Friday, December 13, 2013

Wow, Who Knew?



To us what seemed like a middling storm last Friday has wrecked havoc on the valley floor. We got about 18 to 20 inches.



The valley got about 6-10 inches and all accompanied by extremely cold temps. Low singles and minus temps up here for over night and not much warmer down there. I never realized how dependent on the typical solar warming trend the Ashland/Medford/Grants Pass area gets. The cold and snow cancelled schools valley wide Friday. To be expected really, but it continued into this week. Ashland schools just reopened yesterday. On my weekly trip to town, I had to go to both places and did it fairly early in the morning. Light freezing fog in Medford was enough to keep the temps down early but they had done a reasonable job with roads and snow. Ashland was still a mess. Sidewalks un-shoveled, the on street parking was filled with what had been unplowed snow but now was rutted ice. I couldn't believe what a poor job Ashland did in the face of a snow storm. What really surprised me was many businesses didn't even bother to shovel in front of their stores along the Main drag, a primarily walker friendly downtown. Gosh, in New England it is almost a given that you have to keep your sidewalk clear in residential areas, let alone businesses or you face a stiff fine. They don't see snow that sticks around often, but they see it enough coupled with cold temps to know better...really!

Some fun observations at the grocery store though. Boxed mac & cheese, tea, dog biscuits and cat food where heavy sellers during the storm. In fact, I was unable to get my brand of dog biscuits and cat food. Chocolate chip chocolate ice cream was another goner as where frozen pizzas. Pets ate well at least....

The goats survived and used their bedded calf hutch. The horses weathered the extreme cold in their curly winter coats just fine. The plow worked. The fox still comes for his/her eggs although the first two snowy bitter cold nights ( -5 and -8 F respectively), he must have stayed holed up where it was warm. We have a couple of rabbits this year. I wonder who will get them first, fox or bobcat? It is not worth trying to start Bob when the weather is below zero. The new Subaru is different in snow than the old one, but still very sure footed.

In fiber news, the frock coat for my Dad is done as is all the other "must do" sewing. The Louet Delta is folded up and will be pushed out of the studio while I work in on getting the AVL together this weekend. Gene downloaded the oldest possible available assembly manual, which isn't quite old enough but at least it will provide some guidance. Today I will get the back room heated up so the wood doesn't go into shock being brought into a warm house, review the manual, get something easy put up for weekend meals, catch up on laundry, cut the Christmas tree and get lights on it for the deck, and scrounge up my Christmas CD's for some easy listening while I start in on Big Sal. Please excuse the lack of pictures. Usually I have a fair amount, but the gift sewing will have to wait until the gifts have been opened. I promise some pics of the items then.

Parting shot: Does someone ALWAYS have to be in motion.....

L to R: Smoochie, Charlotte, Peter, Pogo and Rodger the cat, holding court

10 comments:

Judy said...

Wow, that's a lot of snow! Your views from your windows must be wonderful right now :-) I like the last photo, it looks so warm and cozy in your house. Merry Christmas to you!

LA said...

LOVE the parting shot! So....who were they waiting for? That last storm system dumped a lot of white stuff from sea to shining sea--I'm so happy that it missed the southeast!

Shuttle, Hook and Needle said...

Good luck on the AVL. It took me a week to put mine together!
That is a lot of snow. We rarely get that much here in NC mountains.

Anonymous said...

Sure wish we got some of that snow, I am itching to go snowmobiling. I see that everyone is wondering what Roger is up to.

Michelle said...

We got an inch and it lasted for a week because it was so cold here. This morning, it's 40 – YAY!

Hilary said...

Gotta love all the critters in that last shot. The colours of your home look warm and inviting.

Laura said...

We got about 5", melting now with temps in the mid 30's during the day. Other than a toilet wax ring problem (rendering it inoperable), the consequences of -14 temps were minor.

Can't wait to see the AVL set up. I used to have an AVL Home Loom, that I added a fly-shuttle to. It was really fun!

ladyoftheloom said...

Two thoughts...sounds like Richmond VA with 2 inches of snow, absolute shut-down....and how do you tolerate the sound of so many toenails on the wood floor?

Theresa said...

LOTL, I'm laughing because other than to be able to identify which dog is on the move, I barely notice the toenails. Now the barking when 8 dogs get going, that's whole 'nuther matter!

Laura, You got much colder than we did. Ouch! I can't wait to see the AVL set up either!

Hilary, Not a great shot, but it is hard with so many animals and if you bring out the camera, they automatically think you've got treats.

Michelle, Hope you got riding!

Martha, Everyone is always wondering what old Rodger is up to. His opinion counts because when he's not a happy cat, you know it!

Shuttle Hook and Needle, Thank you for the good luck on the loom. I have no deadline, but would like to get most of together this weekend. At least the super structure...

LA, I think my folks are getting the next round. We have warmed up quite a bit here.

Judy, A very Merry Christmas to you and yours too. Hope there is skiing for you all.

Hilary said...

I read my AVL manual three times, asked myself if I was crazy.........and then was totally amazed at how easy it was. Just do it one step at a time, and suddenly it will be ready to weave on. You're going to love it.