Treading water on technical troubles

Gentle readers, I've had some trouble in the last week or two with photo file transfers from my camera to my computer. I have a wealth of photos to share, especially from the weekend's snow adventures, but it may be a few more days before I can show you fresh images.

For now, here's a look back at last summer. When our sidewalks are covered over with a thick crust of snow and ice, it's fun to think that we're actually not that far away from warm days and carousel rides:



We have another big snowstorm in the forecast for tomorrow night and Wednesday. Where are we going to put all this snow?

Let's get ready to rumble

The snowstorm now heading our way is supposed to be one for the ages, with the potential for 30" (75cm) in the Washington/Baltimore corridor. We're hoping for a solid foot of snow in Philadelphia. My favorite weather nerd sites are all abuzz with the possibilities. And they think we're due for some more before February is over.



We're all set at our house - we've got salt, firewood, hot chocolate, and popcorn. Come on, winter, let's see your best shot!

Let it snow!

It looks like we're due for a decent snowstorm around here this weekend - maybe 10" (25cm) or more when all is said and done. Last night, we were all abuzz in the house about getting another chance to rock the toboggan:



As Chelsea likes to say, if we're going to have winter, it might as well snow!

Going green

Yesterday I heard birds outside chirping. Twice! So I was pretty sure it wasn't just my hearing on the fritz. In honor of the returning birds, I thought we could have a look at some nice spring greenery. This was a picture from our visit to Bushkill Falls as part of our Mother's Day camping weekend last year:



We've got a bit of snow on the ground here in Philadelphia today, but we're making progress every day toward springtime and sunshine.

Mom is on the job

This weekend my Mom started her first "real" shifts as a working nurse, without a teacher or preceptor checking up on her. She had several patients of her own, and by all accounts she did beautifully. Let's raise a glass again, Mom!



When you're born to do something, you're born to do it - and it's never too late to get started.

Myrtle Beach

We've been away the past few days in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, attending a funeral on Friday. Chelsea, her mother, and I made the drive; the kids stayed in town and made the rounds among several family members and friends. We are very grateful to all of the kids' hosts for their help.

Two strange things about this trip. One, we ended up staying at a beachfront hotel in Myrtle Beach thanks to Chelsea's cousin Melissa, who works at a hotel in the same corporate family. We're not at the beach very often in the winter, and it was both beautiful and fairly desolate. Here's the sunrise on our last morning in town:



The second thing was that we ended up staying an extra day in Myrtle Beach because there was an epic snow and ice storm in the Carolinas and Virginia on Saturday, when we would have been driving home. It fell as rain in Myrtle Beach, but southern Virginia got 15" (38cm) of snow, and there was heavy ice in North Carolina.

On our way home yesterday, the roads were pretty clear up to about as far north as Raleigh. There we started to encounter some untreated roads and some icy patches. Secondary roads were much worse than the highway, and I-95 turned out to be in pretty decent shape. We figure that with the remnants of Saturday's storm, the drive home took us about 90 minutes longer than it would have otherwise.

Chelsea's mother, Mary, did some of the driving in both directions, which afforded me the rare opportunity to sit in the back seat and watch a movie:



The movie I'm watching in that photo, by the way, is Rocket Science.

The kids who stare at goats

Back during the holidays, we went out to a tree farm in our area to cut down our Christmas trees. This tree farm has some fenced animals scattered around the property, and in addition to the usual horses and chickens and whatnot, there are some animals you wouldn't expect to see on a tree farm in Pennsylvania - an ostrich, an emu, a couple of alpacas, and some pygmy goats:



My kids love the goats, and suggested that we get some for our yard. I'm just lazy enough as a mower of grass that I thought about it half-seriously for a moment. But no, sorry, we can't have goats roaming the property.

Renovation update: Those aren't vines

I did some work over the weekend in the girls' room, getting the walls and ceiling ready for painting. A big step in the process is dealing with plaster cracks. Our old house has plaster and lath walls and ceilings, which are great - they're durable as all get out, and fairly soundproof too. However, as the house breathes from season to season, and as it inevitably settles down on its foundation, we get cracks in the wall.

My job this weekend was to make those cracks bigger, so that I can then make them disappear. This is how things looked by Sunday afternoon:





(That hole in the wall is the heating/cooling vent.)

Every member of my family walked into the room at some point and said, "Whoa! Why are you making the cracks bigger!" Nick thought they looked like vines on the wall - not such a stretch, since there's already a rose vine border painted up one corner of the room.

This coming weekend I'll be finishing up the crack work, and doing some repairs to the hardwood floor. No more squeaks!

Guitar hero

I think I mentioned the other day that Nick has been teaching himself how to play the guitar. To help him along, my folks bought him a beautiful acoustic Fender guitar for Christmas. This was apparently a popular gift, because when they ordered it well before Christmas, it was already on back order until late January.

The guitar arrived late last week, and our man was ready to rock:



He can sling it over his shoulder, too:



You can see my keyboard in the background; we sat in my office the night he got the guitar and played the chorus of the "Ode to Joy" together. I look forward to a day when we can play something a little more ambitious. Maria wants in on the action, too - she is learning "Simple Gifts" on her recorder and wants us to play as a trio. If Anna and Chelsea will sing with us, we'll have a full family band going!

Public service announcement

We would like to remind all of you that pitchers and catchers report for the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, February 17th. That's only 26 days from now.







Take us out to the ball game! We're ready for baseball again.