Another Giant Storm

I am very intrigued by how winter storms are now named. I did read some semi logical government rationale (is that an oxymoron - semi logical government rationale?) Nemo brought us a (whopping big) pile of snow. Q was somewhat mysterious - just like in a Bond film. Rocky is just rocking along with snow and rain. If we are already up to R and its only February, we might even run out of letters - what does the oh-so-smart government do then? Switch to the Greek alphabet?

All these giant storms could be doing lots of things:

• relieving drought in the south, central and western states. Maybe this will be a year where the rare desert flowers bloom again.
• a precursor of climate change where we get lots of giant (named) storms (until there are no more letters) which cause a lot of storm surges, erosion, power outages, structural damage and more trauma.
• signifying it might be a good time to sell your beach front property quick before the next storm wipes it out.

We live about 5 miles straight inland (as the crow flies) at about 150' above sea level. We joke that we might own beachfront property in a few years.

Today we are getting the remnants of Rocky as he rocks his way through New England. I believe that we are not due for another storm until next week. It will be nice to have a weekend where we aren't house bound due to the weather.

These big storms are hard for me. Due to lymphedema arm and arthritis body, I can't shovel snow. Or vacuum - but that doesn't really help in a snow storm. Its hard enough for me to clean off my car.

I will get through this giant rain storm and wait for some needed sun shine to appear.

Weekend recovery

Most people use the weekend to recover from their work week. Today I am recovering from my weekend. My husband only got mad at me a few times for doing too much (because he says when I overdo things I have a tendency to be cranky and he would prefer me uncranky) and today I am paying the price.

Friday it snowed. A lot (in case you have been living under a rock and didn't notice). I went to the gym, my therapist, and made brownies and fish chowder. And did some work. Saturday I did a little work, peeled some wall paper, went out on my snow shoes (just on our street - I wasn't stupid and went off in the woods or anything) and took pictures of all the snow.And did some knitting.

Sunday I peeled more wall paper, helped with more shoveling - meaning I cleaned off both cars and started them and got one out of the driveway. The other required a lot more excavation.

Our neighbor was an absolutely life saver as he went around with his bob cat widening the road on Saturday afternoon and then helping clear driveway openings on Sunday for the five houses on the street.

Then we went to help a friend get her car out of long term parking where it had sat during the entire storm. She just needed a little push from my husband but had been very concerned about how much digging might be needed. We got a take out for dinner and I went to bed early.

While driving around we were  amazed at how narrow the streets are, how big the snow drifts, and how much snow in general there really is.

This morning, both arms are very sore, and my back. And in general I feel like I was run over by a truck. I will take it easy for a bit. The contractor who was here last week is coming to get his tools out of the basement but I have no idea how he will get them up these stairs and across the lawn which is buried in snow.

Then I will drag my battered body to the gym and home again. I have to get some work done today but it will involve a lot of sitting around.

Blizzard warning

There is an itty bitty snow storm coming our way. Everyone needs to be off the road by noon. No on street parking. The subway is shutting down at 330. Its the end of the world!!!!

I am moderately concerned about this. My real problem is I can't shovel so I am dependent on others to remove snow so I can leave the house. I hate being dependent on others.

But I do have plans. This morning I am going to the gym and then to my therapist. at 1030 am. I should be home at 1130, after a quick stop at Trader Joe's and will stay put until sometime tomorrow.

Tonight for dinner I am making oven baked fish chowder. The recipe is similar to this one but does not require stove top cooking at all. Its completely done in the oven. I might also make some cookies - half a batch - enough to satisfy cravings but not enough to blow our diets. Besides someone might appreciate them after shoveling two feet of snow with the five foot predicted drifts.

Because of the storm, my husband's job is closing early (an Air Force base) and they never close early.  Once he returns home this afternoon we are putting the living room back together. We have had construction work done with windows and rotting wood replaced and the contents of the living room, dining room and my husband's office have been stored elsewhere in our house. Tomorrow we will put the dining room back together. This means I will supervise furniture moving and reconnect the DVR.

Sunday my husband will remove wallpaper in his office and prep for painting it. Again I will supervise.

I could get used to this supervisory thing but I don't like the dependency part. Crap. I want to take my snowshoes out and take pictures of the snow falling.

No pain, no gain.

I end up in pain all the time these days whether I do anything or just sit around. My theory on this is if I am going to end up in pain, I might as well have fun doing so. It is January. It is Boston. It is winter. So yesterday we went to the beach.

Why not?

It was low tide.

 It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining once it stopped snowing.

This might even be part of a ship wreck from the early 1900's.

 

There was snow on the beach and some ice.

And I made a snow angel.

 

Then we went out for (very healthy) fried clams while my next Tramadol kicked in to relieve the pain. I had fun while I was in pain.