winter | The Angel Forever

Category Archives winter

Fun on a Snow Mountain

Posted on February 26, 2011 9:47 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

This morning, Nana called to invite us over to play outside. Thanks to all of the snow that fell yesterday, they had a plow come to clear their driveway. The result was a monster snow mountain in their backyard. After lunch, we packed up our things and went over to Nana and Papa’s backyard. This picture shows just how tall it was compared to NHL.

The two of you had SO much fun romping, sledding, digging, and climbing in the snow.

Here are some shots of NHL:

And some of JSL:

The two of you, and Daddy, had an amazing time playing together and making wonderful memories. I know I will sleep well remembering your laughter tonight. Of course, I may be dreaming of laughter at Disney World in the warmth and not the snow.

Love,

Mommy

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Categories:
Dear Kid Saturday fun jl jsl laughs my boys nhl photos play time weather weekend winter

Knee High Up on the Roof

Posted on February 7, 2011 8:22 am by TheAngelForever

About a year after we bought this house, we learned a new winter term. What is this winter vocabulary item that will now haunt our winter lives? The word is ice dam.

We learned about ice dams the hard way. One late winter morning, I woke up and heard dripping. I slowly turned on the light and saw water coming in our bedroom. Yes, we had a leak there and on the other side of the wall, in our bathroom. We had no clue what was going on. We called a handyman that we knew and he came over. When he went on the roof he immediately saw we had a few giant ice dams that were allowing the rain to flow back into the house via the roof shingles.

Ice dams are something to be feared as a home owner in the northeast. If you drive around and see pretty icicles hanging off of homes, it typically means there is more going on up over the roof. Our fear of water coming into the house from ice dams means that TechyDad is constantly outside raking our roof and working on the ice.

The windows in our upstairs room allow us to get a first hand look at the lower section of our roof on the one side. Checking the ice dams has been very depressing this year. Saturday morning, we were scared of the weather report. It said a lot of rain and ice was coming our way. We went out and bought supplies to target the ice dams after others had suggested this technique. We wanted to make channels for the water to flow off of the roof and not back into the house.

When we came home from Home Depot with the 50 pound bag of calcium chloride, I went and found an old box of knee highs. TechyDad and I filled four of them to begin the experiment. After about an hour, we could see that they were doing something, so we went and filled six more knee highs to tackle the ice dams before the rain. We noticed an area of water pooling in one section and worked there. Sure enough, these nifty knee highs did the trick. The opened up an area for the water to flow off the roof.

So far so good. Of course, next year we plan on installing some heating coils on the lower roof section and other problem areas to try to prevent ice dams from forming. And if you are wondering, I will never be able to look at knee highs the same again!

Categories:
house looking back messy TechyDad weather winter

Spring 2011 Will Come One Day

Posted on February 4, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Wednesday, while Punxsutawney Phil was getting pulled out for his Groundhog Day show, we were digging out from an icy and snowy mess. I have to admit that I think Phil may have “said” he didn’t see his shadow just to avoid being on the dinner table around the country. Seriously, this winter has been crazy for so many people across the United States and beyond.

Here are some recent shots from the storm:

As you can see, we are running out of places to put the snow. I was outside for 2 hours shoveling. Thank goodness a neighbor felt bad and used his monster snow blower to clear off the end of our driveway where we had been severely plowed in. Before dinner, TechyDad raked the roof for quite some time.

So this mess has me thinking about Spring. My question for this week:

What are you most excited about for Spring 2011?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #137

Categories:
Aloha Friday house messy photos TechyDad weather winter

Snowpacalypse – February 2011

Posted on February 1, 2011 10:21 am by TheAngelForever

We knew it was not going to be good when the meteorologists in the area refused to disclose information about Wednesday’s weather. They finally started to talk late Monday night. That should have been our first sign to RUN to Florida.

Instead, when I started to hear about the snow fall totals for the area, I started to laugh. And by laugh, I mean hysterical slap stick style laughing. Horrified laughter started as the panic set in.

Why you ask? Well, they are telling us to expect 18-30 inches of snow!

No schools in our immediate area delayed or canceled school. TechyDad took NHL to school this morning, and I brought JSL to nursery school. When I got back home, you could not tell that I had done anything this morning.

This is the pre-Snowpacalype photos of the front and back of the house.

What you can not see here are the snow piles in the front by the street, and on the side of the house.

Hmmm. . . anyone have a good deal on a snow blower?

No, it won’t help us now. I do think that if we get one it would stop all of the future snow from coming. Well, a girl can dream at least. Now off to figure out if I should go and get the boys from school now instead of later. Oy!