Barkeater

Vermont sounds like my kind of place. You know it snows a lot so deal with it. Not like us here who seem to spend the whole winter complaining about snow. The street's not plowed - stupid city, why can't they plow the street? But when the plow comes by we scream murder because the mouth of the driveway gets filled in. We get out on the highway that hasn't been plowed yet - where are the plows? why can't they plow the roads? But when we get stuck behind a plow it's stupid plow, get out of my way - I'm in a hurry.

John

Barkeater

Vermont sounds like my kind of place. You know it snows a lot so deal with it. Not like us here who seem to spend the whole winter complaining about snow. The street's not plowed - stupid city, why can't they plow the street? But when the plow comes by we scream murder because the mouth of the driveway gets filled in. We get out on the highway that hasn't been plowed yet - where are the plows? why can't they plow the roads? But when we get stuck behind a plow it's stupid plow, get out of my way - I'm in a hurry.

John

Barkeater

Vermont sounds like my kind of place. You know it snows a lot so deal with it. Not like us here who seem to spend the whole winter complaining about snow. The street's not plowed - stupid city, why can't they plow the street? But when the plow comes by we scream murder because the mouth of the driveway gets filled in. We get out on the highway that hasn't been plowed yet - where are the plows? why can't they plow the roads? But when we get stuck behind a plow it's stupid plow, get out of my way - I'm in a hurry.

John

Barkeater

Vermont sounds like my kind of place. You know it snows a lot so deal with it. Not like us here who seem to spend the whole winter complaining about snow. The street's not plowed - stupid city, why can't they plow the street? But when the plow comes by we scream murder because the mouth of the driveway gets filled in. We get out on the highway that hasn't been plowed yet - where are the plows? why can't they plow the roads? But when we get stuck behind a plow it's stupid plow, get out of my way - I'm in a hurry.

John

Barkeater

Vermont sounds like my kind of place. You know it snows a lot so deal with it. Not like us here who seem to spend the whole winter complaining about snow. The street's not plowed - stupid city, why can't they plow the street? But when the plow comes by we scream murder because the mouth of the driveway gets filled in. We get out on the highway that hasn't been plowed yet - where are the plows? why can't they plow the roads? But when we get stuck behind a plow it's stupid plow, get out of my way - I'm in a hurry.

John

Tom, I can relate. That is truly the commute from hell. Mine wasn't bad today, only a bit over an hour...but I have had the 2-3 hr drives from work before.

We only got about 4" even though hearing the newscasters talk it was the 'storm of the century' LOL. Every storm is the storm of the century.

Hope you have a safe drive home. Did I ever mention I REALLY want to work from home...or better yet..move to Maui.

D-

D ~
I drove from 5 inches to more than 10 in my travels today ! The driving conditions just kept getting worse and worse as I drove from the coast to the mountains ... I have no idea what the fascination is to "look" at others accidents ..... PLEASE KEEP DRIVING ! We're all going to be late !!!
You've seen it before !!!! Better yet, can you pay me for the time I'm missing ??? lol ~
Working from home would be sweet ... You're right, Maui or San Diego would be even sweeter ! lol ~ Tom

Yes Tom, I'm currently snowed in but am expecting the fuel truck per my call to them this past Tuesday, but I always call early and they know it, I don't wait for their scheduled deliveries. Now that I can't go out to check the fuel guage and I never know who will be around here to do same, I want a margin of fuel in the tank.

But that heavy truck could get in here if the mailman in his 4 wheel could. Of course Brian drove in b'c he wanted to use my broom and other paraphenalia out by the front door to clear off his SUV. He delivers the mail to an upturned basket inside the front door, per my Federal USPS disabiity approval. And he said the roads were lethal.

I've heard the snowplow/sander go up and down my road twice this AM. And now I need to call the lad up the road to let him know it's time to shovel the deck b'c the fuel guy has what he calls a "long pull" to get to the tank out back.

When does Jeff my regular snowplow man come? Who knows. LOL He has a large route and almost always leaves me to last when he does his MIL and FIL up the road from me b'c he knows I'm not going anywhere. LOL

it looks like we got about 6-10 inches out there and the snow has now stopped but the winds are supposed to kick up soon which will make for some lovely snowdrifts.

As for me, well, my upper left back is still hurting from time to time but I'm still doing my part in packing those 1000 varieties to send to Israel for the tomato research project they plan for this summer. I recruited Glenn Drowns at Sandhill and Craig to help, b'c no way was I going to do the 1000. LOL

And in the background I have one of my TV audio stations playing Xmas music.....just love it when they play let it snow, let it snow. NOT!!!!

I'd play some of my casettes, yes, I know I'm the only one left on the face of the earth who still plays them, but it means getting up too many times b'c the casette player I have in the back room where I am only plays two at a time.

The audio stuff in the front room where I don't go very often with my walker b'c of a large step down has room for maybe 20 CD's and I don't know how many casettes, but that's there, and I'm in the backroom, my home when I'm not here in my bedroom on the computer.

I say, if anyone has any old casettes they want to xs b/c they've converted to CD's, here I am. LOL But there's only certain stuff I listen to.

Carolyn, noticing that the sun just peeked through.

We only had 5 inches here in sunny, tropical SE Kansas. It only got down to -5 this morning. Our shop has spent most of the last 3 days thawing out gelled up diesel trucks. Somewhere out in that field of white is my garden and it's calling me already.

Only 4" here in SE Ne; not snowed in, but pretty uncomfortable when I like 70's. List 'em Carolyn and I'll send them if I've got them.

7" of snow received where I live. Only a 3 hour commute home last night (ordinarily 30"). The south side received 10". Caused an airplane to skid off the runway at Midway before it came to a stop at a busy intersection. One poor little 6 year old was killed...I'm counting my blessings.

0" here (since December of 1972). ¼ inch then, almost made the roads impassable. Whew, hope that never happens again! Dang blizzard, it was.

I say, if anyone has any old cassettes they want to xs b/c they've converted to CD's, here I am. LOL But there's only certain stuff I listen to.

only certain stuff

Put Âem on your trade list so we know. ;-)

We even got a little snow and some black ice around the DFW Metroplex in Texas, with temps dipping to low teens and a few single digit temps around the area. Cars and trucks wrecked everywhere. Makes me thankful that I am retired and can just go outside when I want to.
Bless you and your pain problems Carolyn, I have survived a lot of things in my life, was pretty tough and bounced back, but as I age and time and mileage take it's toll, I have become much more conversant with pain. Had gall bladder removed, had MRI's and X rays on the spine, some arthritis, bone spurs and desicated disc letting the vertebra get closer together pinching those nerves running out from between them. Have a referral to go see a Gastro Int. Dr.but am trying to hold off on that till right after the first of the year. My stomach is beginning to revolt with the thought of all the meds that I am taking.

Have you ever played music from your computer ? If it is in the part of the house you use, you can do that. I have over 300 songs on mine, everything that I can remember that I ever liked to make unlimited play list of just the ones you want to hear. Most computer nowdays have some pretty good sound capabilities and speakers, or they can plug in some Bose speakers if you wish. And also burn your own C.D.'s, but I do not have the capability of making cassettes from my computer, just C.D.'s and DVD's.
I also recently got a big T.V. welded up my own rack for a corner shelf to mount it up on the wall aimed at the bed so that it is ealily viewed from there. Got a new DVD player and a good deal with Blockbuster for unlimited rentals by mail. I have had one incoming and one outgoing in the mail box everyday. It is really surprising what is available, from the new releases, classics, T.V. sereiese like the Honeymooners, to the old, old westerns with people like John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Bob Steele, Hoot Gibson and on and on. I found Tom Sellick in Quigley Down under right away, I always liked that one.
Other than making compost, can't do much in the garden right now, so it is good to have something entertaining inside to do.
Merry Christmas to all. If that ain't P.C., thats tough!.
Bill P.

I did not measure the snow. We were to head into Toronto Wednesday a.m...packed the car, shovelled the driveway and the car, put the cat food out for two days, night lights in place..and waited for the snow plough...usually shows up around 11 the latest...4pm still sitting here..too deep to drive out onto the road...suddenly at 4;30..the sun darkened, the snow falling aain, the snow plough arrived...our boots off..waited till Thursday..snow in toronto this morning too..but we headed back home..the highway heading south (we were heading north)was closed, overturned trucks, cars mangled...this the first real snow of winter...welcome to winter..and new experience every year..martha/zucchini

We're lucky up here. Since snow is practically a daily event, the roads are always plowed. We all have snowblowers or a truck with a plow, depending on the length of the driveway. And everyone switches over to winter tires, usually studded, in late Nov.. Sand tubes go in the back of pickups or in the trunk to add weight over the rear tires. Very few people drive 2-wheel rear drive vehicles.

But what makes life so nice is there is so little traffic to deal with. I go 21 miles each way on the interstate to work. In the middle of a blizzard you may have to slow to 30 mph to avoid whiteouts, but thats about it. The other cars are barely a factor.

We got 6" yesterday, 5" Wednesday, and 4" over last weekend, which isn't much so far compared to 2 years ago. That December totalled 98". Hopefully, we won't see bare ground again until mid April.

Hopefully, we won't see bare ground again until mid April.

Now just what do you mean here?

Are you saying you'd rather see snow, sleet,ice and sub zero temps year round? LOL

Carolyn

we had a big dumping earlier this week that slowed things up for a lot of people. didn't affect us at all. i'm only across the street from work. 150 steps from door to door. we have had 44 inches of snow so far this month, and more is coming. if i had to drive any great distance on a regular basis during the winter, i would have to think a bit about staying here. its no fun trying to drive in white out conditions when you can't see much past your front bumper. the road crews do a good job clearing the roads, so everyone gets around ok so long as you can see. you have to experience lake effect snow first hand to really understand the enormity of it.
ski slopes are open, and snow mobiles are running. c'mon up!

keith in calumet

Sounds great Keith. Our snowmobile season doesn't start this year until the 19th though. A Monday!! Last year at least was the 15th.

Carolyn, thats why I don't want to see bare ground until April. Between snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and skiing, we need all the snow and cold temps we can get from Dec-Mar.

Then, let it disappear quickly for gardening, mountain biking, and fishing.

I'll tell you, since I moved here over 3 years ago, I really have a hard time finding time to go to work. LOL

11" here and I wasn't dug out until 1 -mostly thanks to the town who went by three times and each time filled up the entrance to my driveway. I shoveled a path out back and filled the bird feeder back there and Saturday morning shoveled a path to the front feeders and refilled them. And then took my dog in to her play date - a neighbor in town who takes her on a 3 mile hike with two other dogs and on Saturday was out on snow shoes. Thank goodness the pond was frozen over so the dogs didn't come back wet and muddy from this hike.
I'm all for more snow since I haven't yet covered my roses and snow is a good protector. But it will be all gone by the end of the week and I hope to get out with some mulch before the white stuff vanishes completely.

No snow to speak of here, but power went out here on Cape Cod. Friday at 4:00 pm and was just restored this evening. Temperature in the house had gotten down to 40 F and I was wearing a parka inside and sleeping under a pile of blankets. At noon today, the temperature outside was 10 degrees higher than inside so I opened some windows, but it didn't help.

Cause of the outage was a wind storm like I've never seen. It was a constant 65 or 70 mph for an hour with gusts above that. Large trees, entire trees, not just limbs, were whipping back and forth the entire time and many of them came down. They took a lot of power lines with them. The noise was fierce. It was a strange sort of storm which was concentrated in a fairly small area, maybe three or four towns. Fortunately, my property was nearly unscathed.

Besides the cold house, there was boredom. Reading seed catalogs by candlelight gets tedious after a couple of hours. Lack of computer access was a hardship and the first night I didn't have batteries for my radio.

Well, things are nearly normal now. I didn't freeze to death and the food in the freezer didn't thaw. Could've been worse, and it was worse for thousands of people who are facing huge clean-ups.

Jim

I have to admit, I do love the snow - I wouldnt be able to tell if the holidays were here without it , lol ! I'm just a four season kind of guy - Its just that I can't handle everyones poor driving in it !

I would like to garden all year round .... but then I would miss out on the "seasons" ~ But for some strange reason, with all the trades going on for cool new varieties ? Spring can't come soon enough !!! ~ Tom

Paul, Bruce and Bill

Paul and Bruce, I'm not going to put my music likes in my trade thingie, b'c I don't have a trade thingie, so here's what I like re music:

Classical, everything from Gregorian Chants to crashing symphonies to chamber music, lots of Baroque as in Vivaldi, Bach and friends. Cello, violin concertos, you name it.

Almost anything slavic as to more folk music type as in Smetna, Grieg, Dvorak, but especially Russian where I melt into a small puddle of protoplasm when I hear a Balalaika or hear a mens Russian chorus sing.

Celtic music of any kind

Songs from Broadway musicals

Easy listening as in Billy Joel, Sinatra, Lionel Ritchie, etc.

Popular music from the 50's and 60's

Don't like opera although I play several fave arias on the piano. Don't like rock, don't like current vocalists that much, am not in love with Country, well, you get the picture, and that's an older lady who has strong opinions on what she does and doesn't like. LOL

Bill, no, I don't play music on my computer and yes I have speakers. On my TV satellite I have all the Sirius channels as well as the Dish ones and that's over 100 different audio channels there. And then there are two classical music stations I can sometimes get on my radio although reception is not always great b'c I'm blocked by surrounding terrain. And then there's my casettes.

I really should start converting to CD's but I have to pay off the garage first. LOL

Carolyn, where we had some heavy snow showers last night and there's a fresh thin sugar coating of snow on all the trees and it is very pretty. Not enough to plow but I hear the plow going up and down the road, no doubt just sanding.

Carolyn - how early do you start your plants and when do you set them out ? ~ Tom

Carolyn, one good thing about playing music on, or thru your computer is that you can play just what you want most to hear. Same goes for making your own C.D.s if you ever do start that. I like some of many different kinds of music.
If you like the Celtic music, you probably like Celtic Woman. A group of beautiful and highly talented women who have topped the world charts for a number of weeks running, have been on PBS a number of times and on a U.S. tour. I have a lot of their stuff and particularly like Isle of Inisfree, He lifts me up and Ava Maria. It is a little surprising the different or diverse people that have heard those on my C.D.'s and liked them well enough to say that they wished that they had one. ":^) Merry Christmas.
Bill P.

Its pretty funny, but I've been playing an old record I have of Frank Sinatra's Christmas abulm ... I love it ! Really gets the holiday juices flowing ~ Tom

Tom, there are some legal download sites where you can get just about any song that you can think of. If I happen to think about one that I liked at one time, I can usually find it. I was watching my elderly neighbor Tom, tilling in his garden awhile back, when he turned the tiller around, it make a little furrow and he raked the dirt out level with his foot while on the go. When he took a break and we were setting there talking, I told him that reminded me of the ol Walter Brennon song "Old Rivers", so I found that. We set up bug lights with a mirror behind them and a big pan of soapy water beneath to catch insects at night during the season, and it is kinda interesting to see different insects at different times of the year. I found about a dozen bugs that looked like a boll wevil on steroids over a period of a week or so, we were comparing various drowned bugs and I scooped up 4 or 5 of them on a fallen leaf to show Tom. That got us started talking about the old Tex Ritter's Boll Wevil song. I found it too. I have about run out of anything that I want to hear that I don't already have. ":^)
Even music backgrounds for commercials, if you can get a few words to use in a search, sometimes you can find it. For instance, awhile back I caught a rerun of the Griswolds family vacation, at the end of it was a song that I liked called Dancing across the U.S.A., I found it.
A commercial had some music backgound that I liked, and I found that "Fountains of wayne - the o c soundtrack" that goes "got all kinds of time", and some good background music. But there are still two or three that I have not been able to find. A few times I have called a radio station while one was playing that I did not know the name or artist on, got the info and found them. Most recently Skip Ewings Christmas Carol (he has one heck of a voice). If you just type in the words Christmas carol without the artist name, you pull up literally hunderds and hundreds of songs.
Just some little fun things for an ol man to do.
Bill P.

If you like the Celtic music, you probably like Celtic Woman. A group of beautiful and highly talented women who have topped the world charts for a number of weeks running, have been on PBS a number of times and on a U.S. tour. I have a lot of their stuff and particularly like Isle of Inisfree, He lifts me up and Ava Maria. It is a little surprising the different or diverse people that have heard those on my C.D.'s and liked them well enough to say that they wished that they had one. ":^) Merry Christmas.

Bill, I have heard of them but haven'had a chance to listen to them yet. Most of what I have is instrumental.

(Even music backgrounds for commercials)

And how about theme songs for older TV shows?

I used to know:

Oh we're the men from Texaco
We work from Maine to Mexico

...and I forgot the rest/ LOL

Was that the Milton Berle show? Or what?

And then there was an old commercial for Gilette that used to be played during those silly wrestling matches that I'd watch late at night trying to stay awake when I was babysitting someone's kids and waiting for the parents to come home, at $1/hour mind you. Can't remember that one either. What I do remember was trying to assume some of the holds they used to see if it was a painful as their faces and moans and groans seemed to indicate. LOL

Carolyn,hoping the fuel truck comes today; it was minus 16 when I got up this AM and I called in a week ago. I have a gravity feed kerosene fueled vented to the outside Japanese computer run Monitor which has three burner levels and five fan speeds and has worked like a charm, fingers crossed, since 1999. and is very fuel efficient. So I need fuel in the tank at a certain level to maintain pressure to the feed line. I also have backup baseboard electric heat, but OH the cost. The previous owners here heated the house with wood in a gorgeous large German Weso wood stove which is still out in the LV/DR hexagon and is the ultimate backup if the power goes out, but I need to get someone to bring more wood in from the woodshed since I can't get out there to get it if I need it these days for my walker doesn't do goodin the snow and we have maybe an 8 inch snow cover since last Friday.

Carolyn !!! Be careful !!!! I need you to be up and ready for spring !!! " I love those J...I..N...G...L...E... BELLS !! " WHAAA - OOuuuuu !!! Classic Sinatra ~ I also like that " 15 Tons Song " - "what do you get ? another day older and deeper in debt " ... fun stuff to listen to tilling for me ~

~ Tom - who is not looking forward to Fridays commute (again) as snow is expected on Thurs. ~ greeeaaaat ~

ps. Bill did you use those bugs you took a look at to match you flies for fly fishing ? I love that in the spring / summer ... will it ever come ???!!! lol ~

Brrrrrrrrrr, yeah I say you need that fuel truck, muey pronto!
I would love that wood stove, grew up with one, and have thought about putting one in here. The closest I have is a couple of them Mexican outdoor fireplaces, one pottery, and one cast iron with several grills that one could cook on, but I have not even built a fire in one this year, it has been warm most of the time and things are tinderbox dry, so burn bans are in effect.
-----------
> >Bill, I have heard of them but haven'had a chance to listen to them yet. Most of what I have is instrumental.

They are awsome, PBS has a deal where for a donation you can get a video cassette or DVD for a certain amount.
I really love a lot of good instrumentals, and the background music in lots of songs, like Johnny Cash, When the man comes around, or Dwight Yocham's Turn it on, turn it up and turn me loose. Lots of good pickin on that, that I can only try to emulate with my guitar. ":^) My best audience is my dogs, they sometime seem to be smiling, but do not dare laugh out loud.
-------------------------------
You never could completely convince my Dad that men walked on the moon, but he really loved the wrestling on T.V.
When I was a cop in Dallas many years ago, we used to check out at the Sporatorium and go in occasionally while the wrestling was going on. It was more fun to watch the fans than the wrestling to me. The sad and ill fated Fritz Von Eric family was from this area and I saw something on T.V. just recently, an interview with his widow and her talking about all the tragic events, and their one remaining son.

I have not really got into much except music downloads thus far, althought there are DVD Videos, as well as other types of media you can search for, programs, software etc. etc.
Yeah, I remember some of those old commercials, liked the Burma Shave ones, Everyone probably remembers "See the USA in your _________ (fill in the blank)and probably Route 66.
I know that the theme song from Bonanza and High Noon could be found. I have Marty Robbins, The Hanging tree.
I do not know any words for such things as those weird Clint Eastwood spagetti westerns and have not tried to find them.

If I live long enough and get to where I can not do as much outside like welding and gardening, I hope to set aside time to learn how to imbed music in emails. I think that there is a way to do that with a small file that does not take up many kb's and wouldn't it be neat to be able to put some sound effects into a posting here like you can pictures or those little animated graphics you occasionally see. Of course, I am sure that would probably irritate some folks.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
Bill P.

I got snowed in once at college 8 feet after 4 storms in 2 weeks.

Brenda and I are takin' the girls to Tampa area between Christmas and New Years for their college graduation gift. Daggone it if we're not routed thru Chicago (best rates), and I'm prayin' for NO SNOW!

well, we've gone past 100 inches already for the year. its been snowing all day. and to think, its not winter yet. gonna be one of those years it looks like.

keith in calumet

man I'm bummed today - no snow, but a lady lost control of her car because of black ice and hit mine ... my new 2005 car ... bummed to say the least ~ Tom