People spent the night in their cars on the interstate. People were calling AAA to get their cars out of ditches and expecting speedy service..."We'll get to you in 3 days." As long as I have power (and it blipped a couple of times) and firewood, I'm good.
I still hear the occasional *POP* off in the woods. I was gonna hike down by my creeks to get some pictures, but I think I'll wait a couple of days for the pruning to finish. I hope you guy are OK. We get some trees down from periodic ice storms, but things of this magnitude are a 10 year event for us.
We had only one small tree down across the driveway and I took care of that with a small chainsaw and the tractor. A woman down the road had one across her drive too, but I wasn't aware of it until I was going shopping this morning. Someone took care of it while we were in town, as it was cleared when we came back. I suspect the landlord took care of it for her. The wind has died down yet the temperature is staying above 0 F. Last night I could watch the temp go up and down depending on whether the wind was blowing. We haven't had any mail since New Years, and, on one small sad note, a newborn was found abandoned at a roadside mailbox. It was taken to the hospital by the woman who found it while checking the mail. We have "Safe Haven" laws here, but when someone leaves a baby at a hospital or public facility, the mother must sign away parental rights so the baby can be put up for adoption. In so doing, however, the mother must reveal her name and some do not wish to do so.
Gorgeous day here also. At 2PM, snow started flying along with gusts of wind. 5 inches possible. Love it, absolutely love it!
Closings for tomorrow (Thursday) are scrolling across the TV screen from the storm we had early Monday AM. This includes governments and schools for the 8 surrounding counties. Some have decided to go ahead and close for the rest of the week. I went out shopping today and the store was packed. There was no bread or rolls at all. The streets getting in & out to the main road only had one lane plowed and it was all jammed up, so I decided to take the back way (single lane gravel roads through the woods) for the 8 mile drive home. They looked clear from the main highway. This was not the smartest things I've ever done. The first such road was generally clear but at one point there was a huge tree down across it. I cut over to took another "road" that winds way down to a river with an old steel bridge and comes out on a paved road north of home. It was slick but passable, until I came to where a small tree fell over and straddled the road way up high. It was high enough to drive under, but dangling branches made THAT impassable, so I grit my teeth & turned around on the narrow road to go all the way back by the Walmart and return home on the main roads as I should have done in the first place. As I was driving out, it occurred to me that another tree might come down at any minute and I'd be stuck in between two of them out in the middle of nowhere with no chain saw and no cell reception. Dumbass city boy. So many roads are still impassable, the majority of our county (and I sure others as well) is without power (and it's gonna hit 8° Friday night), and we got another storm on the way tomorrow night with 2"-4" accumulation called for.
It was +3 yesterday morning but has warmed up since then. It was the coldest night of the season so far.
Good luck with your travels @John Brunner. The wind has gone now, but it is -27 F. outside right now and dropping.
Last night, while snow was still flying, it was 6 degrees. To cold yesterday evening to go get the mail, with blowing snow to contend with also. Wife told me "no way!". This morning, at 5:30, it is 2 degrees. For those young folks going to work, thank God the drive here was ploughed out. Must have happened around 4AM. For our NYE 7-8 inches that we got, the drive wasn't ploughed out at all. Didn't happen until early Monday morning. Might cost apt. complex more to plough out drive on weekends, so not done. Get new tires the beginning of next week, so won't be afraid to take Durango out after a snowstorm.
Geez John maybe you find and old half-track in some military auction.....You could choose your own routes.
Every time I type out a single digit temp as though it's the end of my world, I think of you and others who are used to putting a negative sign in front of your double-digits. I guess we adapt. But that frigid cold can get you pretty quickly if you're lax. I guess it stops too many humans from migrating your way, huh?
An ice storm is now enhancing the refrozen slush and snow. It is a mess with closed schools and fender benders galore. Sure glad I got the rest of my outside Christmas decorations down yesterday. This area has always been called the banana belt of the NW, but now I call it the banana split. Way too many frozen toppings for me.
I don't know about where you live John, but here in northern Colorado, there are a number of Seniors living. We were quite surprised. Apparently, not all Seniors can be/want to be "Snowbirds". When I worked a full-time job, when we lived here before, I worked for a Senior Healthcare Company in Denver, and again, quite surprised at how many Seniors live in the Denver metro area............especially during the cold/snowy winter months. People we told that we were moving back to Colorado, when we lived in Florida, were very shocked that we'd want to move back into snow/snowstorm/blizzard winters again.
I like that idea. I knew a guy who had one for his property, but he was real remote. Maybe I should just get some common sense...I could likely find a lot of uses for it, huh?