Birthday Season

It started last week on the 19th with my father-in-law's. Today was my niece Paige's; she turned six so we braved Chuckie Cheese. Mine is Tuesday, my dad's is on the first, G's is on the 4th, and my other niece Ella's is at the end of March. Happy birthday to us!

SG goes to the cardio for a check-up tomorrow to see if her little murmur hole has healed. She has been especially photogenic lately, so here's to you, sweetHEART!

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 . . .

Back-Up Plans

On the way home today --
SG: Mama, I really want to be a rock star.
S: Well, you better go to college just in case. . . .

Another Snowy Evening

I took this photo on Dec. 19, 2009. I easily could have taken it tonight. It's snowing again.

How about some thoughts from Mr. Frost?

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost (1923)

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

Snowy Moon

Looking south off the Antietam Bridge at the Ironworks

The Hillenbruck Farm (now a B&B) from Harpers Ferry Road

These were our views this morning on our way to school and work. Sarah Grace always asks about the moon, "Why does it follow us everywhere, Mama?"

Today it followed us with good luck -- a big job at work complete, successful eye surgery for my mom, finally some good news about funding for surgery for my dad, and my sister both sold her house and bought a new one.

Thanks, Miss Wintry Luna.

The Nutcracker

So, today we got stuck inside due to an unexpected snow storm; it was supposed to stay south of us, but we seemed to have gotten over 5 inches! To pass the time, SG thinks we must watch Barbie's Nutcracker again and again and again . . . At least she's cute imitating the moves . . . check her out:

Precipitating

Whew! What a week! It's been very busy around the hollow, so I've been unable to post. In my absence on-line, we got soaked. There are a few flakes falling now (while our neighbors to the south get slammed with a vicious snow and ice storm), but a few days ago we were experiencing our fair share of raindrops. As a result, first all the creeks swelled and then the rivers. Here are a few photos of the Antietam Creek at the Ironworks on Thursday morning.

This is looking north from the bridge.

Notice the log jam

This is looking south from the bridge toward the Potomac River. I believe the water came up into Harpers Ferry Road sometime on Wednesday.

The inhabitants of this area have always dealt with flooding. Harpers Ferry in particular, having been built at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, has been flooded many many times. Apparently, they missed a big one this week. It was last in January and September 1996 when the town dealt with major floods; the Blizzard of Jan. '96 and then Hurricane Fran marked the first time in the town's history that the waters rose above 29 feet in a single year. The most devastating flood was that of March 1936 when the waters rose to 36 1/2 feet and swept away two bridges and many homes and businesses. Check out this interesting page for photos and more floods.

Oh, by the way, since I've written this post this morning, we have accumulated more than a few flakes . . . There is nearly a white-out with a bit more than a dusting already on the ground . . .

edited a few hours later to add: We now have almost 5 inches! A surprise snow for us!

edited the next day to add this link to a pic and vid of flooding at Shepherdstown this past week

Almost Heaven

We're not in West Virginia, but we almost are . . . only a mile and a river divide us. We do much of our shopping there, our kids go to ballet and other rec programs there, and we certainly have a lot of friends there. WV gets a bad rap even still today for a number of things, but we enjoy and appreciate the wild state. I bring this up today because of a great article I just read on the New Republic's site. I don't know too much about mountaintop removal coal-mining, but from what I understand, it's a damaging, dangerous process that has also cut into the labor force of WV coalminers. Appalachia is changing all too quickly and negatively with practices like this one. The article is actually about Senator Byrd's recent op-ed on the issue. It seems that the 92 year old senator is having a change of heart these days . . .

These ivy-wrapped trees hang over Canal Road, our usual route to WV

All Grown Up Now

George and I both agree that now that we have new nice furniture and, as of today, curtains (on actual rods), we feel like real adults; it's only been nearly ten years since we moved in here . . .
I got the furniture from Wolf's just before Thanksgiving and the rods and curtains from Overstock this week. (Yes, I know I need to steam out the creases . . . ) At first George was not impressed, but after a bit he finally agreed that they do make the room look more finished. Hello, nearly-middle-age!