Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

First: It’s snowing. In October. In SE Pennsylvania. This is absurd and wonderful. I thought the storm-mongers were being alarmist as usual, but it’s really snowing. Maine Girl says it’s really snowing – been going steady for half an hour. It started as big, wet flakes and now it’s a steadier, smaller snow that seems dead set on accumulating. If we’d had a hard frost (or any frost at all), the snow might have a shot. But as it is now, it’ll be lucking to hang out on fallen leaves for a few hours. The weather folks say less than an inch of accumulation which seems reasonable now that I’m seeing it come down. According to WHYY, this is the first snow forecast for Philadelphia in October in 30 years.

Second: It was 58 degrees in the house and snowing outside when I got up this morning so I did turn on the heat. I’ll probably turn it off again when it warms up outside later next week. The basement was nice and warm when I went down to make sure the furnace came on. And I’m enjoying living in a house that actually retains heat rather than leaking it in every direction. But it’s been cold overnight all week and it’s 36 degrees out right now, so I caved for the sake of my marriage. Plus we got a propane delivery yesterday, so my last excuse disappeared.

Third: Ever notice that “yippee” and “yipes” have some significant overlap?

1 full-time and a nebulous number of part-time days left until D-Day.

Work is crazy. Insane. Non-stop zoom. My lovely, well-behaved, STABLE processes are tossing me bugs left and right. People are coming out of the woodwork to give me “quick” things to get done before I leave. My own to-do list was not insignificant either… At least I’m running in some sort of exhausted zen state that gives me logic superpowers so the bugs are getting handled with relative expediency.

It could be worse. I could have been put on bed rest last month.

Despite work being busy, and me being totally exhausted, things are going well. If I went into labor right this moment, things are ready enough for the kid. Especially since I wouldn’t tell the Fop I was in labor until after I finished packing the bag for the hospital. (Yes, I’ve been putting it off all month. Are you surprised?)

The past week or so, it has almost looked like real Fall outside. Now snow. In fact it’s still snowing and things are starting to turn white. (I might need to take more pictures.) I win.

Spring is definitely trying down here. The daffodils, crocus and a couple tulips appear to be ready already. I blame the super-warm weather last week confusing their little green brains. They will persevere, I’m sure… or at least I’m reassured by my mother that they’ll be fine. Given how fast the snow is melting, I really shouldn’t worry at all, right?

I spent 40 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym today. It felt great. I’m pleased to discover that the iPad is perfect for reading on the elliptical too – bright, high contrast and adjustable letter sizes. I’m sure another eReader would probably work too, but the iPad is what I’ve got and I like it. Of course, spending 40 minutes reading about Starbucks’ business and marketing approach makes it really tempting to stop for coffee on the way home. (I resisted, not because my usual plain latte is bad but because I’d already caffeinated for the day.)

I have a new trainer I’m starting with next week. His name is Steve and I didn’t giggle at the name.* For those keeping score at home, that’s Trainer #6 in the year I’ve been working out at this gym. All previous trainers have left the gym. Needless to say, I’ve canceled my training contract and don’t expect to renew even after I’ve used up my surplus sessions. Which is a pity… if they’d been able to keep my original trainer around (he left for a better job at a better gym), I’d probably be gung-ho to continue with this gym until the end of time. Seriously, he rocked that hard. I’ve considered going into his new gym, but it’s in the city which will only serve as an excuse not to go. I may need to reevaluate that sometime in the near future.

*”Steve” has long been my default name when I need an example. I tend to forget sometimes that Steves actually exist.

exercise, gardening, snow, spring, training

My Winter is apparently a series of photographs of my car under snow. We got 4 or 5 inches of snow last night which I find delightful. There’s just enough to make the world bright and shiny for a day or two before the warmer weather melts it off again. Spring is definitely coming but Winter isn’t through fighting yet. Before the snow, I had bulbs starting to come up. I’ve been assured that they’ll be fine with a little snow on them, which makes sense, but they do make me start looking forward to Spring and seeing the results of the planting I did in the Fall.

In random photography news, I’m considering getting an Eye-Fi card for my camera. (These are cards with built in wireless networking that can send image files directly to your computer via your wireless network.) They’ve come down significantly in price and, ultimately, yes, I am lazy. My biggest concern is that I will be constantly reconnecting it to the network or that it will be finicky about when it does or does not connect. Have any of you used an Eye-Fi card extensively? In the meantime, I have a practically-new-but-old Polaroid SX-70 to play with, thanks to a visit with Lisa this weekend.

A mere hour and forty-five minutes later than the top picture, the sun is doing an excellent job of clearing the snow off my car for me. It’s still below freezing outside, but we always get amazing afternoon sun on the front of the house. If only my car would stay that shiny and clean-looking.

Speaking of weekends, I had a great weekend visiting with Lisa in NY. There’s something fabulous about looking at killer traffic and saying, “Well, handily we’re not in a hurry and it’s not like we’ll get bored talking as we inch through the construction zone.” There was shopping, eating, closet-cleaning and general conversational glee.

See, truth in titling: this was a post of little content.

gardening, photography, snow, travel, weekend

It’s been a crazy busy month! Here it is, almost my birthday, and I feel like New Year’s was last weekend. Work has been busy, life has been busy, and I’ve been slacking off on exercise so I’d much prefer to pretend that a month hasn’t passed since last I was at the gym.

This week has been wonderful for snow. The top photo is of my Mini Clubman Wednesday morning. We got a bunch of wet, sticky, heavy snow, maybe 3-4 inches total. I dutifully shoveled the walks for myself and our fabulous neighbors before it got even wetter with rain and then froze solid. Then last night, the snow started again. The bottom photo is of the Clubman this morning. Notice that it’s flipped around? That’s because I cleaned it off to go out yesterday afternoon. And then it got subsumed by the snow again. We got another 7-8 inches over night. This morning, our fabulous neighbor used his snow blower to clear most of our walkways because he is the best neighbor ever. I do enjoy shoveling (except when the plows push the snowbanks back onto the sidewalks) but I’m just as happy to let the machines do it.

Last week was a whirlwind of all-day meetings, driving, more driving and an SCA event up north. I still need to post the photos, but the videos I took of the finals for King’s & Queen’s Rapier are here. I’m impressed with the quality of the video from the new camera… now I just need to get the focus right. The Fop is the King’s Rapier Champion again. Hurray for him! His schedule just got more exciting.

There’s also been black tea gelato and cardamom gelato, a haircut that took 5 inches off my hair (not that anyone could tell), a crazy road trip with Tadcaster rife with silliness, 2 rather impressive bruises and a spectacular fall caused by a cat toy. Ice is nice.

All in all, a whirlwind month!
fencing, rapier champions, sca, snow, work

I’ll admit it: I’ve made more intelligent travel plans.

The photos here are from the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday afternoon around 2 p.m. I can attest to the fact that the Turnpike was like this all afternoon because what should have been less than an hour turned into a multi-hour ordeal of messy snow and slow driving.

Maine:
The Fop and I were in Maine, at my parents’ house, for Christmas. Christmas was lovely, with a surprise guest star and amazing food and wonderful gifts all around. However, looming down the coast was a snowstorm that was paralyzing the Southeast U.S. and heading our way in all its snowy glory. Many meteorological sources were consulted over the course of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, rather constantly to the point of me getting mocked for my obsession. But, it became obvious on Christmas Day that we had two options: leave early Sunday morning and drive straight at the storm and hope to get home before it got too bad or stay in New England until Tuesday.

We opted to get on the road early Sunday morning. A long shot, perhaps, and somewhat risky since you can see by the dash picture that we were in the Mini Clubman. We packed the car Christmas night, went to bed early (for us at least) and I set my alarm for 5:45 a.m.*

Remarkably, I woke up with the alarm, hit snooze but didn’t bother to wait for the snooze to go off again before I was back on my iPad looking at the weather for various points between Maine and Philadelphia. The forecasts looked good. The worst of the storm, wind and snow and all, was going to start around 3 p.m. in Philly and Nyack, NY. We could totally make it home at a reasonable hour, maybe in 9 hours, if the storm started that late. I started getting ready, complete with making a big pot of super strong coffee, most of which I left my parents to drink. (Sorry about that… but you have to admit it was really tasty!) Last bits of stuff got packed, the Fop was mobile if not fully conscious, we piled into the Clubman and we were off at 7 a.m. on the dot.

Yes, we were off to play chicken with a blizzard.

For the record, this feat of departure on time and at that hour should win major and prestigious awards. Who knew blizzards could be so motivating?

Perhaps I should also point out here that before this day I hadn’t driven my Clubman in any serious amount of snow or ice. Sure, it handles well and its a heavy, little, low to the ground car. However, usually we take out the Fop’s Durango in adverse weather.

We had a minor gas station failure on the way to the Maine Turnpike – the station closest to the highway was out of gas. After a quick flip back to another gas station, we were off!

The easy part – cruise control set to “felony”:
Getting out of Maine and through New Hampshire was easy. We hit the first flurries on 495 in Massachusetts. By the time we got to I84, snow was light and fine but steady. We were still making good time! I was fully in denial that this might be the leading edge of the storm because the leading edge was going to come in from the Atlantic and hit the whole coast at once. This couldn’t possibly be that snow! It had to be snow from the small system ahead of the big storm! Even I95 in Connecticut was reasonably tolerable. It’s usually the worst part of the drive but it was actually pretty decent for a change.

New Jersey or “WTF were we thinking?”:
I’d like to start by stating, again, for the record: I hate driving in New Jersey.

We got over the Tappen Zee bridge and stopped at the top of the Garden State Parkway for a quick break and gas. Like a good daughter, I checked in with my parents to let them know where we were and how things were going. The snow was getting heavier but, at that time, 1 p.m., I was still cautiously optimistic that we’d get home before dark.

Foolishly, I underestimated the NJ Turnpike.

The Turnpike backed up shortly after we got on it. It hadn’t been pre-treated well enough and snow was falling quickly. We spent hours staring at break lights and going between 2 and 12 miles per hour. We got as high as 30 once. My traction control warning light only came on a couple times. This was quite comforting.

One problem with such slow traffic is that there’s no chance of a plow truck getting through to clear the road. As we crawled in traffic, the accumulation started to increase and the road got worse. The hours were boring, uneventful and generally demoralizing as I contemplated the PA Turnpike, the bridge and the hours between me and not driving anymore.

A Yellow Bug in the snow:
The VW Beetle was actually quite comforting to see. “Hey look! At least we’re not driving that in the snow!” Its PA plates gave it away as probably having just as far left to drive adventure as we did. This didn’t fully counter the, “Wouldn’t it be nice to be driving the Durango now?” sentiment but it did help.

Pennsylvania or “Well, we can’t stop now, we’re nearly there”:
At some point after we got off the NJ Turnpike and before we got through the PA Turnpike tolls, we stopped and the Fop cleared the ice from the wipers, lights and windshield. That bridge into PA that I was worried about? The one high over the river and perpetually under construction, too narrow and too exposed to winds? I actually had to ask the Fop to confirm that we were on the bridge because visibility was so low I couldn’t tell for sure while focusing on driving.

Somewhere in there I had a despondent moment of “I don’t think I can drive anymore” as well. I was fried and tense and ready to break. Always fun but it passed as the roads improved. The PA Turnpike was bad for a bit, though not as bad as the NJ Turnpike, we pulled over again and the Fop cleared the ice again, and then it improved. By the time we got off the Turnpike onto 476, the roads were in much better shape.

The last leg of the drive, once we got off the highway, was relatively messy but mellow. Other than a woman completely unable to control her SUV, everyone was being rather sensible.

At 6:20 p.m. we pulled into our driveway, I turned off the car and called my parents to let them know we’d made it. My right heel was very unhappy and sensitive last night thanks to gently playing the accelerator for hours. It’s better today, thankfully. I slept for 11+ hours, which seemed appropriate for recovery from an 11+ hour drive.

Lessons learned:
- If you’re going to play chicken with a blizzard, leave earlier.
- Fog lights light up snow roads quite well.
- The Clubman is really quite the trooper in snow.
- The Clubman does not like to crawl in 1st gear and much prefers 2nd gear.
- Sometimes it’s ok to make your own lane but keep an eye out for others doing the same thing in different parts of the road.
- I miss my Subaru.

*5:45 alarms have a special chant that to go along with them in my head thanks to the Dartmouth Outing Club: 5:45! 5:45! We’re going to wake you up at 5:45! And by “special” I mean annoying.

blizzard, driving, mini clubman, snow, travel

Seen here: Before and after photos of the front yard and sidewalk. No, you can’t tell there’s a sidewalk in the top photo. That’s kind of the point.

My knees, calves and feet don’t hurt. This is probably because for a great deal of my snow-clearing time this morning I was standing in snow up to my mid-thighs, effectively icing down all my muscles below the snowline.

Everything else? Kinda sore.

We got about 20″ total from this storm plus the snow the plow pushed back onto the sidewalk when he pushed back the snowbank. Again.

The snow ate a mini van. It also hid the Durango rather effectively. The Clubman is gone.

I went out about 9:30 a.m. to start clearing. The Best Neighbor in the World and his wife joined me about an hour later. I’d only gotten to the end of the walk from the house by that point. By noon, we’d cleared all the sidewalks and the front of the driveway. (Our driveways are side by side.) Cutting through the snowbank pushed into the sidewalk and the driveway required me to break up the snow and feed it to the snow blower as Best Neighbor pushed it. It’s a wee, electric snow blower but we really adore it. Our 1-2 punch to the snowbank snow allowed us to push through the work fairly quickly (compared to shoveling alone at least) but was pretty brutal on my arms and shoulders.

Last night, I shoveled off the flat roof of the porch in the middle of the storm. I wasn’t going to do it but I moved about 16″ off it and I’m glad I did. This was my first roof-shoveling experience. I’m not a fan of heights but somehow it’s easier to do when you can convince your brain that the snow will break your fall. Now the roof is clear and if we get more snow I won’t have to worry about the silly flat roof for a bit. Of course, if we get another 20″, I’ll be out there again.

Though I will admit there’s something lovely and meditative about being out in a snowstorm at dusk and being on top of a roof just enhances the feeling. Very few people were out doing anything. A car or truck would be go by here and there, but mostly it was just me, the trees and the snow.

The sun is great – it cleaned things up nicely this afternoon. You can even see part of the Durango!

Strangest sight of the storm: an El Camino with a big Eagles (the local football team) logo from fender to fender with a snow blower in the back. I’ve seen it twice now and have yet to get a photo.

The latest snow photos start here.

All in all? It’s starting to feel like home.

snow, SNOWPOCALYPSE, weather

I went out this morning in the Eye of the SNOWPOCALYPSE.
There was no precipitation when I started clearing the 4-5″ of snow that fell overnight.
Then it started to lightly mist and rain.
Then sleet.
Then snow for a bit.
Then back to sleet.
Then freezing rain like little snowballs.
Then it rained again for a bit.
At one point, I think it was snow, rain, sleet and freezing rain all at once.

Clearing the new snow wasn’t a problem. Clearing the snow the plow had shoved up over onto the sidewalk and in front of our driveways was the challenge. The Best Neighbor in the World loaned me the wee electric snowblower again and then came out to help too. The snowbank at the end of our driveways was really too much for it and I finished clearing most of that with the shovel. But with the 2 of us, we got down the sidewalk.

Since then, the full-force of the storm has hit. Proper white-out conditions and everything!

And there go the big, gusting winds we were expecting.

I’m going to have to go out there again… probably in the next hour… just to keep up. I love this!

snow, snowpocalypse, photographs, weather

The snow is tapering off. From the radar, it looks like we won’t have much more significant snowfall from this storm – maybe a couple more inches as the tail of the storm whips around but that’s about it. There may be as much as 20 inches out there right now. Several of the spots I cleared were well over 24 inches deep and they weren’t the highest drifts.

I walked out to this: Where are the stairs?

It was actually quite pretty before I cleared the snow.

Quickly I was able to get to this: Oh hey, there they are…

The wind has actually made my car a little more visible.

I ended up looking a little like this and this. The Best Neighbor in the World cleared the sidewalk with his snowblower and then let me borrow it to clean out the end of the drive way. There are distinct advantages to a snowblower over a shovel, even if the snowblower is just a little electric one. It was the underdog but it came out victorious.

Why yes, I do shovel snow in my Fluevogs. And, yes, my socks were perfectly dry at the end of the shoveling exercise. Oh, and, yes, I am enjoying all this snow. A lot.

Snow photos are all collected here if you don’t want to click through everything.

snow, winter, SNOWPOCALYPSE

The SNOWPOCALYPSE is on-going.

My car, the Mini Clubman. If the snowdrifts eat it, I have documentation.

The Fop’s big-ass SUV (a Dodge Durango).

The roof.

The snow has been blowing quite a bit but it’s still coming down hard and fast with no sign of letting up. The Church across the way has done a preliminary clear of their sidewalks so I don’t feel the need to go out and do ours yet. The priest is out with his Little White Dog, but I swear it took me a good 2-3 minutes to realize he wasn’t just standing there in the snow like a weirdo because I couldn’t see the dog at all until it moved in front of a non-snow-covered bush.

The radar this morning looks remarkably similar to the radar from last night at 1 a.m. The storm hasn’t moved much. The Greater Philadelphia area is still in purple. HURRAY!

snow, snowpocalypse, winter

A bunch of sleepy kitten pictures have been posted to warm you on a snowy weekend. The SNOWPOCALYPSE is still going strong down here with 5-ish or so inches of snow already on the ground. We’ll see if it lives up to the hype. The kittens are thrilled. Abby is peering out the window right now trying to figure out why the world is so different. (This is their second big snow so it’s still rather novel.)

Tonight, in honor of the SNOWPOCALYPSE, I made deep-dish pizza in little cast iron pans. I rushed the dough through its rise but there was much tastiness anyway. I also finished knitting a cute little hat for myself. Tomorrow I suspect will be all about reading in the tub after moving large quantities of snow. It’s been a very long week. At the end of it I’m not entirely sure what I accomplished but I’m sure there was a lot.

Right, time to sleep.

snow, weather, cats, photographs, kittens, bengals, SNOWPOCALYPSE, random