Saturday, November 10, 2012

Brutus

Winter Storm Brutus is upon us. We have had 18+ inches of snow in 24 hours so far; and the snow is to continue falling through tomorrow.

The pictures are out of order below...but the tree was yellow on Thursday and bare on Friday. The wind ahead of the storm were intense. The bird feeder was blown about and the poor birds dared not attempt a ride to eat!

I spend Friday preparing for dinner guests; while making challah discovered my yeast and flour are out of date and I was out of olive oil. The tragedy of not preparing ahead for a on coming winter storm befell me! (Like it would have killed me to get out of my pajamas and driven the one block over to our supermarket on perfectly plowed streets; no, I am embracing America's current victims mentality and doing nothing to help myself!)

The bread came out fine using the nanny state's declared out of date food items. The dinner party was great...the new friends hung out with us until nearly midnight!

This morning Bernie shoveled the driveway three times in one hour before giving up. Our odd duck neighbor Bob came by while Bernie shoveled. Bob wears shorts year around and today proved no exception to that rule.

Bob is always happy to stand near us as we work on anything outside; today he jabbered away from the shelter of our front porch, reminding Bernie that he recommends just driving over driveway snow, back and forth, until the snow is flattened. That's what he does with his driveway.

He is also careful to warn us about not shoveling too hard lest we have a heart attack. He also reminds us weekly that our dwarf Japanese maples out front need watching lest they grow up and hit our eaves.
The trees are planted on a way that even if they did somehow grow that high they would still be in front of the roof line...and we do own clippers to trim them.

Bob is our own version of a one man neighborhood watch.

Speaking of watching...Tate has been up for supervising Bernie's deck snow clearing. Poor Bernie...no one ever offers to help.

I have been amusing myself posting storm pictures on Facebook using shots from my phone's camera.
Decided to try Mobil blogging via my phone while kicked back on our couch looking outside through our from window. If the post looks different than my usual posts that's the reason why.






13 comments:

Lovella ♥ said...

Isn't blogging from the IPhone great? I have done that now and then and it is easy as can be.
I love that you introduced us to Bob. Very fun!
Stuart wore shorts for at least 4 years solid and only gave up for weddings and funerals....and of course...the job.

Terry always laughs at me and my concern about outdated things. That is when it is to be sold he tells me..
And your company stayed until midnight? That is fantastic, and a truly good indicator that they had a lovely time.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Your challah is beautiful.

I'm waaaaay behind in the technology department. My little old flip phone doesn't even take photos, no internet either. It texts but I refuse to learn...should I have angst about my social abilities?

Your neighbor is certainly one of a kind!

Lorrie said...

What a LOT of snow! And Bob - so funny. Must drive you crazy sometimes. The challah looks delicious, and I'll bet it didn't taste out of date at all!

Vee said...

Love the humor. Bob sounds like a sitcom character. We all have at least one. I have six.

Snow...happy or sad about it? I can't tell.

No worries about my going to Texas. I'm not that fond of Texas, though I love the spirit and people there. Besides, I couldn't leave my grands and I may have to take a stage right exit sooner than later.

ellen b. said...

Bob cracks me up! Love all the photos...

Vicki said...

Hah! You know you've been on Facebook too much when you look at a photo on a blog and try to click "like!"

That's a lot of snow, Jill! I used to be the snow-shoveler in our family (yeah, I really enjoyed it...seriously!) and my preference was to get the drive shoveled before anyone drove on it. I didn't like the packed-down snow/ice. I preferred bare concrete. Sometimes that meant jumping out there right away and staying for hours. :)

Crazy Bob. Tsk, tsk.

Vickie said...

Hi Jill! Nice to meet you - visiting from Vee's this evening. Just had to pop by and say that I'm your new, biggest fan - I loved what you said about Texas folks - Of course, that made my native Texas heart and head swell up even bigger! Thanks a bunch! Your bread looks wonderful - I'll have to do some looking around here at your place ~~~

Kathie said...

wow - that's a real storm! We finally had a frost that took my hydrangeas. but no snow yet!

Debora said...

Well, it looks like Bob has everything well in hand on your block! LOL. Oh my, snow so early...I would definitely not like that!

Judy said...

I'm smiling...at Bob:) Winter has definitely arrived on your doorstep!

Your bread/braid looks yummy.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

"I am embracing America's current victims mentality and doing nothing to help myself!" I hope you are not referring to the hurricane victims, Jill! If you saw the devastation here with your own eyes you would be horrified what these people are going through right now! The people you refred to in your comment on my blog post, about what I learned from the storm, who are not able to leave their apartment buildings are mainly the very old and infirm. Many public housing projects are 30 to 40 stories high -- how can a elderly person go up and down so many steps in total darkness to find water and food? In fact, there have been recorded deaths since the storm of elderly falling and dying while trying to go down dark apattment stairs. It is a very sad and terrible situation for many many people. I am thankful so many people are trying to help these victims but there are tens of thousands in distress right now all over NY and NJ.

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Pat...we went through three major disasters in Houston. My heat breaks to see another major city so badly hurt and know first hand that the elderly and medically fragile really suffer. My Florida friends warned and warned about being prepared and New Orleans and Houston still didn't heed their warnings well. New Orleans evacuated to Houston and we learned a lot from them.

The elderly and infirmed in high rises are a horrific tragedy still unfolding. I know church and civic groups are responding as quickly as they can to meet their needs. I sincerely hope this will be the last time in America that people will not be evacuated from high rises in a pre need crisis mandate.

That being said...I also saw in our disasters people who demanded food be brought to them 12 hrs after the storms passed. That annoyed me so much...they knew the storm was coming. If they had no funds to stock up I get it but serious, surely they could manage to go a full day or even two without a FEMA meal. It was the memory of those able bodied residence that sparked my comment about victims who refuse to to do what they can to help themselves.

Utah thankfully is highly disaster prepared. I was issued a 3 day emergency back pack on my first day of work at the library and was told it needed to be at hand at all times. No errands run without it! Our neighborhoods have yearly drills and disaster prep guidelines are hand delivered to each household. I am very thankful for the preparedness mindset and hope that lessons learned in any disaster will cause every town and city to gain more knowledge to survive.

Happy@Home said...

WOW, that is a lot of snow. It sure does look pretty from the inside of your cozy home. The bread looks delicious. How nice to have new friends to share the evening with. Now Bob, on the other hand, ... :).