Ready for the coming winter storm?

[hillfarm]

Is everyone prepared for the coming winter storm? We could potentially get just rain, just snow, or a nasty wintery mix of layers of rain, snow, and ice. And that followed by single digit low temperatures.

 

Therefore, we are now in what we call PLOP mode.:tongue_smilie: That stands for Potential Loss of Power. I am getting all the laundry caught up, vaccuuming, gathering up any stray toys, magazines or other tripping hazards, checking flashlight batteries, topping off animal waterers, making sure animal feed is in convenient locations so we won't have to trudge across icy pastures, verifying that the de-ice salt and scoop are on the porch, and generally getting prepared.

 

We will soon head into town to get milk and a few odds and ends we might want over the next few days. We will also park the cars half way down the driveway, away from trees that could fall or drop branches, and have them pointing out so that if the drive is icy we won't have the extra challenge of backing down it. Dh is going out to put the scraper blade on the tractor, recut a few drainage channels in the driveway to try to keep ice from building up, and to wrap some insulation around vulnerable pipes. Dd has plans to beef up the kitties' house by placing it inside a larger cardboard box and then wrapping an old blanket around the whole structure.

 

Entertainment plans for the duration include going through some old family photos we want to use for Christmas gifts, baking a new cookie recipe, and practicing playing our carols which we have been requested to present at the family Christmas Eve gathering.

[jasar31629]

We are supposed to get 10-14" by the end of this. The wind is up too so some spots are pretty clean and then wham! you hit a wall of drifted snow :tongue_smilie:

 

Windchill will be 30 below tonight too...I wish we had a fireplace!

 

I didn't stock up on stuff though...we live right across the street from our local store which is open 24hrs...I figure if we're snowed in, so is the staff :D

[Jennifer in MI]

We're only expecting 3 − 6 inches. I want more!!!!

[hsbaby]

We're only expected to get 1/2 inch or so:(. I don't want as much as you are expecting.....somewhere in the middle would be nice! Stay warm:)

[Tammyla]

I've got my fingers in my ears....Lalalalala....

 

 

But yes, we've shopped, run our errands and are doing the laundry. Oh, and I have the heat cranked. I guess I need to get busy and check the flash lights and make sure the other things are done. We have a garage for the cars and no pets at the moment. Your list sounds daunting....

 

I hope the winds don't get too bad, but most of all...no loss of power.

 

Stay warm and safe everyone.

 

I was running errands at 8am this morning, it was pouring and a very pleasant 35':001_smile:. (That's warmer than it's been in ages here.)

[dancer67]

We are supposed to get a lot of wind tomorrow some snow and sleet. Ugghhh...

[Mosaicmind]

We are expecting 4 inches so far. We are supposed to get rain first, then change to sleet and snow starts tonite and is supposed to snow all day. It's supposed to get really windy. I hate the rain but love the snow so I am looking forward to all of it. Wish we were getting more.

[mama2cntrykids]

We're in MN and right now it's blizzard conditions. It's supposed to keep snowing all day and the wind is supposed to gust to 30 mph, but calm down by tomorrow. The windchill is also going down to -30 tonight (I think that's what the weather report said anyway...COLD!).

 

I don't like the cold and wind, but hey, it's MN, that's what expected. If I hated it *that* much, we'd move further south...someday we will :tongue_smilie:!

[Jen in PA]

We are mostly expecting rain with just a topping of snow, but I guess the reality all depends on how wet the roads are when the temps dive -- could be a lot of ice. It isn't moving in until after midnight here, so we are heading off to run errands this afternoon. I was hoping to get my library stuff back on Monday (50 miles from here), but I may end up calling and asking them to grant me another renewal if things get bad enough.

[Caitilin]

Semi-blizzard conditions here--gotta love the frozen North! :D But my dds have friends over from last night, and my littlers are at a friend's house from last night--we may have a 2-day sleepover!

[rafiki]

.

[hillfarm]

Wow! That's pretty impressive. We have light rain now, but early tomorrow morning it is supposed to start freezing.

[happyWImom]

We're supposed to get 10-12 inches by the time it's all finished. But, it's the terrible blowing that is the worst thing!

 

I'm thankful for our cozy, warm house, all filled up with food.

 

That's what cracks me up-people act like we've never had a snowstorm before, and are stocking up like we're going to be snowed in for weeks! We live in the Midwest, people! I would think they'd be used to it by now.

[LauraGB]

The weather guy promised 8-12 inches by tomorrow morning. It just got beyond sleet/little snow pellets a few hours ago, but I was seriously doubting the "big deal". The wind is howling and whistling through my bedroom window right now and it is pretty darn white out there. So, we'll see.

 

 

We have 43 inches on the ground from the storm that just passed. I don't want anymore!

 

:svengo:

[Ravin]

Um...today's high was 73. Tonight, clear skies and a low of 46 is expected. We have yet to turn on our heater this year.

 

I do know where the lantern is, because it took a while to find it last time the power went out, so I started putting it in a convenient place.

 

I hope all y'all up in the frozen North are safe and warm tonight. Feel free to send some of that precipitation down our way. DD doesn't remember the last time she saw snow.

[2squared]

The blizzard has moved on past us. This morning we awoke to a bitterly cold and calm world.

 

Am I the only one who thinks about the pioneers during these storms? We live in Laura Ingalls Wilder land, and I think about her family living out here on the prairie with little food and flimsy shelter. I listen to the 40mph winds whistling outside my warm house and I look out my windows to see the vast stretches of pure white flat land, and I wonder, "WHAT WAS PA THINKING?" Why would anyone bring their family out here in those days?

[bethben]

We're in MN and right now it's blizzard conditions. It's supposed to keep snowing all day and the wind is supposed to gust to 30 mph, but calm down by tomorrow. The windchill is also going down to -30 tonight (I think that's what the weather report said anyway...COLD!).

!

 

I'm in MN also- right now we're looking at shoveling drifts up to my waist. There is snow drifted to the bottom of our lower level windows - one of our egress basement windows is packed full - no sonlight coming into that room anymore. When it warms up to a balmy 0 degrees we are going out!

 

Beth

[Whereneverever]

MN here, too. We're north of all the snow. We're just getting the sub-zero temps. :tongue_smilie:

[Tammyla]

Oh, my dear...:w00t:

 

We have 43 inches on the ground from the storm that just passed. I don't want anymore!

[LauraGB]

The weather guy promised 8-12 inches by tomorrow morning. It just got beyond sleet/little snow pellets a few hours ago, but I was seriously doubting the "big deal". The wind is howling and whistling through my bedroom window right now and it is pretty darn white out there. So, we'll see.

 

 

 

 

Sorry to quote myself, but I wrote that before I went to sleep last night.

 

This morning I am looking at shoulder-high drifts and even though ds shoveled the door out, the poor dog is lost out there. I wonder how she's going to go to the bathroom before we move all that weighty stuff.

 

ETA - I don't mean the dog is "lost" - I see her when she's out there, lol. She's just...short.

Edited December 12, 2010 by LauraGB

[hillfarm]

Am I the only one who thinks about the pioneers during these storms? We live in Laura Ingalls Wilder land, and I think about her family living out here on the prairie with little food and flimsy shelter.

 

I'd like to take this time to publicly thank the meterological community!:D Because of their time and effort to learn how to predict the weather, my family and I are much safer and happier. People like the Wilders wouldn't have known what was barreling down at them until it was too late to do much to prepare for it.

 

Yesterday it was a balmy 50 degrees with clear skies here, not a care on the horizon. Today we are under a weather advisory for sleet, snow, and ice. Because someone knew how to predict this in advance, I was able to make preparations so that we will be warm and cozy for the duration.

 

Thanks again, meterologists of the world!!!

[Whereneverever]

I'd like to take this time to publicly thank the meterological community!:D Because of their time and effort to learn how to predict the weather, my family and I are much safer and happier. People like the Wilders wouldn't have known what was barreling down at them until it was too late to do much to prepare for it.

 

Yesterday it was a balmy 50 degrees with clear skies here, not a care on the horizon. Today we are under a weather advisory for sleet, snow, and ice. Because someone knew how to predict this in advance, I was able to make preparations so that we will be warm and cozy for the duration.

 

Thanks again, meterologists of the world!!!

 

 

Some of it back then (and for people without TV or internet now) is just staying prepared. You never knew what was coming, so you always planned for the worst. All the time.

[FaithManor]

Our bantam ducks think this weather is pure heaven! They are out there just yucking it up.

 

We are running about 29 degrees here with not much wind, though that is supposed to change later in the afternoon, and we have accumulated about four inches. Though only 9 is predicted, we weren't supposed to have more than an inch or two at this point so me thinks we will have well more than 9. It's a slushy wet snow and people are spinning out just here in town.

 

We'll be venturing out the farm that I am currently sitting, for free - don't ask why, and put up extra hay in the main barn. This afternoon dh, myself, my youngest boy (the others aren't feeling well), and a young teen from church will be putting in extra bedding for all of the horses, sheep, and llamas. We'll double the number of water buckets so everyone can get a very good drink before those buckets freeze because the owner does not have any water heaters and the wind chill is supposed to get NASTY tonight so they will freeze solid early.

 

The roads are supposed to be really bad and many school administrators are already calling school for Monday so I told the daughter of the owner (who lives about 19 miles away) that she would have to come spend the night at the farm because I was not going to do morning chores. The roads will be completely atrocious. I'd be tempted to stay home from a paying job under the predicted conditions, but for free.....nope...but I won't let animals die either. She wasn't super thrilled but her husband, a veterinarian, said...."Hey hon, you can't expect her to end up in the ditch or worse trying to take care of your parents animals." Their other daughter, from Washington D.C., is on her way so she can do a week of farm sitting but it looks like she is probably going to hold up somewhere in eastern Ohio because Michigan is going to be pretty bad by nightfall and she didn't leave until 9:00 a.m. this morning.

 

As for groceries, we've got plenty in the freezer (especially pork from our spring piggies who became autumn sausage and ham) and my canned goods. I did run out and buy extra toilet paper because frankly, I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT and fresh fruit. We heat with wood and have plenty so no worries and the generator can hold out for running the electric for the fridge, freezer, well pump, and electrical components on the wood boiler. Dh has a 40 gallon drum of gasoline for that. We have oil lamps and plenty of candles. So, dh says he's going to turn the lights out this evening, light an oil lamp, and have me read some Dickens tonight. That should be a lot of fun.

 

I'm making crab dip for supper and the unthinkably not healthy cinnamon rolls for breakfast. But, you only live once, it's absolutely beautiful outside, and the kids are really jazzed about the first storm of the season. If it were a light fluffy snow, we'd get all of our thrift store skis out and try a slide down the hill behind the church. But, it's just sooooo wet it would be a disaster.

 

If it weren't for having to worry about 25 sheep, 6 llamas, 3 horses, 3 ducks, 8 barn cats (though they take care of themselves better than anything on that farm including the humans), two dogs - one of whom likes to run and isn't at all obedient, and 15 chickens, I'd be really looking forward to this weather. But, the owner's daughter hasn't taken care of the farm in a long time and I am slightly concerned should we have any early lambs. With sub-zero wind chills, a newborn could die very, very easily if the ewe as difficulties and doesn't nurse immediately or if the lamb wanders away from it's mother and gets stepped on by one of the other sheep. UGH! So, though I don't feel obligated to risk it getting out there to take care of the animals, it's possible that my love for those critters will win out and I'll be on the news, "This just in...woman freezes to death hiking from her ditched car to a farm in order to care for newborn lamb. Details at 11:00." Oh, and to add to that issue, the owner did not take the time to stock up on heat lamp bulbs nor did she check over the equipment before leaving for Asia. So, if something isn't working, how I will make it to the farm store, I do not know!

 

Faith

[Mosaicmind]

We have gotten probably 4in, which is what we were supposed to get max. It is still snowing hard and the wind is blowing. All this just in time for me to come down with the flu last night, YUCK!!! I hope that they close the boy's highschool for tomorrow, we have alot of rural kids and the blowing is dangerous.

[delaney]

Could you PLEASE send some of it down here! I am dying for some white stuff and it doesn't look good this winter:mad:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Good grief, we're flying through Chicago next weekend as we move back to the US. I have no idea what they will do with us if the airports get shut down.

 

This move has had so many moving parts, all it really needs to be complete is for us to get stranded in some airport.

[OnTheBrink]

Good grief, we're flying through Chicago next weekend as we move back to the US. I have no idea what they will do with us if the airports get shut down.

 

This move has had so many moving parts, all it really needs to be complete is for us to get stranded in some airport.

 

I think you'll be ok. According to my Weather.com app, Chicago isn't due for more snow until the 20th. :)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I think you'll be ok. According to my Weather.com app, Chicago isn't due for more snow until the 20th. :)

 

I'm hoping. We're supposed to be non-stop to Chicago and I could just see our getting stuck somewhere like Anchorage or Vladivostok until the weather in Chicago cleared.