Snow Birds

 

snow birds

The weekend after we had the ice storm in Charlotte we ended up with a snow storm. Honestly, we moved here from St. Louis to get away from this kind of this crummy weather! I guess these snow birds did not fly far enough south. Our part of the state got 11" of snow. At least it was a light, fluffy snow and no ice like we received the previous week.

Most of us in the community left all our snow removal equipment back in the northern states we moved from. With the lightness of the snowfall, many used their leaf blowers to just blow it away. We have a gardening shovel that we used - not ideal, but it worked.

The goodness of our community was again brought to light as many neighbors came out to clear the sidewalks and drives of those unable to accomplish the task themselves. It's one of the huge advantages of living in a 55+ community. We definitely take care of our own.

The amount of snow kept us in the neighborhood for several days as they do not plow the roads in here or the county road we have to take to get to the state highway. We planned for that, so we were fine. Now the snow is all gone, and the weather has warmed up significantly. Hopefully it will stay that way for awhile.

Mountain Island Lake sunrise

Snow Day

snow day

We are in our third winter at our new home in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. We experienced our first snow on Sunday. Or maybe I should say our first snice storm. It began as snow and then turned into freezing rain and sleet. I was hoping we had left this weather behind in St. Louis, but apparently not. I would rather have a bunch of snow than ice, that's for sure. We didn't have anywhere to go and our freezer and pantry were well-stocked, so we just prayed that the ice wouldn't cause a limb to fall on a transformer.

We dodged a bullet this time, but more rain followed by snow are on tap for Thursday and Friday. Yippee!

Snow Day

Muny bandstand

Between Friday, January 11th and Saturday, January 12th, St. Louis got dumped on - literally! We had over 11 inches of snow at our house. Fortunately I had prepared, so we had plenty of groceries and no place we need to be. Many other people were not so lucky. There were reports of hundreds of motorists stranded in their cars overnight due to impassable interstates and/or accidents. I cannot ever remember hearing of such a thing in the past, even when we had more significant snowfall.

By Sunday the additional predicted snow had skirted past us, and the roads were in fairly good shape. We decided to head out to Forest Park and the famed Art Hill, where sledding is a contact sport whenever it snows. We wanted to take some pictures for Week 2 of the photography challenge we are participating in, and moving targets on the hill would fit the bill.

It was fun to watch all the people, and listen to the screams of glee as children flew down the hill. The slight warming of temperature and the volume of folks going sledding made the slope very fast. Once we were done taking pictures, we couldn't resist a few runs down the hill ourselves. We had drug the old plastic sleds out of our storage shed and brought them along in case we were compelled to go down. I'm so glad we did. What fun we had! Though we may have been the oldest people taking part that afternoon, it goes to show you that age is just a number. Who said we have to act our age?

Art Hill, Forest Park

No Kirby Prints in the Snow

Kirby January 20, 2016

We got a dusting of snow last week. As I looked out the back window into the yard, I felt saddened by the lack of dog prints. Kirby liked the snow as long as there wasn't so much that he got the ice balls between his toes, or he didn't have to walk where some homeowner had thrown down salt. That irritated his feet. Though he could certainly entertain himself when we came back inside by picking off the ice balls! The snow fall with no tracks was just another reminder of what we are missing.

coyote prints?

But the next morning when I opened the blinds, I was shocked to see paw prints on the deck - two different sets, actually. For just a moment I thought, "Kirby must have been chasing a rabbit." But then reality blew in like the north wind, and I realized that could not be the case. I shrugged the prints off as being the neighbor cat sniffing out a rabbit.  I posted the photo on Facebook stating that I didn't know if was harder to not find prints in the snow, or to actually see some prints and think for a moment that our boy was still alive. Several people commented on the post, stating that those were coyote prints. Yikes! That thought didn't cross my mind at all. Can coyotes jump fences? I guess I can be thankful Kirby wasn't out there after all.

Slip, Sliding Away

Lorraine & Jerry

We decided to drive up to Iowa to visit my in-laws over President's weekend. We didn't see them over the holidays and this would give us a chance to not only spend Valentine's Day with them, but also celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary. At the time we made the decision there was no bad weather in the forecast. When we left St. Louis Friday morning there was a little bit of freezing rain. The further north we traveled, the worse the weather got. The windshield wiper fluid would not come out of the designated holes, and between the slush from the road and the sleet, we could barely see out of the windshield. We stopped at a gas station in Bowling Green to clean off the window and fill up the tank - just in case. When I went in to use the restroom I asked the women in there if any of them had come from the north. Another woman said they were traveling from St. Louis to Des Moines, but she thought they were going to turn around. The women at the cash registers said that Hannibal was a mess and Palmyra got 4 inches of snow. I told Jim I thought we should head back home. He called his dad, who said it was sunny and dry in Charles City. Jim wanted to try going a little further.

I should admit here that I am not a good traveler under normal conditions. I prefer to drive rather than be the passenger. But I do not like to drive when the roads are icy. Jim took over the wheel, and I tried to keep my mouth shut. Everywhere I looked there were cars in the ditch. As we got close to Hannibal, it was as if they didn't own any snow plows in that area. It was horrible! To top it off, we stopped again to fill up and grab some food and when I walked the dog, I fell on the ice. Knee, hip, wrist and shoulder took the brunt of it. At least I didn't break anything! Once we got into Iowa, the road conditions improved. They were still snow packed, but at least the slow lane was halfway decent to travel on. A drive which normally takes us 6 hours was 7 and a half instead.

Charles City already had over a foot of snow on the ground, but they got several more inches on Saturday. Luckily we had nowhere we needed to go. Sunday was cold but sunny. Then we saw the forecast for Monday, which is when we planned to come home. More snow was predicted so we decided to see what the morning brought. I was reading reports of freezing rain from St. Louis up through southern Iowa, and Charles City was expected to get another 4 inches of snow. This time we decided to stay put since it looked like Tuesday would be clear with a warming trend. We took advantage of the extra time to visit with relatives and play card games.

Sure enough, the roads were excellent on Tuesday. We left 26 degree weather and pulled into a balmy 64 degrees St. Louis. Unbelievable. Now I remember why I say I won't travel this time of year.

2014 is Snow Laughing Matter

Jim and I traveled to Los Angeles on New Year's Eve to ring in 2014 with our daughter as she was unable to come home for Christmas. Unlike last year when we visited her in January, the weather was perfect. We had sun every day, no rain at all and temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s. It almost made us want to live there. I say almost because I simply cannot handle the area traffic. Let alone there being lots of it, people cut in and out on the highways without signaling all the time. It seems so dangerous!

We arrived in time to take a cab to Katie's office, where we were able to meet her boss and many of her co-workers. It is fun to now be able to visualize her sitting at her desk. Everyone seems very nice. From there we went to her apartment to drop off our luggage, and then walked to a nearby Scottish restaurant for dinner. I love where she lives because you can walk to many different places and leave the car in the garage. The next morning, New Year's Day, we drove north to Ventura where we met my college friend Karen Smith and her husband for lunch. While they live in Washington, DC, the navy has transferred Mark to Ventura for a couple of years. It was so much fun to reminisce about our days at Iowa State.

Karen Smith and me

After lunch Jim, Katie and I boarded the Island Packers boat for a three hour tour (okay, it was three and a half hours, but most of you will know my reference to a three hour tour) of Channel Island National Park. The park encompasses five islands and the ocean that surrounds them. Officially this was a whale watching excursion, but we saw sea lions, dolphins, many birds and whales. We actually saw a humpback whale, which is unusual this time of year as they are normally further south on their migration to Mexico for the winter.

dolphins at play

humpback whale

whale tale

sea lion waves hello

sun sets on a great day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie had to work on Thursday, so Jim and I drove to work with her in the morning so that we could drop her off and use her car for the day.  We headed to Santa Monica beach, which was fairly uncrowded due to the early hour, and then down to Venice Beach with all of its uniqueness.

Santa Monica Pier

fitness, Santa Monica style

California sledding at Venice Beach

another glorious sunset in Venice

Friday after we dropped Katie off we went back to the Getty Center. We had gone here last January, but it was cold and rainy so we did not get to enjoy the gardens. I'm so glad we went back as it is absolutely beautiful!

Getty Center

Getty Center gardens

Jim and me

everyone's a star

After lunch at the Getty Center we headed over to the Getty Villa. From a beautiful, clear day we drove a few miles into cool fog. Weird. The villa is nice and its museums are interesting, but if I could only go to one of the Getty options, I would go to the Getty Center.

Getty Villa

Saturday we took it a little easy before making the two hour drive to Joshua Tree National Park. Located east of Los Angeles this 800,000 acre park is made up of two deserts. Obviously we should have arrived early in the day to see more of it, but what we were able to experience was really cool. We had asked the park ranger for the best spot to capture the sunset, and she definitely directed us to the right place.

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua trees

Sun sets over the mountain

We had been touching base with home about the snow headed to St. Louis, so I wasn't surprised to find out that our flight home on Sunday had been cancelled. Unfortunately American left me a voice mail in the middle of the night so by the time I retrieved it on Sunday morning we had few options for rescheduling anything. They had booked us on a flight Monday night arriving in Dallas at 9:35 p.m. That didn't look too bad until we realized that the next flight for us didn't leave Dallas until 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday night! When I tried to call American I was informed there would be a two hour wait on hold. Yikes. No changes were allowed online at all. We decided to just go to the airport early on Monday and hope for the best. In the meantime, that left us with the opportunity to spend Sunday with Katie. We enjoyed a nice brunch in Glendale, walked around the outdoor mall in the area, and then drove the short distance to downtown so that Jim could see one of the urban parks in the area. We picked up brats for dinner and watched the season premier of Downton Abbey.

We drove to work with Katie Monday morning and then took a cab to the airport. The couple in line ahead of us had just returned from a 17 day cruise to the Panama Canal, and were trying to get back to St. Louis as well. I jokingly said that they would probably get the last two seats on the non-stop flight going out at 7:25 a.m. Tuesday morning. It turned out that they couldn't get any flight at all until Thursday! When we got up to the agent she was puzzled by the flights we had been given since they normally do not make you wait so long between flights. But she could not find any better alternative for us.

In Dallas we headed to a Comfort Inn near the airport for the night. Everyone on the shuttle bus had a horror story. The next morning my brother and his wife came to pick us up at the hotel, and we spent the day with them, my niece and my two great-nephews. That was the silver lining in the black snow cloud that was hovering over us.

Once we arrived back in St. Louis we were faced with clearing 12 inches of snow off the car - with no winter coats or boots! Luckily the shuttle bus driver helped us remove snow from behind the car so that we could get out. That was pretty nice considering it was nearly midnight and 16 degrees outside.

snow on our patio

What an interesting beginning to 2014. I wonder what the rest of the year will bring?

Nice Day for a White Wedding

Jim and I spent last weekend in Colorado Springs. We went out for the wedding of the son of one of our college friends. The mom and dad both graduated from Iowa State with us, and Jim was in their wedding and the dad was in our wedding. They wanted us to stay in the five bedroom, three bath house they had rented for the week. At one point there were 14 of us sleeping there, but it worked out just fine. We flew out on Thursday, so Jim was able to go to the bachelor party activities with the guys. I stayed at the house with the older ladies.

Friday Jim and I went to the Garden of the Gods. We had not been there since before we had kids, and it has changed a bit with the addition of parking lots and paved trails. It was cold and windy, but at least we had a beautiful sky that day.

Garden of the Gods

King of the Mountain

Garden of the Gods entrance

rock formation

We also went to Manitou Springs to do some sight-seeing and to have lunch. It is a really cool old Victorian town.

street musician

Manitou Springs

chapel window

It began to snow that night, which was the rehearsal dinner. All of the out of town guests were invited, so we took part in that. We had a very fun table at the dinner, and the evening passed quickly. The snow continued through the night and was near blizzard conditions by the next day. Although the accumulation was nothing near the 12.4" that St. Louis got, it still made for some treacherous driving conditions. We all went to the base early to make sure we arrived on time for the wedding. Since the groom graduated from the Air Force Academy, the wedding took place in the Ir Force Chapel, which is a beautiful structure.

Air Force Academy Chapel

inside the chapel

Despite the weather, the wedding went off without a hitch, and the reception was on the base as well, so we didn't have to travel far to get to it. Everyone at the reception was so friendly, and the DJ was wonderful. We had a lot of fun dancing with everyone.

deer out the house window

Sunday brought more snow, so we were a little house bound. Finally in the afternoon six of us drove to the Broadmoor Hotel and went to their bar for a martini. It was nice to get out of the house. Monday we helped pack up all the cars and strip all the beds before heading off. Jim and I went to Castle Rock for lunch and sight-seeing before driving to the airport.

1875 train depot

lunch at Castle Cafe

frozen fountain

Castle Rock

The Immediate Family Christmas

Andy and Megan arrived a little earlier than planned on the 26th because of the weather forecast. They got out of Huntingburg with no problem, but the interstate through southern Illinois was a bear. At times they were traveling only 10 miles per hour. They were relieved to get here and find no snow on the ground. Katie's plane was supposed to land at 10:30 p.m. but in fact did not arrive until 12:30 a.m. Andy volunteered to go get her, so the rest of us snuggled up here until they got back to the house. Then we stayed up talking until 2:00 a.m. It reminded me of the good old days when Jim and I would come home from work, load up the car and head up to Iowa, often arriving at our parent's house in the wee hours of the morning. It looks like I have something new to apologize for - staying up like that is hard on older folks. Yet our parents never complained.

Jim and I worked out the next morning, and then he had to run into work as a young man was coming in for a job interview. I hit the grocery store as the cupboards were pretty bare. The kids went to the Galleria to finish up some shopping since we were opening gifts that night. I made a roast in the crockpot to simplify clean-up, and then we mixed up a batch of cosmopolitans for everyone to enjoy as we exchanged gifts. Yum!

Friday we all went to the Art Museum since it had been pointed out that Megan had never been there. We were hoping to see the current exhibit of Barocci paintings, but it was sold out until late in the afternoon. Megan and Andy needed to drive back to Indiana and as more snow was predicted they wanted to get on the road before it got too late. So we walked through the museum instead, and hit Ted Drew's on our way back to the house.

Katie is still with us until Wednesday, so it is nice to have a little time to catch up with her. She is busy trying to see all of her friends before she takes off as well. After she leaves, it will be time for me to take down all the decorations. Then Christmas 2012 will be a wrap.

Girl Talk

My sister returned from a month in Belize last Wednesday night. Because she lives out on a difficult country road and snow was predicted, she stayed at her daughter's house until Sunday. With another storm on the way on Sunday she came and stayed with me since Jim is up in Iowa. We had fun catching up on all that has happened since she was gone, and cooking with another woman was a treat. Other than that, one day we went and ran some errands, but we pretty much stayed close to home. She thinks her road is passable today, so she took off this morning.

Jim is expected back today. In fact he was supposed to come home yesterday but Iowa got a lot more snow than we did and the winds pretty much made for blizzard conditions up north. He wanted to get on the road about 7 this morning, but his mom needs to have fluid drained off her lung at noon. She begged him to stay until that is done. Now he hopes to leave by 1:30 or so. Because he is leaving from Mason City where the hospital is located, that will add on to his drive time. The doctors are now pushing to do Lorraine's carotid artery surgery in about 6 weeks, so this will all start up again a lot sooner than anyone expected. Oh dear...

Chicago is so NOT My Kind of Town

Katie and I left for Chicago at 10:00 Friday morning so as to avoid rush hour traffic. Here and there. Figuring we would be heading into town while everyone else was heading out, I thought our timing would be pretty good. We arrived at the outskirts of the city around 3:00 to find the northbound traffic snarled to a stop. It took another hour and 15 minutes to arrive at the hotel, where I gratefully handed off the car keys to the hotel personnel for the weekend. After a little rest in the room (little being the operative word as the kids in the next room were waging a battle of Star Wars proportion), we decided to try a pizza parlor advertised in the shopping guide located in the room. Katie checked the reviews online, and people agreed it was THE place to sample Chicago style pizza. Arriving at 5:45 we were told there would be a 45 minute wait for the two of us. It seemed to be our day of being in the exact same location as everyone else. After 20 minutes we were advised to order our pizza so that it would be ready for us when we were seated. In 50 minutes we were seated at our table, where we received poor service and a pizza that arrived 20 minutes later. So much for the order ahead theory. The pizza was good, thankfully, and we were happy we tried it though we both prefer a thinner crust on our pizza. Facing 30 mile per hour winds (they don't call this the Windy City for nothing!), we struggled to make our way back to the hotel. The heathens in the room next door kept up WWIII until after 12:30, so I was not very perky the next morning as we readied ourselves for the tour at Loyola. The winds had not abated, and coupled with the gray skies overhead led to a less than idealistic day to be hiking around. Warm, comfortable coach buses shuttled us to the campus, located about a half hour away, but after that it was all on foot. Grateful for the fore site to pack my hooded down jacket and gloves, I marveled at the teenage girls tottering around in their high heels and skirts, anxious to impress. It began to rain and then sleet as afternoon turned to evening. By this morning the snow combined with the winds off the lake turned the downtown area into a blizzard. Following a 30 minute wait for my car to arrive from the valet, we trudged through ankle high slush to toss the luggage in the car so we could return home. If this had been my decision on where I wanted to go to attend college, the weather this weekend would have definitely settled things for me. There is no campus or program good enough to convince me to attend college in Chicago. Why weren't we looking at colleges in Florida, for crying out loud? Oh, that's right - it's not my decision.

Snow Day

I can remember when I was a kid (oh God, now I sound like my dad!) and getting a bunch of snow dumped on the town meant a vacation day from school. As I grew up in Iowa, it happened several times each school year. My brother and I would bundle up and run outside to build a snow fort along with the requisite snowman. One year my younger neighbor and I built a standing Snoopy in my front yard. Now six inches of snow doesn't result in a vacation day at all, but instead turns into a labor day. My husband couldn't get his car out of the garage this morning, so he took mine. I was left to shovel the snow. It was fun for about the first fifteen minutes. Then, as my arms began to shake and my back began to ache, I started to wonder what it is I do at the fitness center three days a week. I must be working on the wrong muscles, because I sure could feel every single one of mine. Two hours later I am back in the house feeling ten years older. Too bad my mom isn't here to make me some hot cocoa.

Let it Snow - Somewhere Else!

We survived the road trip from hell. We left our house at 10:30 Tuesday morning to drive to my in-law's house, which is located in northern Iowa. Normally it is a 6 hour drive. There was absolutely nothing normal about this drive. A few miles from the Bowling Green exit on Highway 61, I noticed that all the vehicles heading south on the highway had their flashers on and were traveling at a snail's pace. That was my first clue that what was up ahead would not be pretty. Of course I would be the one driving. Prior to our departure I had checked the weather station and on-line weather resources, which revealed no problems with the weather or roads in St. Louis, Hannibal, or Iowa City. Why I believed any of them, I have no idea. Chalk it up to being in the Christmas spirit. (Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.) It began to rain before we got to Chesterfield Valley, but with the temperature in the low 30's, this was not a problem. What happened near Bowling Green was a drop in temperature to the 28 degree mark, leading to black ice. As one car after the other slipped and slided ahead of us on the road, we watched car after car head into the median or off the shoulder into a ditch. With my hands tightly clenched on the steering wheel, I crept along behind a propane gas truck, ultimately driving on the shoulder of the road as it had a grooved surface. Just as I suggested to my husband that we get off the highway so we discuss the wisdom of continuing, the traffic came to a total hault. A tractor trailer carrying fuel had jack-knifed, and was blocking both of the north bound traffic lanes. About 30 feet from the Bowling Green exit. Had he been a little further along we could have all taken the exit ramp to go around him. There was nothing to do but sit it out. People began to leave their cars and hike up the exit ramp, to use the restroom I presume. Some either extremely brave or extremely stupid drivers drove in the median or up an embankment to get around the accident. I looked at the Fed Ex truck on my left and commented that there was one delivery that wasn't going to be made on time. After a while the Fed Ex driver hopped out of the truck and took pictures of the accident and all the traffic stacked up behind us. My husband said he was probably trying to prove to his boss that he really was stuck in traffic and not out goofing off. A highway patrol car finally showed up, took a look, and took off. An ambulance arrived and sat on the southbound shoulder, adding to the trials of the southbound drivers. Then a fire truck appeared on the outer road to see what was going on. A couple of tow trucks drove by, apparently decided it was too big of a job and headed off to pull all the other poor drivers out of the ditches. After an hour, a small rusty tow truck stopped to take a look. As I looked at the condition of this new arrival, I thought to myself that there is no way he will be able to move that big rig. But sure enough, he was like the Little Engine That Could. After a few manuevers he got the tractor turned around and pulled the whole thing off on the shoulder of the road. We slowly crept around the accident site and saw that most travelers were taking the Bowling Green exit, which has quite a big incline to it. I decided to keep the momentum going with my car, and we traveled on to the next safe exit to get gas and regroup. By then I had a crushing headache and I felt like I was going to throw up. I can't remember the last time I drove on roads that bad, or was that scared. A call to my in-laws provided us with the news that it was sunny and dry (well, as dry as the town could be with 8 inches of snow on the ground) there. Jim took over the wheel and we decided to travel a little further to see if things improved. From there through Hannibal we had sleet, but the temperature climbed back to the freezing mark. Further north there was no precipitation. In the end, it took us 8 and a half stressful hours to get there. Charles City got a couple more inches of snow while we were there, and for Christmas Eve Mass the temperature was negative 3 degrees. It was 34 degrees when we left there this morning and 61 when we arrived in St. Louis. Go figure...Despite all of that we had a wonderful Christmas, and we can't wait for Andy and Megan to get here tomorrow.