Happy Halloween

We hope you all have a happy Halloween this year and you are safe and sound.  Save some of your candy for Gerry, she won't be able to go out this year and will be low on sweets.  I am sure she would appreciate any Ghirardelli chocolates or Turtles.  Any flavor will do for her.  No candy apples, though,





Last night around 9:00 pm the LP detector gizmo began to chirp in the motor home.  I went outside and turned the LP lines off and it still chirped.  We opened a window and turned on the fan to see if we could clear the air in the MH.  It still continued to chirp so I removed the detector and we decided to spend the night at Cassie & Jack's.  I left the generator running so we could keep the MH warm and locked it up and left.

We stoked the fire in the cabin real good and hopefully it stayed warm enough to not cause any damage to the pipes when it died down.  The pipes aren't a problem to repair so I am not that concerned about it.  The last thing we did before leaving was to turn the water pump off in case they restored the electric to the area.  Fat chance of that happening.

We have some errands to run down here in the morning and I will buy a new LP detector and then head back up to the cabin.  Hope all is well up there and no more trees have fallen across the road or electric lines. 

I was very impressed yesterday with all the neighbors coming out and visiting with each other.  When Bob and I went for gas we chatted with a number of them on the way back.  The guys had gone out with their chain saws and cleared the road in a number of places.  None of the waiting for the government to help them and whining about it.  Just "git er done" on their part.  I talked to a couple neighbors that I haven't seen or talked to in a number of years.  Nice bunch of people up there that care about each other. 

The power came back on after being out for 51 hours.  The main line leading into the cabin area was down and they repaired it.  Probably a lot of lines before that also.  I am keeping the MH generator running for a couple more hours to be on the safe side.  The cabin does have full power now and we have the well working.    YEAH!

4 more days to go.  Maybe longer.

Sunny day ahead

We made it through the night in fine shape, considering how cold it was.  The electrical power still hasn't been restored and I am not optimistic it will be that soon before we get it back.  Hope I am wrong on that subject.

Bob, our neighbor, was out with his snowblower bright and early this morning.  He cleared a path from the MH to the cabin so we could walk back and forth.  The snow is very wet still and the blower was still blowing it very well.  Nice tool to have up here considering all the snow they get every year.

Bob and I are going to take a short ride in a while to see how the roads are and if any more trees have fallen during the night.  I need to get some more gas to make sure I have enough to keep the generator working at least another day or two.  10 gallons equates to about 16 hours of generator use and I don't want to run out in the middle of the night.  They are calling for a low of 27 tonight and then it will be warming up so it won't be as critical that we use the generator as much.

We made it down to the gas station without any problems in his 4-wheel drive vehicle.  There are numerous power lines down all over the place, along with many trees lying over power lines.  There will have to be a major effort to get power back on quickly up here.  The collage below give a better picture of what it looks like up here than I can describe. 

The sun is shining brightly and the wet snow is falling on the roof of the MH with a big thud.  As long as it is snow, that isn't a problem.  We are parked in a fairly clear area so I don't think falling branches will be a problem.  We are in a heavily treed area so it is always possible for branches falling. 

It was nice to be back in the MH and we slept very well except for Gerry putting more firewood in the fire a couple times.  The cabin temperature got down to 44 with the fire being stoked for the night.  During the day it was 60 degrees with a bigger fire.  I can't imagine how difficult it would have been for those early settlers to live in a log cabin and keep it warm.  Not for me.

5 more days until departure.

Ooh! Ooh! Snow

We have been getting updates from friends on the temperature where they are now.  Florida, Iowa, Arizona and in between their destination and their home.  We feel sorry for them as they are missing some great weather up here on the mountain.  Last night it started snowing lightly and we decided to make a run to pick up some Swiss Miss chocolate mix to have on hand.  It was 38 when we left and dropped 4 degrees in an hour and began to snow harder.

This is what we woke up to this morning.  A regular winter wonderland and beautiful.  Eat your hearts out for those of you in the sun and temps in the 80s.

We have the fire going in the fireplace and it is snug and warm in the cabin.  Now, if only we have enough wood to feed it.  We do have a lot of firewood and covered some of the larger pieces yesterday to help keep them dry.  I may be splitting more firewood in the next couple days if this keeps up.

This is the view from the porch looking across the meadow across the road. I am sure this view will change as the day goes on and the snow continues to fall.  It is a wet and heavy snow and may cause power lines to snap under the weight.  If that happens, then we will move into the motorhome and turn on the generator.  We have enough fuel to last us a couple days, but I don't think it will come to that.  They are calling for snow until late this evening, so only time well tell. 

Gerry and I grew up in South Central Illinois about 45 miles from St. Louis, MO and the Cardinals baseball team was the topic of conversation all the time.  They have some of the greatest fans I have run across in the sporting world and last night the Cardinals rewarded them for their loyalty by winning the "World Series" over the Texas Rangers.  Congratulations to the Cards baseball team from a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball fan.


I will fill you in on any significant change in the weather up here, but I don't think it will be a problem.  The power has been going on and off for a few seconds a lot in the past hour and it is only 1pm.  Still snowing hard and it will cause the power lines to go down with branches hitting them and all.  The MH is looking better and better all the time. 8 inches of snow on ground as of 1pm.  We lost power at 1:40pm and it hasn't come back on.  Hummm!

This Afternoon

Snow. Snow may be heavy at times. Snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Colder. Near steady temperature in the lower 30s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

It is now 5:30pm, no power and the snow is still falling but at a slower rate.  I don't think there will be any more accumulation of any measurable amount.  Of course, I didn't think we would get the 12+ inches that we have on the ground now.  It is a wet snow and down below it is very liquid and is going to freeze tonight in the expected 23 degree weather.   Cassie & Jack are bringing us some gasoline to make sure we have enough to keep the generator running until the power comes back on.  ** They brought up the gas and had a terrible time getting here.  There were numerous trees down across the road and many power lines also.  Jack had to cut a 20 inch tree into pieces in order to get the last 1/2 mile in here.  The branches hanging down from the trees make it look like a tunnel and scratched up their truck.  I owe them big time.


It is funny when I hear people laugh at having problems in 12 inches of snow, but they don't have to deal with fallen trees and downed power lines.  It probably will be days before they restore power up here.  The town of South Mountain is dark all over the place.  Gerry just read where Eastern PA was the bull's eye for this storm with well over 1 million homes without power.  The utility companies are bringing crews from other states to help with restoring power.  I am sure we will be among the last to get back on line.  We'll see.


This would be a great snow fall to make a snowman since it is so wet, but this old man doesn't have the energy to make one.  If anyone is interested in coming up here and making a snowman or having a snowball fight, come on up.

Well, that was our day up here on the mountain, how was your day?

6 more days to departure!







  

Snow is in the air

We got a call on our computer last night from Gloria & Doug via google. They have a feature that allows you to chat ( type ) or use your webcam. All of a sudden Gloria popped up on my screen looking at me. I hope I didn't scare her when she saw how I looked. Don't worry, I was fully dressed. She had a decent wifi at their campground in Montgomery, AL and thought she'd give us a call. My Verizon aircard can't really keep up with the video very well since we are at the outer limits of a signal up here. We did video conference for 10-15 minutes and it was great seeing them.

The weatherman was right on his call for cold weather arriving overnight. It was up in the mid 60s and raining most of yesterday and as the sun set on the horizon, the temps fell along with it. It was 33 degrees in the motorhome this morning around 10am and that was cold. I had set the thermostat down on the heaters in the cabin and it was down to 57 degrees. Time for the dreaded fireplace to start assuming some of the load and I built a nice fire. In the matter of an hour or so it raised the temps to a warm and toasty 63 degrees. Gerry doesn't think 63 is all that warm, but it is better than 57.

Later in the afternoon we decided to bring in some more firewood and cut some scrap hemlock branches into the proper length. Hemlock burns fast like pine but doesn't create creasote like pine does. All of the hemlock trees in the area died as a result of a borer or something like that. We've had to have three 90 ft hemlock near the cabin cut down this summer. It was a shame to lose these trees since they were so beautiful. We still have about 10-15 more hemlocks that are dead and need to be cut down. They are far enough away from the cabin that cutting them down won't be a problem or require a tree cutter to drop them.

So far today I have heard 4 different forecasts for the expected snow this evening and night. It ranges from: None, 3-5 inches, 6-8 inches and 12+ inches. I am hoping for the first forecast or at least one of the lesser amounts.. If we should get 12 inches, it could take a few days to clear the roads. God forbid we get another significant snow amount on top of what we do get. It is 10pm now and 34 degrees with a light snow falling.

In any case, we are about as well prepared for the event as we can be. We will leave the furnace on in the motor home and the cabin has two big electric heaters and a great fireplace. The only problem would be if we lose power and then the water pump will not work. We do have water on board the motor home and that would last us 3-4 days. So, in any case, let it rip.

We stopped by the library yesterday on the way home and picked up 8 movies from their selection of over 500 movies. Many are from 2010 & 2011 and recent movies. I was surprised to see so many movies there for checkout. They have a three day limit on keeping the movies and since the third day is Sunday and they are closed, we have until Monday to return the movies. They should keep us entertained for the weekend. Plus, we have a number of movies on loan to us from Cassie & Jack. Get out the popcorn and Pepsi.

7 more days.

More medical stuff

First things first.  Gerry washed the cushion covers and we brought them home a little wet in order to make it easier to put them back on the cushions.  I was a little skeptical but it worked out fine.  They are clean once again and fit back on the cushions nicely.  We left them in the living room to dry out and they look great today.  One more item off of the bucket list to get out of here.

After all the work replacing the covers was finished we sat down and relaxed for a while.  That is when Gerry looked at me and said something was wrong.  Another piece of the skin graft had come loose and was hanging there.  Don't worry, there won't be any pictures.  We did take a picture and sent it to the doctor at 1am and asked what next.  Bright and early this morning his receptionist called and said for me to come in at 11:30 am to have it checked out.  To make a long story short, everything is fine and we are still good to go on 11/4.  He clipped the small piece and said it looked good for the remaining strip.  Enough about that.

It has been raining all day up here and looks like the next couple days will be wet and getting colder.  Cold enough to have a chance of snow in the forecast.  We will be fine up here in the cabin as long as we have electricity.  If we lose power, then we will move into the motorhome and use the furnace and generator there.  All bases are covered.  It is nice to have a RV to serve in an emergency.

We stopped by Costco after the doctor appointment and picked up a few things there.  They had more free sample booths than normal and we managed to eat our lunch there and walk out filled up.  Plus, all the samples were great and things we will buy in the future.  Gas was $3.29/gallon and that made it even more of a pleasure to shop there.  The lines were 4-5 deep waiting for gas since they are so much cheaper than other gas stations in the area.

That was our exciting day, how was yours?

8 more days.