Friday, January 29, 2021

No Sewing Here!

Hello Everyone,

Not one speck of quilting has been happening at Wilder's Last Resort, but there's been a whole lot of shoveling and snow blowing.  We have one snow blower, which I call the Joeblower.  Mr. Joe can manhandle it up and down the driveway.  I use a shovel and push the snow to the right side of the garage. I can no longer hurl a shovel full of snow over the berm.  I mainly go out and pretend to help Mr. Joe, and give him moral support, and make sure he doesn't keel over from over exertion.


I took this picture of the back of the cabin two days ago.  Without putting on snowshoes yesterday, I couldn't make it down out back to show you an additional 2 feet of snow.  It's been a heavy, wet snow causing a lot of damage, and an area-wide power outage.  The entire town has been in the dark for days, which also means no Internet, phone, or TV.


I don't think we will be out picnicking on our deck in the near future.  While clearing the driveway on Tuesday, we heard a loud crack.  We went up the road to investigate, and found a tree on our neighbors deck, and wires across the road. Since our phone was working at the time, we were able to call and report the problem.  It was a bad situation.  As of yesterday, the lines were still down.  

A few hearty full-timers ventured out of their cabins to check out the damages yesterday.  Our neighbor ended up with a tree on top of his car.


We keep the red SUV in the garage, but the poor Jeep is left out in the elements.  Everyday I was brushing it off, and digging it out just in case we needed to use it. I finally gave up yesterday.  This is how much snow fell overnight Wednesday.  The red car had been out for just a few minutes, and was covered.


We had to get out of the woods, and get to our house in the Bay Area for our vaccine appointment today, Friday.  We had a small bag packed by the front door, and waited for the snow plow to come by all day Thursday.  The plows are having a difficult time getting through because of the downed trees and lines.  Finally, around 2pm, we heard the plow and that was our key to get out of Dodge.....if we could make it to the main highway.  It was a white-knuckled half mile, but we made it thanks to Mr. Joe's driving skills and 4-wheel drive.  

On another note, my sister decided to come up to her cabin on Tuesday to experience a really BIG winter storm.  Mother Nature did not disappoint!  Gail's cabin is about a mile away from me.  Did we go see her.....no. Could we have driven over there.....probably not without getting stuck. It would have been a very difficult walk through the deep snow. 

Gail rents her cabin out, so she doesn't keep any food there.  All she had was what she brought up with her, which wasn't a great deal.  Last night I got through to her on the phone, and she said in a pinch she could break out her K-rations from her earthquake kit she carries in the car. Yum!

The storm is supposed to end today, so Gail won't have to boil her leather shoes for a tasty meal.  She should be able to get out on Saturday, and we will be back there to help her out.

So we will get our Fauci Ouchi's today, and head back to check on the cabin, and Gail tomorrow.  Power is supposed to be restored later on this afternoon.  What a week this has been!  We've had our entire Winter compressed into the last three days.

Soon,
Lynn

P.S. Gail just called while I was posting.  She said another 8-10" of snow fell in the night.  Time to break into those K-rations.

20 comments:

  1. Wow, that's a lot of snow! Most I've ever dealt with is 24 inches from a nor'easter when living in Massachusetts. You guys are brave and hardy souls to tackle that stuff. Stay safe. So glad you got your Ouchi!

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    1. We were wishing we could have stayed put. We were afraid if we missed our appointment, we would have been sent to the back of the line.

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  2. OH MY. OH MY. OH MY. (x100)I'm stuck on OH MY.

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    1. Gail is going to have some really good material for her Christmas letter!

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  3. that is a lot of snow! such a pretty place though I can see why you like to live there - I wonder if your sister is actually smiling to have experienced it if she now wishes she hadn't of went!

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    1. Well......I don't think she is ever going to forgive me for encouraging her to come up and experience a blizzard. I may have to make her a quilt or something to get back in her good graces!

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  4. I'm stuck with Paula, too! No one wants to see that heavy, wet snow. I hope it melts quickly! Poor Joe - thank goodness you're keeping an eye on him - our guys sometimes don't know when to quit! As for Gail - I hope she has lots of rations in the car...and plenty of cookies int here to reward herself for all that shoveling! Good luck with your FO's!!

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  5. I took a road trip to my granddaughter's wedding, then to Carlsbad, and just today got back as far as Lodi. On my corner, coming into my driveway, on the right of the driveway a huge tree came down and is lying across the road into the neighbor's driveway...... totally blocking the road. On the left side of the driveway , an equally bg power pole came down. So, my house is completely inaccessible. No power. Seems as though the tree may have hit the generator so it is not working. God only knows what I will find when I finally get there....... maybe after this weekend? So far neither PGE, Ebbetts Pass Gas, Pioneer Electric can reach my property. Could be dealing with this for a long time to come.

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    1. Oh Kaaren, this is terrible news. Let us know if we can do anything to help you out. There is so much devastation in the neighborhood.

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  6. Hooray for you getting the vaccine! Nothing like that happening in Sacto. Lots of snow means water this summer! Are we past the threat of drought? At least Gail's getting serious sewing time.

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    1. Thank you for commenting, Mary. Gail isn't getting any sewing done.....she's too busy digging her car out, and a pathway to her cabin. She shoveled for 5 hours today. We will try to get to her place tomorrow - fingers crossed.

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  7. Oh my Lynn. I saw the weather report for your area the other day and thought of you. It looks like the mud slides and flooding at the lower elevations will be a big problem too. Stay safe. So glad that you were able to get the vaccine.

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    1. Thank you Marie. It's been brutal in our area. We are very curious to see what we are facing when we return tomorrow.

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  8. We haven't had that heavy a snow (shhh and knock wood), but boy it is freezing! Glad you could get a vaccine. Our county had just 200 vacs delivered for an over 3,000 need for essential workers. I doubt us rural peons will see anything until May.

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  9. In the So Cal mountains this week we have had about four feet of snow fall. Today was a 15" day. I truly want to divorce my snow shovel, but can't quite yet as I have to get the car uncovered for the fifth time this week. Hoping the plow fellow makes it over tomorrow. Fortunately we did not lose power through all of this though the generator is at the ready.
    Totally understand your situation.

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    1. You are so lucky that you still have power. Today, the sun is going to be out, so hopefully the snow plows can get through the neighborhoods. Stay safe and I hear you about the snow shovel!

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  10. Hope you guys have a generator, and that you have a treadle sewing machine, for when you do want to sew but there isn't any power.

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  11. Oh my! We are expecting a big snow tonight but I don't think (hope) it will be more than a foot or so. Your cabin looks so romantic in all this white, but those of us who know how much work it actually is look at it with a different eye! Your "Heritage" quilt looks fantastic in Quiltmanina! I just got mine yesterday.

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