Hope in the Next Generation

When we were going to and coming from WV today, we spied these young folks cleaning out the plastic from the debris field dammed up behind the Ironworks bridge on the Antietam Creek. The clogging is a result of the March 14-15th flooding, and it truly is a horrible sight to see. Not only is there a ton of logs and sticks, but there are virtually thousands of plastic bottles and other trash stuck in the mess. These three told us that they are from Shepherdstown; I'm not sure if they're students at the college, but we are truly grateful to them -- should have been us too out there stuffing bags. Really, we should all be this concerned about our watershed.

Hollow Happenings

I tried to get the girls up today to go to Palm Sunday service at Aunt Barb and Uncle Harry's church this morning, but staying to watch Daddy and Kelly Moore move the shed was just too much more interesting! G has plans to make the back area more level in order to put in a carport/pavilion and eventually a pool to the south side, so the shed had to be moved.

Mary Black, the stray outdoor cat who adopted us and whom SG named, has shown up this morning! She was gone for three days, and we thought perhaps she had encountered the mountain lion that supposedly attacked several of Ronnie Harrell's goats -- either that feline or the coyote that George spotted in the front yard several weeks ago . . . I have witnessed neither feral animal, but many in the neighborhood have. We're wondering how more lives dear MB has . . . and, no, she's not welcome in the house -- we're all allergic!

First the Flood, Then the Flowers

This will be a photo post:
These flood pix are from Sunday, March 14, 2010 - Antietam Creek at the Ironworks Bridge


This pic is at Molly's Hole on Antietam Creek (Burnside Bridge Road) -- it did open the next day so that we could take a reasonable ride to school. Harpers Ferry Road was still closed on Monday.
This pic is from across the river in WV - directly across from around Dargan Bend.
This photo is from the railroad station in Harpers Ferry -- you're looking at the confluence.This pic was taken Tuesday, March 16, 2010, from the Antietam Ironworks Bridge -- that's one disgusting mess and it's still there. Yuck.These post-flood pix were taken Wednesday, March 17, 2010, along Canal Road --

Thank God the yellow flowers are here! Winter, you've been too long in the Hollow!!

Local Boy Now Cover Boy

Local Tom Edelen just got out of the army after a four year gig and two tours of Iraq. How does he celebrate? By making the cover of Army magazine! How cool is that?! He's our local hero!

Celebrating Sharpsburg

I haven't had a moment to write lately, but I saw this article in the paper today about a CD sale benefit at Benders Tavern to raise money for the upcoming Sharpsburg Heritage Festival and wanted to share it. Our friend Cookie (Natoma) is spear-heading the event, which will be September 18, 2010. Good luck, Cookie!

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. . . .