Monday, February 8, 2010

Digging Out

So our community continues the daunting task of digging out after two snow storms one week apart. All this, while a new storm heads our way calling for 4-8 more inches of wet heavy stuff. *sigh* We began shoveling off our porch roof from the second floor windows today, fearful that the weight of all this snow could bring the roof down. M and I estimate we removed about 100 pounds of ice and snow and really only got about 1/4 of it off.

This place is a mess! We live in a flat, coastal area that _never_ gets more than a dusting to an inch of snow. I think we have 18-26 inches piled up in our yard now. We don't have enough plows to clear all of this snow. Our City is now hiring individuals to begin plowing. We and our neighbors paid an individual to plow our side street this weekend because its been snowed and iced in for 2 weeks and the City couldn't get to it. If not for our 4-wheel drive, we wouldn't have been able to get off our street. We never could have envisioned that our beach buggy would be used so much for snow! Right at the end of our power outage this past weekend, we ran really long extension cords to a neighbor's house (who had power) to plug in our refrigerator. I spoke to her today and she said in light of the coming storm, let's leave the cord in place so whoever still has power can help out the other one and we won't have to be climbing through snow drifts in the dark again to get it hooked up. Good neighbors can be life savers and we've got some great ones. Hope you all are fairing better this winter.

8 comments:

Larena said...

Thinking of you all and sending warm Prayers..
you might want to check out my blog, might give you some hope..L

Anonymous said...

Hee Hee Hee, here is a hint, its cold outside, get one of your beach coolers and set it out side for pershables, frozen stuff, fill empty milk jugs with water for cat, etc. buckets for flushing, then when the power does not go off use the water to water something, carefull running extention cords for any distance, it's not good to do. Also if stuff is in a freezer food will keep up to 3 days, but keep door shut plan on what you would need to get out limit your axcess. SMILE :) Hopefully your lights will only flicker.

VV said...

Hi "Anon", we did put some of our food on the porch where it promptly froze. The cords we ran were outdoor extension cords that we used for Christmas lights. We were fine with the water because that doesn't run on electric so with the gas water heater and no electric there either, we were still able to take hot showers. *bliss* Thanks for the advice. We've also discovered the need to stock _way_ up on firewood. We went through a lot of that really quickly.

Anonymous said...

The electric, has nothing to do with electric lights, it's the amount of (load) or current, on the cord, or in other words what one is trying to power. Ref or freezer use way more power than even lots of lights, also the distance or lenght of the cord has something to do with it. potential fire hazard, are the warnings we hear. Am surprised it froze in coolers? or at very least froze solid.

CyberKitten said...

*Very* impressive!

VV said...

Anon, I understand what you're talking about. Fortunately, there was no problem. Other neighbors a block away did the same thing and kept tripping circuits.

tshsmom said...

WHOA! That is some serious snow you got there! Our internet connection was acting up all week, so I couldn't get on to see how you guys were doing.
Power outages in the winter are scary. The cold can cause so much damage to your home. I'm grateful you survived! Now start stockpiling firewood!

BTW, it's real tricky keeping food in coolers in the winter. I'm an expert, so let me know if you want a few tips.

tweetey30 said...

Ok we said we would like to see you guys with some some snow but not this much.... Hope there isnt to much damage to the town after this...

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