Written Monday during the blizzard:
We are embroiled in one of the harshest winter storms I’ve seen. Storm really doesn’t convey the magnitude of wind delivering the snow; blizzard is more accurate. It’s been snowing since last evening with no immediate plans to cease, some say it will continue into the night and early morning Tuesday. It is amazing to see the power of Mother Nature at work. She is one butch, muscle bound, gal pitching weather at us from the mound. Wind gusts of 60 km pluck my pups from the back deck and send them into banks of snow. It stripped me of my hat and pushed me against the door. I felt manhandled, roughed up a bit. The wind is beating against the house until it shakes the very foundation. The radio has flicked on and off with a few power fluctuations and I grow tired of getting up to reset it so we sit in silence now, except for the hiss of the burning logs and the battering on the outside of the walls.
The wind is powerful. The driveway has been swept clear, gravel is showing but two feet to the left there is a four to five foot drift, arced like ocean surf. I can’t open the regular back door; it’s barricaded with snow that carries to the top of the stairs. I’m hoping the wind direction will change and sweep it away to make a deposit in a less restrictive spot. This happens sometimes so I’m not going to attempt to shovel and risk injury just yet, things might change.
The pups and I are basically hostages, held against our will. I had a craving for chocolate a few minutes ago and had a small melt down. Even if I could get out of here all the stores are closed. I texted hubby and asked if there was any hidden in his office but he took it all out west with him. There are chocolate chips and I could whip up a batch of cookies but then I’d be tempted to eat them all so I’m trying to bury the craving with the thrill of hooking. Keeping my hands busy so my mind forgets how wonderful warm cookies melting in my mouth could be. I’m not usually a chocolate hound, but the stress of this weather is getting to me.
I’m lucky in that we have a fabulous wood stove to keep us warm. It’s a Waterford made in Ireland, with a fire box big enough to heat the entire house but its ravenous and needs constant feeding in this wind. The chimney whistles and howls, as the wind comes down the flue and the flames flicker in a rapid dance burning up the wood as fast as I can load it in. Last evening I brought in enough wood to last for a few days. It was wet from being under the previous storms snow but I lined it up like wood sentinels in front of the stove so it’s dry. I have a really dry reserve in the kitchen wood box but I’m guarding that as emergency stash in case I am held here for days because there will be no digging out the pile of wood in the yard without a tractor or at least manual labour, man being the operative word. I don’t have the strength or endurance to shovel that heavy load.
I heard earlier on the radio that 10,000 homes are without power in the province. I hope everyone is safe and has access to a wood stove for heat. Crews can’t get out to service outages as the weather is too brutal. Stay safe everyone.
I’ve been hooking as much as possible. What else is there to do on a storm day but hook, watch movies, stuff the face and watch the arse spread. I can do four things at once. I finished the buoy riser and then started the tessellated fish one. Next is a stylized wave with a red signal buoy. A chance to use multiple hues of blue, sea greens and turquoises surrounding a bright red buoy. If I am stuck at home again tomorrow I’ll begin hooking the waves.
I have enough wool to work on the waves. Anticipating being storm stayed, I dragged home several baskets full of colour to pick from. I’ve finally found one drawback to owning a rug hooking studio....I have no stash at home. And at times when I can’t get there for supplies, it’s a big imposition. Sometimes I run out of a wool at midnight, there’s no hopping in the car at that hour. Then there are days like this when I couldn’t get there even if I wanted too so I have to be prepared or work is delayed. That’s the only downside as the pro column is filled with all the good reasons for being a shop keeper. I’m sure a lot of you really feel sorry for me, having all that delicious wool at my disposal, saying to Shane, “I need this colour and it magically appears out of his dye pot,” Yup, nothing much to complain about there so I’ll have to stick to ranting about the darn weather.
So that completes four risers. Eleven more to go. I won’t be blitzing them until completion. I plan to work them in-between other things but I would like to see them all hooked and hung by fall. Not an unrealistic goal as they hook up quickly. So back at it. Chat soon. Stay safe and warm everyone.
We are embroiled in one of the harshest winter storms I’ve seen. Storm really doesn’t convey the magnitude of wind delivering the snow; blizzard is more accurate. It’s been snowing since last evening with no immediate plans to cease, some say it will continue into the night and early morning Tuesday. It is amazing to see the power of Mother Nature at work. She is one butch, muscle bound, gal pitching weather at us from the mound. Wind gusts of 60 km pluck my pups from the back deck and send them into banks of snow. It stripped me of my hat and pushed me against the door. I felt manhandled, roughed up a bit. The wind is beating against the house until it shakes the very foundation. The radio has flicked on and off with a few power fluctuations and I grow tired of getting up to reset it so we sit in silence now, except for the hiss of the burning logs and the battering on the outside of the walls.
The wind is powerful. The driveway has been swept clear, gravel is showing but two feet to the left there is a four to five foot drift, arced like ocean surf. I can’t open the regular back door; it’s barricaded with snow that carries to the top of the stairs. I’m hoping the wind direction will change and sweep it away to make a deposit in a less restrictive spot. This happens sometimes so I’m not going to attempt to shovel and risk injury just yet, things might change.
The pups and I are basically hostages, held against our will. I had a craving for chocolate a few minutes ago and had a small melt down. Even if I could get out of here all the stores are closed. I texted hubby and asked if there was any hidden in his office but he took it all out west with him. There are chocolate chips and I could whip up a batch of cookies but then I’d be tempted to eat them all so I’m trying to bury the craving with the thrill of hooking. Keeping my hands busy so my mind forgets how wonderful warm cookies melting in my mouth could be. I’m not usually a chocolate hound, but the stress of this weather is getting to me.
I’m lucky in that we have a fabulous wood stove to keep us warm. It’s a Waterford made in Ireland, with a fire box big enough to heat the entire house but its ravenous and needs constant feeding in this wind. The chimney whistles and howls, as the wind comes down the flue and the flames flicker in a rapid dance burning up the wood as fast as I can load it in. Last evening I brought in enough wood to last for a few days. It was wet from being under the previous storms snow but I lined it up like wood sentinels in front of the stove so it’s dry. I have a really dry reserve in the kitchen wood box but I’m guarding that as emergency stash in case I am held here for days because there will be no digging out the pile of wood in the yard without a tractor or at least manual labour, man being the operative word. I don’t have the strength or endurance to shovel that heavy load.
I heard earlier on the radio that 10,000 homes are without power in the province. I hope everyone is safe and has access to a wood stove for heat. Crews can’t get out to service outages as the weather is too brutal. Stay safe everyone.
I’ve been hooking as much as possible. What else is there to do on a storm day but hook, watch movies, stuff the face and watch the arse spread. I can do four things at once. I finished the buoy riser and then started the tessellated fish one. Next is a stylized wave with a red signal buoy. A chance to use multiple hues of blue, sea greens and turquoises surrounding a bright red buoy. If I am stuck at home again tomorrow I’ll begin hooking the waves.
I have enough wool to work on the waves. Anticipating being storm stayed, I dragged home several baskets full of colour to pick from. I’ve finally found one drawback to owning a rug hooking studio....I have no stash at home. And at times when I can’t get there for supplies, it’s a big imposition. Sometimes I run out of a wool at midnight, there’s no hopping in the car at that hour. Then there are days like this when I couldn’t get there even if I wanted too so I have to be prepared or work is delayed. That’s the only downside as the pro column is filled with all the good reasons for being a shop keeper. I’m sure a lot of you really feel sorry for me, having all that delicious wool at my disposal, saying to Shane, “I need this colour and it magically appears out of his dye pot,” Yup, nothing much to complain about there so I’ll have to stick to ranting about the darn weather.
So that completes four risers. Eleven more to go. I won’t be blitzing them until completion. I plan to work them in-between other things but I would like to see them all hooked and hung by fall. Not an unrealistic goal as they hook up quickly. So back at it. Chat soon. Stay safe and warm everyone.
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