Welcome to sunny Mexico (NY)!

Lake Effect, Day 3.

The guy who was supposed to plow us out yesterday did indeed get his plow stuck. Lots of plows got stuck around here Tuesday. In fact, our village of Mexico went national on the Weather Channel because we got 57 inches of snow. Yeah, you read that correctly. 57 inches.

Take a peek at more photos sent to Channel 9 News from my neck of the woods. (Oswego is 12 miles away, Scriba about 6 miles (west), New Haven is a stone’s throw, Mexico, the back yard, and Parish is 6 miles (east).) Thanks to my little sister, Lisa, for the heads-up on the link.

By dinner time, I had cut a path about half-way down the driveway with my snowshoes. And then it snowed again last night. And we’re supposed to get another foot today, and possibly an additional foot tomorrow. No, I am not making this up. This is the Snow Belt. If weather like this were to hit Philly, the area would be crippled for a month. People here are prepared for it and view snow as a part of life. If you don’t like it, you should probably move south.

We have a friend with a payloader who will try to clear out the driveway today. I’ll let you know how that goes.

In the meantime, I’ll tunnel back into the paperwork on my desk, play music loudly (it will help shake the snow off the roof) and wear sunscreen and layers of wool whenever I go outside. (Current temp with wind chill -7 degrees.) I have to say, it is absolutley beautiful outside… this is better than Norway, Switzerland, or Colorado, plus it doesn’t cost as much to live here, and we don’t have snotty people.

This is my corner of heaven; chilly but breath-taking.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Welcome to sunny Mexico (NY)! (This is what the front woods looked like as the sun headed west yesterday afternoon.)

Mother Nature, looking fab in a long white coat

Welcome to the snowbelt!!

In the past 48 hours, we’ve had a little more than four feet of snow fall, most of it arriving last night. When BH opened the garage this morning to let the dog out, she looked at the wall of snow facing her, looked at him, and said “What? You want me to go into that?” BH had to dig a trench so she could go out and do her business.

Pretty much everything is closed up here; schools, governments, stores, trains, roads. Not that it matters – we can’t get out our driveway, which is very, very long. We have a guy who plows it. We’re pretty sure he can’t get out of his driveway, either.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Will the birds find the feeder?

Image and video hosting by TinyPic View out my office window (which is in the attic) to the roof of the garage.

Oh, and it’s still snowing; a couple inches an hour. Today I am going to continue cleaning the office, and put on the snowshoes and tramp down a potty path for the dog. (I’ll let you know how that goes.)

I think I will also write poetry. It is beyond peaceful here. I love winter.

Don’t hurt & don’t put up with being hurt

This is the start of National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week. Anything that hurts teens makes me want to scream. Nobody deserves to be hurt. Period.

What can you do?

Learn about the problem.

Study the numbers.

Review the research.

Know the signs.

“Break the silence, make the call.”

Read Lynn Evarts’ article, “The School Library as Sanctuary” (VOYA, Dec, 2006 – thanks YALSA blog for the tip).

Please pass on these links to anyone you know who is caught in an emotionally or physically violent relationship.

::totally changes topic::

The best part of yesterday (aside from walking around in a daze and muttering “I turned it in… I turned it in…) was going to the gym for the first time in two weeks. Aaaaahhhhh, sweat!

We got LOTS of snow overnight, so I will spend the day watching the wind blow it around.

At long last, winter blows in

As I type this, the sun is crawling up in the east, turning the 10 inches of snow we got yesterday the color of platinum. It is -3 degrees outside. The air is perfectly still; the birds are huddled in their nests and the squirrels have taken the day off. Not me. I have the coffee pot going and breakfast is minutes away.

It is such a relief to finally have some winter weather. I need seasons.

Spent yesterday with an awesome history professor who wrote a very important academic book that relates to my WIP. She graciously shared some of her research with me and let me talk through another plot knot. It was a terrific day and went by way too fast. I think I have figured out how to cut out a chapter and will work on that today. Given that the outside temperature won’t reach much beyond 19 degrees, I am going to abandon my office and write downstairs in front of the fireplace.

Thank you EVERYONE for delurking and semi-delurking and just saying “hi” yesterday. I will finish responding to comments today.

Looking for a procrastination device? Speak pops up on YouTube.