Winter Storms 2016 Snowpocalypse et al

[Gossamer1]

8 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@Gossamer1, is there any better breed of dog, save maybe a Husky, to have during a snowstorm than a St Bernard?

Our icicles melted this afternoon, but not that much snow. School is cancelled again tomorrow for my granddaughters, but it doesn't take much for it to be cancelled. My dachshund finally realized that it won't kill her to run around in the backyard in the snow.  I think she may even have liked it. The Shih tzu was a bit more intrepid than she though.  She explored the garden yesterday and I had to rescue her. She lost her way.

The darker of the two was afraid of the snow once it got high. Sophie  had to trailblaze for him before he would go out. 

When Sophie got sick (she has Addison's disease,  an adrenal problem) she lost a lot of hair. Most of her undercoat didn't come back and she isn't a big fan of the great outdoors in the cold any more. She goes outside,  does her business,  gives the yard a quick sniff over and then wants back in. Rocco loves the cold but is afraid of rain and apparently, large accumulations of snow!

Glad your pups had a good time!

[SilverBeach]

On 1/23/2016 at 10:57 PM, samira_catlover said:

AAH, stand by for major UPS shipments! You can have EVERYTHING we have, with my blessings.

On a serious note: we're south of DC.  MAJORLY nasty.  Right now I am hearing sleet, mixed with snow, outside my (blessedly warm) house in Southern Maryland.

Can we get a FJ prayer chain set up?  [YES, I AM COMPLETELY AND DEADLY SERIOUS HERE, and this is no time to argue about personal ideologies/mindsets.] I'm thinking...

• Essential workers can get through to their jobs, and travel in safety.
• That affected areas will have few/no fires and/or medical disasters.
• That every living thing that lives outside--human, bird, cat/dog/opossum/whatever, finds a nice sheltered space with warmth, and can get out for food (which will be available, thanks to a loving deity/WHATEVER).

This is a dangerous, killer storm. No, I am NOT exaggerating.  ANYBODY, everybody, with spare energy, love, hope, good wishes, whatever: PLEASE HELP!

I'm in.

[HarryPotterFan]

My cat is meowing incessantly because she wants to play outside. I tried explaining there's 2 feet of snow out but she won't listen.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

12 minutes ago, HarryPotterFan said:

My cat is meowing incessantly because she wants to play outside. I tried explaining there's 2 feet of snow out but she won't listen.

I have one who LOVES "outside".  One really bad day, I opened the door - her double take was priceless.  (She did not go out.  She sat in the breezeway door and gawked.

I recommend letting her scope it out.  Cats are not generally fond of snow . . . and if she is an indoor-outdoor cat, she might be out for just a few minutes.

[HarryPotterFan]

11 minutes ago, SpoonfulOSugar said:

I have one who LOVES "outside".  One really bad day, I opened the door - her double take was priceless.  (She did not go out.  She sat in the breezeway door and gawked.

I recommend letting her scope it out.  Cats are not generally fond of snow . . . and if she is an indoor-outdoor cat, she might be out for just a few minutes.

The cats are only allowed outside under supervision. My mom allowed them out for less than 5 minutes yesterday. One stayed on the porch underneath the overhang where there was no snow and just rolled around, little miss meow-y cat tried to take a couple steps out but she was sinking in the snow and so she was brought back inside.

I'd also like to know when/if my street will get plowed.

 

[MayMay1123]

1 hour ago, HarryPotterFan said:

 

I'd also like to know when/if my street will get plowed.

 

My street has been plowed exactly once in the 25 years we have lived here. We shovel it out by hand and/or wait for it to melt. Our schools are closed again tomorrow because the busses cannot get up unplowed side streets. The 6 year old is only driving me slightly crazy 

[samira_catlover]

6 hours ago, HarryPotterFan said:

My cat is meowing incessantly because she wants to play outside. I tried explaining there's 2 feet of snow out but she won't listen.

Since when do cats EVER listen to DaHoomans?

[HarryPotterFan]

11 minutes ago, samira_catlover said:

Since when do cats EVER listen to DaHoomans?

NEVER

[LittleSpouseOnThePrairie]

 a few random snow tips i learned for anyone interested: 

1. Make snow ice cream- 3 cups loose clean snow, 2 tbsp milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla. Adjust ingredients to taste. Mix and enjoy. 

2. A dustpan makes a great snow shovel in a pinch. 

3. You can spray paint packed snow. Not super environmentally friendly, but if you need to put out a distress message or marker, there's one way.

4. If your car crashes or stops on the roadway, keep your seatbelt buckled even if you aren't moving. Other cars could still slide into you.

5. If you don't have an ice scraper, a club card or credit card can clear a windshield pretty well. Takes longer but better than nothing.

[samira_catlover]

7 hours ago, LittleSpouseOnThePrairie said:

 a few random snow tips i learned for anyone interested: 

1. Make snow ice cream- 3 cups loose clean snow, 2 tbsp milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla. Adjust ingredients to taste. Mix and enjoy. 

2. A dustpan makes a great snow shovel in a pinch. 

3. You can spray paint packed snow. Not super environmentally friendly, but if you need to put out a distress message or marker, there's one way.

4. If your car crashes or stops on the roadway, keep your seatbelt buckled even if you aren't moving. Other cars could still slide into you.

5. If you don't have an ice scraper, a club card or credit card can clear a windshield pretty well. Takes longer but better than nothing.

And a few other snow tips: (NOT!!1!!!!11!!!):

• To clear a driveway, just get out the garden hose and apply a strong stream of water to melt the snow and ice.  MUCH more environmentally friendly than icemelt or salt.
• If your car windshield is badly frosted or iced, bring a big teapot of water to a hard boil and use that to quickly clear your glass.  No more visibility problems!
• You get better traction on most vehicles from the rear wheels.  So if you're driving down a slick street and you're having trouble advancing, just back the car 180 degrees and put it into reverse gear, so you "grab" the road surface better.
• Frozen pipes inside your house? Easily handled with a blowtorch.
• If your furnace system has failed but you have electricity...look, it's dangerous to use your oven to heat living space.  Use your toaster or toaster oven instead.
• If you need emergency "padding" material to stuff into shoes/boots/gloves to keep limbs warm, go REALLY green and use the fuzz and hairs from your dryer and/or vacuum cleaner bag!

Love to all you readers! *SEVERELY confused neo-Heloise*

[sparkles]

2 hours ago, samira_catlover said:

And a few other snow tips: (NOT!!1!!!!11!!!):

• To clear a driveway, just get out the garden hose and apply a strong stream of water to melt the snow and ice.  MUCH more environmentally friendly than icemelt or salt.
• If your car windshield is badly frosted or iced, bring a big teapot of water to a hard boil and use that to quickly clear your glass.  No more visibility problems!
• You get better traction on most vehicles from the rear wheels.  So if you're driving down a slick street and you're having trouble advancing, just back the car 180 degrees and put it into reverse gear, so you "grab" the road surface better.
• Frozen pipes inside your house? Easily handled with a blowtorch.
• If your furnace system has failed but you have electricity...look, it's dangerous to use your oven to heat living space.  Use your toaster or toaster oven instead.
• If you need emergency "padding" material to stuff into shoes/boots/gloves to keep limbs warm, go REALLY green and use the fuzz and hairs from your dryer and/or vacuum cleaner bag!

Love to all you readers! *SEVERELY confused neo-Heloise*

And keep a bag of plain cat litter in the car. Great for giving you traction if you're stuck on ice.

[salex]

Just chiming in to say that someone on my fakebook was explaining that the storm's name of Jonas was much like Jonah, and it was a warning from God that the US needed to put on sack cloth and ashes to 1) avoid the horrors of snow and 2) avoid being wholly destroyed. 

Apparently he was not alone in this belief, but I made no comment.  

 

I'm already in some deep trouble on facebook for asking if Saeed was still beating his wife. 

 

[sawasdee]

1 minute ago, salex said:

Just chiming in to say that someone on my fakebook was explaining that the storm's name of Jonas was much like Jonah, and it was a warning from God that the US needed to put on sack cloth and ashes to 1) avoid the horrors of snow and 2) avoid being wholly destroyed. 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure g-d can spell, and didn't mistake Jonas for Jonah. Notice that when weather is bad for fundies, it is Satan's work; when it's good, it's g-d's. Who is explaining this to them, and may the rest of us hear that explanation? (And Jebus says is NOT a sufficient answer!)

[dairyfreelife]

It is finally mostly melted off here. Really didn't experience much snow. Was mostly ice. And of course the city basically shut itself down Friday and schools are still closed today for some reason. Maybe some black ice risk? But it's nearing 60 today and looks like it could rain. I am moving this weekend so I hope that the weather cooperates and continues to not be nasty as I need to get to PA the following weekend. Bf is getting wisdom teeth removed a couple days after Superbowl Sunday, so need to be with him. Not the best time to be moving or having surgery, but little choice in either. 

My parents received about 18" of snow and schools have already closed again for Wednesday apparently. My sister and BIL received over 2' of snow. For some crazy reason neither had bought a shovel or salt despite living in the north and knowing it snows. So they had to improvise so their dog could go outside. I didn't have either myself, but shovel was not needed, rarely needed here. Salt maybe, but since it was all over the parking lot and side streets, it would not have helped me get anywhere. Just didn't leave the house for 3 days until the ice was melted. 

Not sure about anyone else, but I am quite ready for spring. 

[HarryPotterFan]

Street still not plowed. A small part of the street is cleared. Maybe someone got a snowblower and then gave up?

Anyway after getting my sleep schedule back on track this morning I took a long nap. Yay hibernation?

Ooh just looked out the window and  two people with snow blowers  are going up and down the street. This fucking county.

Maybe they can help with my family's 170 foot driveway.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

4 minutes ago, HarryPotterFan said:

Street still not plowed. A small part of the street is cleared. Maybe someone got a snowblower and then gave up?

Anyway after getting my sleep schedule back on track this morning I took a long nap. Yay hibernation?

Ooh just looked out the window and  two people with snow blowers  are going up and down the street. This fucking county.

Maybe they can help with my family's 170 foot driveway.

I'm sorry - that is definitely a major WTF.

We're lucky that we have a couple neighbors who do help out, but we also never go THAT long without a plow.  When it's aggressively snowing, they do a pretty regular run.  I don't know of any streets (we're a cul de sac) that struggle.

I hope it improves.

[sparkles]

There are areas of Queens, which got hit the hardest in NY, where the streets still aren't plowed. After the blizzard of 1969, when Queens was similarly buried, it took weeks to get the streets clear and the response, or lack thereof, pretty much killed Mayor Lindsay's chances for reelection. Not that DiBlasio has a hope in hell of being reelected, but you'd think given the history, Queens would be one of the first places to see the snowplows. 

[PennySycamore]

A fair amount of our snow has melted and the streets were pretty clear by this afternoon.  I ran into my neighbor who was fostering a dog that was supposed to fly to his forever home in Vermont Saturday morning.  I figured that the dog's departure would have been delayed, but no.  Finn left as scheduled on Saturday morning.

@samira_catlover,  I had to back down our street after a snowstorm a few years ago.  I just could not make up this slight but icy incline where it ran into another street.  Had to call the MINI dealership to reschedule my oil service.

[cindyluvs24]

The official total was 24" for my town.  I drove my husband to work in Newark and, of the streets that were plowed, many were two-way streets that were plowed to one car width wide.  This made it interesting.

[19 cats and counting]

Is it bad that I'm ready for the next one.

::ducks and runs:::::

[47of74]

4 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

A fair amount of our snow has melted and the streets were pretty clear by this afternoon.  I ran into my neighbor who was fostering a dog that was supposed to fly to his forever home in Vermont Saturday morning.  I figured that the dog's departure would have been delayed, but no.  Finn left as scheduled on Saturday morning.

@samira_catlover,  I had to back down our street after a snowstorm a few years ago.  I just could not make up this slight but icy incline where it ran into another street.  Had to call the MINI dealership to reschedule my oil service.

Yeah I've had it too where I've had to back down and make another run at hills before, mainly on our driveway.   It was a lot worse when I had a rear wheel drive car.

[HarryPotterFan]

14 hours ago, SpoonfulOSugar said:

I'm sorry - that is definitely a major WTF.

We're lucky that we have a couple neighbors who do help out, but we also never go THAT long without a plow.  When it's aggressively snowing, they do a pretty regular run.  I don't know of any streets (we're a cul de sac) that struggle.

I hope it improves.

Thanks. Apparently my street was plowed in the dead of night! It was like partially plowed before yesterday or something. It was really tall slush and you couldn't really tell anything was done. But now lots of snow was dumped in front of my driveway. 

My parents paid someone to do our giant driveway last night, and he made the area plowed wider than necessary. Which annoys me because now there isn't a good place to sled. Asshole.

Anyway had to wake up super fucking early to go into work with my parents in the one car with four wheel drive. I wanna be asleep. The kitties get to sleep why can't I?

[Grace]

I kind of wish we'd get a big one here in Arkansas. Like, shut-it-down big. My husband will still have to drive to work unless it's major crazy snow so I want it all or nothing! I'd love to have a few days to spend eating soups and coming in and out from playing in the snow with my little family

And then the snow should immediately melt and it should be at least 40 degrees again because I hate the cold 

[HarryPotterFan]

@Grace I'll send you some!

still mad about the sledding thing.

[Grace]

3 hours ago, HarryPotterFan said:

@Grace I'll send you some!

still mad about the sledding thing.

I would be too! Sledding is important. It makes snow worthwhile