20 inches and still snowing

As of noon today, the snow is at least 20 inches deep, measuring on the top of the trash cans, which is about the most accurate we can get right now. It's still snowing at a pretty good pace, but the wind is picking up a bit more now, too, so it may be harder to measure accurately later on.

Our satellite is covered by snow. We lost our TV coverage last night. We have to get our news by radio or internet at this point. I haven't yet been able to find a site that lists the total snow amounts hour by hour.

The above picture was taken from our front porch. That's as far as I was willing to go, since I don't want to risk my camera. Everything is white, white, white. It's lovely to look at, but I'm just hoping to get through the rest of the storm without losing our power again. When we lose our power, we lose our heat. We were without power this morning from about 5:30 to 9:15. The house got down to about 65 degrees, which isn't too bad. We do have a wood stove style fireplace that can keep the house warm, but due to my asthma problems, it's a last resort. We didn't have to use it, thankfully.

The forecast is for 20 to 30 inches by the end of the storm. We're already at the 20 inch mark, so presumably we'll get at least a few more inches, and maybe the full 30 by tonight.

The final total and more pictures will be posted tomorrow or soon after.

Three Point Shot

Today was Josiah's first basketball game of the season. He has been anxiously awaiting the start of basketball again, which he loves.

During the game, he made a 3 point basket. I lucked out getting the video. It's over in a heartbeat, but if you watch carefully, you can see the ball soar right through the net. You can also hear me scream, "YES!" in the background.

Maori Haka War Chant

The Priest's Quorum (16 to 18 year old Young Men) at church needed a skit about courage, so one of the missionaries (who is of Tongan heritage) taught them the New Zealand Haka War Chant. They performed it together, with Elder Ika leading it. Elder Ika chanted in Maori, and not English. They slapped their legs pretty hard. My son said his legs were bruised the next day!

One of the Maori words sounded like a really bad English swear word, but it really wasn't.

I had taken the video off because it had stopped working, but I'm posting it again.

Happy 2010 !

After taking our teenage son to a dance, I spent the rest of the evening at home on New Year's Eve with my husband. We were watching "The Music Man" and fell asleep sitting side by side on the couch. I'm not sure what woke me up, but we slept through the end of the old year! We woke up briefly for a short time and said, "Happy New Year!" to each other, but went to bed shortly after our son came home at 1:00 a.m.. Thankfully someone else was to bring him home. Evidently neither of us would have been awake or alert enough to be out driving.

Obviously we're not exactly party animals, either.

Still, I really hate being out on the roads late on New Year's Eve, anyway, because there is a higher risk that there will be drunk drivers on the road. Even on New Year's Day (afternoon) when I went out to run an errand, a car was weaving all over the road. I guess he hadn't finished celebrating. If he didn't turn off that road, he would have gone right past the police station. I can't help hoping he got nailed by the cops. I chose to go another way, though, so I'll never know. Several years ago a friend was killed by a drunk driver. I wasn't about to stay in the same vicinity with anyone who was weaving from lane to lane.

With the new year come resolutions. Mine? I'm just dusting off the ones from last year and trying again!

Forget the shovel, get a plow!

We don't often get big snowstorms where we live. Usually it snows a couple of inches and melts right away. Four inches can shut things down, because we don't average enough snow in the winter to justify spending taxpayer money on the cost of more snow removal trucks and equipment. Or so I've heard.

However, once every 4 to 7 years we get a really heavy snowfall. This is one of those times. At noon today I measured 13 inches on our side porch, which is not sheltered. It hadn't started drifting yet, so it was a pretty accurate measurement. It is expected to keep snowing till tomorrow morning. Predicted accumulation is expected to be between 14 to 22 inches (last I heard).

I've been sick, so I'm not venturing out, but I took a few photos from my open doors. If you click on each photo, you can look more closely at the details. The grainy appearance of the photos is actually snowflakes still falling. The top image is a view looking up the street from my side porch (and yes, that tree in the yard across the street does lean like that), the middle photo shows the drift piled in front of the corner of my front porch (which is sheltered by a roof), and the bottom photo is zoomed in on a couple cars parked on the street. When the plow finally comes through, all the cars on the street will be buried for days. They're getting buried now as it is just with the snow that's falling. The snowplows will just finish the job.

Sometimes I enjoy the rare heavy snowfalls, but today is our 34th wedding anniversary, and we had tickets for a concert tonight which we won't be able to get to now. We are definitely a bit disappointed about that. However, we have a nice, warm home, food to eat, games, and plenty of DVDs to watch if the Direct TV dish gets too covered with snow to get the signal.

If it's fall then it's time.....

To go to Cox Farm! Our oldest son and his family came to visit us in October, and of course we had to take them again to the Fall Festival. Although the farm mainly grows plants to sell in the spring, for the Fall Festival they bring in animals and produce. It's basically a farm amusement park that is only open in the autumn. The slides, rope swings, hay bales & tunnels, hayrides and animals make for a fun day for everyone, young or old. One thing we enjoyed that we hadn't experienced before was to see the milking demonstration. The farmer was quite entertaining, and the kids in the audience got to "milk" the cow a little. Even those that didn't try to milk the cow petted her.

Stranger Danger

Parents tend to coach younger children about the dangers of strangers, and you worry about your daughters, especially when they become beauties, but how often do parents worry that their teenage boys will be a target?

On Wednesday, Josiah went to an afternoon teaching appointment with the missionaries. I dropped him off at the local grocery store where the missionaries were waiting for him. I watched them walk off to a nearby neighborhood and went on my way. I was to be back to pick him up at 4:00 p.m.

At 3:55 p.m, I was on my way. Josiah called to see how near I was. I told him that I'd be there in 5 to 7 minutes. Brother Lowe was going to drop him off, and since I would be arriving soon, he left Josiah in front of the grocery store.

In the next few minutes while Josiah was waiting for me to come, a young man who was about middle to late twenties left his buddy near the doors of the store and approached Josiah and said, "Hey, give me a hug!"

Josiah was startled and responded, "No, thanks." Then he turned a little and walked a few steps further away. The man, who had a lighted cigarette in his hand, came around to face him again and again demanded, "C'mon, give me a hug, I won't burn you or anything!" Josiah said, "No!" more firmly this time and again stepped away.

Once more the man followed, and he told Josiah, "C'mon, two guys can give each other a hug and not be gay! Give me a hug!"

Josiah stepped back again and in a quiet but determined voice told him, "Get away from me!"

The man then asked, "What's the matter, are you Mormon or something?" (It was an easy guess, since Josiah was dressed like a missionary and was carrying his scriptures.)

Josiah responded, "As a matter of fact, I am."

The man, cigarette still in hand, said, "Great! So am I! Give me a hug!" He stepped closer.

Josiah really felt at this point that the man had malicious intent, and this time had to actually push the man away from him since he got so close. The man looked over Josiah's shoulder at a group of teen boys that were now fairly close behind Josiah. Josiah had been gradually moving closer to them as he kept trying to retreat from the man's advances.

The man then said, "I just want to tell you one thing."

Josiah replied, "What?"

The man said, "There is no God!" and turned and went back to his smoking buddy near the doors of the store.

I pulled into the parking lot right after that.

Had it not been for those teenage boys being there, the man probably would have continued to accost Josiah. We have no way of knowing what the man's intent was, but everyone I've spoken to about this incident thought the man was trying to harm Josiah in some way.

Josiah is 16. He is slight of build and looks younger than he is. The man who approached him was also slight of build, but he had a buddy not far away.

We should have reported it to the police immediately, but we didn't actually go in to make the report until the next day, after realizing that what happened probably had very sinister implications. The policeman asked Josiah if he would recognize the man again. Josiah told him that he definitely would. The officer then told Josiah that if he ever saw the man again, to call 911. Evidently the policeman also thought the incident had potentially serious implications.

Parents, warn your children, no matter how old they are. Teach them to YELL, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" if anyone approaches them in a way that makes them uncomfortable. Josiah never yelled or did anything that would have drawn attention to his situation. I have no doubt that he was protected by the Lord, and that those teenaged boys who just "happened" to be there weren't really there by chance.

If the creep had grabbed Josiah, I might have arrived in time to see Josiah struggling with him, but possibly not. It happened in so little time.

I am so grateful that my son is safe, but I will never again be so careless about my son being alone in a public place in broad daylight.