Snowmaggedon!

Hi everyone,

Writing this blog today and it's bloody early n the day of course because I think my fingers are the only muscle group not aching.  Yes, we had a little frozen precipitation and we handled it just a fraction better than the UK does, which means it was poor at best.  Yes I know it's a "once in a lifetime" storm -a bit like 2010 was so I'm assuming they mean once every kid's lifetime -, and the sheer volume of snow makes it incredibly hard to simply push it out of the way, after all it's got to go somewhere but here's my thoughts.

The communication and co-ordination of the plows (editors note - Yank spelling, for UK readers I of course mean plough) seems massively lacking, I'm not sure where the responsibility of Loudoun County stops, and the Home-Owners Association (HOA) begins, but when you see a plow come down, do a partial sidestreet and a cul-de-sac  you kind of assume it's going to turn and plow your part... nope.  Never saw him again.  What I did see & hear was a gritter going up and down outside our house at 4am. Yes, his warning lights work well, as does his reversing alarm.  His traction less so, as he got stuck 20yds past us, leaving the rest of the street untouched.

Given the temp rose  yesterday and still nothing came through despite the street becoming slushy, I was able to dig down to the road and clear an easy walking strip so I could cart the snow from around the car across to a massive pile - which ended up higher than me and I'm not even finished yet.  It just seems more of a mess than normal and I wonder what lessons can be learned to prevent such a shambles next (lifetime!) I'm not even convinced the roads were treated at all, of course with 30+ inches of snow over them it's unlikely to have solved much, but maybe it would help the thaw.

Anyway, I'm not a weatherman so what the hell do I know? What I do know is the drifts around the cars were more aggro than expected and for me the hardest part was shoving the snow off the car roofs, and I'm tall enough to reach across.  When Paul gets round to clearing his car I'll see how he  manages!  So far he totals as much time "supervising" as shoveling and even that seems to have been too much for the poor old man!

For the kids obviously Hannah is much too small to understand or be out in it, but Ryan has covered himself pretty well and left many 'Boo Piles' on the deck and in the garden but realistically its probably too much for him to have loads of fun.   School is closed and I'm not sure who will crack first Mommy or the icicles hanging from the roof!  Jessica does not handle being stuck indoors with 2 demanding kids & me very well so there might be another epic meltdown before the weekend!

Stay tuned!
J,J,R &H

New Year, New Blog Post!

Hi everyone,

Its 2016!  Was I tempted to be lazy and simply do a 2015 review? Of course, but if I did that I'd simply allow you to not read the majestic posts you can look up yourself so I've done you a favor you lazy so & sos, leave your gratitude at the bottom of the post, consider it a 1st step in your own resolution list.

Onto to thoughts & plans for this year, well obviously no additions are planned as we worked long & hard to get Hannah here and just like in my family the 2nd one is proving all the trouble.....feisty is probably a good word for her at this time, she hasn't got any teeth yet (soon to be remedied I hope because she's suffering) but I swear she'd try to eat steak if she got her hands on it.  She's clearly learning from Ryan & the older children at daycare and once she becomes more mobile we better watch out.

As Jessica saw in the New Year with a bout of Flu I got to stay awake watching the monitor as she wiggled & rolled round her crib, I almost wouldn't have been surprised to see her climbing out such was her activity, she's obviously excited for 2016.

Ryan is excited too, once he recovers from the mountain of toys Santa graciously left him, clearly Santa went shopping at intervals throughout the year and perhaps forgot all that he'd got until the elves dropped from the exhaustion of wrapping.  I foresee a better balance this Xmas!

Will we still have all 3 cats by the end of the year, I'd hope so, after a bad spell earlier Jet seems back to her inelegant best, hopefully she can put her "low-age blood" to good use and have several years ahead of her, Poof remains fat and cuddly when he wants something, he's sort of got a :oh, what's the point?" attitude these days declining to run too far or too fast he lets Jake chase him now. As for Jake the thug he may be the yougest but he's also the most vulnerable, especially when Jessica sees him sniffing round Hannah, 1 scarred kid is more than enough you bundle of fur!

For Jessica & I hopefully work becomes a little more consistent, from my perspective I head into 2016 determined to prove overlooking me for promotion on the slimmest of reasoning will be seen as a mistake, and I will leave nothing to chance this year, can't go into too many details but I remain confident nothing will hold me back over the next 12 months, and if people don't appreciate what they've got, I know others do/will.

Hard to think that this time last year we hadn't even announced the expected arrival of Trouble 2, Boo wasn't yet at Kindergarten, and how well has he settled in? Even beat my expectation because I knew he adapts to change really well, though he does hate homework - who doesn't?  He'd not yet played T-Ball, nor found Kinetic Sand or Plants vs Zombies, and was in the middle of deciding which bedroom he liked (ours till November it turned out).

The weather remains seriously off-kilter, I know we got snow as late as April in 2015, I recall one especially slippery drive to the Dr's as Jessica was concerned.... but I am having trouble believing this winter is going to be too snowy & wild, hopefully it turns to Spring really fast, a young kid in tow in deep snow is a situation I can gladly avoid!

Ok, enough meandering, till next time.

I hope 2016 kicks ass, we intend to make sure ours does, stick around for the ride!

J, J, R & H