{Not} Living Vicariously

Winter Weather Day 3

So yesterday we spent the whole day at home, no need to go anywhere. We had tickets to the hockey game, however with the roads the way they were . . . we decided to stay home. Even our die hard hockey fan friends ended up staying home, due to the fact they couldn't drive safely out of their neighborhood. And with this morning's news of all the accidents and even some deaths last night, we know we made the right decision.

However, this morning FP took pooch out for an early morning stroll to see if it would be safe for us to drive to church. After careful consideration, we decided that while we would not drive all the way into Nashville for church, we could go somewhere local and that is what we did. The main roads looked fine.

Take a look at our street though.

And, the requisite picture of an ice laden tree. I know they can be dangerous . . . but they are so pretty!

Plus Becky, this one's for you! 

Yes, we had snow

After my nightmare drive home yesterday, I took it easy the rest of the afternoon. I worked for a few hours, and then relaxed while enjoying the snow as it fell to the ground. The fur babies don't quite know what to make of all the white stuff out there . . . we had fun letting them investigate though. Not much to say about the snow, but I do want to share some pictures.

It's cold! Let us back in . . .

Our little "snow leopard"

Our front yard . . .

Our back deck, after the door has pushed the snow out of the way . . .

Our only regret is that the top layer has frozen by this morning. We were going to make snow angels . . . but not now. Anyway, stay warm wherever you are. We are by making donuts!

Nightmare driving

Any of you who have known me for long (like back to high school days) know that my biggest irrational fear is that I'll be driving up a hill and will start to roll backwards with no way to stop. I know that most of it is irrational. However, middle TN is in a major snowstorm and we aren't equipped to handle most of it. My employers did allow us to leave early today and I brought work home with me in order to meet a Monday deadline. I'm so glad I left when I did as the roads were still safe . . . mostly. I did fine on the Interstate as traffic was flowing at a very safe 25 to 45 miles per hour, depending on which lane you were in. However I made the mistake of taking my normal surface streets home and one of them involves a very steep hill over a bridge. Perfect conditions as I well know for creating an ice issue. We were all taking it fairly safe and then the car in front of me started to slide backwards. Luckily I had about 5 car lengths (if not more) between us and was able to stop at the bottom of the hill. He got himself straightened out and into the next lane. I got myself up the hill in first gear praying to God the entire way. Then got myself down the hill the exact with the exact same method. After that, it was a safe slow 10 minutes home. I meant to stop and get gas . . . didn't happen as I was trying to not panic. I'm home now and have no plans to go out again.

Yes, I'm a wuss. But hello! I'm from California (and not Northern where they deal with snow and ice) and live in Middle TN where again we don't deal with snow and ice. I may know how to drive defensively . . . I don't want to deal with the other cars on the road and the fact that our roads are not well treated. So I'm just grateful my nightmare has not come true and I'm happy to stay home and read picture books and write reviews on them.

I do hope to take some nice pictures later on . . . and for those of you who follow Two Happy Bellies . . . there are homemade donuts in my near future. We're trying an applesauce donut recipe for breakfast tomorrow morning. For those of you who don't follow THB -- Gallagher family tradition is snow = homemade donuts. Yum!!

a Clean Oven

Sometimes you just need to get in there and do a deep cleaning. It can be rather cathartic to scrub away with lots of lemon scented bubbles on something. That is what I did tonight to my oven. This poor oven did not get very much attention before I moved in and I'm still scrubbing away at some spots where there is baked in gunk. Luckily after my third go at it, I'm feeling like I've reached a point where I just need to maintain the clean. Which is not that bad of a job to have. And luckily, where the baked in gunk was . . . was underneath the oven liner I put in to make it easier to keep it clean. Now if we can just keep it that way!

The last time I felt this way it was the refrigerator that got all the attention. So now I'm feeling pretty okay about the kitchen. Next time I feel this way, well, it will probably be the baseboards or the windows. After that, who know?

SF/MY

Well, we were able to get a complete copy of Caves of Steel yesterday so I was able to finish it and read Naked Sun today in time for book club this week. I enjoyed them both, but then I've always enjoyed mysteries set in the "future" . . . even when they were written in the past. What of their predictions have come true?

For science fiction mysteries being written today, I really enjoy Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Retrieval Artist" series. I think she found a great premise and I love to recommend her. Unfortunately, the last time I checked, several of the earlier titles were not readily available so I can't recommend her for bookclub. Such a pity.

Somewhere I have a list of other titles to try, but I can't find it. Probably buried away with 90% of my books in the storage unit. Anyone have any suggestions? Send them to me, please!

Argh . . .

So book club is next Wednesday night and we're supposed to have two books read by then: Caves of Steel and Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov. We got our copies at used book stores and I started Caves of Steel last night. It is falling apart, however we joked about composting it after we are done. I got all the way to page 166, only to realize the book does not end on page 166 yet I have no more pages to read. I believe, based on some research, that we are missing about 30 pages and I know we are missing the last 2 1/2 chapters. Sigh. So, not only do I have to wait to find out who the murderer is, I have to get another copy of the book this weekend in order to do that and have it finished before I start the sequel. So argh, double argh, and triple argh!!!

new podcast

I love my iPod . . . but not for music. I have discovered so many wonderful old time radio podcasts out there, mostly mysteries for me, that I keep busy listening to these 30 minute shows. My favorite ones have the old sponser commercials remaining so I hear those as well. I subscribe to several from Humphrey/Camardella Productions (www.hcmediaproductions.com). I'm drooling over their five year anniversary DVD set.

However I recently found a new one. Mom this one is for you! It is called Classic Mysteries and Les Blatt offers five minute reviews of classic mystery novels. He has a blog at www.classicmysteries.net and I now have a new way to waste time in the evenings . . . keeping up with his thoughts and checking "new" old books out of the library to read.

Mom and Dad, I'm even sending you a specific article to read of his. I think you might feel some familiarity with the scenerio -- I'm thinking trip to see Grand Canyon/Petrified Forest where I spent more time reading a book than looking at the sights!

Anyone know of someone doing something similar with reviews of Classic Science Fiction or Fantasy? My bookclub would love it! Or maybe we should start . . .

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Wow! I finally got to see PHJB live last night with the Nashville Symphony and I was completely blown away. I expected good, I got phenomenal . . .

While I have seen them on tv before, my mother has often told me I need to see them live. She has, in NOLA, but even though I've visited NOLA more times than I can count right now, I've never made it to the hall on St. Peter. When I saw them coming to Nashville as part of the Pops season at the symphony I was ecstatic as I've been a season member for several years now. We went last night and they had the entire hall dancing in the aisles by the end of the show. They were not opposed to walking through the audience, playing their instruments, and dragging guests back up on stage with them. I haven't seen that since a Harry Connick Jr concert many years ago back in LA. I love musicians willing to be in touch (literally physically) with their fans. And that was these guys.

The creative director is the son of the founders of the Hall and his playing of the bass resonated down to our toes. What talent! All seven of these musicians were extremely talented and were showcased beautifully. However, as much as I loved every bit of their show, I was most tickled to see our director sing Basin Street Blues and play the tambourine.

If you ever have the chance to see them, please go. Like I said . . . Wow!

Finally!

The cold was worth it. We had our snow on Thursday, then scattered flurries on Friday and apparently it continued to "flurry" all night because this morning we actually have snow worth taking a picture of -- lovely!

 
Not only did the dog go out and play . . . the cat even explored (and this is a big deal because she is an indoor only cat, she only goes out under extreme supervision)!

--Picture is not of the best quality because I was inside and taking it through the window.

And, because I love the look of trees in the wintertime, here is one of the empty lot next door:

I hope, wherever you are, you are enjoying the day.

two to four inches, hah!

Predictions all week of 2 to 4 inches of snowfall for overnight until Thursday morning, then it turned into 2 inches sometime Thursday during morning rush hour, then we had maybe 1/2 an inch occuring sometime on Thursday . . . which is pretty much what did actually happen. Some areas of course show that 1/2 inch better than others. Depends on how cold the ground was in that area. However I fully expect most of it to disappear by tomorrow. I didn't even take any pictures the snowfall was so pathetic looking. And to me, that was the only justification for how cold it got this week. Why be in the teens if I'm not going to get snow for my troubles??? But so much for the accumulation and the possibility of snowball fights. The worst part? We'll actually suffer more from ice on the roads tomorrow than the snow is worth. And of course my employer's policy on inclement weather is (and I misquote) "weather? yes there is weather . . . we have customers, come to work!" Luckily my direct supervisor is a bit more understanding and if I'm not there at 7 am on the dot, she would rather me be safe than stranded in a ditch somewhere. Which means I get to pass that on to my reports and allow them to travel safely in to work as they can.

All this makes me quote someone else: "Who lies more? The politician or the weatherman?" Right now, my disappointed co-workers who were hoping for lots of snow would say the weatherman!

Be safe wherever you may be in whatever weather you have . . .