Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Beat the record, again?

I'm not happy about beating this record, honestly, we have had enough of the damn record book!


This morning the local weather man informed his viewing audience that with the snow fall last night-offically in Cedar Rapids of 6.8 inches, that we have passed last years total to date. Great, just great, that means more mud, more ick and a gravel road that is like mud bogging it, this spring.

Now let's talk about recording this snow fall. Did you know that the National Weather Service has people who measure all the data and did you know that the Cedar Rapids measurements are taken 15 miles SOUTH of the town center in Swisher, IA???? Hello, what in the heck are they thinking? The reason I know this is at work last year we did a promo where you bought a spa or pool and if it snowed a certain # of inches on a certain day, you got it for free. Unoffically in downtown CR we got the required 4 inches, but when the NWS total came in at around 2", well the insurance company that we did the promo through, said nope! It finally got resolved, with some help from the local tv stations.

For the most part, our little black hole corner of the county gets more rain, high winds. tornados, snow, ice, you name it, we get more here. Thank God we aren't another 15-20 miles north, 'cause they get it worse then us, then 15 more miles north, nothing ;0) We have had tornados pass 2 miles to the south and 4 miles to the north while the Parkersburg one from last spring, died out just along Hwy 20 and the Hwy 13 corners. Close call but that's what you get when living in the county.

So with that note, Meredith and I are playing hookie. Haven't heard if David got to work or not, hoping he did. Dogs are fed up with being contained in the house and only 15 min little runs outside. Too damn cold. Garrett and I were talking yesterday and it was -35(without windchills) up in his neck of MN. Told him to keep it up there. We hit -11 below with -25 or 30 windchills last night. So yes the dogs are unhappy but would turn into pupsicles if left out any longer. Trying to find ways to amuse them and running out of ideas.

Here's a few pics of the drifts and of course, the cut outs the dogs have made. I don't scoop trails for the cardigans or the toys, they're smart. They let the collies and GSD run out first and follow behind.
Top of the page is the long drift that runs the length of the backyard. Gate and fence are 6' tall. We have to watch out that the drift doesn't come too close to the house or it shuts off the vents for the furnace, water heater and dryer-wake up very very cold some mornings.
Second picture is more of the back yard and the fun little drifts out along the edge.
3rd is the back door through the garage. And yes, the dogs run to the door and put the breaks on. David has to lift them over the drift as he usually hasn't gotten dressed and has no boots on to shovel. Heehee, the little object out in the yard is Meredith's old yellow wellie. Doesn't fit anymore and the dogs love to play with it. Amazed it's sitting there but I think it's froze to the ground.
Lastly, the front yard and if you blow it up, you can see the trails. Waiting for the snow to bury the tractor, considering we don't have a plow or blade on it yet-all of the ones we have fit IH and are too small. Oh and that fence is just a little over 4' but the gates are 5'.

Stay warm and enjoy the pristene landscape, mud is just around the corner.


Later gators....
C

2 comments:

Sherilyn said...

Don't remind us!! I'm kind of hoping the back yard stays snowy for this weekend...much appreciated after the ice rink we've had back there the last few weeks, and the mud pits to come! With umpteen dogs staying with us this weekend for the Des Moines show, I really prefer snow! Keep your fingers crossed that the temp warms up a bit, though....I don't like these way to friggin' cold temperatures!

Hugs! See you Friday!

Frink Lemur said...

Carly the Pem ends up being just a black nose above a sea of white snow when she was out this morning.

Kodi the Samoyed loves it, I think he finally hit his thermal equilibrium, and seemed to have endless stamina in his cani-xross rig this morning.

-PeterB