Monday, February 25, 2013

A View

This is the view out our back window this morning. Snow doesn't make life in New England easy, but I have to admit, it is pretty.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Another Storm

Well, Winter dumped another eight or nine inches of snow on us. This time it was the heavy wet stuff, and I was unable to help with shoveling because, although my knee is getting stronger, I still can't risk slipping at this point in my recovery, because it would probably set me back to where I was a week ago when this all started.

Before the snow came, we managed a nice trip to Concord, where we saw Escape From Earth, and Salem, where we had a nice late lunch and spent some time in both the Microsoft Store and the Apple Store (without buying anything from either place). We also failed to get See's candy at the Lord & Taylor there, but that's a long an annoying story.

The boys have the coming week off from school. So I don't think I'll be getting very much work done.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Healing

My knee is feeling better today, to the point where I can get around most of the time without using my cane (yes, I saved my cane after my surgery 12 years ago, because I know how unpredictable my knees can be). I still need the cane to climb stairs, up and down (although down is much easier than up), but it's only been a couple of days.

In less painful news, Karen ordered the trailer that will be the base for her teardrop camping trailer. She's very excited!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Apologies

I forgot to update the captions for the pictures I posted for yesterday and today. I use pain as my excuse; I managed to twist my knee on Sunday, and sitting at my computer was very uncomfortable all day Monday.

I seem to be healing, though, and I'll be back at the computer for awhile today, getting a few things caught up.

Right about now, I wish I lived in a one-story house.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Oops!

When I got up at 6:00 this morning, the weather forecast called for less than an inch of snow. When I rechecked the forecast at 8:00, it said one to there inches. I think we got about five, though with the wind blowing snow off of everything, it's a bit hard to tell.
I think I'm swearing off forecasts.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Just Another Weekend

This was a pretty typical winter Saturday at the Brooks Bunch. Karen had to work, as is too often the case. The boys had to be pushed to do their chores, but eventually got most of them done. It snowed a little, but also got above freezing so fast that the snow had already melted from Karen's car before she had to leave for work.

The boys and I spent a lot of the afternoon shoveling the snow left from Nemo, which has turned mostly to ice (the hardest part is at the road where the town snow plow leaves us with a nice, hard, icy mound to widen for the cars). Thomas cleared the snow away from my car, which was the last to be attended to because it currently isn't running. It needs a new starter, and I'm ordering a service manual to see if I can do it myself, because although the labor wouldn't amount to too much, the towing to get it to my mechanic would.

I used to do all kinds of repairs on my car, once upon a time before cars got more complex than computers.

Thomas got a call and has a job interview on Monday; we all have our fingers crossed.

And we had clam chowder for dinner. I make a very simple chowder with canned clams that only takes me about 45 minutes to cook, including dicing the potatoes. I also ran a batch of dough through the bread maker so we had a fresh loaf to go with dinner.

All-in-all a pretty typical Saturday. Next Saturday begins the boys' winter vacation, and Karen will be home, which makes it anything but typical. And that's something to look forward to.

The Small, Small Trailer

I mentioned it in passing as a caption on a Picture Of the Day, but I haven't said anything about it otherwise. Karen is trying to build a camping trailer, of the style known as "teardrop." It's an inexpensive way for her to have a camper, something she's missed having since about the time we got married. We tried a couple of times, once with a motor home and once with an older travel trailer, but always got stuck with something mechanically flawed.

This camper will be built on a utility trailer, and it will be only four feet wide, eight feet long, and four feet high (from trailer bed to roof). It will be made out of plywood, for the most part, with a target weight of less than 500 pounds.

Karen has been having a wonderful time researching the construction of the trailer, and corresponding with other teardrop trailer owner/builders who are more than willing to share their stories and discoveries. There is actually a very large community and lots of gatherings.

Of course I, not being the camping sort, will only be going along for the ride. Well, sort of; I am expected to help with the construction, and especially the wiring. Expect more news about this venture very soon.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Low Key Valentine's

Karen has to work tonight, and I have a rehearsal, and the kids have school tomorrow and already had a party at school today. So nothing special for Valentine's Day. We'll probably have some kind of minor celebration later, but sometimes it's better to relax than to stress out over any particular day.

Monday, February 11, 2013

The Weather, Of Course

Today, there was supposed to be about an inch of wet snow, followed by rain. The rain came, but only after about three inches of new powder. I'm sure the skiers are happy—well, maybe not since it rained—but even after the rain we've got some extra shoveling to do, as if we didn't have enough already.

It put a bit of a damper (sorry) on the plans that Karen and I had for a day in town. I had to go in anyway to mail some packages from eBay sales, but the weather was much too wet and miserable for it to be fun. But I did pick up some delicious Chinese food, so it wasn't a total loss.

Tomorrow, a dryer and warmer day is predicted. We'll see how that turns out.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Did I Mention?

I'm back at the theater, after more than a year away. This time I'm the assistant director for a play called "Undeclared History." I've never been an assistant direction before. I hope I'm doing a good job, because I'm sure having a good time. It's good to be back!

Yeah, Okay: Winter

Well, Winter Storm Nemo has come and gone, leaving a very large pile of snow behind it. For all the hype, the storm has left us with conditions very much like the ones we often find ourselves with this time of year (or perhaps a bit later): a pile of snow that blocks visibility to the road, and lots of places on the property we can't get to until the thaw comes.


In other words, nothing we haven't had to deal with before. In fact, since we are now so close to the road, this is much less problematic than winters in the old house, which had a 150-foot sloped driveway between it and the road. When we couldn't afford plowing, it meant a lot of shoveling. And we were much more likely to get stuck!

Our first winter in this house was much like this one. In fact, here's a picture from almost exactly three years ago of Karen shoveling out from another winter storm (before The Weather Channel decided to start giving them names):


The shovel pile on the south side is not nearly as deep as the one from this last storm, but I know it was at least as high my mid-March. But we seem to have gotten a tiny bit spoiled over the last two years, with no major snowstorms and a lot of melting in between. And I don't know for sure that this snow will stick around until Spring; we're expecting to lose at least a little of it during the coming week.

Meanwhile, it's just another winter in New Hampshire. A little shoveling, some extra propane, and a good supply of hot chocolate will get us through.


Saturday, February 09, 2013

Not So Bad

Although Winter Storm Nemo (not an official name; the idea of naming storms apparently came from The Weather Channel, and NOAA does not approve) dropped more than 18 inches of snow on us, the predicted winds never really hit this area, and so we didn't lose power.

Shoveling out was something of an adventure, and Karen couldn't make it to work (oh, darn), but in general this bit of New Hampshire Winter has left us unscathed. We even got a terrific lunch out of it; Karen created a turkey pot pie with a dumpling topping that made our mouths water and our tummies warm and happy.

Friday, February 08, 2013

Hunkering Down

There's a storm a'coming. Blizzard warning tonight, with six to ten inches of new snow, on top of the 6 or seven we got during the day today. But the depth of the snow is not the big problem, it's the gusting winds, which have a nasty habit of knocking trees over onto nearby power lines.

We're prepared with flashlights, extra water, food, ice blocks for the refrigerator, and plenty of books to read and games to play. Karen, unfortunately, has to go to work. With luck the plow trucks from the town will get to our obscure little corner before she has to leave. I'm glad she has all-wheel drive. I wish everyone did.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Not Quite

The Dragonflies couldn't get ahead, although they did catch up once. And they played very well, working like a real team tonight. They certainly went out in style!

Last Game

This is, as far as I know, Danny's last basketball game for the season. As I write, his team is down by four at the half.

Make that two. Go Dragonflies!

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

White Stuff

I'm hoping that the weather prognosticators are right in saying that tomorrow's snow won't amount to much, so Danny doesn't miss his last basketball game, and wrong in saying that Friday's snow is going to bury us.

Saturday, February 02, 2013

Groundhog Day!

In Punxsutawney, Phil didn't see his shadow, and so it was declared that Spring will come early. Here in New Hampshire, though, at least in the morning, it was quite sunny. Cold, but sunny. So what's a person to think? My guess is that Spring will arrive on March 21, whatever the weather.

Thomas will turn 23 as well. He is currently downloading all of the software he lost to a computer virus, and so I don't think he's thinking quite that far ahead at the moment. Lucky he had a computer guru in the house, because he was getting some mighty bad advice from the Internet, including tech support from both Microsoft and Acer.

And me? I'm trying to jam as much stuff onto eBay as I can while they are having a free listing special. So, although my computer is doing just fine, I am still spending way too much time in front of it.