GOOD SUNDAY Feb 5th 2006

Not nice, Gem. We tend to avoid driving in conditions like that. And losing your power is definitely not a good thing! What do you do when that happens?

Higs, Katherine

I'm still fighting the flu, and am very achey and

See, you shoulda been lying on the couch with a novel, instead!! (:-)

Hope you feel better soon.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Light the kerosene lamp, and candles.... and if the power stays off long, we just blow them out too and go to bed and snuggle under the blankets to keep warm. Of course Matthew has his sleeping bag to snuggle in (he prefers that), and I have Casper lay on my bed snuggled against me. ;o) Buffy snuggles on my old winter coat in the laundry room beside the kitchen... we have a short partion (not an actual doorway) up to keep the dogs separated while they eat and sleep, but the laundry room is as warm as the rest of the house and when the furnace is on (when the hydro doesn't shut it off) Buffy will often lay beside the vent.

We lost the power about four times tonight.... not for long each time, but still. And the Satellite was out of commission last night, and again for most of the day today, until Matthew climbed the antenna and brushed the accumulation of snow and ice/slush off it. So after watching one movie on video (long before the hydro went out), I was bored and didn't feel like watching another movie, so I just went to bed. Matthew stayed on the computer chatting with a friend until the hydro shut everything off on him.

Matthew has been out for short stints throughout the day (it is bitterly cold and blowing like crazy, and that snow is very VERY heavy with slush on the lower layer and packing snow on top of that) four or five times now, shovelling a few feet of the laneway each time. The last time he was out was at the half-time of the Superbowl game and he did down to the sidewalk. Now he just went back out to hopefully finish off from the sidewalk to the road... and to widen/straighten it a bit... he said it looked like it had gotten narrower as he went toward the sidewalk so he wants to fix it.

Hi Gem:

Glad to hear you are finally feeling better...dental work..not the most pleasant..ughhh! That wintery weather sounds terrible, we were spared yet once again here in the Niagara Falls area. We had a heavy rain fall warning and just a dusting of snow today. The winds are wicked though, no power loss yet. Our turn will come, winter is not over yet .

Donna from Ontario, Canada

If you opened the day Mirjam, I will close it, sleep well everyone, time to turn the computer off and get ready for bed.

Els on the WestCoast

That sounds like here. FOrtunately, we don't lose the power much any more.

Higs, Katherine

Thank you... I am glad that you too recognize that winter is not over yet. I have run into so many people (most especially in the last couple of weeks when the weather was unseasonably wonderful) who were saying "Oh this is great weather and it can only get better from here." I said "Okay, not wanted to put a damper on your good feelings about the weather or anything.... but you DO realize that it isn't (or is just barely... depending on when it was said) February, right?!? February is the WORST month for winter weather... no matter what the earlier part of winter is like, we normally get hit with a LOT in February. So don't be fooled... it isn't over til it's over!"

After typing up this last message about losing the power about four times... we lost it a few more times (as I said in another message)... but we got through it. The sun is shining today, and hopefully it will help to melt some of the snow and ice away. That was very weird though... we went from no snow on the ground whatsoever last week, to knee deep (and deeper) in places. Good thing Matthew was home to shovel out the laneway, otherwise I would be stranded here, unable to get out of the laneway at all. I certainly couldn't just drive through it... I would definitely have gotten stuck.

Anyway, keep warm... and I hope the bad weather keeps missing you! :o)

Gem

Considering that half of a tree down the road (at the old neighbour's house) was down last night, I am wondering if that is what took the power out most of the time. The trees were SO heavy with all that snow, I wouldn't doubt if trees and wires were taken down a few times over the weekend. I know when it happened on Saturday night for all that time, it was town-wide (and beyond... someone in the nearby city where Matthew works told me that the east end - toward our town - lost power for a few hours on Saturday night too).... not too sure about the few intermittent times last night though... that *might* have been just on this street or two.

Anyway, I am definitely heading off the computer to go rest now and see if I can't get myself to feeling better for later in the day.

Gem>> Light the kerosene lamp, and candles.... and if the power stays off

Hi Gem:

Oh, I hope it keeps missing us as well but like you say..it's not over yet. We tend to get some very nasty ice weather in March sometimes so still have that to look forward to. The sun is shining here today as well but the wind is really fierce as in "blowing away to Kansas" fierce . Again, I hope you recover from your dental probs soon, I can relate really well.

Donna from Ontario, Canada

Take care.

Higs, Kather> Considering that half of a tree down the road (at the old neighbour's

got the hat done ,and half of one bootie,but it looks too big so it may come apart to be redone, I'll try to get a photo of the set when its finished. Jenny

Speaking of power outages, we have had our share here, as well as rain and wind storms. There were so many storms one after the other, that Otto fixed up an old car battery and hooked up a lamp with a halogen light to it. We cook on gas, and we have a wood stove, so in the end we were very cosy. Good for us, other wise the last time that the power was out over the weekend, we would have been for over 4 hours in the dark. Lots of branches off the trees and the neighbours had trees over. Lets hope that it is all over, but just like the winter is not over in the eastern parts of the country, so will the wind and rain stay around a bit longer in the west part of the country.

I have been busy make a very pretty kumihimo braid for a good friend, that is long overdue, and I am knitting a pair of neat socks for my son in law Murray.

Well the first day of the week is over again, let go and deal with the rest of it

Els

We all should be prepared like that, but we aren't. We have flashlights and candles, and rechargable lights which some on when the power goes, and we have a kerosene heater which is handy. But we really should have a generator.

Higs, Katherine