Frog Hollow Skies

We finally have the first measurable snow on the ground since Halloween.  Now, the sky is spitting icy rain, and the lane looks treacherous.  The girls have birthday parties this afternoon, and we're hoping we can make them.

At least we have had some beautiful sunrises lately.  The two pictures below (in no way edited!) were taken about two weeks ago from our deck.  You can't beat this view!

4th & 5th Days of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas, poor SG got a trip to the dentist.  Apparently, the kid is "high risk" due to her infant issues with GERD.  According to Dr. Newman, the acid caused deep grooves in her molars, which are now filling very easily with little cavities.  So, yesterday she got another filling.  In any case, we highly recommend Dr. Newman's practice in the North End of Hagerstown for all your pediatric dentistry needs.

On the fifth day of Christmas, we spent over an hour with Grandma's gift to Sylvie making snap circuits!  Fun!  

 

It's hard to see, but the fifth day of Christmas brought us some snow flurries, too!  I think this is first snow we've seen since the freak Halloween storm.  

March So Far in Pix

First there was snow ~
Then there was flooding

Then the stink bugs came out . . .

Michael's Home in White

My mom, sister, and I lived on Grandma and Papa's farm, Michael's Home, from the time I was about 4 until I was 12. I loved those years at the Null homestead just north of Taneytown. I'll write much more about the farm in another post, but here are a few pictures that my aunt Susie found when looking through Grandma's photos. We don't know who the photographer(s) was.

Susie thinks this was taken in the very late 1800s. That's Michael's Home at the top of the hill. Many a Null grew up there. I love that shot of the horse-drawn sled in action!
This one appears to have been taken in the 1940s or 1950s. Notice the Taneytown water towers in the background, south of the farm.

Uncle Ed believes this one was taken in the 1950s or 60s. Its vantage point is situated where there is now the Meadow -something or other development. That's the main barn with the silo, the small dairy house in the middle, and the horse barn on the left.

Zeppy Snow

My great-grandmother's brothers were a little odd (see pic below); Clifton and LaVerne Zepp were both artists -- photographers and painters -- and they lived together in Taneytown in a big yellow house on Mill Avenue until they died. For a long while their mother Lizzie lived with them too and at some point their grandmother also. I'm not sure if the house was originally one of their parents'; I'll have to research that a bit more.
The house is now apparently owned by Antrim 1844, a fact I discovered this week when I was looking through their website to prepare for a stay there in February after the 2nd Annual Tanner's Touch Valentine's Day Gala. As I was looking at their rooms, I happened upon The Zepp House, which according to the map, must be their former house.

Both brothers were painters -- I believe they favored oil -- I clearly have more research to do in that area. But I remember that I was so proud that my elementary school had a huge purple and pink colored mural of a pond and swan scene in a stairwell that one of them had painted. I can't imagine it's there any longer. But our family does have many of their paintings -- most of them are Impressionistic in style of farm and woods scenes. I remember at least one of Antrim and another of Crouse Mill. I'll post photos of those in another post with more details about them. But today I'll share two photo slides of theirs; I'm not sure which took them. The first is of Antrim, likely from their house, in the snow.The second is of an unknown creek, I'm sure in the Taneytown area.My grandmother, their sister Gladys, also produced hundreds of photo slides -- I have many of them in my basement. Her favorite theme was clouds.

The siblings got their talents honestly; on the 1900 census, their father Edward Peter Zepp describes his occupation as "artist." He had a professional photography studio above the square in Taneytown. He was also a local band leader and music teacher.

Ancestry: Beth-Judy-Charlie Null-Gladys-Edward Zepp

First Snow Days

Yesterday we saw our first significant snowfall of the season. George measured 10" of the white stuff late last night. It fell in two shots: a few inches in the morning and then a fast heavy 7 more right at rush hour. The second fall created absolute chaos on the highways. Route 70 finally opened back up this morning around nine. Many drivers were stuck for 11 and 12 hours. But we stayed safe and sound at home; we lost power last night around nine, but it was back on around midnight. Today, our wonderful Antietam neighbors came over to play. A great time had by all!

Holidays and Snow Days

Gung hee fatt choi and happy Valentine's day!! We here in the Hollow sincerely wish you peace, love, prosperity, and happiness this year! And NO MORE SNOW! -- Yeah, right. Seems that Mother Nature has other ideas in mind . . .

Today was a bit of a recovery day; we got home very late last night as George and I went to the first annual Tanner's Touch Valentine Gala -- more on all that on another post. Sylv and SG stayed at my mom's in Taneytown for the evening with my niece and nephew while we parents had a little grown-up fun with a whole lotta Stambaughs at the Inn at Roop's Mill for Tanner. We all had a great time, but the drive home was killer. Both Crouse Mill Road and Route 340 were drifting a bit and it was late and cold . . . and I had to drive. Ugh. But we made it safely. The cut-through drifts on Route 340 are absolutely impressive; I mean, they are worth the drive just to see themselves -- especially now on the westbound side. Apparently, they had to bring in Idaho snowblowers from Garrett County to get through the 15 feet drifts. Many people were stranded, but no one was seriously hurt. Even G was told not to come into work either Wed. or Thu., which is incredibly unusual. As a matter of fact, there was a state of emergency on Thu. in the county and no one was allowed on county roads except in the cases of emergency vehicles - pretty hard core.

Tomorrow we have off for Presidents' Day and then we're supposed to be back in school for Fat Tuesday a.k.a. Mardi Gras, but that is now in question . . . And next week is my birthday . . . it ALWAYS snows around my birthday . . .

Here are my Valentines and some shots from our short trip today to Shepherdstown for Chinese and groceries.

Making the Best of It

We made some Valentines yesterday and this morning.

We finally let the girls go out today.

Notice G in the hammock.

We have been told by officials not to go out on the roads unless it's an emergency, and yet my work is still open . . . something is just not jiving with me. Actually, I'm quite angry about it . . .

Schools are officially closed until next Tuesday (we have Monday off for President's Day).

Frederick County seems to have been hit very badly by this last storm. As far as I can tell Routes 340 and 15 are still closed. They are even sending helicopters out to rescue stranded motorists. The drifting is causing a lot of problems for local roadways at this point. They even called the plows off the roads last night in many surrounding areas.

Unfortunately, my new friend Mr. Foot doesn't have good news for our near future; I think we may lose a few to insanity over this one.

Cabin Fever 1.0

Sick of it! Another 12" at least! Blah!!!!!

Here is my husband plowing . . . again.

Here are my girls making Valentines. Yes, SG is in her bathing suit. And Sylv is in a witch's costume.

Here is our daily stink bug. More about them later. I HATE them . . .

So, do you feel like reading? Here's what I've been reading today:

• an article about how global warming might be causing storms like these
• a better article about the same
• Oh, there's another one
• this is where we're going this weekend for Tanner's gala!
• ummm, the reason why I shouldn't have to go to work . . . yet, I have to take a couple of vacation days in order to stay out of danger . . .
• aren't these the CUTEST Valentine's you've ever seen??
• and finally, have you seen this weather blog? Seriously, if you live in the mid-Atlantic, you must come to read them!
  

Snow -- AGAIN

Sorry that there's virtually nothing else to write about, but it's snowing again. I just can't believe it.

A Sunday Drive

George, the girls, and I just got back from an exploration drive; we wanted to see how the hollow was faring after the storm. The school system has called out for tomorrow, but there's no doubt that we will be out for at least a few days. Unfortunately, they are calling for another storm on Tuesday night! Possibly another 6 inches!
Well, tonight is Super Bowl, and I'm thinking about calling Benders for some wings . . . you can't keep us in the Hollow for long!

Here are some of the pix I took on the ride. Check out the whole set here.Lime Kiln Road

Snowmaggedon, Part Deux

I think Frog Hollow probably ended up with about 27 inches . . . Not the most we've ever had, but certainly the most in a while. It's a heavy, wet snow, but G's tractor took care of it. And, there's talk of another 4 inches on Tuesday night . . . oy! My brother-in-law is stuck in Atlanta, so my sister is dealing with 30-some inches all on her own. A couple of my friends joined 2000-some people in DuPont Circle for a snowball fight.

At least Bender's is open!Dude, where's my car?!


Snow Red

Must. Get. Birds.

Snowzilla, Snowpocalypse, Snowmaggedon!

At 7:46 AM today, it is still coming down gangbusters . . . We can't tell how much we actually have at this point because the wind is blowing it around so much, but this is what we woke up to:
But check out the cute factor of these pix -- yesterday was Jersey Day at school, so Sylv wore her Daddy's football jersey from high school. Here she is doing her version of "Hillbillies All Around" - (G's made-up song about Frog Hollow-ites :)):


edited to add: Here is an article about the state of our local (Jefferson Cnty, WV) roads last night . . .