Posted on

A contest note and hints of review love

I love all the entries for the last drop of snow contest. Keep them coming! You have until March 20th to enter. (For the record – it rained most of yesterday, which ate away at the snow. But we have flurries right now.)

Today I have phone interviews in anticipation of the TWISTED release next week. And I have to get my hair cut. And I have to go shopping to pick up various odds and ends. And return my library books and go to the bank. And pick up my mom from the hospital.

That last item is, of course, the priority of the day. My mom has emphysema and came down with pneumonia. We spent Tuesday in the ER and she was hooked up to meds in the hospital all day yesterday. The meds did the job and and now she can breathe again, so they are letting her out. She is fond of breathing. We are fond of her breathing, too. Mom has emphysema because she smoked. She started when she was 17 years old and finally quit two years ago, when she was forced to go on oxygen 24/7. Please don’t smoke. It is nasty.

A few more reviews (VOYA & KLIATT & Horn Book) came in yesterday ::glows:: but I have to check to see when their publication date is, and if I’m allowed to post them.

Basketball starts at noon and continues all weekend. Don’t like hoops? Then read one of these books about the lies and injustice of “higher education.”

OK, that last sentence was really cranky. I don’t want to be cranky today. I want to be happy. Muffin happy. Muffin. Muffin. Muffin.

edited to add Mom is home safe and healthier from the hospital. Man, oh, man is she feisty. I think it’s the steroids. Poor Daddy. But it is awesome that she is not gasping and that she is so quick to smile again.

9 comments
Posted on

Mad Woman on the roof

Happy Chinese New Year!

No fireworks or barbecue here, just the ongoing saga of the Great Snow of ’07. And the increasing weight on the rafters. We have had no luck getting qualified, insured people here to clean the roof off. (They are in short supply, for obvious reasons.)

The paper quoted Scott Steiger, a prof at SUNY Oswego, as saying a foot of snow puts .6 pounds of pressure per square inch of roof. Which means a foot of snow puts nearly 8,500 pounds of pressure on a 100-square foot roof.

We have had more than 10 feet of snow.

So yesterday was the day when I screwed my courage to the sticking-place, picked up a shovel and ascended to the roof in the bucket of the bobcat.

Like a lot of houses, ours has a couple different rooflines. Number One Son and I spent the afternoon on the roof that is closest to the ground (only one-story up), the Baby Roof, getting it more or less cleaned off. Today we have one more Baby Roof and the Momma Roof (two stories up) to take care of. The Daddy Roof, which is three stories up, we are leaving to the professionals, who claim they are arriving Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday.

We shoveled and BH ran the bobcat, clearing away the mountain of snow we dumped. He is not allowed on the roof because of the recent knee surgery. This does not please him. But if I were put in charge of the bobcat, I would probably drive it through the house, so things really are safer this way.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Me, feeling victorious over my fear of heights, which was conquered by my fear of collapsing roofs.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Boy with camera, author with shovel.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Enjoying a tall, cold (very cold) glass of water. We really worked up a sweat moving that stuff.

I will admit it wiped me out. I was asleep by 8pm, dreaming sweet dreams of victory.

It snowed last night and there is more on the way today, though it will be measured in inches, not feet. There will also be more roof cleaning today. When my back is sore and my legs tired, I’ll come in to begin preparation for the writer’s conference this weekend.

10 comments
Posted on

Last gasp of lake effect… Nor’easter approaching

My hat is off to whomever decided that Central New York’s boy’s swimming sectionals should be held in mid-February. Brilliant. Sitting at finals yesterday my feet finally thawed and bones warmed up. Number One Son took fifth in the section in 100-yard breaststroke and 3rd in the consolation heat of the 200-yard IM. Now he gets to chill (ha) a few weeks before track season starts.

(One quick rant… did you know that some people think that their flesh is transparent? I sometimes feel invisible, but I’ve never thought that others could actually see through me. A few truly obnoxious parents at yesterday’s swim meet (I will not name their kids’ team because other parents from there were sweet) kept standing at the railing while the rest of us stayed on the bleachers and tried to see through them to watch the swimmers in the pool. There were signs everywhere telling people not to stand at the rail. Maybe they couldn’t read. The situation started at Clueless, moved quickly to Selfish, and hopped to Rude. When BH finally asked them to sit down so that we could actually see the pool, a woman told him he should just stand up. Meet my husband, the man with the bum knee. I wanted to throw her in the water. Her husband finally got her to sit down and the meet concluded in a state of more or less peace. But, geesh…… end of rant.)

We’re expecting another six inches of snow today and that should be the end of the Lake Effect Snow that has been dumping on us for more than a week.

Late tomorrow and Wednesday we are expecting a Nor’easter storm to blow in. This could mean several more feet of snow piling up, quickly. Ye gods above. BH is working the phones right now to get someone to clear off our roof. The guy we had lined up to do it is still dealing with problems at his own house. We also need to have the driveway plowed out – a couple of feet of snow have fallen since the payloader came in last week. And we are cringing at the thought of spring…. because all of this has to melt. We’re going to need to dig trenches to ensure that the melting snow drains away from the house and not into our basement.

I am going to let him deal with that while I try to finish all the paperwork stuff I abandoned last week. Yippee. I also want to get outside and play in white stuff. That will be my reward.

Just a few photos today

7 comments
Posted on

100 inches and counting, plus bathing suits

The lake effect storm machine is slowing down… a little. We were able to get down to Syracuse yesterday for the swimming sectionals competition. It felt like driving from the Arctic to Virginia. Mexico, Parish: mountains of snow. Central Square: hills of snow. Cicero, Liverpool: some snow. Syracuse….. not so much.

The weather wizards are saying that my town has more than 100 inches of snow from this “snow event”. (What a dumb phrase that is.) Some said 108 inches. Some said 110. Really, people, once it’s over your head, it doesn’t matter. The Weather Channel has posted pics.

But it was wonderful to get in the pool area of Nottingham High School, strip off the winter clothes, and lounge around as if it were 75 degrees… because it was 75 degrees!

pool photos & more snow, if you dare or care

17 comments