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Good Morning everyone. Cloudy but quiet Tuesday morning here in northern Michigan. After two days of Blizzard and thethe clean up, things are back to normal here. Road crews are mopping up areas still needing it and preparing for another dump of snow tomorrow. A lot of business s were closed yesterday and we were being advised to stay off roads unless necessary, but by late afternoon things were beginning to get back to normal. Schools are in session today and I will be heading into town for a cancelled appt. from yesterday. Anne, I think the storm you told me about is heading this way, but they are saying it was going to break into two storms after it crosses the mountains, one going across the northern tier and the other the southern. We are supposed to get 3-6 inches tomorrow. We actually only had around 8-10 in the blizzard Sunday, but the wind drifted it badly. Some of the pictures I have seen are unbelievable. Kudos to all the road crews up here who worked endlessly getting everybody back up and going again.

Judy, love your generator remark, hahaha. But in actuality size of generator doesn’t matter, it’s how many KW’s you want or need to power stuff in your house. Do you want to live comfortably with everything going or just the basics to get by like furnace, A/C, fridge, well pump etc. till the power comes back in. Thry are expensive to buy and install. So it is a matter of weighing costs to how often you lose power. In the 22 years I have lived on this road, we have not lost power for more than an hour or two when somebody hits a pole on the highway or there is an equipment failure and those have been months apart, sometimes even a whole year. Most people up here just ride it out or have fireplaces etc. I just thinking that with the climate changing, these storms may be the new norm all over.

So guess I had better get a move on. Need to leave before long, so can get business tended too and get back here as Thry are coming to inspect new furnace this afternoon. Have a nice day all.

I woke up at 5:00 to the smell of cat poo. It smelled like it was in the bedroom but was in the litter box in the bathroom on the other end of the house. I think it's Stinky that thinks she doesn't have to cover her mess. I got up and cleaned all the litter boxes and the smell is gone.

I hope everyone that is dealing with the snow is having a better day. I got the yard mowed and dog walked before it started raining yesterday. It sounded like it rained a lot during the night but it was only about an inch. This February has been a lot warmer than last year but cooler this week. They are saying it will be cold next week for Mardi Gras and rain all this week into next week. We are supposed to have scattered showers today with a chance of hail. I don't want any hail. I was thinking about going to Lafayette but think that can wait until tomorrow.

Martha

Good Morning all, We are actually having a few days of sun and after all the clouds it seems extra bright out there! Sue glad to see you post this morning that your power stayed on. I was worried that you didn't have and alternative heat source! After the horrible storm here in '08 and our power was out for over a week, we bought a generator. Unfortunately it did not work well after the first couple of years. The company who installed it went out of business and it turned out that the generator was one that had a flaw in the engine. We tried to fight the company who made it but they refused to take responsibility and it would have been too expensive to pursue. Last fall we decided to replace it and have been getting estimates. It is expensive !! They are mostly doing whole house instead of ones that run just a few select things like your heat and A/C and refrigerator, water heater. If you don't go with the whole house they want you to sign an acknowledgement that you refused the whole house model. I don't remember now why they are requiring that. So far I've only gone as far as getting estimates. We have very trees that need to come down and we just finished replacing our main water line into the house and our water heater. SSS.
I hope the weather calms down soon for everyone!
Martha I can sympathize with the smell of poo! The other evening Mitzi came running into the family room doing her Lassie imitation of barking at me and running backwards like she wants me to follow her. This is usually her act for a treat but this time she ran past the treat jar and into the living room looking back over her shoulder to be sure I was following. Didn't take me too many more steps before the smell hit me! Emma had used the paper in the back room and whew it was an emergency. I think Mitzi is the smartest one in the group regardless of how many ribbons Emma has!

Colliemom wrote: Anne, I think the storm you told me about is heading this way, but they are saying it was going to break into two storms after it crosses the mountains, one going across the northern tier and the other the southern. We are supposed to get 3-6 inches tomorrow.

Sue, us west coast gals just like to share, to "spread the wealth around", as it were.



Anne

Just checking in. Currently sitting comfortably in the Potter's Creek COE Campground on Canyon Lake near San Antonio resting up from the long drive from Fort Stockton, TX. It is gray outside but not raining. We'll take that. The dogs have enjoyed their longer than usual morning walk and I am ready to settle down with a book. Nicki is hoping to come up this afternoon. Tomorrow I am off towards Leesburg to visit with Karen West. It may take me two days to drive because I am not a fan of those 350 mile days.

Audrey is excited to have learned that she is now an Aunt! Her sister Daisy delivered 4 puppers Sunday night! One boy and 3 girls. So far even the smallest girl seems to be holding her own and nursing well. Audrey promised to post puppy pictures when she gets to visit!

BJ, Mitzi wanted to show you so you wouldn't think it was her. lol The only things the cats lead me to is a bowl or the door to go out. CC has a certain cry that means come right now and let me out.

Tina, I have stayed at Potter's Creek. It's been quite a few years since I have been to that area. I like Kerrville, New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. Looking forward to puppy pictures.

Mornings sure are long when you get up at 5:00. lol It's finally time for lunch.

Martha

Cloudy here this morning. I need to get dressed and get started on cleaning the porch. May have to run the space heater in there for awhile to warm it up a bit. Still have to head to WM and Home Depot. Want to flea fog the porch after I clean it just to be sure there are not fleas that are hibernating in there waiting for warmer weather to start hatching and moving around again.

Furnace is working nicely! Can hardly hear it running, and the new thermostat is so easy to use!

There is an area up by Lake Elsinore that I just heard about that is loaded with CA poppies blooming right now so I want to head up there this week to check it out. There is also a small area not far from my house that I drove past yesterday that is full of yellow and red daisies. So I want to get back there with my camera for those. I found some wildflowers on my porch yesterday! I guess I need to clean out my gutters!





Have a good day!

Good Morning. Glad the BIG snow event is over north of me. However snow is coming down here now but not sticking, just pretty big white flakes. 35° so pretty sure it will be just dandy. Need to get over to my MH to run the genny but waiting for warmer weather. Always checking for leaks and so far none found.

Hope Judy is digging herself out. We dont lose our power very often and I dont have a home generator and everything is electric in here so if it would last any time at all I would just move into the MH.

Judy, I remember when you were debating where to go this winter. You chose Eugene over Ohio because of the snow!!! Lyn

I do remember that, Lyn! I had a good night with no power still but furnaces working and, I hope< enough propane to last me another couple of days. I am running the generator and my electric heatr right now. Got a lot of snow on the roof and need to get someone to get it off because of the weight. It is supposed to be up to 40 today, so maybe some of it will melt. Got down to 27 last night, so just got above freezing in the last hour.

Glad the train people got rescued. I am a little east of that area, by the way. Having once spent 3.5 hours sitting on the runway and then another 4.5 hours flying to Vancouver, BC, I always bring food while I travel!! Guess I would have to share in a real emergency, however.

Reminds me of when I and about a dozen others got snowed in at our office. There was only one entrance and one exit to the road to the office complex, and it was packed with a foot of snow and a lot of stuck cars. We were only stuck for a couple of hours, but started scrounging for food. Our boss had a small refrigerator in his office, so we raided his supply of Asti Spumonte and downed it with a couple of boxes of girl scout cookies! That was a fun night! Eventually the road cleared, and we got home very late that evening. (And our boss was a good guy and never complained about his missing wine! He was an Annapolis graduate and a submarine commander in the reserves, but incredibly nice boss. I would work for him again in a flash.)

I need to take trash out to dumpster, add water to my tank, and find out if or when someone is coming to shovel my roof. No boots, so I am going to get my shoes wet, but at least there is pavement showing on the roadway--lot of slush and water, also.

I remember working for a large corporation years back and one day there was a huge snow storm so they announced at noon that they were closing the office and sending everyone home early. Well they didn't tell the snow plow crew (this was a huge campus in a hilly pine forest) about it so they hadn't cleared off the road going out of there. So imagine over 1000 people all trying to leave at once and then getting stuck on the road and no one could go anywhere. Luckily, I realized what was going on before I got in the long line of cars backed up into the parking ramp, especially since I was low on gas. I just went back inside and started working again. Left three hours later without any problem!

I found out today that we got a new resident couple here. They came from Paradise and lost their home in the fire. I went over to their house to see if they needed anything. They were very appreciative but seemed to be doing fine. They used their insurance money from their old home to buy a fairly new mobile home here. They were camping out of town at the time of the fire and had their little dog and bird with them but had left their two cats at home. Later, they gave their travel trailer to a friend who also lost his home. They are also planning to "sell" their property to some friends for $1, once the property is cleared and safe to build on. Very nice couple! They are originally from Carlsbad and their kids and grandkids live near here too.

I was contacted by a friend today who volunteers for the San Diego Humane Society and told that they have a ton of ferret food and ferret stuff that they are looking to find a home for. I contacted a ferret rescue in Phoenix that I am familiar with thru FB to see if they were interested. They are. So I am going to pick it all up and we are working on figuring out a way to get it to them. There are no ferret shelters in CA since they are illegal to own here. Not sure why the SDHS has all that food and supplies for ferrets tho.

Got half of the porch cleaned up. Will do the rest of it tomorrow. Then will flea bomb it just to be sure it is completely flea-free before it warms up.

Power came back on about 3 pm today. I also found someone young to climb up on my roof and push the snow off. There was at least 8" of wet stuff on my roof, which had to weigh a lot. Young man did not want money, but I gave him $40 in cash because I thought it was only fair to pay him for his work. I had kept my slides in all night to prevent drafts and make it easier to heat, so was happy to put them back out once the roof was clear. Oh, and when the power went back on, the water came back. I had enough in my tanks, but had forgotten that this park has a well, not city water, so no power, no water! Filled my tank up right away, just in case. I have to walk in 10" of wet snow just to get to electric post and utilities. Lucky I have not fallen--came close a couple of times.

Then I went into a cleaning frenzy, Vacuumed, did dishes, wiped stuff off, put away all the stuff I had left sitting around, put clean sheets on my bed, changed towels, etc. Looks a lot better and made me feel better also.

And it is snowing again, but not as heavily. There is now another coating of snow on my satellite so still no TV!!! Maybe tomorrow after it rains??? I really missed not being able to get local news. I still, however, am "snowed in" because they have not cleared the snow in front of my rig, so I cannot get out. I am going to the treatment center tomorrow via Uber, and will be there all day, but I am going to ask the desk people here to please clear my driveway so I can get out on Thursday to get food and propane. I cleaned my refrigerator and freezer out the other day, and I need food!! Also have a mammogram scheduled on Thursday! And I was supposed to have a test procedure yesterday, but they cancelled and rescheduled to Monday, so I cannot get out of this snowy place until Tuesday! I think the weather will be better then, but I am getting tired of cold weather. Napa and Las Vegas will be warm in comparison!

They are using a small farm tractor with a plow on the front and have mostly cleared the park roadways. Several damaged RVs, mostly trailers and 5th wheels, have been hauled out to get repaired. I also saw one car with windows broken get taken out today. A lot of people went to hotels and have not yet returned because there are still huge tree branches penning their rigs in. They need to get a crew in with chain saws to cut the branches up and get rid of them. Plus, some of the trees still have large hanging branches that might fall, so they are moving people into other spots temporarily. It is going to take weeks and maybe months to get the branches removed and trees trimmed, and many of them are not even on this property, but are on a goat farm behind us!!

They have several pull-through spots that they reserve for daily rentals, but several RVs that were under trees got moved into those spots either in the middle of the night or early in the morning when the limbs were coming down fast. So those spots are now full. So no daily or even monthly rentals until they get the mess cleaned up. I will take more photos tomorrow if I can.

I wish I had taken some video of the tree branches falling. At one point, one would fall about every 3-5 minutes. You would hear a loud crack and then everyone would look up to see where the branch would fall, leaving a trail of snow. It was dangerous to even walk around the roadway. The thing is that it was a very calm storm. More wind might have knocked the snow off trees, but I suppose it also might have blown more trees over. The poor trees just could not handle the unusual weight of so much snow.

Camping in a blizzard certainly qualifies as an adventure!!

JudyJB wrote:And it is snowing again, but not as heavily. There is now another coating of snow on my satellite so still no TV!!!

Judy, if you have a regular tv antenna on your rv, you might be able to get a few local channels that way.

Laura

Cougarfan wrote:

JudyJB wrote:And it is snowing again, but not as heavily. There is now another coating of snow on my satellite so still no TV!!!

Judy, if you have a regular tv antenna on your rv, you might be able to get a few local channels that way.

Laura

I'll bet Laura is correct, especially since you are in a city. There are inexpensive HD TV antennas that you can just put in your window.

Anne

Regular tv antenna ended up in dumpster in Florida after it lost altercation with low tree branches in grocery store parking lot!

Good idea, though.