Pages

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Snow, Ice, Rain, Fog, and More Snow

The weather has been winter. All-at-once, every-kind-of-bad-weather winter.

Yesterday's snow stopped with about 7 inches and it was beautiful. Overnight, the temperatures warmed up and it started to rain.

Rain!

With all that snow on the ground. The rain froze on contact to trees, buildings, plants, wires and anything else it hit. It was beautiful and not worrying because the ice wasn't too thick.

Oddly, there was also a heavy fog--and flood warnings were out for flash flooding because of the rain and melting snow. How many kinds of weather can you have at once? At least five, apparently--snow, rain, ice, fog and flooding. Weird.

There is a saying "A January fog will freeze a hog" which means, I have been told, that you will have as many frosts in May as fogs in January. Have you heard that saying, or a different explanation of its meaning?

We managed to get the truck out and ran to town for milk and bread because there is more snow on the way. We stopped at Derek's to see the kid's igloo, and Larry took a sled for a run down the hill. I'll share pics when the internet is more dependable. The ice on Elk Fork was braking up and an ice jam caused the creek to back up pretty seriously. It was an interesting sight.

As we were leaving Derek's, the rain changed to snow and it quickly turned to almost blinding snowfall. I was so grateful to get home! Another 1/2" of snow was on the ground before that little squall moved on, and Larry decided it was now or never to move my Buick up the hill. We were both leery about the chance of success because the driveway is about 2 inches deep in slush, with ice under that--and his big 4WD pickup did some serious sliding on the way down the hill. Not encouraging.

But little Buick trotted up the hill without spinning a wheel, even pushing snow as it went. It is now safely located where we know I can get out in the morning unless we get another 6 inches of snow tonight.

Now we are waiting to see what the evening brings. Will the predicted snow arrive? Will the electricity go off again as the wind is picking up and icy branches are falling? We're staying tuned for the next episode in this winter weather blitz.

Some of my friends ask me why I live so far out, and I know the people I work with wonder the same thing. What can I say? This was home before I ever had a job, and I cherish the memories, solitude, and beauty of this place. Inconvenient it can certainly be, but no comfy house in town could provide me with the riches I find here. Those who live "out" know why I choose to stay.

7 comments:

  1. This snow is maddening! Yesterday, I tried to get the Oldmobubble out of the driveway and to no avail got absolutely nowhere. But ya know what!?! Your little Nissan scooted right on out. And the kids and I got to leave the house, just to get the cabinfever out of our skins for a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aunt Susie you know we grew up "out", not as "out as you, but "out". I now live "in" and I hate it. Lord let me live "out" as soon as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There is an unexplainable feeling of living "out". We aren't as far out as you, but still have to be ready for all kinds of weather.
    Hope you weather the storm. Our ice from yesterday is gone today. We went from 8 degrees this morning to mid-50s this afternoon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so glad you got home safe; rain and snow is never a good combination. We live far away from everything but love it too---even love the wondering looks on people's faces when they hear we have no tv or radio signals LOL.

    I laughed to see you called 'Aunt Susie' a few comments ago, because in my family I'M Aunt Susie! What a wonderful thing to be!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I so wish that we lived out of town. I can do without all this snow/ice/rain/slush though. We only have maybe 3 inches here and then a whole lot of SLUSH. I love winter but I am officially ready for Spring.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jaime, you're going to miss that little car when it comes back home! I'm glad it's been useful to you.

    Laura, last Friday it was so warm we almost didn't need coats. It's hard to imagine that today with ice and snow covering everything.

    Susan, LOL! I love being Aunt Susie. I can't remember how many nieces and nephews we have--maybe 35? It's a wonderful crowd. I hope your trip is going smoothly.

    Chris, keep that goal in sight and it will happen. Maybe even not as far away as Texas?

    Whispers, I think you're not alone in looking for spring! Maybe under all the ice and slush there are some crocuses (crocii?) pushing up. We can hope.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Indeed we will miss it. It has been a lifesaver.

    But alas, all good things must come to an end. I got the GBFT running and it drives very well. It still has a miss but hopefully that can be remedied. Parts are on the way. Hopefully a thermostat will help it heat a little better.

    See ya soon,

    Aaron

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Comments are moderated so may not appear immediately, but be assured that I read and enjoy each and every word you write, and will post them as quickly as possible.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...