I’m convinced IF I believed in a former life….this was me. Caroline Ingalls. She was an incredible woman of faith, honor, patience and endurance. She had a quiet strength that defined her. When I home-schooled my kids many moons ago, this was my all time favorite. I read the Little House Series out loud and taught using a unit study. Reading out loud to my kids is my most favorite and treasured memory. I remember well The Long Winter.
We are in the midst of a blizzard in the Mid-Atlantic Region and it fondly reminds me of The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If I wanted 2-3 ft of snow overnight…..well, I’d be living in Maine. BUT I don’t and I don’t. No matter, we will be having white out blizzard conditions overnight and into Saturday.
I just shoveled my way to the barn Wednesday when the forecast of 1-3″ turned into 6″. Nothing new there. We live right on the edge of zone 6 & 7 and I’m not sure if that’s why we always end up with over the forecasted estimates.
Photo Credit: Elmer and Tenney
Tonights forecast is somewhere between 18-24″. We’ve taken some gentlemen bets in our house and Honey is betting 18-24″. I’m betting 24-30″. Sweet Girl’s been sick and could care less, just so she can get out by 4PM and get to work on Saturday…good luck Sweet Girl! The Tender Hearted Warrior is in the mountains where he is at college and he’s hunkered down with a flashlight and TP! He warms my heart. I made sure that he had plenty of food in his frig, so that’s taken care of. In fact, he’ll probably pull out our traditional snow day meal….Chili!
I’m not sure why, but when it snows I make Chili. So, Wednesday was a double batch of Chili which we used as a bribe for our widower neighbor who plows us out! Friday night I fixed honey baked chicken and blackberry cobbler to keep us fed for the weekend….JUST in case the power goes out and besides, comforting food helps calm the nerves. This snow is very heavy and has me a bit nervous…that’s just me. The generator is ready and we’ve got plenty of gas to keep things going until they get the electric back on. The oil lamps are always ready, because you never know when you might need them. We’ve got our wind-up radio and plenty of knitting and books.
I put up a load of hay on Thursday because we’re expecting more snow for several days in the coming week, moved a bag of oats to the barn and piled the hay in the barn for midnight snacking!
I coaxed the chickens into their coop for a long couple days and they complained the entire way.
I plan to tie a rope to my waste in the morning as I make my way down the hill to the barnyard. In case I don’t come back, Honey can pull in the rope!
And I’ve purchased a luge so I can start practicing for the Olympics!!!!!!
Photo Credit: DIETMAR REKER
Might as well make the most of all this snow!
UPDATED INFO ON THE BLIZZARD OF 2010. OVERNIGHT WE HAD 2-3″ PER HOUR OF SNOW. OUR AVERAGE SNOWFALL FOR THIS AREA OF THE MID-ATLANTIC IS 18.2 FT. TO DATE WE’VE HAD 35.6 THIS SEASON AND THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE THIS STORM. AS OF 7:45AM BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON AIRPORT IS REPORTING 21″. WE HAVE ANOTHER 12 HOURS OF SNOW LEFT IN THIS STORM……….I SHOULD OF LEFT MORE HAY OUT FOR THE COWS…..I MIGHT NOT GET THERE UNTIL MONDAY!
PICS FROM EARLY SATURDAY MORNING
We’ve got to get the roofs cleared first. The shed has at least 2-3 ft of drifted snow on the roof.
The deck has to be cleared so it doesn’t collapse.
And the animals are 250′ from the house….under 2-3 ft of snow….I hope everyone is doing ok. My chickie girls are complaining I’m sure. Joy & Josie are wondering why I haven’t come to give them some yummies. They stare up at the house all morning…especially at 8AM. I’m telling you they bought a Timex somewhere.
Honey and I have been up since 4AM and he just couldn’t wait any longer. My man is the hardest working man I’ve ever known…well, next to his 88 yr old dad!
That’s usually where our cars are parked….but Honey moved them closer to the street JUST in case we can’t get the driveway cleared. Honey never misses a day of work and snow is no exception. Thank God today is Saturday or he’d be shoveling the street…..which by the way probably won’t be cleared until Sunday at the earliest. There is a State Of Emergency, so no one is suppose to be on the streets (fat chance anyway) unless it’s an emergency.
As I laid in bed at about 3:30AM, it was the eeriest feeling. It’s like living in a ghost town.
More new pics……Lady girl finally got out and was so relieved….now to convince Honey to take it easy. They call this heart attack snow…heavy and deep.
“Mom did you see all this stuff? How are we goin to get to the chickies and cowgirls???”
What’s a girl to do? I gotta pee….
Hey, how about some privacy!
Now let’s go see if I can help Dad.
Hey Dad, where are you? This is so cool…tunnels everywhere.
Wow- i am coming to your house- chili and blackberry cobbler… Well up north here we only have a few inches so far…the blizzard has not hit us nearly as bad as you all.
Maybe global warming is reversing…maybe now the south is going to get colder and the north warmer…so this means the North east will become the new retirement mecca and Florida is out…i could go for that.
love your blog- love to you and Becca and the fam..stay warm…terry
Oh, my goodness, you guys are such troopers. I will officially stop whinning about our yucky, cold winter right NOW. The snows here come in the 1/2″-2″ Max. They are fun to play in for a day or 2, then they melt away and life goes back to normal.
If I were facing a 2′-3′ foot storm, I swear I’d hide in my bed until Spring.
Stay warm,
Rhonda
Hi Friends, yes, it’s pretty bad here. I AM NOT kidding that we shoveled drifts up to my hip…that’s got to be 3 ft! It took 4 hrs to dig 400′ give or take a foot to the barnyards! I am making a mental note….DO NOT EVER BUILD A GATE TO OPEN IN! Bad planning. The chickens complained for an eternity as if it were my fault! The bovines couldn’t understand why they didn’t get any candy food today…just plain hay. We haven’t even started to find our cars. This is just awful stuff. Yeah, the cobbler was really good and did medicate me after all that hard work…I should of lost 10 lbs….FAT chance of that happening! Oy Vey!!!!
Oh my! I am sorry, but I am laughing so hard at your “state of emergency”.
We never get flustered at snow like that up here, LOL!
Anyways, your pics look just like ours.
We are seriously behind in snow accumilation in ALaska, and are praying that what is dumping down right now, will sustain the Iditarod.
Which reminds me!!! Ach, I need to run out an get the snow off the canopy ASAP!!!!
It is not a true snow load canopy, but if we keep it clear, it keeps our short winter driveway clear.
Paula
Yea know what Paula, if I didn’t have these barnyard animals now I’d probably be laughing too! BUT this is just not typical for us and it does just shut us down. I guess we just aren’t as tough as you guys up there….although, we did dig 100ft and hour! It’s keeping my 63 yr old Honey is tip top shape!!!! Can you say a testosterone workout!!!
I do want to know how long it takes something like this to melt????????? One thing for sure….it cuts down on over grazing like crazy!!! haha I’m wondering if we might be sunbathing on top of snow mountains in July!
Eh! Its not about being tough. You all will do fine
)
You would be shocked at how fast that snow can melt. Course, it all depends on how long it stays cold first, settling the snow.
I love how, as predicted by us that can see and think clearly, the weather patterns are cycling right around in their 21 year pattern, just the way God designed it to.
We are getting the same weather up here, that Alaska had over 20 years ago. Funny how people refuse to remember such natural things.
Have fun, keep warm, and enjoy!
So, what you’re telling me Paula is that I SHOULD relocate before I’m 72!!! Okie Dokie…not a problem.