Canceled

It might have happened, but in the 28 years that I've been in northern Ohio I do not remember Sunday morning services at church being canceled.

When the decision was made it was my job to call the organist. I spoke to his wife on the phone, and she was so relieved! She told me they went out to measure the snow in their driveway just for the heck of it -- 17-inches!!!

I don't know what our total was because a kind neighbor came over around 8:30 am to clear our driveway with a snow blower. After that, Rick and I went out every three hours to clear another 3 - 4 inches of new-fallen and drifted snow.

Here is what our garage looks like in the morning light. The windows are frozen shut so I had to photograph through the screen. And the wind created quite a drift on the neighbor's deck.There are thousands of cars stuck in drifts around the region. Some of the suburbs have declared travel for emergency vehicles only. Others say to stay home if travel is not essential.

Spring Snow

Yesterday and today we have received heavy, wet, spring snow. The kind that is good for packing and building. The kind that is heavy to shovel and will not sweep at all.

The Engineer does not know what he is missing, and that is by design because his lungs are still too touchy and not up to exposure to the cold. The Artist went outdoors to enjoy the snow by herself. She began to build a fort, but dinner and darkness descended upon her around the same time so operations were suspended. Over night the amount of snow doubled, so when she is able to get out there today she should have her work cut out for her! Appointments are cutting our school day short. If I'm not stuck in the car too long she should make some great progress.

SnOwpening Day

That's what they called it. Indians flagship station WTAM host Mark Schwab took some photos.

This is what the grounds crew faced when they arrived at Jacob's Field this morning. Those hard-working folks got the field snow free and looking like this for the pregame festivities. John Adams is out there, as always, under the 'W' in the Budweiser sign. The game started. Then more snow came. This photo shows the crew clearing snow with leaf blowers for the fourth or fifth time today. After several delays, the game continues like this. At one point during a snow delay a fan is arrested after entering the playing field to make a snow angel. That's probably a first. The announcers are hoping to make it through the fifth inning as the Indians are leading at the moment. Lets hope the injuries already sustained by the teams braving the snow today are not serious. Bring out the orange baseballs! It is supposed to snow the whole time the Mariners are in town.

As the hours wore on the game was called (one strike away from being an official game. Hargrove knows what he's doing!) I guess it was Opening Nay, and the Indians 4-0 lead is all for naught.

Tiresome Socks

With the current pair of socks I am engaged in, I have learned something about my sock-knitting self. There is little built in motivation to complete a pair of toe-up socks. There are no decreases to shorten the time it takes to do a row. It is harder for me to keep the end in mind. Maybe I like having less length to knit before I do all the work for the heel and gusset than keeping all that effort for after.

I was very excited to begin the socks, and it was the only knitting I brought to Florida. I was pleased to learn the figure-eight cast on. It was fun to try the foot on for size to determine when to begin the heel structure. The gussets were a bit awkward to knit, in my opinion. The intrigue of the lace pattern on the leg of the sock wore off last week and I needed to take a break and do something new.

I got out some WoolEase (less tiresome on the hands than the Deminstyle cotton blend I'm using for the lace socks) and I make a baby's hat-mitts-&-booties set. Sorry, no photos until I have mailed them off to the recipient:-)

The baby set was a joy to make--it was a wonderful change of pace to be able to finish an item in an hour! And it gave me the break I needed to gear up again for the lace socks. I finally finished the lace pattern last night and began the ribbing. I am so glad I made these socks together. If I had not, there surely would have been one lonely sock longing for its mate and one frustrated woman who was unable to enjoy the fruits of her labor.
The socks last week: The socks today:We also got more of this white stuff last night:Poor Quipper just called. It took him more than an hour to get to work. It is usually a 15-18 minute drive. In a short while I need to head out the same way for the Artist's Latin class. Hopefully rush hour will be over by then.

p.s. computer update -- who knows what happened? The Quipper re-installed the virus protection and things are running again. We threw our hands in the air and forgot about it. For now. The fan still sounds like a locomotive when the PC starts up, so we continue to test fate.