Grandma Goes Viral

Well, not exactly, but I won't be surprised if this video does make a few internet rounds. Grandma moved to an assisted living facility in Charlotte last year.  She's close to my uncle and his family and not to far from my sister.  Being the social butterfly that she is, I'm not at all surprised by this clip from the local news station.  My cousin Angela called Grandma "bad ass" after seeing this. (Choose full screen for proper viewing enjoyment.)

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

I'm not even surprised that there is video of Grandma doing the Harlem Shake before I even knew about this phenomenon.  This is the same woman who when I was maybe ten or eleven years old, came into my room to do the Electric Slide while I was doing my homework and listening to the radio one night.

Of course, my favorite part is that she's been living there for just over a year and is already the Ambassador for the facility (it's capitalized because it's a title, and when Grandma thinks about it, I'm sure she sees it that way).

I just hope when I'm pushing 90 years old, I can still shake it.  Although my sister said we'd probably break a hip shakin' it.  Worth it.

How to Avoid Shovelling Snow

After the storm, Dave and I knew we had a lot of clean up to do.  So after breakfast, we bundled up and went outside.  Dave cleared about half of the driveway in front of the garage using the snow blower.  I helped him clear the Jeeps of snow, and then together we got most of the snow off the snowmobiles and the trailer. 

Let it be know that after this, I went to work continuing to shovel.  I cleared the back steps and the deck from this:

To this:

Do you like how the snow pile is almost level with the deck?

While I was busy with that, Dave decided it was time to play. And by play, I mean start up his snowmobile and run it up and down the street.  Behold (and excuse my shaky camera work):

It didn't take him 5 minutes to load the sled back on the trailer.  It took about 15 minutes worth of trying (I finished shoveling the deck by this point), and then he stopped because he couldn't get the sled lined up and kept sinking into the fluffy snow.  But before he moved on to clear the driveway, I needed to do one thing. 

I attempted to make a snow angel, but once I got on top of the snow, I kind of sunk in a few inches and then couldn't move my arms or legs to make wings.  Dave helped me up, but I think it looks more like the snow version of a chalk body outline in a crime scene than a snow angel.

We went inside, warmed up and grabbed some lunch, then went back out to finish the job.  Dave finally got to work and cleared the drive way (and put the sled back on the trailer), while I cleared the front steps.  I intended to walk towards the front door and then clear the snow backwards, from the door to the driveway.  Unfortunately, I went about 5 steps before I ran into a drift that came up to my hips and I could got any further.  So I started shoveling from there.  Luckily it was light and fluffy snow, so it wasn't hard.  But since there was 2 feet of it, it took multiple shovelfuls in the same spot to get down to the concrete.

A little fun and some mildly back-breaking labor, and we can get our cars up and down the driveway.  More importantly, we were able to get the trailer down the driveway and go snowmobiling in Hollis, NH with our friends Felise and Nick on Sunday.

Photo Op! Nick and Felise

And then Dave and me.

My brother texted me on Sunday if I preferred 2 feet of snow or morning jack hammers from a water main break.  The snow.  Definitely the snow.

Thanks for the snowmobile pictures, Felise!

Time Lapsed Photography (Blizzard 2013)

I owe you updates on our trip to Florida and our adventure in buying a new washing machine, but I'll give you the most timely update first. 

We got a bit of snow. 

Like a couple feet.

The official (according to the news) amount is over 24 inches for our town, but Dave thinks it was closer to 20 inches.  Hard to tell since the wind during this storm was so fierce (and continued to be so after the storm), that the drifting was pretty bad. 

The story goes that while the weather reports indicated early this week that we'd see snow this weekend, it wasn't until Wednesday that things started looking like this would be a storm, then something more than a storm.  Luckily most people took the warnings seriously and on Friday we got down to business.  Knowing the storm was expected to hit during the evening rush hour, most places indicated they'd close business at noon, and my work was no exception.  I took the train into work, left at noon and Dave picked me up since he's be able to navigate the weather in his Jeep fairly well.  Luckily it was just starting to snow heavily, but the roads were still traveled enough that it was just wet on the main highway, and only slight coating on the back roads.  We got home, hunkered down and had lunch and at 1:30 pm on Friday, I sent out this picture:

2/8/13 1:30 pm

Then we watched it accumulate.

2/8/13 2:35 pm

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2/8/13 6:14 pm

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2/8/13 9:38 pm

At about 9:00 pm, Dave wanted to try to clear some of the snow to make it easier on himself for the final clean up.  So he cleared about 8 inches of snow off the driveway, while it was still coming down hard and the wind was blowing at sustained speeds of over 30 mph.

I took another picture before bed.

2/8/13 10:39 pm

However, I knew it would be a much different sight in the morning.

2/9/13 8:32 am

Finally, at about 11 am, the snow stopped falling, clouds actually began to part, and the winds slowed down to just big gusts.

2/9/13 9:43 am

2/9/13 11:02 am

So we had a lot of clean up to do, but that's it's own story.  Of course.

Wanted: Cleaning Person and Slightly Warmer Temperatures

It's been cold in the Northeast (and much of the country) this week.  Bitter cold.  It was -2 when I left the house yesterday morning, but my car's thermometer refused to go below 0.  As though it decided that 0 was cold enough and really, is there a difference between 0 and -2? 

The house has a sunroom that is basically an enclosed deck with nice walls and a floor.  It's raised in the yard, so there is no foundation under the floor (it's where we store the kayaks and the lawn furniture!), it's got three exterior walls and a glass slider that opens to the kitchen.  A nice cool place with a cross breeze in the summer, and what we refer to as a walk in cooler in the winter.  The kegirator lives there and at New Year's we decided to put all the drinks (sodas, champagne, bottled water) out there so they'd stay cool without needing to by bags of ice for coolers or take up awkward space in the fridge. 

And since then, we've been lazy and haven't brought said beverages back into the kitchen, just bundling up to go out in what is essentially arctic temperatures just to get a caffeine fix. 

Last night Dave was doing paperwork in the office and I was playing video games in the living room.  The kitchen is in between and sunroom is off the back of the kitchen.  Dave came in to the living room and asked, "What fell?"

Me: Huh?

Dave:  I thought I heard something fall in the kitchen.

Me:  I didn't hear a thing.

Dave went out the kitchen and poked around but didn't see anything out of place.  This morning, I received the following:

So since we didn't have any plans for the weekend, I guess now we'll be spending the morning clean the soda off of the floors, walls and ceiling in the sunroom.  At least it will still be frozen so it'll be less sticky.  But of course, that also means we'll be cold while we clean.  Lesson learned--bring in the soda when the temperatures dip below freezing or you too can be cleaning Coke Zero off your walls.

Riddle Me This

I just got off a flight to Florida to visit my friend Lisa and her husband and meet their sweet baby girl.  I needed to use the restroom on the plan. Explain to me why if smoking is illegal on a plane, the why is there an ashtray on the door about a foot and a half below the no smoking sign?

Sleds & Snow

On Sunday morning, Dave and I got our stuff together and drove again up to Hollis, NH, to take our snowmobiles out for a little drive.  We belong to a group called Hollis No'Easters, a group of snowmobilers who maintain the trails in the Hollis area.  We went to Silver Lake again and this time, we went on a different set of trails, a little wider, a little more rolling, and as it turned out, a little more fun.

Shortly after getting on the trail, we found ourselves in an apple orchard, which was pretty cool.  Then a little while later, we were in a town park.  The trails are multi-use, meaning they aren't just reserved for snowmobilers.  Again, we saw people hiking with their dogs, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  This was a pretty popular area because the trail cuts through the park, but either side of the trail is restricted and snowmobiles aren't allowed, so people can play with their dogs, make snow angels, etc.

We ended up going almost 9 miles out on this trail, crossing roads and bridges, going around some quick turns and bumpy patches.  It's starting to get a little warm for January so some spots were sparse with snow, but it was still fun.  After a little break, we turned around a headed back.  Dave and I can't figure out why, but the trail was a lot more fun on the way back.  Maybe it was because we were familiar with it. Maybe because we were going uphill.  Or maybe because we were a little more comfortable with our snowmobiles.  Regardless, we had a good time. 

Then we got back to the orchard.  There were a few other snowmobilers out, but not many and the orchard was empty.  Even though we couldn't talk to each other, apparently Dave and I both had the same idea: Time to open this sucker up.  I hit the throttle and just went for it.  When I did look down and see that I was just shy of 30 mph, I laughed and let off a bit, pleased that I had the guts to do it.  Dave had a similar experience, but his sled was a little quick on the gas and he shot forward, getting up to 30 pretty quickly.

We had a great day out. It'll be too warm to be any fun this weekend, but hopefully over the next few week's New Hampshire will get a little more snow (notice how I qualified where I wanted the snow to be?) and we can go play some more before the end of the month.

Cozy Homemade Gifts

This year I made five snuggly blankets for Christmas gifts to share with friends and family.  I was pretty happy with one of the patterns and made three different versions in different color combinations.  It came together pretty quickly--I finished half of one on the flight to Charlotte for Thanksgiving.  I first made a pink and purple one, doublestranded, double crochet V-stiches for Rachel and John to snuggle up when their little girl arrives next month.  I forgot to take a picture, but then I made a brown/beige one for my friends Mere and Nick, and then a third one in browns and greens for Annette.

The next was a repeat pattern from last year, the diagonal blanket I made then for Madaline & Ernie, Jeff & Jo, and Kate & Andy.  This year I used the same cozy Lion Brand Homespun yarn in a royal and a light blue to make the pattern for my friend Stacy. 

Finally, the last blanket I made was again from the cozy Homespun in shades of green for my brother JR and his girlfriend Jen.  It's a little chevron wave and I like how the colors blend together.  JR was very kind when he left me a message that Mom would be proud of the work I did on that afghan.

All three patterns were free from either JoAnn Fabrics or the Lion Brand website.  If you're interested in the specific pattern, leave me a message below and I'd be happy to share it with you (I just don't have them handy right now).