January 29, 2011 Update

It's been a wonderful couple of weeks, the highlight of which was a visit from Hannah who brought her parents along with her.  Arriving on Friday afternoon of last week and staying through Sunday evening we had a good amount of time to have a good time all around.  Hannah was an absolute joy in all regards.  Friday evening it was out to dinner and then just some good conversation and enjoying the company.  Saturday morning David and Samantha took off early in the morning to go participate in a run.  It was a cold day and it was probably in the upper 20's when the kids left before 7:00 AM.  They had a good time and also found a Trader Joe's that Samantha wanted to visit... so they did.  I personally have absolutely no idea why people participate in these runs.  Why do people pay for the privilege of running?  Even those that just run around the neighborhood.  Ever seen a jogger smiling?  Of course not.  Anyway, I guess one of the benefits is the extra energy it brings to you as evidenced by the activities of David and Samantha later that afternoon... see below:

Is that added energy or what?!?  David's even got on his official shirt from the run!  Quite impressive.

Hannah, being the wonderful daughter she is just couldn't get herself to emulate Mom and Dad and spent some time out of the house with me when we went over to Lowe's to look around for a few odds and ends.  Again, she was just a delight to be with and I got a kick out her fascination with all the hinges on display in one particular row.  She would go back and forth moving them all one way, then going back to have them moved over the other way.  It really reminded me of some of the enjoyment I had taking David out as a youngster and just letting him be a youngster.  But... then she pooped out as well and fell asleep cuddling on the love seat.  Couldn't resist getting a shot of her:

She even sleeps nicely :)  Shortly after taking this we had to get her up to go to one of those Hibachi places where they throw your found around, and at you.  With all my sarcasm, it was a very good restaurant, the food was very, very good, and Hannah had a ball as did we all.  Hannah just stared at the activities the whole time and it was fun to watch her watching the cook who, of course, took a shine to her.

The visit also was a time of sharing the wonderful gifts that Hannah and Samantha had put together including a wonderful drawing that Hannah had done along with this very nice apron that she colored. 

See?  Quite beautiful.  You can't see it but even the strings are decorated!!

Hannah always seems to have a book with her... it's fun to watch her.  On Sunday we put some new batteries in her 'reading' thingie and she sat down to enjoy her Leap Frog books.  I'd never seen one being used and must admit the technology is really something.  Hannah obviously enjoyed just having some reading time for herself, except when grandpa Bob interrupted her with his wanting to take some photos.

Oh but I kind of love this kid :)

Follow up to the Atlanta Beach post:  We had some rain this week and it did get some of the sand off the sidewalks and streets.  It's still rather sandy and dusty but eventually I guess it will go away... maybe by July or so.  Anyway, I was out for my noon walk around the office area and noticed where all the sand had gone... into the drains of course.  This just cracked me up and I had to take a picture.  Wait until the real rains come.  You'll have white-water rafting downtown since all the drains are full of sand!  And I mean FULL.









The Atlanta Beach

Well, as nice as it was to be confined to the property for 5 days it was very nice when I was able to get in the car and venture off the property.  First trip... Walmart... go figure :)  The side streets became melted enough for vehicles to get down to my end of the street and that was good enough for me.  The mail man came through on Friday... first time since the previous Saturday.  His truck got stuck for just a bit but he made it up over the hill to get out and when I saw that I figured I could as well.  So I got in the car and carefully got out of the neighborhood.  Once on the 'busy' street things were in good shape.  One needed to be careful but it was all right and it was just so nice to be out. 

Today, the 8th day after the snow hit, was my first one to the office in downtown Atlanta.  The drive was nothing special and it was just a plain old day until I went out for a bit of a walk at lunch time.  Then I got to see what the news people meant when they said that "contractors have been brought in to put down sand on the roads and sidewalks in the downtown area" in the middle of last week.  Unbelievable!  Welcome to the Atlanta Beach !!

This is the sidewalk that surrounds the building I work in.  In places there are inches of sand!  I mean it's not like someone just sort of spread some sand around on the sidewalks and streets -- they dumped it.  Now anyone that's dealt with ice before knows that sand doesn't do a damn thing to make it go away... it just makes it dirty.  Now they're going to have to clean up this mess sometime.

See?  I meant it... inches thick!

And just so you don't think I got some kind of special attention, this is a shot about 2 blocks over and a block down.  It's everywhere!  It's everywhere!  Based on what I saw and walked on, the better part of the entire downtown Atlanta area is now covered in sand.  Welcome to the Atlanta Beach :)

Day 4 Update

Thursday now, the fourth day of frozen conditions in GA.  Things are pretty pathetic and cabin fever is real... wish we had some of those puzzles that David and Samantha are working on.  The cold temperatures just won't break and as much as I want to get out of the house, it's just not able to happen.  Ice is the problem and it's just not rushing to go away.  No mail now for the 5th day and of course the wimpy garbage people have announced they're not coming either.  I don't have any garbage to get picked up but to have the trucks come through would have been nice to bust some of this stuff up.  I've been around snow covered with ice before but nothing like this.  Sure, the snow can get ice covered but whenever I've walked on it, I broke though.  Not this stuff! 

The first morning after the snow, I guess that would have been Monday morning, I had to walk through the yard to get to the boat door to get the snow shovel.  No big deal walking through the 4-5 inches of snow.  Now, this morning, you can walk ON this stuff -- carefully slide is actually more accurate -- without breaking through!  I've never seen this before.  That's grass showing at the bottom of the 3-day old footprint.  Today, totally solid.  I had to go back into the house to get the camera to take this picture because I figured no one would believe this.  This is the problem now... the ice that just won't go away and without any traffic coming to the end of the road, this is what the damn road looks like! 

 



Winter Storm - Day 3

Well, as I can remember, this is the 3rd day of being unable to get out of the house, or off the property anyway.  The office is shut down for the 3rd day in a row but according to the news this morning, there are some very slight improvements around the city of Atlanta.  The problem is one of an almost total lack of snow clearing equipment, plain and simple.  I heard on the news that for the Atlanta metro area there are 16 sand trucks and 10 plows.  Give me a break!  And, I don't live in the metro area.  There is no plowing of the streets in my area at all.  I wrote the homeowners association inquiring as to the likelihood of seeing the plows and the response was that there won't be any plowing.  No mail has been delivered since last Saturday... today is Wednesday.  UPS and FedEx announced that they are not delivering or picking up.  I had high hopes of at least getting out to the store for a few things that I'm running low on but after a trip down the driveway to see the street, it ain't gonna happen.  The road at the end of the drive is solid ice.  I guess I could get down but due to the steepness of the street itself, I'd never get back to the driveway.

Speaking of which... it took 2 days of very hard and treacherous work but the driveway did get cleaned off quite well I think.  The first day it was trying to clear off enough of the upper pad to get the cars in and out, a bit of positive thinking pretending we were going to go out, and we made a bit of progress shoveling the top, somewhat level part, of the drive on the first day.  Later in the day we went out again and made it a bit further and I was determined to get to the bottom of the drive.  It had been raining freezing rain or whatever and I knew that things were going to get much worse if I didn't get the snow up before it became total ice.  So, I kind of put the shovel in front of me and, for the most part, slid down the driveway behind it.  Swell... now I had to get back up.  Easiest way was to plant the toe of my boots in the snow/ice and tip-toe my way back up.  I realized that I couldn't clean off the driveway side to side or I'd not have this snow to grab on to so I did one half of the drive with great caution and that was how the first day ended.  Second day we went out again and the half that was done was pretty dry and could be walked on so we finished up the second half to let it dry out.  Today, the driveway is nice and clean and dry, but we're still stuck because of the ice on the street.

See?  Nice and clean and dry.  I forgot to mention above that part of the problem was just the physical amount of space that had to be cleared.  The snow was very heavy what with the ice on top of it and the moisture below it, but it was done... hurrah!

There... you can even see the bottom of the drive.  The problem now is that the road at the end is a total sheet of ice, maybe an inch thick.  Although not as steep as the driveway, the road is quite steep, downward, until you get to the area where that car is way down there.  Then the road begins a steep uphill climb.  You can click on the photo to make it bigger just so you can appreciate the picture taking I did :)

And this is what awaits at the bottom of the drive for as far as I can see... about an inch of solid ice.  I can certainly get down the driveway easily now, and if on the driveway could certainly easily go up it.  I just can't get off the driveway because I'll never get back to it. 

So, there you have the conditions on the 3rd day.  It's very cold today... the coldest of the storm... so the ice isn't going anywhere even though the sun is shining nicely for the first time in 4 days.  Of course, if there is any melting from the sun at all it's going to refreeze tonight which is supposed to be the coldest night as well.  Temperatures in the 50's are predicted for the weekend... we'll see what that does.  A slight warm up trend starts tomorrow they say.  I hope it continues until spring/summer get here!



January Snow Storm

I really, really thought I had gotten away from this stuff but, evidently, no such luck.  According to the news, most all of Georgia north of Savannah is closed today... yep, closed.  Also included is Arkansas and Alabama, the Carolinas, and the rest of the middle south I guess.  What a total pain in the butt.  The storm had been anticipated all week with the weather folks on the TV and radio having a jolly time of talking about it.  I had done shopping and errands on Saturday and that too was kind of wacky.  It's the first time I've been in a grocery where the meat department was really, really rather empty and the milk section, a rather large one at that, was totally bare.  It's like people were hunkering in for the whole month.  Now that the storm has passed for the most part I'm glad I have what food in the house that I do because it's going to be a while before this stuff clears.  They have no snow-clearing equipment here... I heard on the local news that 16 sand trucks and 11 plows were out.  That's for the entire Atlanta area!!  I did bring a couple of snow shovels down here with me... I remember the moving man kind of kidding me about moving them.  There's not much I can do but I'll go out in a while to take a look.  In case you missed my early posts, my driveway is long and very steep.  Hell, it's tough to stand on and difficult to walk up when it's dry.  I'm not looking forward to trying to shovel it.  One fall and I'm down and sliding for about a block before the road starts uphill.  Of course, then I'd have to figure a way to get back up.  Cool.  Oh yeah, there was a little thing on the news last night that sledding things... sleds, disks, etc... were selling out.  No kidding.

Right on time, the snow started at about 8 PM or so and it fell very fast.  This was about an hour after it started as the snow collected on the top railing of the deck.

Same time as the previous picture.  BIG damn flakes!!

And this, Monday, morning.  Just prior to this picture being taken the freezing rain, or whatever it is, had started.  Yippee.

Hard to see the little rain gauge, on the railing pretty much in the center of the picture, but it's showing about 4 1/2 inches.  The nice thing is that this is double the average amount of snowfall for an entire season in this area and that means, according to my thinking, that we won't have any more snow for 3 years.  We'll see.