Storm Odds and Ends

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I shoveled part of this so I have access to both the bird bath and feeders.

I shoveled part of this so I have access to both the bird bath and feeders.

Reporting live from the aftermath of Storm Jonas!

When a storm is predicted I get these grandiose ideas of accomplishments. I listen to friends who plan to cook up a storm — enough for an apocalypse or a month (whichever comes first). Others intend to read books (notice the plural). Or maybe play games with the family. So what do I do? I am fixated with news reports on the TV. Endlessly! I watch over caffeinated newscasters put rulers in the snow – 2”, wahoo! 4” yippee! 2 feet, aw s*@t (hey, we have to shovel this stuff!)

I have one set of “snow” clothes. All high-end stuff from LL Bean, Lands’ End and Eddie Bauer. (No I do not look like a cool skier. Most of it is 20 years old. I look like the Michelin tire man.) I wear it once a year for about an hour or two while I shovel my way to the bird feeders. The beloved husband does the boring chores like shoveling the driveway. I bought him snow pants several years ago. That was my contribution to major shoveling.

Food? Forggetaboutit! I made spaghetti. With bottled sauce. Took 20 minutes. Any thoughts of spending time creating vats of sustaining edibles were eliminated by my need to check the TV (see first paragraph). There is not even a brownie in sight. (Where are those damn girl scouts when you need them?)

I worry about the wildlife. Obsessed is a better word. Yes, they have survived storms for millennium without me but now I’m here. Will my little cardinals have enough to eat? How about those frisky squirrels that are so entertaining? More birds die from lack of water so I stoke up my heated bird bath. They enjoy pooping in there too. I clean it out hourly. (Did you know that eating crab apples makes the poop red?) Damn birds!

Once the snow stops it’s all over for me. I want everything to go back to normal…immediately. I have no patience for dirty snow and the humongous snow banks that are erected at intersections. I cannot see around those dirty humps and they last until May!

Obviously I need to live in the tropics where all the ice is in the margaritas!

Source: Google

Source: Google

64 thoughts on “Storm Odds and Ends”

  1. Nice photo. I love the blue shadows. You really had lots of snow.

    I watched the TV obsessively too–when I wasn’t checking with my daughter in DC. The reports of people taking 6 or 7 hours to get home in the Washington area the night BEFORE the storm worried me.

    We used to have snow around here. I have pictures of my kids wearing snow suits while I pulled them on a sled to prove it. I wonder how many times they wore those snow suits. I hope I got them on sale. I do remember a big snow about fifteen years ago. I did a lot of shoveling. Pretty useless if the snow keeps falling. Never mind, I felt virtuous when I was done.

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  2. I like your choice of drinks for the occasion! I would be right there with you worrying about the wildlife, Kate. I completely get that. I do a much lesser version of the same thing here. I have been accused of being obsessed as well. I’d rather have that on my resumè than to be disinterested! That you have any grandiose ideas at all in a storm is pretty impressive. I’d only want to read by the fire. 🙂

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  4. Snow? Holy cannoli. No hours of kneading and making your own pasta in the kitchen? I think you’ve got the right idea … take care of the wildlife, and after that, throw together something warm for the belly, and then relax. We had a teeny tiny hail storm the other day, and the weather guys on TV made a whole afternoon out of it. Seriously. Hey, it was a little tiny ice storm. No snow. No icicles hanging from the eaves. A little bit of rain to go with the hail. You would have thought Jack Frost himself was making a personal appearance by how much that little hail storm was splashed all over every edition of the local news. Can’t even imagine what would happen if we actually got any real snow. They’d probably wet themselves trying to be the first one to show a tiny patch of snow on the air. 🙂

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  6. Memo: buy more oreos/brownies before the next storm. It never fails – those are the first supplies to run out of during hurricanes, too. (chips and beer, too…not necessary in that order)
    Laughed over your cold weather outdoor fashions. We always did out our ancient ski wear when frigid strikes here. (Daughter was so embarrassed with parents…but “the only thing is important is that you are warm, right? ” Doesn’t work with teenagers)
    I worry about the birds and squirrels, too. A bubbler is pretty thoughtful. During the first of the morning dog outdoor time, I break up the ice on the bird bath which will stay clear if the sun comes out. The organic delicacies like crepe myrtle seeds and lantana berries are pretty well stripped, so clipping them back will be OK now.
    Mardi Gras starts this weekend and they are predicting sunny and 70. Maybe your snow will get the drift and slink away, too.

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    • We did run out of chips. Gotta have salt with all those drinks! It is a parent’s job to embarrass their offspring. It’s what makes them leave the nest. Some winters the pond can ice over for long periods which would kill my fish and frogs. I have both a de-icer and a bubbler. The de-icer got snowed over. Obviously it’s not meant for big snowfalls but the bubbler worked well.

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  8. I worry about the wildlife too and all the cats, dogs, horses, cows, etc., standing out in the bad weather! And I worry about my trees if it is a heavy snow or ice! I had Starbucks yesterday when we went to the BIG City… St. Louis. Ah.

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  9. Love your solicitude for the birds! Here too! Everything else could wait: The first things we shoveled were two paths through the foot or more of snow on the deck to reach and refill the two bird feeders.

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  10. It was me, the couch and a Nurse Jackie marathon on Netflix for us. Oh, and a vat of chicken noodle soup while the husband and dogs napped.
    The birds may have survived, but now they are surviving in style…there’s a difference.

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  11. I love your margarita cure! And your attitude too…. who needs to cook up fancy things? And who has patience with dirty snow? We are almost “dug out” here but I am still lugging around Big Foot (which is slick on the bottom) – not conducive to galavanting where there are ice patches. Talk about stir crazy! Bring on the maragaritas!

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  12. I’m with you on being done with it once it’s here. Surprisingly, the weather the last couple of days has been mild enough to put a good dent in these piles and the next several days are also promising. With any kind of luck……:)

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  14. Wait, a heated bath that I can poop in and you’ll clean out??? I’m there! Oh, wait… I’m not a bird. It sounds like you have created quite a lovely spa for them. I can assure you that those of us not on the east coast are happy that your storm is over and we can hear some other news. It’s bumming me out as I sit on my deck sipping my margarita.

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  15. I get obsessive about the TV, too, but out here it’s for rain. I check my iPhone ap all the time. (Next chance of rain, Sunday. Then possibly Tuesday.)

    Back in the caveman days, we would totally have survived, due to obsessive checking for predators.

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  16. Yay for you, Kate, thinking about the birds and critters. I thought I was the only one. A few years ago we had a brutal winter here and one night the temp dipped to 38 below. After that we noticed there were fewer chickadees at the feeder for the rest of the winter. They rebounded the next year but I think winter can be tough on the little guys.

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  17. I can definitely appreciate your wanting to watch lots of TV. I watched a little of the storm coverage on myself (mostly the morning network news shows), but I also brought up Washington, DC’s all-news station WTOP to listen to on the web. I couldn’t believe how its format had not changed on iota from when I listened to it on my clock radio nearly 25-30 years earlier. I remember laying in bed on the morning of big storms praying for them to announce the government was closed for the day. Of course, go back 40 years and I did the same thing back in Michigan waiting for my school district to decide to also chose.

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    • I remember those days. You had to listen carefully because they called out the names alphabetically. Now our radio stations do not do that anymore. There’s a website that you go to. Most school districts also have an auto text message sent to the phone on record. Sure miss those old days when I was crossing my fingers so hard!

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  18. Kate, I can’t think of a better way to start the day than to go outside wearing my sunglasses and Panama hat—while sipping a margarita—and laying down on my lawn chair to read your latest tale about some blizzard that dumped a ton of snow on your area. You always tell the best stories You made it all sound so believable too! Where do you get these things? I tell you; I was riveted! 😀

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  19. Wellll, I did make two different kinds of soup! And today have a pot roast in the slow cooker. Been knitting hats and just nesting my tush off! I am about to get cabin fever!

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  21. I laughed at “Where are those damn girl scouts when you need them?” Claire really wanted to sell her GS cookies door-to-door in the neighborhood during the blizzard because she was sure lots of people would buy them–either because they were impressed with her determination or because they would be excited to have cookies delivered to their doors in the storm. The only thing that stopped her was her cookie wagon wouldn’t roll in the snow.

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  24. I don’t live anywhere remotely near the path of Jonas (on the opposite coast and in mid 70 degree weather this week!), but I totally understand your worry for the wildlife! It makes me so sad to think about what they must go through to survive something like that. Thank you for the fun post! 🙂

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  27. I agree that once the snow is down, it’s time to move on. Watching it melt and get dirty is enough to make me reconsider my insistence that we live in the north.

    Didn’t know about the crabapple/red poop connection, but I did know about the mulberry tree/purple poop connection! Choose your landscaping carefully, I say. There’s always something more to it than you may initially understand.

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