Spring?

[TheTerrorist_75]

Fulton, NY. Right in the main lake effect corridor. All the Great Lakes combine with the Canadian cold fronts to slam us. Then of course when the Northeasters turn back and collide with the lake effect we get double slammed. At least I'm not a few miles further north on the Tug Hill where they can get 300"+. This year we were lucky and only received about 184" so far. Many times we have snow piles hanging out until August. It probably wouldn't be so bad but with 3 nuke plants located 9 miles north of here the lake doesn't freeze over so the storms can pick up plenty of moisture to create wet heavy snowfall. I have to laugh that the cities of Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse all clamor over who has the right to an annual award for the largest snowfall record and they can't even come close to us let alone the Tug Hill region. To all of us Central New Yorkers it is just another winter which when the time comes turns into a 2 month mud season called spring. If we're lucky we can tend to our lawns and clean up remnants of the storm damage in June.

[tictoc5150]

heh, I remember it well TT_75, I spent the first 20 years of my life in about a 50 mile radius of Syracuse...including Fulton for a short time....Worst winter I can remember was probably spent in Hastings.

I moved to MA in 89 and thought it was funny that these people would think it was snowing out...granted, there have been several times that it has actually snowed here but noone knows how to drive in it and they cancel school for a few flakes....the only bragging rights that MA might have over upstate NY is it gets colder here at times.

ahhh, the good old days...brrrrrrrr....lol

[TheTerrorist_75]

Many good times at the Hastings Inn.

[macmarauder]

this is a picture of my Rocky Mountains. seriously they're there. correct me if i'm wrong but wasn't it officially spring monday or something.

[TheTerrorist_75]

This is down the street from me in March last year. The snow banks are 12' high. The total snowfall for January alone was 100" then in March we got hit with 84" in 7 days.

Edited March 25, 2005 by TheTerrorist_75

[blim]

Hi Macmarauder,

Is that snow or fog??? This year Michigan made national news for a couple of 100+car pileups, once for snow and once for fog. Drivers compared it to driving into a solid white wall.

And Hi TheTerrorist_75,

Those snowbanks are crazy!! Luckily we haven't had snow that bad in a few years We only got about 6-7 footers this year, but usually they get that high, then melt, then build up again, then melt, etc. This year they stayed.

On a Bright Side Note---I saw a ROBIN today!! Poor thing was just standing in the bare patch above an old septic tank, looking around, not even attempting hop. Need to Google to find out what else they eat, because they sure won't find any worms yet!

And the sun has been out for the past 3 days--still cold but the white stuff is melting. Everyone goes outside and shields their eyes like a bunch of vampires. Liz

[TheTerrorist_75]

The sun has been playing hide and seek here. The snow is melting very nicely with the weather staying 45/25F. They're calling for 50F next week with some rain possible. It'll be strange to have most of the snow gone this early. I'm liking that. In fact I plan on taking a shovel to the snow banks and spreading it to increase it's demise.

[hitest]

Hi Liz,

My mother just emailed me this the other day, considering the topic of your post, I figured you'd get a kick outta this....note, there was some adult language in this one and I did my best to edit it all out, sorry if I missed something and offend anyone.

Massachusetts Snow Diary

AUG. 1

Moved to our new home in Massachusetts. It is so

beautiful here. The

city is so picturesque. Can hardly wait to see it

covered with snow. I

LOVE IT HERE

OCT. 14

New England is the most beautiful place on earth.

The leaves are turning

all different colors. I love the shades of red and

orange. Went for a

ride through the hills and saw some deer. They are

so graceful.

Certainly they are the most peaceful animals on

earth. This must be

paradise. I LOVE IT HERE.

NOV. 11

Deer season will open soon. I can't imagine anyone

wanting to kill such

an elegant creature. The very symbol of peace and

tranquillity. Hope it

will snow soon. I LOVE IT HERE.

DEC. 2

It snowed last night. Woke up to find everything

blanketed in white. It

looked like a postcard. Went outside and cleaned

snow off the steps and

shoveled the driveway. We had a snowball fight today

(I won). When the

snowplow came by we had to shovel the driveway

again. What a beautiful

place. Mother Nature in perfect harmony. I LOVE IT

HERE.

DEC. 12

More snow last night. I love it. The snowplow did

his trick again that

rascal). A winter wonderland. I LOVE IT HERE.

DEC. 19

Snowed again last night. Couldn't get out of the

driveway to get to work

this time. I'm exhausted from shoveling. F***ing

Snowplow!

DEC. 22

More of that white s*** fell last night. I've got

blisters on my hands

from shoveling. I think the snowplow hides around

the corner and waits

until I'm done shoveling. That A*****e!

DEC. 25

"White Christmas" my busted ass. More f***ing snow.

If I ever get my

hands on that son-of-a-b***h who drives that

snowplow, I swear I will

castrate the dumb bastard. Don't know why they don't

use more salt on

this f***ing ice.

DEC. 28

More of the same s*** last night. Been inside since

Christmas day except

for when "Snowplow Harry" comes by. Can't go

anywhere. The car is buried

in a mountain of white s***. The weatherman says

expect another 10

inches of this s*** tonight. Do you know how many

shovels full of snow

10 inches is?

JAN. 1

Happy F***ing New Year. The weatherman was wrong

(AGAIN). We got 34

f***ing inches of snow this time. At this rate it

won't melt until the

4th of July. The snowplow got stuck down the road

and s*** for brains

had the balls to come to the door and ask to borrow

my shovel. I told

him I broke 6 shovels already, shoveling out the

s*** he plowed into my

driveway. I broke the 7th shovel over his f***ing

head.

JAN. 4

Finally got out of the house today. Went to the

store to get food and on

the way back a deer ran out in front of the car and

I hit the f***er.

Did about $3,000.00 damage to the car. Wish the

hunters would have

killed them all last November.

MAY 3

Took the car to the garage in town today. Would you

believe the body is

rotting away from all the f***ing salt they keep

dumping all over the

roads. It really looks like a piece of s***.

MAY 10

Moved to North Carolina today. I can't imagine why

anyone in their right

f***ing mind would want to live in the God forsaken

State of Massachusetts.

LOL

Thanks for the good laugh, tictoc5150!

[macmarauder]

ok here's a serious question that i just can't answer. why ohhh why when the weather gets bad do i still see plenty of people not slowing down and attempting to drive at least a little safer. by now most you pretty much know that i hotrod.

i drive a little (cough) faster than i should. i know i know i'm 24 which translates into young and stupid. but when the weather gets bad like today i take it nice and easy. take my time and go prepared. why ohhh why do i seam to see more people being inpatient and reckless than on a good weather day?

[rv56]

OMG...... TT_75.........now those are snow banks... . Must be some real serious runoff and flooding when that melts.

Macmarauder......I know what you mean. I see this all winter and often had the same questions. It's crazy when people are coming at you on sheer ice at normal summer driving speeds.

I've seen some real doozer's in my 28 years on the job. (Road Maint.)

[thesidekickcat]

Yikes TT, those are awfully tall snow banks. I have only seen that high a snow bank when we took the train across the Washington Cascades to Spokane years ago. I wondered how they ever kept the tracks plowed with nowhere to put the snow.

Well I have good news for us in the NW, our winter rains have finally started. I think it was Spring Break that set things back to normal. We seldom miss raining out holidays etc here and this year that is finally working in our favor.

We have had about three fouths of an inch of rain, and lots on the way with a storm coming right at us for this weekend (maybe an inch or so!!!), and most of the next 10 days look like rain according to the weather forecasters. Yipppppeeee!!! But still will only help a little in the drought department. Maybe bump us up to only the 5th or 6th driest winter, in a string of dry years.

Still I am glad to live in the NW, in the normally rainy west side of the Cascades. Sure don't want to deal with snow, or ice, very often.

Not only can't people drive right in snow, but they are terrible in heavy rain. You would think they would remember how to drive in it from one storm to another? Nah. Sigh!!! High Speed and rain equal hydoplaning. Sigh!!!

And we had our first near disaster of the winter off the coast with the wind, rain and high surf off the Columbia river bar recently. A barge broke lose on the tow, and went aground just below the North head lighthouse around the northern point of my favorite Washington State Park, Cape Disappointment. Luckily it's cargo hold was empty of oil, so except for about 4 or 5 thousand gallons of generator fuel in an inner tank, it was not an environmental problem like the ship, New Carissa, was that beached in 1999 on Oregon coast. Took several days for the weather to calm down enough to get people on board barge to fill holds with air to try to float it out of the tiny rock lined cove. Finally they towed it out on high tide the other night, and into Astoria to check out the damage, before bringing it to Portland dry docks for repair.

The area around the Columbia River bar is known as "The Graveyard of the Pacific", as are several other areas on the West Coast.

I just found a website with a couple of pictures of that area. The cliffs at Cape Disappointment lighthouse are similar to the North Head one. I was so thankful the barge didn't go aground on my favorite beach, Waikiki (sp?) beach at the State Park, shown in the first picture of the Cape Disappointment lighthouse.

Cape Disappointment and North Head lighthouses

P.S. Here is another website with a better picture of the beach I mentioned, and a map showing where the North Head light house and the Beards Hollow cove the barge was in.

Map and pictures of Cape Disappointment

God bless everyone.

Edited March 26, 2005 by thesidekickcat

[hitest]

ok here's a serious question that i just can't answer. why ohhh why when the weather gets bad do i still see plenty of people not slowing down and attempting to drive at least a little safer. by now most you pretty much know that i hotrod.

i drive a little (cough) faster than i should. i know i know i'm 24 which translates into young and stupid. but when the weather gets bad like today i take it nice and easy. take my time and go prepared. why ohhh why do i seam to see more people being inpatient and reckless than on a good weather day?

You are very far from stupid, macmarauder.

Yes, I've also noticed a casual disregard for safety on the road. Perhaps life has sped up so much that people don't have the luxury of slowing down.

[macmarauder]

You are very far from stupid, macmarauder.

thank you. i tend to use my age and exhaustingly hectic schedule to justify my crazy (clears throat) i mean eccentric life style.

what i don't get is that i still drive Tuff Truck once every two months and drive Mikes Drag Car once a month, hot rod around town, and what ever fool thing i end up doing. i know i'm only in really amateur races just done for fun, but we get pretty fast sometimes. i just came back from the store where i saw about five people on the way back speeding by over 15 mph on icy roads. that just feels more dangerous than what i do. most of them were in 80's model imports like a Honda.

[robroy]

I know what you mean Mac, they are the same around here. but give them a sunny day and dry roads and the speed drops to at least 10 below the posted limit

JD

[blim]

Hi Sidekickcat,

Those photos are beautiful!!!! I love the cliffs--we have sand dunes. Couldn't resist sharing a website of our lighthouse (make sure you click the "additional photos links"). It was featured on The History Channel's "Haunted Lighthouses" (My Grandmother knew the "ghost" well--before he was a ghost, that is.) And we currently have a woman lightkeeper. Don't know how to link, and if anyone wants to fix this to a link, feel free!, but website is

www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=192

And Hi Macmarauder,

I read a very interesting article about "why so many SUVs are in ditches during bad weather"---seems the manufacturers oversell them with images of the vehicles flying through snowdrifts. Well, with 4wheel drive, they do GO better, but, they don't STOP any better than a car, actually worse because they are so heavy. In the commercials, the SUVs are apparently equipped with special tires, and of course driven by stuntmen--and you never see them stop!! In my area, SUV and Minivan drivers drive like idiots.

Liz

[tictoc5150]

Thanks for the good laugh, tictoc5150!

no problem, hitest I've read it several times now and still get the chuckles from it

Don't know how to link, and if anyone wants to fix this to a link, feel free!

Liz, when you're posting, you'll see the "http://" button above, click that>paste the url>click ok> type whatever text you want the link to say>click ok...easy as that

Liz's Lighthouse Link

Weather still ain't lookin' like spring around here yet but no real snow lately, just scraping the car windows a bit....don't think I've even heard a bird yet (not like I'd be able to identify what kind it is if I heard one...lol)

[bar5]

Hi sidekickcat and Liz:

Thanks for the links for the lighthouses. I love lighthouses. I have many pictures I use for wallpaper, among other pictures.

Barb

[blim]

Ok, not to be redundant, just seeing if this works..

Liz's Lighthouse Link

Yep, I think it did!!

Thanks tictoc5150 and handplane! Liz

[thesidekickcat]

Watch out folks!!!

Liz has now learned the secret handshake, oooops I mean how to do links.

That's great Liz!!! I am proud of you for how fast you are learning, not only the board ropes, but all sorts of computer stuff. Good Job!!!

Now I want to seriously thank you for that great link to your lighthouse, and especially because down at the bottom was a link to lighthouse maps etc, I clicked on that, then on Oregon. Then checked out a few of the lighthouses I knew we had seen one time or another to the coast. But the one neither my hubby or I remember is Tillamook Rock. And that one sure is a testament to human determination and endurance, and an unexpected use for the present and future. I do remember hearing what it had turned into, but we just don't remember ever seeing it. So now we have one to look for the next time we go down that way. Thanks to you!

So here is the link to it.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse

God bless everyone.

[tenmm]

Well today maked the first time this year I mowed the lawn

The upside is due to proper preparation on my part the mower and wacker both started.

Now the wacker I do not take much credit for because it is self preping(the oil you mix with gas for them)

The key word to a good start with stored motors is........Stabil found here.

I love this stuff,I watched my neighbor swear at his mower for over an hour(mower did not start as needed)

Proper,prior, planning

Anyway got done in time for it to start raining

(still need my water wings)

Have a good spring.