Ice, Ice Baby

This is what we woke up to in Roanoke, VA this morning.

Looks so beautiful, so tranquil...yet, in reality...so dangerous, so treacherous.

We were lucky, only the dimming of lights struck, but no major power outage. The cracking of limbs and tree trunks echoed all around us, and I wondered if one of the oak branches would plummet through our sunroom roof.

The majestic hemlock sunk to the ground as if the entire world rested on its shoulders.

I know the feeling. I prayed both hemlock and I would stay strong and bounce right back up without giving in to a break. It's now late afternoon and the tree has lifted. Now it's my time.

Two Weeks After Surgery:

We were able to get the driveway and vehicle clear of ice and transport the weak-from-all-night- nausea patient to the clinic.  I propped her up in a wheel chair in the lobby while I parked the car, and for a moment I felt like we were in the sequel to Weekend at Bernie's. Ginger ale propped in hand, head listing to one side, all she had to do was be coherent enough to get the staples removed from her hip. Nothing was going to stop us from that happening, not even this damn bug that hit first my husband two days ago, and then her about 3:00am. I guess the constant mantra of "she can't get sick, she can't get sick, she can't get sick" did nothing. And I blame myself for this crappy turn of event. You see, had I not taken the couple of efforts towards "giving me a break" by my husband in the caretake of our daughter this weekend, he might not have passed it on to her. I'm sure he didn't realize he was coming down with something, but frankly, he probably wouldn't even admit to not feeling well and besides, he is no Pontius Pilate.

Me, on the other hand, have wrinkles on my fingers. I'm either washing, wiping, spraying, or gelling my hands before I touch anything that the girl will use. I'm a little more stringent right now, but there's not a bag I own that doesn't have at least hand sanitizer and cleansing wipes. I think watching those videos in the hospital really made more aware of how important it is to make sure there are no germs are patients with weakened immune systems and/or surgical wounds.

In any event, the girl is really under the weather, and maybe that was a good thing, yes, a blessing in disguise, if you will. By feeling so miserable, so weak, so "pathetic" (her word, not mine) she was able to endure the removal of "at least" thirty staples from her hip better than had she been perky and aware. Now, that's not to say there wasn't the flinching, ouching, squeezing of hand, while trying to hold back tears of pain, but considering they didn't even numb the area, I think she did damn good, damn good. And now they're out, the wound secured by surge-strips. I haven't looked at it. I just couldn't today. Just hearing the clip of the metal as he built a road map was enough for one day. The surgeon said everything looks good and that's all I need to hear. I did take a gander at the X-ray, before and after shots. Wow. Three long screws (although they looked like nails to me) are holding her leg to the hip. It reminded me of something religious, the way they were thrust in like three daggers in the sacred heart. She's going to definitely set off security alarms.

Now we have to focus on the mend. Once she takes a shower I'm sure that will help psychologically. I bought a slide tub bench which she will need as she has at least six more weeks of being unable to apply any pressure to that leg. You never miss things until you don't use them. Go legs! But right now she has to get some sleep and keep some food down.  And I have to continue to stay well, although she seems to think my catching it is inevitable. We'll see...if I go down, it's not going to be pretty...not as pretty as this shot...

The Snow Mower

At least someone in this house enjoyed the recent snow blast. You can see by the chunks of ice stuck on her face, Bella has been digging for rocks. If it was up to her she'd stay out there all day until she was one matted mess. I let her defrost, then return outdoors for her leaping, burying pleasures. I have given up wiping puppy prints all over the house and figure the floors won't be clean until spring.

There was someone else in the house who, in the beginning, welcomed the snow...my husband. You see, for the last couple of weeks his toy has been waiting under the blue tarp on the back of that trailer. Just waiting patiently to be called to action.

Before it wound up here, it has spent many months at the shop getting ready for its debut. Countless hours, and countless dollars, have been spent modifying the John Deere mower into a powerful snow shoveling machine. When he first received the mower he forgot about an old Italian prophecy -- inherit a dead man's vehicle and it becomes your money pit. It doesn't matter if you inherit it, or buy it, it's still the same money drain. And he should have remembered that for all the time and money we've spent on the phantom problems of my dad's Olds.

When he first took the John Deere off of a friend's hands, he told me it only needed to be tuned up and spruced up as it sat still for so long. Otherwise, it's fine. Rather than detail every dollar, I'll just say parts could only be ordered through John Deere (even the parts list and manual had to be bought), and a welder even got involved helping my husband's dream to become a reality. Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching!!!

Every time I rolled my eyes, I was assured this was going to work. By the way, for all the money he's spent he probably could have bought a new plow,  a couple of snow blowers, or, hired a local snow shoveling team to be on call all winter. But I digress. It was finally snowing!

My husband came home earlier than usual, stopping at Food Lion to stock up on provisions, two bottles of wine and treats for Bella. He almost made it to the door before he slipped on the ice, tumbled to the ground, shattering the wine bottles.

Luckily he wasn't hurt, but he was pissed, and now, soaking wet. Good thing he wouldn't be spending hours out there shoveling snow by hand in wet clothes!

The night before, he had tried firing up the toy, just in case, and discovered it was dead. Imagine that. So before using it, he had to hook it up to a portable battery. As it charged, the snow fell steadily. A big smile spread across his face when it kicked on, and he gave me two thumbs up. I was cooking dinner and asked him if he would be long. He said to continue cooking, he'd be 10-15 minutes. Bing, bang, boom.

I could hear the noise outside as I hovered over the warm stove. A half-hour later I went outside to tell him dinner was ready, and lo and behold, nothing was plowed! Bing, bang, boom. In fact, he never got to try the plow as the toy would not drive in the snow. Huh? Rocking back and forth, spinning wheels, smoke spewing, noise of a thousand blowers, there he sat, going nowhere, on a lawn mower with a snow blade on it.

When I saw the back wheels spinning, I suggested he use the portable plastic road strips I had bought him and my son for Christmas. They laughed when they saw them, but I told them both they would thank me when they were stuck in the snow. Unfortunately, my husband's  practical gift was at the shop in the back of the mini van. So much for them. He was determined to make this toy work and even began shoveling a path for the toy to drive through. Ummm, doesn't that defeat the purpose of not having to shovel?

I couldn't watch any more so I went inside and had dinner by myself. Men can be so stubborn. They don't need to look at directions when putting something together, and would rather drive around endlessly before asking for directions because they are lost. They think with perseverance it will all work out, eventually. He finally gave up an hour later when he got stuck in the middle of the road and had to push the toy back up the driveway. By the time he was finished, he successfully blocked the driveway so that it was impossible to exit now. Even VDOT leaves a smaller pile.

He had as much snow on him as there was in the driveway when he came in. He was more upset he didn't have the bottles of wine than he was about the snow mowing machine. After changing into dry clothes, getting warm, and having a hot meal he said that was enough and he'd figure something out tomorrow. When I went to let Bella out I noticed he had left the shed doors wide open so he had to get dressed again, go back out there, trudge through the snow, and close them.

Today was a new day, the snow had stopped falling, and he was determined to clear our driveway so he could get back to work. All it took was one phone call and a reinforcement arrived.

I thought it was overkill, but hey, what do I know...

Mission accomplished. We're free...

Now, who wants to bet me this very expensive toy doesn't even cut grass in the spring...

Roanoke Snow Pictures 2/13/2014

You knew I was going to post some pictures from the recent Roanoke snowstorm...here they are...

The is when the snow first began to fall

It wasn't long before it looked like this. View from my kitchen window

View from the back door

 

The front yard...you can see how high the snow is by the light pole

Frank shoveling...three times the same path! Guess what I'm getting him for his birthday.

Nope, I don't have a garage, just a carport, so my car was safe, but the other three, ummmm, no.

Bella's first snowstorm. My husband had to make a path for her. She loved the snow as you can see from the video below.

And then just like that, it stopped, the sun came out, and began melting it, clumps dropping from the trees. That's one good thing about southern snow...it doesn't last forever like it does up north.

Bella, Queen of the Hill

Bella in the Snow

It's going to be in the high 60's today in Roanoke -- a perfect day to have my roof repaired. Too bad it won't be happening today.

These shots were from a couple of days ago. Bella loves the snow. She loves eating it, licking it, burying her face in it, burying her chews in it, leaping over it, and running through it. Look at that face.

Enjoy the week.

The Show Must Go On

Well, so far, no call that I've been bumped because of weather from today's appearance at noon on WSLS' Daytime Blue Ridge. I come from a television background, and New York City winters, so a little snow isn't going to stop me from getting to the studio...The show must go on!!!!

Here's a couple of obligatory Roanoke snow shots...













Yesterday we did attend the benefit Bluegrass show, but with the way the snow was falling we didn't stay for the entire event. I was glad we made it in time to see the first band, who came all the way from Kentucky, Republik Steele. I was so impressed. Although everyone in the band knew their way around instruments I have to give additional props to the lead singer. Man, what a voice. He gave me chills, and it wasn't because of the snowy weather outside.

60 to Snow

What a difference a day makes...

Saturday, Noon, Salem, Virginia







Sunday, Noon, Roanoke, VA










Just 24 little hours...