Tuesday, November 25, 2014

#snowvember

Yes, we had a storm that kept Buffalo on the national news for better than a week.  No, it didn't affect our corner of the world at all, as far as snow went.  There was a clear dividing line that had the snow remain to the south.  We are use to snow, drifts 7' high are not that unusual.  But straight, solid 7' was very unusual.  All the highways were closed and all schools in the area were also closed, even the ones that had no snow because the driving bans kept staff located to the south from getting to their schools.  So our kids had Tuesday off, then they tried to have them in on Wednesday.  My high schooler said that very few of the teachers were there, so Thursday and Friday were also Snow days.

Here's a picture of an unbelievable amount of snow.
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Also this picture is a favorite.  Having snow completely blocking you in the house has got to be a frightening experience.  Good some people made the best of it.

  

So I had nothing much to do but get ready for Thanksgiving.  All my veggies got done along with my two pumpkin pies that are in the freezer.  Today I made an apple and a blueberry pie.  I need more pie plates, since I still need to make chocolate pie.
Also, I was able to get Christmas knitting done.  Or almost done.  And the Buffalo Bills rolled over the Jets 38-3.  A really nice present for all the snow bound and the water logged, now that the snow has melted.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Before the Polar Vortex

Today is Veteran's Day and it is a beautiful, sunny warm day with a gentle breeze.  The perfect day to hang laundry outside!

I lost my dryer in September, I think, and have been trying to see how long I can do without.  So let's say the 1st of September was first day of this little experiment.  It is never a good time to have to  make a major investment in an appliance, but this came at a very inopportune time indeed. September is usually warm and sunny here and I have a clothes line that I use all summer to dry my sheets and the bathing suits and towels from swimming (love the smell of sheets hung out in the sunshine) so I decided to see if I could put off the new purchase for a few weeks.  I figured my grandmother had seven children and no dryer and she managed quite well, how hard would it be for me with just two adults, who mainly don't get terribly dirty.  Hubby takes his dress shirts and pants to the cleaner anyway, so I wouldn't have the problem of ironing them.

So the game was on!  How long could I go without having to buy a dryer!

September and even October, when it got a bit rainy was not a problem.  I washed clothes around the weather forecast instead of when the hamper was full.  I hung indoors on my wooden drying rack in front of the fireplace, all t-shirts get hung on hangers to dry and the system's been working fine.

My kids got into the spirit of my contest with myself, and have been cheering me on.  I thought I was going to have to give in this week, as I had a load of towels, sheets and sweats and jeans and the weather has been really too cold and rainy for hanging outdoors.  But because of the hurricane that is pushing frigid air into the US, we have a day today that is going to be sunny and breezy with a high in the 60's.  We get the cold air tomorrow.

So this is the scene in my backyard:


It actually makes me feel very clever and strangely empowered to try to "beat" the system.
I always feel betrayed when my appliances die on me.  My toaster oven has been broken for several years, it has to be manually started and stopped but as long as we are willing to keep an eye on the toast, it still does the job.  When it stops doing that, I may get a new one or try to jury rig a solution.