This will be on the shortish side as we have to drive to Don’s eye doctor this morning for his shot. We’re supposed to get some snow, so we were debating whether to go or not, but it looks like it will be a rain/snow mix and nothing to worry about. I have to drive Don because we never know what temporary side effects there will be and let’s face it, he doesn’t need to be worrying about driving after getting a shot in the eye.
We’re still seeing 8 – 12 inches of snow on Wednesday/Thursday’s forecast. But I follow some local Hudson Valley guys who really research their forecasts. They consider every model and talk about it in detail – if you’re a weather geek, believe me, these guys are great. They’ve got a huge following. And since the Hudson Valley includes many microclimates, including mountains and valleys, their forecasts are pretty detailed. Anyway, I listened to them yesterday and the fact is – we just don’t know yet. It could veer off to the south of us and head off to the ocean and our area would have much less snow. Or, it could not do that and we’ll be pummelled. There are about three different models and the forecast won’t be firmed up until, most likely, tomorrow. We have a bit of work to do tomorrow in prep, work that would have to be done anyway.
But today is about Don’s appointment and me trying to drink coffee early enough so that I don’t have to pee while waiting outside for him in the car. I’m being honest here. Everything we do involves that calculation nowadays! Last time we went, I was allowed to go inside and take care of business and that office may be the safest place to use the facilities! Every precaution is taken.
Just looked outside and it’s started snowing. Hmmmm. Checking forecast once again.
When I was young, I thought nothing of driving in snow. I wasn’t exactly fearless, but I was relatively unfazed by large amounts of snow coming down and low visibility. I once drove across the state of Michigan with three passengers in my car in the middle of a blizzard in order to go to the wedding of one of our friends. All the way across the state. I once spun out on an on ramp to a major highway in Detroit and ended up facing an oncoming semi. Thankfully, he was driving very slowly – it was snowing heavily – and patiently waited for me to turn the car around. (That time I was scared.) Don and I drove in one of the worst blizzards in recent memory while staying in Calgary. We were on our way to an inn. As we drove on and on during that endless trip, we saw car after car off on the side of the road, having skidded off the slippery highway. We could barely see. We considered turning back, but would have had the same problem, so we just kept going. Very, very slowly. It took hours. But we made it.
However, we just wouldn’t do that nowadays. We’re much more cautious. It’s not worth it!
Okay, my friends. I hope you’re doing well. I’m just about to drink that second cup of coffee and then it’s off to the eye doctor.
Happy Birthday to my dear cousin, Eileen!
UPDATE: We decided to reschedule the appointment. They were great and understood and it’s now next Tuesday. We just feel better not having to navigate all the winding roads that lead to the bridge crossing the Hudson River.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
I LOVE this photo
Prayers
Thank you, Brenda!
Stay safe.
Have a safe trip!
We rescheduled the appointment It’s still snowing and the roads look a little slippery. Next Tuesday instead.
Thanks, Ellen.
Stay safe.
Good luck to both of you this morning. We’ve had some sleet and snow here, nothing accumulating. But our forecast also goes from 3″ to over a foot so who knows…? It’s easier on my mind now that we have the generator and all wheel drive CRV. Not quite as helpless. Everything does have to be calculated now–I still don’t have the routine fine-tuned. I either forget my mask and have to go back (no biggie except for my crapped out knee), or I wear it and it doesn’t stay where it needs to and fogs up my glasses, and I keep trying to hand the cashier my card (covered in germs) instead of sticking it in the machine. And figure out if an appointment might be running late and my morning tea might be wanting to make an exit while I’m stuck in the car. Honestly, it’s amazing how many little things we took for granted. However, seeing the vaccines roll out made me feel quite hopeful. I’m not altogether confident in the testing process, but it’s a beginning and I’m praying that it works for all the health care workers who have been stretched to the limits. Stay safe! Drive carefully!
We have no generator and our one working car does not have all-wheel drive as it was my dad’s and he lived in Florida and had no need for it.
So we’re extra cautious! We rescheduled the appt to next Tuesday.
Stay safe Nora.
I feel the same way about driving in snow. Living in Michigan, I’ve had lots of experience too. You reminded me of the time I was driving down a rural road that is always slick. Not unusual to see cars in ditches. I was driving one way and a police car was coming the other direction. We both hit an icy spot and he slid into my lane, I did a complete 360, and somehow we both ended up back in our own lanes just as we passed each other.
I though for sure we were going to hit.
I hope your trip is uneventful.
Be safe
We rescheduled, Marilyn. We were able to get an appointment next Tuesday, which will be a dry and safe day.
Thank you!
Stay safe.
I just saw that you were able to reschedule…great idea. Weren’t we all a little more fearless when we were younger? Why is that? Is it because we are more aware of the consequences now that we are older? I wonder.
Hope you get things done on your list…we had to do that last week. I hope the forecasters are wrong about the 8-12. For a first snowfall…that’s a rude awakening. Stay safe! ;)
I think we thought we were immortal. And as you get older, life seems all the more precious. I think you’re also right about being more aware of the consequences, Donna.
Fingers crossed that the snowfall on Wednesday is much less than predicted.
Stay safe!
So glad you rescheduled. I think we come to understand that even a few bumps and bruises when we were in our 20’s and 30’s were just a story to tell. Now, in too many cases, bumps and bruises can become more problematic very quickly. Our healing time is much longer, too. And the thoughts of dealing with insurance and broken vehicles, etc. just makes us much more cautious. Reality, I suspect!!
Hope you do not get those bigger numbers and it is, indeed, a lesser amount that some might consider pretty… for a first snow. We just got THE NEWS that (finally) our Wi SC voted down the idiot’s suit to throw hundreds of thousands of ballots out. Not quite sure what took them since Friday to come to that logical decision. Just more angst for us to deal with for no reason.
Glad you can stay home today and not have to be out driving in the snow. Hope you have a peaceful and lovely day. Take care!!
It ended up snowing a long time, but the pavement stayed wet. Nevertheless, we’re happy with our decision. Don wrote some music, I put in the floor in the dollhouse bedroom. So we were productive.
I just read the news about the Wi Supreme Court. Better late than never!
Stay safe, Chris.
Oh, I think you totally made the decision to stay home; I was literally ‘getting the chills’ thinking of problems with driving in snow. The only time I ever remember being in anything similar to what you were describing was when I was on a mini-not-quite-coast-to-coast summer vacay with my folks (got as far as Missouri from Calif) and it rained so hard on this turnpike/toll road somewhere in Oklahoma that there was no way to see out the windshield yet there wasn’t a place on the side of the road to pull over, so Dad (under much strain) just crawled, hoping nobody would rear-end us but, gosh, such sheets of rain that I’ve never seen since, not even in the tropics.
I meant to say I think you totally made the CORRECT decision to stay home. (I fall into the ‘what if’ thinking with Covid; for instance, no fun and risky if one was to have trouble on the road with, say, a disabled vehicle, having to deal with somebody like a tow truck driver or just any human when we’re supposed to separate due to the contagion [highly-infectious virus in our midst]; sometimes better just to avoid the complications [and we’re back to March-April when law enforcement/emergency personnel like paramedics would plead with the public to Just Stay Home {other than essential business like indeed an appointment at the doctor} because they said with stir-crazy people wanting ‘out’ and flooding roads with cars, having to deal with fender benders or parking violations and any of the normal stuff with lots of cars on the highways, it pulls them away from dealing with the crisis of Covid, especially when an ambulance needs to be transporting those very-sick people and not the motorist].)
You got me to thinking about this. Of course I really don’t know what it is to drive in a snowstorm/blizzard since I’ve never lived in snowland. I remember relentless rain near Olympia, Washington in June. Also at the Grand Canyon (isn’t that kinda odd?). Drenchers in coastal Mexico. At sea on a sailboat in the Virgin Islands, just whipped around at nighttime-anchor with hurricanes imminent (stupidly traveling at the wrong time of year [wasn’t my personal planning and instead somebody else’s because it was cheaper; sounds lah-de-dah otherwise but, believe me, it was only for a brief period of time when I traveled to more exotic locales and I’ve been nowhere else in thirty years!]).
But, yeah, nothing like Oklahoma. And the dirt was red, such that post-rain it was like a red-clay goo.
As for SoCalif today, we were 65 degrees at noon, bright sun, clear-blue sky, healthful air, with a few big puffy white clouds over the north mountains, NO WIND (just very thankful of cessation of easterly-desert, Santa Ana [nasty and destructive] wind). I am so DONE with the wind here.
I look forward to hearing about the snow when you’ll be safe and cozy in your lovely cottage, so warm and glowy and pretty. Perfect place for the tree so that you can see it from your den but also the kitchen/living room, true? You’ve made the most comfy home for you and Don.
Yes, certainly don’t want to have to deal with tow trucks or police because of bad weather. Especially when we have the option of staying home.
Yes, the tree is in the living room and we can see it from the den.
xoxo
It ended up being wet snow and wet pavement, but you never know!
Thanks, Vicki.
Stay safe.
Good Lord, Claudia; plz fix this; don’t know how it happened that my comment got printed 2X! Sorry. It must be my fingers because I was having trouble with my TV remote, too.
deleted it!
I’m glad you were able to reschedule. Not worth the worry if the weather and roads are not the best.
We drove from the West Coast of Canada where we lived to where we are now in Alberta, in the middle of the night, during a snow storm when we were moving back here. Scary but we had to get back. Thankfully, because it was the middle of the night, there was no traffic but still ….
P.s. We’re 3 hours from Calgary! We tend to get less snow, even though we’re further north.
Enjoy your evening at home!
X Chy
Alberta is gorgeous, Chy. I’d love to go back there!
Stay safe.
We had the first snow of the season here overnight. Just a smidge, but it looked lovely and caused no traffic problems for those who make a Monday drive to work. We aren’t always so lucky. Your reminiscing brought back memories of a three-hour trip over the Sierras that took nine-and-a-half hours. (Or as my boys put it, “we could have gone to Grandma’s, come home and driven to her house again.”) We chained up three times. Thankful for four wheel drive and knowing how to “tiptoe” through a snowstorm.
One benefit of Covid19–family visits were the only reason we’d travel in snow. Not an option this year. We’ll just sit back and wait for the weather to change when life gets back to normal.
Love your pillows. That rabbit! The arts-and-crafts pinecones!
I embroidered that Arts and Crafts pillow myself! The rabbit was from Target.
Stay safe, Roxie!
I’m glad you could reschedule. I know what you mean about snow driving. Sometimes, no big deal. And sometimes VERY big deal — and you don’t always know when you start out which it will be. I can remember a couple of white knuckle drives myself — one coming north from Toledo on the way back from Cleveland and stopping counting the accidents and cars at the side of the road after 17 (and not even to Ann Arbor yet!). A few years ago I was supposed to pick up Rick at Metro and it was so icy (and snow) I gave up at Okemos, totally white-knuckled. I came to friends’ house and together we snugged in, drank wine and Rick managed to either get the Flyer bus home or stay with the kids. I can’t remember which, I just knew I never wanted to be in that situation again!
The north and west of Michigan got dumped on. So far, not here. But it could happen. We are still brownish green, which is just fine with me. I’m gung ho to stay home, warm and comfy and revel in my bright colored and white lights (depending on which tree!) and just read a book, maybe bake tomorrow.
It ended up being safe to drive but we had to make the call early. Hopefully, next Tuesday will be dry – it looks like it will.
We’re getting lots of snow on Wednesday and Thursday. Sigh.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
whew …
don’s appointment was rescheduled and you both could avoid being out in snow or who-knows-what-else weather.
you and don had time to get things done at home and hopefully relax, rest.
the electors voted and made it official … biden won!
the wisconsin supreme court rejected another merit-less lawsuit by pino.
barr turned in a letter of resignation! (what took him so long?)
love that view in your home … the comfy sofa and mix of pillows, all those books and art, that wonderful and much-coveted “please return book” shelf thing …!
no call yet, but to be fair, i was told my doctor might not get mri results until today. hopefully will get news tomorrow. will let you know what i find out. still have lots of pain, very limited and slow movements but i think the pain’s gone down a notch … i can spread out the medication a bit. :)
i’ve done many thrilling things in my life … sky-diving several times by static line (out the plane solo), rock-climbing, lots of long-distance running (up until almost two years ago i could run for 90 minutes without stopping … i am proud of that), parasailing, talks on cruise ships getting me to some wonderful places, including snorkeling in the ocean … i’d love to still do all those things, but as we know, there can be a price to pay. i have osteoporosis, lots of arthritis, had many broken bones over the years, been hit by a car when i was crossing the street, dragged by a horse …. this back injury, though, has been very disturbing to me (physically and emotionally). i can deal with that, but sure don’t want a repeat. and especially because it’s worrisome to my family, i think what needs to change and by how much? makes me feel old, but it’s for the best. all that to say i no longer drive when it’s snowing, either. :)
i am *still* working on the agatha christie book of short stories and i have brendab’s suggestion of “murder on the orient express” lined up to read next … but i still love to hear about what you all are reading (and can add titles to my tbr list)! when you’re ready, please and thanks.
hope you are having a nice night and stay safe!
kathy in iowa
I’m sure Trump fired Barr. He wasn’t happy that Barr said there were no signs of election fraud and he was also unhappy that Barr kept the investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes secret – as he was supposed to – because Trump wanted to upend the election. Barr actually did two things right. The rest of his actions are reprehensible, of course.
I’m hoping you will hear the results of the MRI today, Kathy, and that a treatment plan can be drawn up.
Stay safe.
I see Anthony Horowitz’ latest book on your table, Moonflower Murders. I’m beginning to read that now, he’s one of my favorite Mystery Writers.
Mine too!
Stay safe, Carol.