I'm a day behind here, in my head it was Wednesday and of course... it's not!
There are reasons for my slight lapse, however... beginning with a massive windstorm last Wednesday that left nearly 200,000 people without power as temps plunged to single digits...
Several households convening under our roof because a woodburning stove and a gas fireplace are pretty good motivators! We used lanterns at night, and candles and we were glad this happened in March and not December, because at least in March we have 12 hours of daylight... not 8! So that's a big plus when you're dealing with kids, right?
We couldn't bake, but we could cook because I have a gas stove. We moved food to the porch to keep it cold once temps dropped, but we had to toss a bunch of stuff.... Here is how beautiful the moon was the night the temps began to plunge.... and folks headed to shelters for warmth and food.
Odd pockets of people maintained power, and more odd pockets lost it. Some roads were still closed this week when a blizzard decided to swing a little further west and hit us with two feet of blowing, drifting snow over Tuesday and Wednesday....
Local kids have had 4 out of 5 days off in an area that rarely closes schools... but they were smart to do it all four of these days. Too many dangerous situations lurking from street to street as downed wires hung like Kudzu vine in the south.
2400 lines down.
Winds of over 80 mph.... backyard playgrounds tumbled like old time Tinker toys.
Roofs peeled off or missing large blocks of shingles...
1000's of trees toppled onto streets, homes, garages, barns, businesses.
Electric poles falling like a game of dominoes....
Most have been put back into place, but there wasn't time to do it all before the blizzard hit.
31 years ago I gave birth to a wonderful boy on March 13.... But March birthdays are somewhat jinxed up here, because we had to cancel so many birthday parties for Luke... blizzards, ice storms, snow storms and flooding.... and of course, this week, between these two life-changing storms... Luke's birthday.
:)
So while I don't have a lot of fun cooking stuff to show off today, we're happy to report that all is well.... all is DEEPLY snow covered.... all is calm (except the chickens are pretty mad, let me tell you!) and kids go back to school today.
In a month this should all be melted. I should be seeing yellow daffodils waving their happy heads around Easter week... and I gave up candy for Lent and I didn't cave this week, even though there was plenty of opportunity!
All in all we made out well. The wind blew a door off our shed... and we got dumped on with a ton of snow. But we had a great time hosting family and friends and kids while the power was out... and 5 days of no Internet or cable was like going old school!
And I couldn't post the granola pics from last week because the internet went out as I was writing that post, so thank you Cate Nolan for jumping in and hitting PUBLISH for me!
And that's it from Ruthy's Place in Western New York...
The storm is gone.... and spring awaits!
Inspirational author Ruthy Logan Herne lives on a small farm in Western New York where she loves to gather with family and friends, and where she pens sweet, memorable stories.... with over a million books sold, Ruthy is still pinching herself to see if it's real...
And it is!
Contact her at loganherne@gmail.com or you can stop by her website ruthloganherne.com or chat with her here.... or on Seekerville (www.seekerville.blogspot.com) and every now and again she stops by her blog "Ruthy's Place".... She loves to talk writing, reading, books, God, romance and family!
Hello Ruthy! I look at your pictures and shudder. I'm such a desert rat that the idea of a blizzard would send me running fast! We've been enjoying very warm temperatures in Arizona. Although, the mesquite trees haven't started to come out, so I can't relax yet. How they know that another freeze is coming, I don't know, but I've learned to always trust the mesquite tree. Good luck staying warm!
ReplyDeleteLeAnne, the cold and snow would send this southerner running, too!
DeleteLeAnne, I had fun visiting your beautiful state, but I wimp and whine at 80 degrees.... I'm pathetic! I can handle the cold and I have fun with snow and I love a cozy fire.... but I wilt, mid-summer! Aren't we all so funny???
DeleteRuthy, I can't believe all that snow! It's halfway up your fence in some places. We're dealing with below freezing temps this morning. But it's supposed to warm back up this weekend. I just hope it doesn't kill all the flowers and trees already blooming around here!
ReplyDeleteI'm still catching up here, and trying to juggle because kids were all home for a half day yesterday... which means that my window of time disappeared around 11:00 AM and since I only discovered it was THURSDAY around 8:00.... I'm so glad youse guys put up with me!
DeleteIt was a lot of snow over 48 hours... and there are downed trees all over the place still, and no clean up until after the 2 ft. of snow melts.... But then SPRING!!!! Oh, hallelujah chorus!!!
I don't know if your March came in like a lion, but it sure has been acting like one mid-month!
ReplyDeleteWe got just the bare edge of that storm as it went winging east, and it was enough.
We're down to the last of the firewood, though, and winter isn't over yet. We've had some of our worst storms in April! So I'll be ordering more.
All in all, though, it sounds like your storms were good memory-makers for your family. Days of old-fashioned cozy fun with the grandparents will never be forgotten. :)
Jan, that's exactly what we all said! The kids will elongate the # of days.... and the force of the wind... and the days without power/school/etc. :) And it's all good, surely a memory!
Delete"Remember when we had to spend that WHOLE WINTER at Grammy's house??? With no lights??? And the wind kept blowing and blowing????"
:) SO FUNNY!!!!
And I would give you firewood if you were closer. You are way far away from me, my friend!!!
Nothing like bonding over crazy weather coping stories. Great memories made by all, I'm sure. You're lucky you have the wood stove. I've worried about what I'd do if the hydro went out in some of these crazy storms we've had this winter. Now let's just pray that Mother Nature sends warm sun to melt all that snow away so we can welcome spring at long last!
ReplyDeleteSo true, Kavalicious!!!! We bought the wood stove and the chimney and had them installed after the great ice storm of 1991... I can't believe it was that long ago! It took me a bunch of years to get the house in order. A gas stove. The woodburning stove. And a cute firewood producer!!! :)
DeleteWow! Surely that's winter's last whack! Spring arrives next week. We've had an unusually snowy winter here on Canada's west coast, too, although we never received that much in one batch. This week turned very mild and wet, and I'm delighted to see grass showing up at last. Almost all of the snow has been washed away.
ReplyDeleteWe have a wood fireplace, some kerosene lamps and a generator so when the power's out hunkering down with family can seem like a camping trip. Well, maybe not much when you have to go outdoors and shovel all that white stuff.
I'm thinking of baking some Irish Soda Bread for tomorrow in honour of my Irish roots. Or just making green cream cheese sandwiches if I get lazy. We'll see. LOL.
Carol, we had winter wheat and grass starting to turn green when the windstorm hit... and then the snow. And my tulips are about 3 inches out of the ground, and some daffodils are poking up through.... but we're weeks from blossoms. The flowers are smart!!!!
DeleteGreen cream cheese??? What a perfect idea! With green olives!!!! I would love that!
Yes, you got what missed us. Stella was supposed to wreak that havoc on NYC, but she headed west so we got ice. Ice doesn't make getting around fun, but at least we kept power.
ReplyDeleteJan, March came in like a lamb temperature wise, but there is always that March wind. I hate it! But within days we plummeted into the teens and twenties and have barely been above freezing since.
Glad all is well, relatively speaking, Ruthie.
Cate, I was watching you guys carefully because my two youngest are there... and when it skirted west, I knew we were in for it. Nor'Easters are wicked off of Lake Ontario because the lake effect snow multiplies the normal snow from the storm... and it's really a double whammy but such a cool thing that THE WEATHER CHANNEL was here. :) I'm not a fan of their scary music, but it's always fun to shine a light on our crazy... note they are not often in AZ or NM.... :) But they love the midwest and the northeast and southeast!!!
DeleteWow! That is one crazy storm!
ReplyDeleteIt was.... both! But we're used to storms, although generally we're better at stringing them out a little more.
DeleteBut March often has her own time frame working!