The snow storm... that wasn't?

The End

(Putting it at the top for those who already read this yesterday)

We finally did get some snow and had a good ground cover by 1.

And winding up with what we figure was about 2 inches here.

When we got up this morning, it looked like about 4 inches had fallen during our 'super storm'.

Granted, IF we hadn't had the dry air masses and the snow had been able to fall like it had south of us in Kansas, we would have been buried!

(Winter Storm Q)

Q?  Really?!  NEVER remember storms being named when I was a kid - except hurricanes!  Back home in South Dakota, we just called this 'Winter' - from about October to May, simply winter with about a heavy snow once a month and referring to them by their year and month.  Or, simply, 'You know, that thunder-snow storm that buried everyone my freshman year of college in '98'

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So Nebraska was shutting down last night for a predicted major snow storm (up to 16" in the south east corner I live in).

And many schools, including my daughter's, were shut down already last night.  I get e-mail alerts from her school and received this at 8:44 pm:

(my daughter's) School will be closed on Thursday due to predicted severe winter weather.

And we woke up to this new forecast of up to 16"...

...and this view out our front door at 8:00 am!

My son also gets daycare called off when schools are - so both kids have a snowday.

With not much for snow, when they woke up and started watching TV at 8 - notice the brown, not white, ground out the window. lol

At least the snow started coming in a blustery, small snow flake kind of way around 9 and had accumulated a little when I took this picture at 10 am.

Perhaps it's my growing up in South Dakota that makes me so cynical to Nebraska's approach to snow storms and their approach to weather vs SD's?

(off the Sioux Falls, SD school district site - where I grew up, and the biggest town in SD) 

  "The first and foremost consideration is the safety of students. In recent years, while snow events have not hampered the school calendar, tremendously cold wind chills have. When wind chills approach the point where exposed flesh can freeze in 10 minutes or less [-40 on a calm day, -30 on a windy day], the District will typically call off school.

  When it comes to weather-related delays, early dismissals or cancellations, numerous factors are in play. What time of day will the wind chill be in that dangerous range, and for how long? Will the 12 inches of snow be done falling by 3 a.m. and give city plows enough time to clear main thoroughfares and the streets around schools? What time in the afternoon is the winter storm predicted to hit our area?"

Lincoln, NE, biggest town near me, doesn't even have a policy that I could find!

Perhaps it's the weather man's complete seriousness they take in their guess work.  Totally on board with my riding group's term of Big Fat Lying Weatherman (BFLWM)

 (the site of my group's 'fearless leader' and her blog's first? reference to the BFLWM http://www.horsetrailriders.com/2008/07/big-fat-lying-weatherman-bflwm-strikes.html)

Will update on how much snow we get....

Refusing the chair part II

Not to exciting, but we picked up one of the cheaper ($70) wheeled with a seat walkers from a hardware store last week.  Who would've thought you could pick up walking aids at a hardware store?!

Sit or Stand Behind Rolling Walker

I already have a walker I tried using in the house, but this one is smaller and I can keep it to ONLY use in the house or going to town for appointments, etc.

(my exact walker - store photo)

I used it all day Monday, Thursday, Friday and the weekend last week.  Well, mostly on the weekend.  I started using my chair more this weekend again and am today (Monday).  After sticking with my chair for so much, man does it make a body tired. lol  Oh well, it's all good - only one way to get stronger, and that's to use the muscles!  Darn, I'm tired today, though.  Of course that could be somewhat my nearly 5 mile ride last night too.  And I got nearly a mile of trot work in there too!!  So, using my legs more in general is a good thing.  Just have to be sure to find that fine line between doing just enough and not too much.  For instance; part of why I've stuck with the chair for today is it's laundry day and I'm not about to figure out how to carry a basket on my walker right now.  Also need to get going again on the dresser painting project  and that's up stairs where I'll be caning it.

The (sometimes not so much) joys of country living

Started this a week ago Tuesday, gotta love that I'm busy though! (I think)

 

You always hear about 'the joys of country living'; for me - the open space, having a big garden (this spring? - fingers crossed), watching deer go across your land, coyotes singing at night, being able to ride out for as far as I'd like from my house and living with my horses outside my window.

The thing you don't hear about a lot is the roads, when it snows and rains.  Pure slop!

And then, you get a woman like me, who grew up as a city girl, and when she almost got stuck in their car on the road the night before, she calls the bus company to make sure they know about the roads (which they didn't) - just to warn them, and they choose not to drive the 3/4 of a mile to your place off the pavement.

And you send your daughter, who just got a 'mud day' off of school, out to take pictures for you... because you have MS, and navigating mud and slop is near impossible.

She didn't do too bad capturing the mud bog our road had become, but man, you should have seen the 'rooster tails' coming off my car and I couldn't really go over 30!!

One nice thing was that our usually frequented road (it's busy when people are going to and from work and we seem to be on the main thoroughfare between the two towns we're nearest - hence why our road is so tore up.

THAT all was from amost an inch of rain we had, plus snow melt, and frost coming out - welcome to the country!