Minus 30

I think I’m ready for it to warm up a bit around here.  The kids got mad at me because I wouldn’t let them go sledding.  I know, I’m such a mean mom!  I don’t them them play outside when it’s below zero.  How could I be so cruel? By the way, that temp was the actual temp not including wind chill, which can push it down much further (-40 to –50). 

It’s suppose to warm up in a few days, I’m ready to to see numbers on the thermometer that don’t have that little minus sign in front of them.  And to send those kids outside!

Bathing Suits & Flipflops

NOT HERE!!! I have to laugh because as I look around at other blogs and I see people playing around the water, in shorts and just enjoying the warmer temps. I'm glad someone has nice weather!

My mom is visiting and we were suppose to go golfing today. Not a good day for that! This picture is from yesterday but my mom looked out the window and it was snowing again today.

I think she's a bit tired of this snow.

I think she wants to golf.

I think she should become an expert snowman maker.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear....

what do you see?
I see a frozen dog looking at me. Frozen dog, frozen dog, what do you see?
I see a snow drift looking at me.

Snow dirft, snow drift what do you see?

I see a baby looking at me.

Baby, baby what do you see?

I see buffalo looking at me.

Buffalo, buffalo, what do you see?

I see a pile up looking at me.

Pile up, pile up...

YIKES!!

The good news is that the blizzard is over! It was fun while it lasted as long as one didn't have to go out into it. I went to the neighbors for the afternoon Thursday to just get out of the house. Good company and a roaring fire are pretty hard to beat!

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The kids are outside now enjoying the wonderful snow. Yes, the snow went half way up our sliding glass door. We just had a fun snowball fight and now the kids are still out building snow forts.....

Probably the last time until next fall.

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Things are getting pretty busy here. Lineman made it home in the blizzard and is FINALLY HOME! YEE -HAAA!

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We are getting ready for the movers and there is LOTS to do. I will have posts up about every day during our move but I probably won't be able to comment on your blogs for a couple weeks. I will still have 52 Weeks up and hopefully the Mr. Linky will be working.

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I look forward to your great comments and checking in on you all when we are settled in at our new town.

A -Okay

It looks like we may have faired pretty well outside considering the winds we had. Lineman just left for the hardware store to pick up supplies. The garage roof was the hardest hit, but it isn't as bad as I had feared.

So all in all we are doing okay here. 2008 sure roared it's way out, no doubt about it!

Scared

I admit it, I'm scared. The wind tonight is the worst it has ever been here. We have reason to believe the wind has gusted to 90 mph or more here. We are thinking the sustained wind is in the 70's. Lineman went out to the garage and said the walls are moving at least 6 inches. A full grown man can barely stand or walk outside. The wind picked up my log swing and threw it against the house and broke it. We are having major roof issues. I don't know about the siding yet. The whole house is shaking. The floor is shaking. My computer monitor is shaking.

The power is flickering now. Hopefully we'll make it into the morning okay. What a way to bring in the new year.

Static Electricity & Wind

I was playing with the Little Man yesterday morning. I had a blanket over his head and was playing peek-a-boo with him. He was loving it. That's when I noticed something more than his laughter and giggles. Something more than his smile.

And that is some serious static electricity! He was having so much fun.

Okay, Okay, I know his hair is a little long, what can you do? It will see scissors one of these days.

On another note our oldest boy was in tears today. As was I.... almost. Lineman had the two older boys outside having them help with moving things around, just getting ready for the move, etc. Well they noticed the oldest boy was not with them. The looked inside, checked the bathroom, looked in the garage. NOTHING. No where to be seen. After ten minutes we still couldn't find him. I put on a coat and headed out to help look for him. I was VERY scared about where he could be. It just didn't make any sense. He had just disappeared.

Finally Lineman found him and walked him back to the house. The boy was about half a mile away. He had been chasing a piece of paper that was being carried away by the wind. The wind kept taking the paper and he kept chasing it. He was in tears as he was trying to get the paper. When he got back to the house his face was all covered with red spots from crying so hard.

Sitting at the table minutes later and enjoying some freshly made vanilla pudding he says to us "I love the wind. I think everyone should love the wind." Yeah, we all love it son, we all love it.

Would you just get here already!

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Would you just get here already!

My mom? No, not my mom. Though she is driving to my house as I write this. She is coming down for Christmas. She had a bad start with weather up in Montana but she is now in front of the front that is moving down.

Lineman? No, but he will be flying in very soon. And we are soooooo excited for his arrival. However, that's not what this post is about.

Would you just get here already!!!!!!!!!!

Got ya stumped?

The storm! I wish it was here already! Why, you ask? Well maybe you didn't ask but this is my blog and I can pretend that you were about to ask me.

Another cold front is blowing in. The key word in that last sentence: BLOWING. The wind is just horrible again today. I took the trash out and nearly got blown down. In fact the wind is so bad and horribly loud I hear it coming through the baby monitor there above. I have no idea how Little Man is still sleeping in his room.

As soon as the storm arrives it will be cold and snowy. However, once it arrives that means that the wind will finally die down. So give me the snow. Give me the cold. Just turn off the wind.

Of Snow and Antelope

We got about two days of snow here. It had to be the prettiest snow I've seen in a long time. It was really interesting, something it's been years since I've seen. What you ask? It was snow falling down from the sky. Really, it was falling straight down. It didn't even go sideways at all. I told the boys to look at the snow falling straight down as we may never see that here again. In fact, I had to inform the boys that snow doesn't always come from the sky sideways. That's all they've ever known.

It has been cold too. It dipped to Minus 2 degrees here. I took the kids to swimming lessons and they had a hard time swimming through the large chunks of ice. However, when they got tired those same blocks of ice acted as little life preservers. So that really worked out well when the hypothermia set in. They really do take swim lessons, but I confess, they are indoor and it is incredible hot in the building. However, they threw their wet swim trunks in the back of the Suburban and after one quick stop the swim trunks were frozen solid. Oooo, imagine trying to put those back on.

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We had a herd of about 60-70 antelope come through yesterday. They came through our place and stopped at the bus stop.....

Bad Mom of the Day Award

The phone rang at 6:18 this morning. It was the school district calling. They have an automated computer calling system that alerts parents in case of emergency. The message said that school was still in session but there would be no rural buses operating today.

I called Lineman at 6:48. I said there were no rural buses today. He said it was cool our oldest boy would get to stay home. I told him there was school, just no rural buses. Lineman told me to just keep the boy home.

I'm too stubborn though.

I called a neighbor to see if she was driving her daughter in. She was and offered to take our son with her.

She picked him up and called me when she made it to town so I knew they had arrived safely. Safely? We only had about two inches of snow so I didn't think it was really a safety issue. Apparently I was wrong. The roads into town were all icy and it took them nearly three times as long to get to school.

Bad Mom of the day award for sure.

It continues... Now the wind is blowing (yeah, go figure, the wind is blowing here). So what does the wind blowing mean? Well, let me tell you. It turns into a ground blizzard every time. So what does that mean? I am suppose to pick up the boy since there are no rural buses. Do I really want to drive in with a ground blizzard? There is a good chance he will have to stay in town and sleep over at a friends house.

Bad Mom of the day award for sure.

We could all be home together, baking cookies, playing games and having fun. All warm and safe inside our cozy home. But no, I am too stubborn.

Bad Mom of the day award for sure.

Wonderful Weather

I just love Wyoming's peaceful, soothing weather. What with it's ever gentle breezes. Days where the wind is just a whisper across the prairies. The quietest of breezes that barely turn the tall grasses into a moving sea. Breezes that brush across your face in such a gentle way as to just alert you to it's ever quiet presence.

SSSCREEEEEEEEEEEECCHHHHHH!!
Someone wake me UP!

Yeah, our weather is absolutely NONE of those things. The wind blew all night and should continue through today and into Friday. That probably isn't going to do our garage any favors. The garage we built with our own bare hands. The siding is coming off at a pretty good rate. Somehow I don't see me putting it up by myself so unfortunately we will most likely have to hire someone to repair the damage.

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When I went in to check on the boys this morning the middle boy was awake just laying there. He looked up and me with a pitiful look and said "Mom, why does the wind have to blow so hard?" I feel so bad for the kids, their side of the house catches the majority of the wind.

Back in my bedroom I can hear the wind being picked up on the baby monitor.

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Well, just a day at a time. And although we may not have siding on the garage in a few more hours, at least the garage is not likely to blow away.... yet...

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And until then, someone turn the wind off!!!!

Fair Shots

These were my night shots for the fair. The first in color, the second in black and white. I had so much fun shooting these. The storm was getting pretty close to me and it started to rain when I finally used some good judgement and got out of there.
When I was growing up I used to be quite afraid of storms. I would usually go into my parents room and hop in bed with them. Obviously I got over that. My kids on the other hand get all excited when a storm rolls through saying, "Mom, are you gonna go take pictures?" Looks like I'm creating little storm chasers already!

During a storm we usually sit right by the window and look out at the lightning, enjoying the sounds and taking in the smell of resfreshing rain. What do you do during a storm?

Hair Raising

I remember a trip my family took when I was a little girl. We drove to the Grand Canyon, my brother and I fighting the whole way I'm sure. I love him now (hopefully it's mutual) but back then we would sure get into it. I'll have to tell some stories sometime! Well, for traveling my big brother would stack books and whatever he could get his hands on to make a WALL. He put that wall right between us so I couldn't bug him. Hey, I was his little sister and I looked up to him. Ugh, that wall was like the Great Wall of China, The Berlin Wall. Okay, so it wasn't like either of those things at all, but it did serve it's purpose.



Okay, a little off track there. The Grand Canyon. Yes, that's where I was, the Grand Canyon. We were at the Grand Canyon and we were walking along a rim of some sorts. My cyclops dad says he wants to take my picture with my mom. Oh, my dad's not really a cyclops, we just think he is because you can only see one eye due to the fact that the other is firmly placed behind the lens of a camera - Okay, so that trait seems to be genetic. Continuing on.... My mom and I go out onto this ledge to have our picture taken. Oh, by the way, there is a MAJOR lightning storm in the area. We walk out to the edge and the cyclops, uh, I mean my dad is getting ready to take our picture. My mom is saying "hurry, please hurry dear". I don't know it was a long time ago, it might have been a bit different. All of the sudden my mom looks down at her arms and all the hair on her arms are standing STRAIGHT UP! I look at her and her hair starts standing straight up! She grits her teeth through her smile and says something about hurrying with the picture, but..........



Oh, we were fine. He got the picture taken but is sure was hair raising!



Yesterday afternoon I spent some time snapping pictures of a storm that rolled through. I didn't dare go outside so I propped the door open and stood in the door way. Yeah, as if that was going to keep me safe. Enjoy the pics.

Wild Weather!

Today is a calm day after two consecutive days of wild weather. Thursday and Friday there were numerous tornadoes that touched down in this area. The closest one was about 3-5 miles north of us. This picture below is one that is in our newspaper.

Click here to read more about the tornadoes.

The Storm has passed

Wow, what a windy three days! The garage withstood the incredible winds that tested it. We have a shed that lost shingles, but not all of them. One of our wonderful friends lost their whole roof, right down to the plywood. Their two neighbors also lost their roofs along with siding.

We had many calls from friends in the area wondering how our garage was doing. They all new the power in those winds. I haven't heard of any other damage, but I am sure there was plenty. I am heading into town this morning and will be looking around for damage in the area.

Today the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and it looks to be the beginning of a beautiful day!

High Wind Warning

This is copied from Weather Underground

Statement as of 4:17 AM MDT on May 02, 2008

... High Wind Warning remains in effect until 3 PM MDT this afternoon... Northwest winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts t0 near 70 mph will continue this morning. Numerous wind gusts to over 60 mph have already been reported... including a gust to 67 mph at Cheyenne Airport early this morning. These strong winds will persist through early afternoon.A High Wind Warning means a hazardous high wind event is expected or occurring. Sustained wind speeds of at least 40 mph or gusts of 60 mph or more can lead to property damage. For specific Road and travel conditions in Wyoming and Nebraska... please dial 5 1 1.

I am so tired of this wind. I am tired of worrying about the garage. If we make it through today we should be good. I just want to go to town, go to the mall for the whole day, and not hear or feel the wind. I try to always be an upbeat person but this is getting ridiculous. This is day three of extreme wind.