging off my rain gutter. I do not believe I did a terribly professional job of securing the rain gutter to the eve of the roof. The weight of a 44 inch icicle must be a bit of a strain on a structure not necessarily designed to hold icicles. I'm sure it will be longer tomorrow.

My delemma is whether to watch the icicle every day (as I have) and enjoy the miracle of winter that it is or to be protective of my house and knock it down. Part of my decision rests with my lack of confidence in my handyman abilities.

For now, I think I will leave it alone because it won't be that hard to fix or replace the rain gutter. But how long does it take to make an Icicle!?

Back to our Roots

I woke up this morning to the sound of Snowplows in the neighborhood. They (the city road crew) have been in a snowplow emergency mode since Wednesday. It has been very warm the last couple of days so a lot of the 12 inches of snow we had is now down to three or four inches. I broke out the snow blower this morning to clean up the berms they left and tidy up my corner of responsibility a bit.

There has been a lot of talk on this blog of late concerning the weather. It is not the mission of this blog to spend long drawn out narratives detailing snow fall, temperature fluctuations, and wind chill factors.

And so today, I return the reporting back into our remodeling efforts...which is good because we actually have actual remodeling efforts to report upon.

While Phil our paid slave is finishing up the tile in the shower, we started work today on stripping the many years of paint from the bathroom windows. We were very successful with this in our bedroom and returned those windows to working condition. But not without a great deal of stripping and scraping. Also, some cussing. An occasional scrape or deep gash.

The same thing is in store for these windows. The one thing we kept asking ourselves today is, "Why didn't we do this before all the sheet rocking and tiling?"

It's one of those items that we have seemed to kind of gloss over. We knew we wanted to do it. We just never felt a great urgency to begin. Now we are mostly done with the bathroom, and we are starting this messy mess.

Logic was never my strong suit!

What you see pictured above are my efforts to repair the weight within the window frame that allows the window sash to move easily up and down. The rope had long since broken and the weight had fallen so I had to open up the window frame to get to it.

More details to come.

The Snow Keeps Comin'

Another two inches were on the ground when I got up this morning. I didn't have time to do the whole neighborhood like yesterday. I'm counting on the forecast, which calls for the snow to turn into rain later on to clear everything else. I'll also try to do some clean up tonight.

I am still enjoying all this snow but part of my enjoyment comes from having the time to properly clean the snow from the walkways and driveways. When I only have time to do a cursory job of clearing, I feel a sense of disatisfaction. If the snow sits all day, people walk on it and pack it down and it makes for an uneven and sometimes slippery surface.

Geez, I'm anal!

Let it Snow!

We got dumped on. I measured 4 inches of new snow but it seems like there was more.

I fired up the ol' snowblower about 6:22 AM and promptly went to work clearing off the whole neighborhood. I did the whole block on Waverly, the whole block on Wall and the half the block on Cleveland.....plus my driveway, patio, deck and steps.

When I got home last night, I finished up the side yard and then did the alley back to my neighbors garage. It was really deep back there. I'll bet I was going through 12 inches of snow. Some of it was from me blowing it onto other snow.

The essence of what I am writing here is that we have a shit load of snow on the ground and more is coming.

I LOVE IT!

Issues of Grammar

It seems to me that nobody on the World Wide Web is interested in the fundamentals of writing so I try hard to use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation when I write these items. I am not claiming to be anything close to a Grammatical Scholar. I just think it is important to express oneself properly. I had that kind of upbringing. Plus, I heard from my sister that my Head Master from High School occassionally checks in on this blog and I would like for him to think that his many efforts to make me into a semi-productive member of society were not a complete waste.

I bring this up because my entry for yesterday is totally screwed up with regard to paragraph structure. I have tried eleventy-million times to go in and edit the paragraphs, but to no avail.

And so I apologize to Walt and also to Betty Jurgenson, who tried without luck to mold me into a decent writer. At least I read a lot more than I used to.

And now let's move on into the really important stuff...my aging aching body!

How can an activity that essentially uses gravity cause sooooooooo much pain?

I am over stating the situation for dramatic flare. I actually feel pretty good today and I think Susan feels pretty good as well.

I am adding an augmented photo to the end of this entry that shows my updated lift ticket collection. I now have one ticket from each of the area resorts for the last four years. I need one for Lookout Pass, which we skied five years ago.

Apres Ski

It's hard to decide whether it was worth it to go skiing. We spent about $92.00 on the whole affair plus the cost of gas, which I will estimate at another $20-25.00!

It took us about an hour and a half each way and we only skied for a little more than three hours.

But, in that three hours, we had a GREAT time. It was snowing all day but not hard and the surface was great. I actually found a few patches of untracked light powder. It couldn't have been more than four inches deep but it satisfied me.

We ran into a couple that we know and skied with them the whole time.

When we broke for lunch around 1:00, the fog was getting thicker and the light was getting flat.

Our friends kept skiing and Susan and I headed for the bar.

We were planning to return for a couple more runs until our friends came in and said it wasn't worth it. The fog had moved in and so had the beer. Now that the beer was working its way into us, we readily agreed that the ski day was over.

So, it cost us about 30 bucks an hour to ski. We are now beat and sore and tired and happy.

Yeah, we'll do it again.

Ski Day

In the past three years, Susan and I have skied three times. I can even name the days and the places because I still have the lift tickets ceremoniously attached to my ski suit. Last year we skied at Mt Spokane. The year before that we skied at Schweitzer. In 2005, we went to Silver Mountain.

Skiing once a year is not the preferred method of entertaining ourselves in the great Wintery outdoors of the Northwest. The house has sort of kept us from skiing more. Projects around the house took the time AND the money that we might have otherwise spent on skiing.

But today we ski!

All the bloody details should appear tomorrow.

Anti 0r After

We woke up this moring to about three inches of new snow. It must have snowed late and hard during the night because I couldn't even see the tracks of my newspaper carrier in the snow. He drops the paper off around 5:30 AM so it must have just started around that time.

Don't know, don't really care! The main thing is that we have snow on the ground again. A nicely manicured lawn is nice, but I love a nicely snow blown driveway just as much. It took me about an hour today to get the snow cleared. It's pretty wet snow and it seems like it is going to warm up and melt away. I think more is forecast.

We have to finish up our Anti-Christmas decorating. Perhaps that should be AFTER-Christmas decorating. Susan got a lot of it down yesterday and now we have to put all the boxes away. Plus, I have to get our tree out of the living room and the lights off the front porch and balcony.

Why am I wasting my time here when I have all this work to do?!

Happy New Year

I was so busy lying about yesterday that I never had a chance to log on and wish a Happy New Year to the 3 or 4 of you that read this. (I've included myself twice in that count because I read it a lot)

We had a great day that included canoeing on the Little Spokane River and dinner out at Tomato Street.

I have no New Years Resolutions to offer as I am not good at fulfilling them, and who wants the disappointment right at the start of a new year. I just have the same old goals as last year. Finish the bathroom and get rid of the gut.

Lazy Sunday & the L.L.L.B.

We received another half inch of snow last night. It seemed kind of a waste to pull out the snow blower except that I have so much ground to cover. I again did the side walk all the way up the block as well as part of the alley.

It's a cold crisp Sunday and everything is beautiful and wintery out. We are enjoying a lazy day around the house. Susan still wants to leave the Christmas decorations up for another week. I'm okay with that because it lends to my lazy Sunday. After the first of the year however, the Christmas lights need to be extinguished, lest the magic be dragged on into the new year and thereby diminished.

On Friday night I was going to pull out my cross country skis and tour the park. At about 6:30, I went out to my car to get my gloves and startled a Low Life Loser Bastidge trying to steal Susan's car. I heard something going on when I opened the door to go out and by the time I got to the driveway, the Low Life Loser Bastidge was high tailing it out of the area. I only saw his back so the only description I have is that he had a shaved head, wore an olive green colored coat, (it might have been something like an Army Jacket) and he could run really fast. I tried chasing him but in my cross country boots, I made it to the end of the driveway before I fell on my ass and the L.L.L.B. was already across the street and heading around the corner. Did I mention that he could run fast?

He had somehow unlocked the driver side door and was trying to pry the club off the steering wheel. There was no damage to the door so he got in with a master key or a slim jim or some such similar device.

I am a believer in Karma and so I know that this is going to come back and haunt this Effer. But I can't figure out what I have done in my past to merit Karma coming down on us in this way. Then again, if I sat down and really thought about it, I could come up with reasons.

The Low Life Loser Bastidge did a little damage to the steering wheel, peeling some of the rubber from around the rim. Susan went out and bought another steering wheel at the local wrecking yard yesterday so I am going to go out and try to figure out how to replace it.

In the meantime, this is the first of three days off. I am enjoying the time off immensely. There is football to watch and hot cider to drink and steering wheels to replace. I guess I had better get to it.

We GotZ Da Wint'a!

I grew up with a mother who always made it clear that there are certain thing you do not do in order to be thoughtful of your neighbors. It involves the 9:00 rule.

Basically, you do not do ANYTHING outside your house before 9:00 A.M. You do not show up at your best friends door on Saturday morning before 9:00 A.M. You do not call ANYONE on the phone before 9:00 A.M. You do not mow your lawn before 9:00 A.M..

And so, I felt guilt at 6:00 A.M. this morning when I fired up the snow blower to remove the night's droppings.

Ah, there she is. The Craftsman 26 inch Snow Devil Model 2400. Built just before the turn of the century, this machine offers the latest in 1999 snow removal technology. It comes to life with the push of a button with its electric starter. It has six forward speeds and two in reverse. The articulating swivel shoot allows for precise target delivery and placement of removed snow. I've added high performance spark plugs and a super high reflective 10,000 candle Halogen headlight to augment the quiet chaos the 5.0 H.P. Tecumseh engine can exact on the driveway.

I went all the way down the side walk on both sides of my corner. My next project is to figure out how to remove the snow while wearing my cross-country skis. I love this weather!

Back to the Real World

I got up at 5:00 A.M. to find that it had snowed about 3 inches over the night. It was snowing when we went to bed. The question I needed answered was how much.

Since it was still the crack of Oh-Dawn:30, I used my Super Shovel rather than break out the Snow Blower. That means I only did a rudimentary job of shoveling and I'll save the major clean up for tonight. Plus, it's still snowing so my area will require a good re-shoveling.

Now I'm at work and I have lots to do.

First, make coffee. Next, turn on all my equipment. After that, get a cup of coffee and then shovel the front walk a bit. It's still snowing as I mentioned so it won't do much good by the time everyone else starts showing up.

Then, delete the 500 junk e-mail messages I got over the past four days. Geez!!, there is a lot of crap out there. Is anyone really making money doing that?!

Well, after four fabulous Holiday filled days off, it's time to return to the Real World now.

Merry Christmas

It is just after four in the afternoon on what has been a great Christmas Day. We stayed in by ourselves, kept to ourselves and burned up former pieces of the house. Above you can see part of a post that was part of our wheel chair ramp.

Even though we have lived here for over three years, this is our first Christmas here at the house. We have always gone to Iowa to be with Susan's family. This year, we stayed put. I know Susan misses seeing her family but it was probably good that we stayed home considering the weather that has been pounding on the mid-west. Lots of ice storms, although I haven't heard any horror stories from Susan's sister.

We still have a dinner to eat at my sisters tonight and then it is back to the real world tomorrow. Fortunately, it's only for three days and then the weekend hits us again and more time off for New Years.

I like the concept of putting off reality as long as you can.

Christmas Eve

I came into work today to get a bit of a head start on my week. It's great being here when nobody else is. I bet I can get twice as much stuff accomplished as when there are people here.

I just wanted to post another Currier & Ives picture of the house. We had a great snow storm on Saturday that stopped just in time for a wonderful Winter Solstice Party. I wasn't sure many people were going to show up because of the slick conditions out. But we had a really good turn out.
A Winter Solstice Party involves standing around the fire and drinking your favorite beverages. My home brew was popular as was the Hot Buttered Rum.


Tonight we are going the the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist and then over to a Prime Rib dinner with family.


The moon is just past full tonight and it looks quite lovely as it lights up the Christmas Eve sky.


Here's hoping a Merry Christmas to all.

Random Thoughts

I've been having random thoughts here and there and I guess this is as good a place as any to share them.

The Holiday Season

It's coming down to the wire for the Christmas shopping and I still have lots of consuming to do. I have a good way of making my disorganization into a well organized mess. However, I am not stressed about it.

Susan...she's pretty organized. And she's pretty stressed. I'm not sure why but I imagine that part of it has to do with the fact that we are not going to Iowa this year for Christmas. It's the first time in a long time for her. Her family is steeped in Christmas Traditions and when a routine changes on you, like not being there, and you come from a family that is steeped in Christmas Traditions, I guess I can see some sadness and stress coming into play.

It's best for me to stay out of her way and do what she tells me. NOW!

The Inconvenience of Convenience

When I first got my car with the remote door lock feature, I thought I had found Nirvana. I was never good at locking my doors. In fact, I'm still not good at it. But this made it much easier to do. Plus, you have the cool short "doop-ta-doop" horn honk to let you AND EVERYONE ELSE AROUND know that you are cool . . . . . and secure.

Along with character defects like not locking doors when I should, I also drop keys. A lot! Consequently, the remote takes a lot of abuse. Now that the car is se7en years old, the cumulative abuse is taking its toll. I have had to break out the soldering iron more than once in the last few months.

My point is, on those occasions when the remotes doesn't work, I find it very annoying to have to go through the extra effort to take the key, insert it in the lock and MANUALLY unlock the car. It's a giant inconvenience to this previously orgasmic operation and I find it very stressful.

Stay out of my way, Susan!

Winter Solstice

Since we are home for Christmas, we decided to have a Solstice gathering. Well, I decided and told Susan about it. (Perhaps that is part of her stress)

Anyway, I wanted this to be a low key affair. I haven't told a lot of people and there were no invitations...just word of mouth. Saturday is a busy night for people so if we get light attendance, we don't care. We'll have homebrew and wine and some fires burning in the yard. We're not going crazy with food and snacks and stuff. At least , I don't think we are. Susan may have other plans. Those plans are stress dependant.

Tonight involvo's (intentional mis-spelling, no reason, just thought it was funny) cleaning the house to prepare for standing around fires burning in the yard.

This concludes my thoughts. I will now return to not thinking.

Carriage Ride

Sunday was the annual Corbin Park Carriage ride. This is the fourth one since we moved in and it was definitely the best one. The conditions were perfect. There was snow on the ground. It was cold but not too cold. Lots of houses were decorated for Christmas. The only issue Susan and I had was that nobody we invited showed up except for Good Ol' Reliable Mark.

Whether we had anybody show up or not...this was one of those nights that makes me glad I live here. It's a great neighborhood.

Here are a couple of pictures.