Surprise: Another Snow Post!

We spend our time digging ourselves out, waiting for the next storm. the snowplows pile it up higher, higher, higher! I took photos of Teresa in front of and on top of the pile on the corner.

Here is a fun winter poem for you.

"Too Much Snow" by Louis Jenkins

Unlike the Eskimos we only have one word for snow

But we have a lot of modifiers for that word.

There is too much snow,

which, unlike rain, does not immediately run off.

It falls and stays for months.

Someone wished for this snow.

Someone got a deal, five cents on the dollar, and spent the entire family fortune.

It's the simple solution, it covers everything.

We are never satisfied with the arrangement of the snow,

So we spend hours moving the snow

from one place to another.

Too much snow.

I box it up and send it to family and friends.

I send a big box to my cousin in California.

I send a small box to my mother.

She writes, "Don't send so much. I'm all alone now.

I'll never be able to use so much.

To you I send a single snowflake, beautiful, complex, and delicate,

Different from all the others.

Have a wonderful week! Kari

Round 4

Hola--

This time, it's not just a New England storm! Newscasts show a monster storm that stretches from Arizona to Boston, covering the midwest and reaching up to the northeast corner of the U.S. Snow, Snow, and more Snow! And rain. And ice. And sleet. Don't forget the sleet.

For the past 2 years, we have had NO snow days where school is cancelled. This year, however, today makes number 3 for us! (And actually, most districts around here have had 4--we just had a "delayed start" last week when every other district cancelled school.)

The first snow day is fresh and exciting. Yippee! A day off! The next time is also kind of fun.

Then the kids start listening to the parents complain about the shoveling and driving in it. Then they look at the calendar and realize that every day we get "off" because of snow, they have to attend school further into the summer.

So, while this will not deter most school kids from getting out in it and having some fun with the white stuff, there are also a few disappointments that other activities are being cancelled.

Frank's cousin has a theory: every 7 years, New England has a very snowy winter. Her recollection (she lives in Rhode Island) is that during the 2003-04 winter, they got many, many inches and even feet of snow. Since then, just a couple of storms a year, not all that impressive.

And here we are now! Winter of 2010-11. It just keeps coming.

Not a whole lot has changed. We're still carving out the mailbox after the snowplows come through and cover it up. The snow still comes down white. And we still have to rake the roof. Again.

Happy Snow Day! Kari :)

Chauffeur Duties

OK, my friend just reminded me of the importance of ... journaling, actually, and how you forget about the little things and if you journal, you can go back and remember them. So now and then I may post a small post, just to remember a little thing.

CHAUFFEUR. I never really knew what that word meant until this period of my life. Each child wants to be involved in different things, at school, church, or in the community. I am grateful that there are so many choices of activities, and so many opportunities for them to experience.

David's been going to the Robotics group--NASA has an annual national competition where high school students can create a robot to complete different tasks. They meet almost every day.

Teresa is in this year's musical at the middle school: "The Wiz." As the performance gets closer (March), they practice more and more.

Kara is in Destination Imagination (like Robotics, a little, or Science Olympiad), and she's in a gymnastics class this term.

They each also have church activities and meetings.

These are all good things. Here's my point: I am in the car a LOT! No, really. A LOT. And we even live close to schools and the church.

So, I am thankful for transportation, and that we have the funds to pay for the gas it takes to get places. I go crazy with calendaring and pick-up times and trying to arrange carpools.

People say I'll miss it when I don't have to do it anymore! (Well, they also said that about the little-kid messy-runny-nose-no-attention-span-preschool-stage-where-you-wonder-why-you-go-to-church-each-week-stage. I have yet to cry that those days are past...) I think I'm more of a "enjoy today some, and look forward to the next adventure" type person. I rarely become sad because stages are over.

OK. Having said that, I think I WILL be sad when each child leaves for college, and they're not in our house all the time anymore.

I'm rambling now. More thoughts later, Kari

You Really Should See This

Hi!

Well we got yet another snowstorm last night...that makes one storm per week, for 3 weeks now! 15 inches two weeks ago, then 8 more last Wednesday, and last night another 8 inches. Our house total is 31 inches.

The thing is, it doesn't melt in between! Ha. You get to a point where...there's NO PLACE ELSE TO PUT IT...??!?

Here are some photos to try to give you an idea of the volume. (We are not even close to Vermont and Maine, however...their average annual snowfall is just ridiculous.)

You can only reach so high, when you shovel. Great loads of thanks to our fabulous neighbors, of course, who ease our burdens by clearing the driveway with their snowblower. We kind of "share" our driveway (it makes kind of a "V") and they clear the whole thing with it.

That "only" leaves us the walkway, the deck, the sagging awning, and...the dreaded ROOF. Yes, another New England thing, I think I've mentioned before. Sometimes the snow on the roof melts a little in the sun, then that freezes, then more melting, and it creates "Ice Dams." The water then pools, and seeps in, and starts to leak into your house.


So now (after one leak 2 winters ago, in Teresa's bedroom), we Rake the Roof, too. Here's a photo of the house--I did the whole back side of the roof, up on the ladder, and decided that was all I had in me...I only did half the front.

I will say, it is usually Frank who does this! He doesn't pawn off the hard stuff on me. But this morning I felt energy (don't worry...it's gone now), and I got in some snow-clearing.



Anyway, it's a drop-dead gorgeous day.

Happy Weekend coming up!

SNOW Thoughts

Well, Hello!

I have to say that last winter, it was a little wimpy in the area of snow here, in the Massachusetts part of New England. Teresa (then 12) was disappointed with our lack of the white stuff last winter. We only got a "real" storm, where there was accumulation over 3-4 inches, once or twice. No snow days where school was closed last year.

THIS WINTER. Okay then. Let's fast-forward to January of 2011. Can we all say "WOW! LOTS OF WHITE STUFF!" Last week a big storm that closed school and gave us 15 inches.

Now, TODAY, we have another storm going through! And yes, because of the timing of this storm this early morning from 2:00 a.m. on today, we have yet ANOTHER snow day with no school! We will probably only get 6-8 inches this time...

Teresa (13 now) is not complaining these days. :) Hot-blooded as she is, she only wears snow pants and her orange sweatshirt! (I, on the other hand, wear 25 layers and STILL end up cold...??!)


It is hard for me to capture the peaceful, big flakes you see as you look out the window...it's really beautiful.

And we have a nice fire inside, to warm our "refrigerator room" -- that's the "sunroom," 3 sides windows, with no heat! It has a wood-burning stove to keep it warm in winter. And when the sun is shining, it really does warm it up some afternoons pretty well.



MAILBOX RESCUE. Here is my accompllishment, however: LAST storm, the snow-plowers successfully plowed the street, but piled snow 5 feet in front of our mailbox.




I very literally dug out the mailbox, because the snow-plowers buried it! After an hour of my digging (and some new muscles the next day moaning about it), we can now receive mail! (I took this photo yesterday, before today's storm.)








Because of "no school," I also did not go in to tutor this morning. Now you know where I got the time to do this post!

I guess I could be cleaning the bathroom instead...BAHAHAHA! Just kidding. I lost myself there, but only for a moment. (Tee-hee. I really DID put in a load of laundry, then was GOING to clean the bathroom...then I remembered I had to take a few snow pictures.)

Happy Friday! Kari

Winter Wonderland

Hello!

Just a quick paragraph or two--


I'm afraid I'm following the example of the White Rabbit:


"The hurrier I go, the behinder I get--!"


I can't believe it's the 13th of January tomorrow...wasn't yesterday New Year's Eve?


NEWS OF THE DAY. To the joy of all school children in this neck of the woods: SNOW DAY! Everything cancelled while it snowed, snowed, and snowed some more. We measured 15 inches in the front yard and driveway. Teresa, of course, is in 7th heaven. For those who shovel and "rake the roof" (new terminology we learned in New England), well...not so much heaven. It is with even more joy that I report that we had electricity all day. (Some people were without, and that would have made the day a little more stressful, to say the least.)

The roads, however, are now clear and drivable. One day reprieve was all we had, and it's business as usual tomorrow.


CROWN. My Christmas present this year was...a new tooth! (Yippee-ai-kai-ay-kai-oh. Spelling may be a little off on that one.) A few days before Christmas was Appointment Number 1, to get rid of the old filling that was no longer doing its job after roughly 30 years. Take a mold for the new crown and put on a temporary one. Yesterday was Appointment Number 2. Now it is permanent, hopefully really permanent. In the last 4 months I have replaced 3 fillings and now this crown. Let's all hope that's it for a long while...? We have to wonder why a person would go into dentistry: everybody hates coming to see you!! That has to cause a lot of stress.

RELIEF SOCIETY. I had to chuckle when my sister Kim said she was now a counselor in her women's organization at church, the Relief Society. Because guess what, so am I-! I taught Sunday school last week for the last time, and now I will serve in the Relief Society as Education Counselor. It's a really neat group of women. I look forward to getting to know people better.

Well, my allotted 15 minutes has expired.

Happy Thursday tomorrow! Love, Kari

Chocolate Fountains & Snow

Happy New Year to all!

Yesterday the date was "1-1-11!" Isn't that cool! I actually forgot about those cool numbers until today, so I kind of missed it...

BUT I have another chance in 10 days, when it is: "1-11-11!" AND Teresa's birthday this year is "11-11-11!" (She is not turning 11 on that day--somebody is, though. It's still a fun birthday.)

Here is a Chocolate Fountain post! For whatever reason, David has had that on his "Christmas list" for a couple of years now, and he finally got one.

So on Christmas Day, when Frank's cousin and her family came from Providence to have dinner with us, we tried out the Chocolate Fountain for the first time.

You can dip anything in chocolate, of course, but what we had on hand included marshmallows, bananas, pineapple, and cake. We thought pretzels would have been awesome. Or strawberries. Next time.

Otherwise, during the week we had 8+ inches of snow! I think Boston actually got more...it was SO WINDY, it blew around SO much, that our yard probably measured less than actually fell. Boston recorded 18 inches in some parts.

Teresa LIVES for snow--it has been a wonderful break for her. No photos from this time around, so here is what she does in snow (from last winter).

Well, the routine resumes tomorrow--I can't believe the break is over! It seems to have flown by. Speaking of flying, Frank is in Miami this weekend. There are multiple Virginia Tech alums in Frank's family, his dad included. Virginia Tech had a good season, so tomorrow they play in the Orange Bowl in Miami, against Stanford. The siblings' treat for their dad was to chip in for Frank to fly down to FL and take his dad to the Orange Bowl game tomorrow!

Hopefully it will be a close game. And also, hopefully Virginia Tech will win.

Have a great week! Kari