Snowstorm 2009

This afternoon when I measured the snow outside our door it was about 16 inches. I know several people who have 18 or more. The snow is really beautiful, but when it comes in such great quantities it can be kind of bothersome.

We're supposed to get more snow throughout the night and most of the day tomorrow. It won't be as significant, but another 4 inches on top of what we already have is a whole lot of snow.

Here are some photos and videos I took yesterday and today.

Video from "rush hour"

Our friends Robert and Allison spent the night with us. They were thinking about it in the afternoon, but when the main road was closed that pretty much sealed the deal. This is Robert's car right after they pulled up.

Andy got home shortly after 11. The Hulk has a lift and 33 inch tires.

Kind of grumpy after a long day at work. Also, Allison, Robert and I were watching Christmas movies and Andy doesn't really like Christmas movies.

Love my snowman flag. It's kind of perfect right now!

I decided I wanted to go walk around since I hadn't been out yet. So of course it made perfect sense to throw on my snow boots with my pajama bottoms.

I tried to take a picture of a snow covered tree, but the falling snow kind of got in the way.

No feet!

My footprints away from and back to the door. I didn't go far - it was cold!

Andy had to dig himself a hole so he could get into the storage room. He needed some more snow gear.

The temperature this morning around 8:30 am. It has stayed pretty steady all day. I think it's supposed to hover around this for the next three days or so.

People in the parking lot next door came early to dig themselves out before the snow started again.

This is the side yard. I took this and the photo above from a window.

After a big waffle breakfast it was time to dig the cars out.

The heat from the cars the night before melted some of the snow and then it refroze. Robert and Andy had a heck of a time getting the cars out this morning. First they got the Hulk out. Then they dug out Robert's car, but it just slipped around so Andy had to offer his assistance.

Explaining the process and plan:

Putting the plan into action:

Success!

Allison and I played with the camera while the men did all the hard labor. Actually I think Allison did some shoveling too, but I was inside and didn't come out until they'd gotten all the difficult stuff done. Good timing!

If you got snow, I hope you're enjoying it like we are. If you didn't, I hope you're enjoying your freedom.

********************************************

On a different note:

Andy and I received some very sad news this afternoon.

A close friend of ours passed away in his sleep last night. We are close with his whole family and our hearts are breaking for them. He was only 23 and right now it looks like he aspirated in his sleep. He was visiting home for the holiday season and his parents found him this morning.

Things like this never come at a good time, but something about losing a loved one during this time of year seems to make it extra hard.

Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they try to cope with this sudden, terrible loss.

Photogenic Friday: The Hulk

This week I'd like to introduce you to my new ride. It's another Jeep.

It isn't really new. It's new to me, because for the last eight years it's been Andy's. He has generously agreed to loan it to me until I get my "real" new ride, whenever that may be.

Don't worry about Andy though, he has a truck to get around in, we call the truck Magnum. Well, I call the truck Magnum and Andy tolerates me naming his vehicles.

The Hulk is what I like to call my new mode of transportation.

This is what the Hulk looked like roughly six years ago.


Several years later the Hulk has certainly suffered some wear and tear at the hands of my husband. In the photo above he has made just a few slight modifications. He continued to make more while still striving to keep the Hulk road worthy as he relied on it to transport him on a regular basis.

Fast forward to 2006 when he bought Magnum and the Hulk became Andy's toy or off roading vehicle. The Hulk had been off roading before then, but Andy paid a little more attention to what he was doing.

Since then? Not so much.



This is what the Hulk looks like today.


I don't think I really need to explain why I call it the Hulk.

This is where Andy says a tree got in the Hulk's way and nearly ripped off half of the grill and headlight. It's held on with zip ties.


This is where a ditch just "jumped right up and hit the Hulk in the side."


These are they fog lights that Andy professed his love for just a few days ago. He told me he'd be very upset if something happened to his fog lights. I think he values them above all other things on or in the Hulk.

This is a pregnant woman trying to get into the Hulk. I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but the Hulk is much taller than your average Jeep.


The next day she told me she injured her hip and woke up with a shooting pain. She didn't get back in the Hulk.

I'm still not sure how she managed to get up there.

It was a challenge for me when I was in a cast. I don't have a photo, but I had it down to an art and really I think it would be worth putting my walking boot back on and recreating it on film, just for posterity's sake.

I make fun of the Hulk a lot, but really I'm grateful to have it. I wouldn't have a car at all without it and if I can't have my Jeep back, the Hulk is a nice substitute.

*I asked Andy to pick out an off roading picture for me to post and it took him longer to pick one than it did for me to write this post.*

One week

This time last week I was sitting in one hospital waiting to be transferred to another.

At least that's what I think was going on about now.

So much happened in one day, but I actually have a really acute memory of everything that went on. I even remember names of first responders, EMTs, nurses, doctors and other various medical professionals who I saw that day.

I remember feeling how messed up my bottom teeth were. I've never had braces and instant panic set in. My right ankle hurt, but I just assumed I had aggravated an old injury because the pain wasn't unbearable. It really only hurt when people touched it, and they touched it a lot. I think people assumed it was the only thing safe to touch. Turns out it was broken by the force of the floor board being pushed in.

My nose never hurt though they told me pretty much immediately that it was clearly broken. They didn't have to do an x-ray to tell me that. They also said I had a bad gash on my chin. They didn't tell me just how bad though; I'm not sure they knew. The skin was pulled away from my chin from the force of the impact. It did some sort of nerve damage and haven't been able to feel half of my chin and bottom lip since that afternoon. The doctor's aren't sure of the extent of the damage, but as I slowly feel things every day I think it's just badly bruised. At least I hope so.

More pains started to present themselves as my adrenaline wore off. My seat belt put several welts on my torso before it broke in two. My right side around my ribs was particularly painful so they did extensive x-rays. Nothing showed up, but for a couple of days they were afraid I'd injured my liver because my blood levels were off. Somehow, miraculously, I didn't have any internal organ damage, or a concussion despite the giant knot on my forehead.

I remember everyone being so kind. And I kept thanking them for being there. My inner southern belle came out and I responded to every new person with "nice to meet you" and to each question with a mam or sir tacked on at the end. Everyone kept telling me how sweet I was and I remember telling one nurse that really I wasn't. I told her I was usually pretty surly and that just the other day Andy had told me to call the cable company to complain about something because I was meaner than him.

I went into surgery early Wednesday morning and woke up the next day in ICU. Except I didn't know I was in ICU. All I knew was that my arms were tied down and I was intubated. I went in and out during this. I know I was PISSED off that I couldn't move my arms or talk. I finally communicated to my family that I wanted to write my thoughts to them. I found the paper later that I'd scrawled on and there were some things on there not at all congruent with my southern belle persona.

Finally they took my tube out and I was able to breathe. The next couple of days were filled with visits from family and friends, and of course the multiple doctors who had been assigned to me. No less than three specialists.

I spent two nights in ICU and one in a regular room before being released on Friday to go home. My mother was my driver and she was a nervous wreck. I think she would have rather paid a stranger to make that drive than have to do it herself and feel like she might damage me more.

Yet, somehow, amongst all this, the thing that haunts me most is the vision of the white car in my lane. As I heal and become more aware of everything that has gone on, that's the one thing that keeps me awake. I close my eyes to drift off to sleep and I see it, then I start awake gasping for breath the same way I did when I regained consciousness in my car. That was the only time I ever thought I was dying. Not being able to breathe was the single most scary thing that happened that day.

Then my lungs filled and I heard the sirens and voices around me. I opened my eyes and saw my hood crunched up in front of me and my steering wheel folded back from the force of my body. And I cried out for my car. I surveyed my injuries second, but my car was my first concern.

I still can't think about it's mangled appearance without crying.

Picking up the pieces

I've spent the better part of two days trying to figure out exactly what to tell you about my accident.

I could tell you about the pain, but I don't want to seem whiny and on the whole I'm so grateful that it isn't worse any pain I'm experiencing sort of pales in comparison.

I could tell you about the accident itself, but I don't really remember much. I saw a large white vehicle coming at me and the next thing I knew I was in my car, unable to breathe, trying to grasp what had just happened.

The whole thing has made me evaluate my life and how I live it. I know that's kind of a cliche statement, but until you face something that could have so swiftly taken everything from you it isn't something you understand. I'm not even sure I still understand it all.

I'm still processing.

Processing my injuries and how much time it will take to heal.

Processing that my car is gone. That's been hard to grasp. I've told you how much it meant to me, and though I know it's so much more trivial than what could have been, it's my reality right now. I loved it and for ten years it was a part of who I was.

Right now the thing that keeps me going most is knowing, definitely, that it is all going to be alright. There are so many people facing worse things and with so much more grace than me.

Eventually we'll settle back into the normal. It will be a new normal, but it will be a schedule and constancy is always comforting.

I am eternally grateful for everyone who has reached out. All the kind words and prayers sent up for me. I can never say thank you enough, and I hope in the future to be able to pay you all back in kind. Though under different circumstances because I could never wish this on anyone.

I'll keep you updated on my recovery of course and once I can remember everything I'll share some more details of the accident and days that followed. It's all kind of a blur right now.

Here is what's left of my car. It looks really rough, but I can say with a little pride that I think it won. The other car was about twice the size of mine, but of course it was newer and as such did not contain as much steel. I have images of it, but it isn't my property so I don't feel comfortable posting it for the world. You can clearly see where my car made it's impression and there is a lot more left of my front end. I know that's a silly thing to be proud of, but it helps me to know that even in the end my car was there for me.

Crossing my fingers...

that my car stays fixed for a while.

Andy fixed it today, finally. I guess it wasn't so much his fault that my car sat unused for almost a week. It's hard to tinker with it when there's over a foot of snow on the ground.

He did, however, admit to me that it was his fault that the car was broken in the first place.

Back in December when he replaced the alternator he broke a piece off and thought it wouldn't be a big deal.

Turns out it was a big deal.

But at least it was easy to fix and hopefully it won't break again for a long time.


**I still don't have pictures of the new baby. Actually I do, but they're very dark so I'm holding out until I get some better ones. My mom would have sent some to me already, but she is keeping the three musketeers and just hasn't had time to upload anything to the computer. But now that I have a working chariot again maybe I can get down this weekend to see her and smell her sweet baby smell for myself.

It's Tuesday

Just another day on the mountain.

I don't think it got about 25 degrees today. That is not helpful when we're trying to get rid of all this snow.

Also, my car definitely won't start. The battery is dead as a doornail. Andy went out last night to try it and then when we came out this morning to leave the driver's side door was wide open. Apparently the cold froze the latch and we had to wait for the sun to warm the door up before it would close. That was awesome. I guess it really isn't a big deal unless some small rodent decided my car was warmer and more comfortable than whatever tree it was living in. That would be bad, very, very, bad.

People come skiing because of all the great snow we have and then they come in the shop and complain about how cold it is. All I can do is show them our thermal underwear and make suggestions. Clearly they want me to pull out my magic wand and raise the temperature ten or fifteen degrees. Soon I'm just going to start suggesting that they don't go. It's a freaking outdoor sport. One that can only be enjoyed in the winter time. Suck it up and deal with the cold or find something else to occupy the time.

On a brighter note; my sister-in-law went into labor today with her and my brother's fourth child. She's probably going to deliver in the next couple of hours. A new baby is always exciting. Hopefully I'll have a functioning vehicle so I can go down this weekend and meet my new niece. I'll let you know when she's here.

I think I'll go sit on the couch with a warm beverage and a blanket and watch all the stupid people out on the ski slope freezing their butts off. Have a great night!

Cabin Fever

Wow, six posts in February. I've outdone myself

So in honor of nearly a year of blogging (and to get myself back into the swing of things) I'm planning on posting once a day until my "blog-o-versary" on March 26th.

Why are you laughing?

Stop it!

I can do this... really.


Anyway. It snowed today. It's still snowing as a matter of fact.

I knew there was supposed to be some kind of inclimate weather, but this time of year you really can't count on anything. With spring right around the corner you never really know what's going to happen. So when I woke up this morning to a dusting of the white stuff on the grass and not much else, I wasn't so surprised.

I have spent the last two days cleaning my apartment. Which hasn't been this clean ever. Including when we moved in. No kidding. To treat myself I planned on taking a little trip to town this afternoon and picking up a few things. Not really necessities, but things we could use none the less. I decided to wait to leave until lunch time to give all the stores a chance to open since it's Sunday. At around 12 I sat down to use the computer and the weather was the same as it had been hours ago; soggy with a mixture of precipitation.

Thirty minutes later I get up to leave and look out the window. Sometime in the past half hour it snowed at least half an inch and there were no signs of stopping. But I'd been locked in my apartment with Comet and rubber gloves for two days and no amount of snow was going to stop me from getting to town. I briefly went over various family member's reactions to my resolve.

My step dad: "Oh no you're not going out in this."
Andy: (knowing me better, but hoping to discourage me anyway) "I really don't think it's a good idea."
My mom: "OK, will you bring me (insert product) back from Walmart?"
My grandmother: (who thinks I'm capable of doing anything) "Well, be real careful and call me when you get back."

I decided to go with my grandmother's imagined seal of approval and set out on my journey. Now, by "town" I mean the nearest place hosting more than a grocery store and a Riteaid. At least a 15 mile hike. I knew it was going to be slow moving, as I live in a tourist town and it's the weekend. Lot's of out-of-towners who don't know how to drive in snow. Not that I'm all that adept myself, but I'm not as chicken as I used to be.

On the way to town

My trip there was relatively uneventful. I made it without incident. The people behind me didn't tailgate and I kept a wide berth from the people ahead. I made it to my destination. No one had what I was looking for, but I made a few purchases and used a coupon, picked up some lunch and got back in my car to make the trek home. My cabin fever was satisfied.

This is where things get tricky. Remember when I told you my alternator was acting up again? Turns out there was just a bad connection that was easily fixed with a saudering iron. My car has been doing well ever since then. Doing well until today that is. I guess Andy didn't make the connection quite as strong as it needed to be so when I got back in my car to start it up my check engine light was on. Fabulous. All I need is a broken down car in a snow storm. But it was running so I stiffened my resolve to make it as far home as possible before I was stuck.

Driving back home

I won't go into all the details of my trip. I'll just say there was only one incident where I was sideways in the road, but luckily there was a car in the other lane that had run off the road so there was no oncoming traffic. It's not lucky that they ran off the road, but it's lucky that they were stopped and I managed to do the same and not collide with them. Then some idiot decided to pass everyone in my lane, nearly causing a multiple care pile up. People like that deserve to have accidents. And if you are one of those people I'm not sorry I wrote that.

My car did make it home, barely. I'll be surprised if it starts next time I go out. We'll probably have to put the battery in Andy's Jeep to charge it up and he'll have to revisit that faulty connection. But I'm pretty happy with the outcome of my trip. Mostly I'm happy to be home again in one piece.

That needle should be up around the 14

Next time it snows like this and I want to go out in it please remind me to come back here and read this.

Also, could someone bring me some hot chocolate? Like, right now?

A new alternator for Christmas

I got back from Raleigh late last night after quite an interesting journey home, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Julie and I haven't seen each other since September which is entirely too long, so it was great to see her, even if only for a short time.

I got there Friday afternoon and entertained myself for a while because she and Frank were doing the walk through in their new house. Did I tell you that Julie and Frank are buying a house? No? Well, I just did.

We went to eat a Ted Turner's restaurant that night. I don't remember the name of it, all I know is that it's owned by Ted Turner, they had paper straws, and they don't stock cream cheese so I couldn't have a cream cheese burger. Instead I had a bison burger which was quite satisfying. I would recommend it to anyone who isn't a vegan or vegetarian, for obvious reasons.

Julie and I participated in a craft show on Saturday morning; I don't remember if I told you that either, so now you know. Friday night we made cookies for the booth the next morning. Julie said they were too messy and she won't make them again, but she isn't a baker so she has a skewed concept of messy. All-in-all the craft show was a bust. I don't think it was advertised very well and most of the twenty people that showed up were from Julie's church and just there to show support. But time spent together is never time wasted, so we made the best of the situation.

These are the cookies we made
We cut them in fourths to have enoughWaiting on people to show upJulie and I at the craft fair
(Whenever I do a self portrait I always look sleepy)

Saturday afternoon we spent some time shopping and touring the new house before I headed home. It was hard to leave. I cried, but only because someone said she didn't want me to go. I'm looking at you Julieanna.

The new houseJulie opening the front doorJulie and I in the house
(I made my eyes bigger this time
so I look surprised instead of sleepy)

Here's where the alternator comes in. Most of the trip was smooth sailing, but about the time I started to drive up our big mountain I noticed my lights getting dimmer. I thought maybe I was just tired and my eyes were playing tricks on me. Ten more miles down the road my tachometer and speedometer stopped working and registered zero. Danger Will Robinson! At the same time my headlights became as good as non-existent. So I made it to the nearest stopping point (a grocery store parking lot), and turned the car off. I thought maybe I was having an electrical glitch and the car just needed to reset. Of course it wouldn't restart. I called my hero to come and rescue me and thirty minutes later there he was. Naturally the car started as soon as he opened the hood and looked inside; my car likes to do that to me, we have a love-hate relationship.

Andy explained to me what was going on. My alternator was dead and my battery was dying slowly because there wasn't anything to give it more juice. Did you know the alternator creates the electricity to feed to the battery? I didn't until last night.

So up the road we went. My speedometer still didn't work so I followed Andy and trusted that he wasn't going to get me a speeding ticket. I was starving and by that point so we stopped at Wendy's and my battery was done. Andy had brought the battery out of his Jeep (sometimes having 3 cars comes in handy) so he did a quick switch and we headed home.

Did I mention that there was a snow storm during all this? Yeah, there was, and not the big, soft, pretty snowflakes. Oh no, the wind was blowing like mad and with every gust you got smacked in the face with tiny little frozen bits that felt like they were cutting your skin. It was fabulous. Though I shouldn't complain. Andy had it worse than I did because he was the one doing the work, bless him.

We did make it home in one piece with both cars. Currently mine is resting from it's long journey. It's going to stay there until Friday when the new alternator gets here. I'm car less and it sucks a big fat one. I know that I could just drive one of the other two cars that we have, but Andy uses the truck all the time and the Jeep isn't exactly road worthy at the moment.

It's only for a few more days. Right?

Gratitude, Day 13

My husband is 100% testosterone filled male. He likes all things outdoors, anything that will send him down a hill at mock speed, and cars.

He loves any car really, but in particular he loves to take a perfectly suitable, roadworthy SUV and make it as un-roadworthy as possible. The bigger the tires, the better. How high can that lift kit take the body? And the flow master mufflers, oh the roar of the flow master.

I give him a hard time about it on a regular basis. Right now he has two cars. A Dodge Ram that, surprisingly, is still in it's original stock condition, and a Jeep Cherokee that is not, at all. He has cut things off the body intentionally and knocked things off unintentionally; he has altered that car within and inch of it's life, and he loves it. If he tells you differently he is lying.

And I'm sure you can go ahead and guess that this car has it's very own flow master. It's really loud. My step dad says it sounds like a logging truck. The sound can be really irritating at certain times of morning and night. It kind of makes you want to take out the battery and hide it so he can't start the thing. But alas, he loves it, so we all endure.

Over the years though I've come to develop a fondness for the familiar roar of the menace. Since it can be heard from quite a ways it signals early when Andy is near. It's a good signal. When we were dating it let me know that my main squeeze would be in my arms soon and now that we are married it sends me into a quiet anticipation for when he will come through the door. Sometimes I'm not quiet and I run around the apartment telling the bunnies that "Daddy's home!" They never hop around and share my excitement, they just sit and look at me like I've lost my marbles. They're aloof like that.

As much chagrin as that muffler has caused me I've come to appreciate it. Even love it. I don't know what I'll do if he ever decides to just have normal mufflers on his cars.

I'll probably rethink all this when we have kids though. The first time he wakes up a sleeping baby with his car will be a bad day for Andy and the flow master.

No Juice

Two weeks ago, in my car, Andy is driving:

Andy: Your check engine light is on

Me: Oh is it? That means the battery is about to die.

Andy: How do you know?

Me: That is what happens when I need a new battery.

Fast forward a couple of days:

My jeep takes longer than usual to start a couple of times

Me: My jeep didn't want to start today. We need to replace the battery.

Andy: You don't know for sure it's the battery, it could be any number of things.

Me: Ok, whatever.

Fast forward to this afternoon:

I drive to town and my dead battery leaves me stranded

Me: (on the phone with Andy) I told you so

Andy: Yeah, well... just shut up.