Ice Dams

The weather report for yesterday called for more snow. 1 to 4 inches. We laugh at that amount these days so harden have we become to snow. In another year that might have sent us into our "Oh my God, snow is coming!" frenzy. No one hardly blinked at the forecast though. It turned out to be a bust, a false alarm and only got a dusting that melted quickly.

We still have over 2 feet of snow on the ground. Not much melting has occurred yet. What little that has, has resulted in ice dams on the roof of the house. Ice totally fills the gutters. This is what the roof line look s at the front of the house.

As you can see, the gutters are completely ice filled and has built up another 3 inches above the gutter line and formed an ice dam.

The ice dams block the melting snow (water) coming off the roof. There is no where for the water to go and this sometimes results in water getting in under the shingles and leaking into the house. Where this is the worse is in the back of the house which has a southern exposure and gets the most sun. Hence more melting. In particular, it seems to be the worse on a small overhang over the kitchen windows. To help ease the problem, I needed to get the snow off this overhang. The trouble is getting to the overhang. Our deck has 2 feet of snow on it. I had to literally shovel my way onto the deck. The one plus is we can now access the grill!

I got our step ladder out and proceeded to remove the snow off the overhang. I limited the snow removal to what I could reach from our deck. There was no way I was actually getting up on our roof and break my neck in the process. I also borrowed the neighbor's step ladder, which was taller then the on I own and that helped a lot. I got most of the snow off and it seemed to help although the gutters are still chock full of ice.

Unfortunately the damage was already done. Leaking has occurred in the kitchen area. It's pretty hideous looking and will require some patching and a few coats of ceiling paint to repair it all.

We're holding our breath hoping we don't get leaking in other areas of the house as it would be impossible to get on the roof (although professionals have been cruising the neighborhood offer to do it at, I'm sure, a premium price) to get the snow off and thereby getting rid of the source of the leaking water. Send some good thoughts our way.

More of the Same

On the heels of the 22 inches of snow we received over the weekend, we have gotten another 6 inches of snow here Tuesday night into Wednesday. I started today's shoveling fun around 9:00 AM and finished around noon. The snow this time was a lot lighter and fluffier then the weekend snow so the shoveling went a lot faster (not to mention shoveling 6 inches is a lot easier then 22 inches). This is my driveway after about 15 minutes of shoveling.

The new snow provided a soft cover to the snow already on the ground and bushes.

With so much snow on the roof and the gutters clogged with snow, icicles are growing everywhere like stalactites in caves.

After about 2 hours of shoveling the driveway was complete. A plow hasn't been around yet so we won't be going anywhere today. Note that I have to shovel about 10 to 15 yards out onto the road to where the road had been plowed over the weekend.

Our road and no plow in sight.

No mail either, but at least the mailbox is accessible.

Another icicle growing off the roof in the back. That will take forever to melt.

Welcome to My Blizzard

You might have heard about the little snowstorm the Washington DC area went through over the weekend. The amount varied upon where you were, but in my neck of the woods we got about 22 inches of the white stuff. It started out innocently enough on Friday about 10:00 AM. At first it didn't stick to the roads as the temperature hung around the freezing mark. It did stick right away to the other surfaces though - like my deck.

As the evening approached, the snow started to stick to the road, sidewalks and driveways. Note along the side of the driveway, snow left over from Wednesday's storm.

The heaviest snow came in Friday night into Saturday morning. Snowing up to 2 or 3 inches an hour. Something unheard of in these parts. A classic northeaster with moisture being drawn up from the Gulf and then off the Atlantic. It snowed all day Saturday finally stopping around 8:00 PM. This what my drive way looked around 1:00 PM Saturday.

And this how the house looked from the snow covered street about the same time on Saturday. I shoveled about 2 hours as it snowed with not much to show for it other then a pile of snow by the basketball pole.

By Saturday mid-day, my deck also had a lot more snow on it.

This is what greeted me as I went out to shovel the driveway on Sunday morning. It had snowed another 3 inches from Saturday mid-day until it finally stopped.

Much shoveling ensued. As the day progressed more and more neighbors joined the fray. After about 4 hours of shoveling, the driveway was almost cleared.

We also cleared one snow shovel width of the sidewalk. One of our teenage neighbors helped us with the sidewalk.

With the help of our next door neighbors and another neighbor with a snowblower who dealt with the packed snow at the end of our driveway that a plow had packed in, the driveway was finally cleared. Success!

A plow came through today (Monday), but didn't clear more then the one lane already plowed. The streets are still a mess. The good news - we're getting another 8 to 10 inches tomorrow and Wednesday. Look at the driveway - where will I put the snow to come? Those piles are already 5 feet tall. Heaven help us all.

When Did I Move to Buffalo?

Since when did northern Virginia become Buffalo. So far we've gotten as much snow this year as in the last three years combined and it's still only the first week of February. We had the big storm in December where we got between 16 and 20 inches of snow. A season's worth for us. We got 6 inches of fluffy light snow last weekend and another 5 inches of the heavier traditional Virginia wet snow Tuesday night. Now come this weekend we are being told to expect between 16 and 24 inches of snow and near blizzard conditions. That could mean upward of 35 inches of snow in one week. That's three feet of snow people! To make matters even worse, they are predicting another storm for Monday night into Tuesday that could bring us another 12 inches of snow. Virginia is not Buffalo. We don't get lake effect snow. We're a mid-Atlantic state. We have moderate temperatures and precipitation. The closest ski areas are a good two hours drive away and they make most their snow because this region doesn't get enough natural snow. This makes no sense what so ever. At best we might get one good storm a winter season. Come tomorrow (Friday) I will do what every good Virginian does in the face of a storm - run to the grocery store and buy as much milk, bread and toilet paper as I can.

The Pain and the Blood

I had planned to talk about our second snowstorm of the winter that rolled through on Saturday. I had planned to rant about how our street never got plowed. I was going to describe how dry, light and fluffy the snow was making it so easy to shovel. But yesterday I had a follow-up eye exam that turned out to be pretty horrific so screw the snow. I have been seeing a specialist for my eyes as I have eyelashes (a few) that tend to grow backward toward my eye and the points scratch the corneas. After plucking the offending lashes for about a year, my regular optometrist recommended that I get them permanently removed. However, over the past few months, my eyes have been such a mess (very irritated, swollen and red), she has put it off and has been trying to get my eyes in a somewhat decent shape. I guess yesterday she finally decided that my eyes were ok enough. They did feel better I have to admit. Certainly the swelling was down and they felt ok. So yesterday it was decided to do "the procedure". I assumed they would be burned off, in some fashion, which in fact they were. But first - first-they had to numb the area around my eyes so I wouldn't feel the burning. The way they numb the area? Shots in your lower eyelid. OMG the pain! She injected the numbing agent in three separate stabs (and stabs they were) in each lower eyelid. I could feel the needle enter a good 1/4 inch and stay for the few seconds it took to dispense the medicine. Man did that hurt. After the first eye, I was really dreading the second eye. I think the anticipation added to my discomfort. Also, after the shots were administered in the first eye, she advised me to dab my eye with the Kleenex her assistant had handed me. I figured it was to get the tears out my eyes, but lo, when I looked at the Kleenex after dabbing my eye, was a Kleenex covered in blood. OMG, the blood - the blood! I looked like I was bleeding out. Repeat with the second eye. More pain and lots more blood. Finally the blood flow was stemmed somewhat and we got to the procedure itself. It's always comforting when the Doctor tells you not to move since she was using a very sharp object and she would hate to poke me in the eye with it. She had her assistant hold my head tight to the device I had mashed my head up against. The actual procedure was, after all that, pretty unremarkable. She did in fact burn them and then pluck them out showing each to the assistant and remarking see how the follicle came with the lash? I certainly didn't feel anything, at least in my eye. I did feel a good deal of heat at my chin, which I thought was a bit weird. Five offending eyelashes met their doom - three from my right eye and two from my left. Afterward my doctor told me I could apply ice to my eyes to reduce the swelling, which didn't sound good. I could imagine two black eyes swollen shut as the day wore on. Looking like I just gone several rounds with someone who had pounded the crap out of my face. Fortunately, my eyes never did swell much and no black eyes. Today my eyes actually feel better then usual so maybe we're headed down the right road. I'd love to get back into my contacts again. I go back in 6 weeks for a follow-up. Lord I hope she doesn't discover anymore rouge lashes.

Oh Baby It's Cold Outside

Today dawned bright and sunny and very, very cold. The temperature was only 17, which is Arctic conditions around here. Of course, The Son had called the day before to say his heat had gone off - again. We arranged to have a repairman come by this morning. That meant I had to hustle down there, my work laptop in tow since it was a work at home day, and wait for his arrival. We had lent The Son a space heater from the last time and it really does a good job at keeping the place tolerable. Anyway, I got my laptop plugged into his Internet gateway and worked away. The repairman showed up around 930 so I didn't have to wait all that long. Turned out his pilot light had gone out (The Son has gas heat). The repairman was there all of about 15 minutes and the heat was on and running and I was $130 poorer or The Son will be when he pays me back. He did show me how to relight the pilot in case it happens again. A good thing to know.

The forecast is calling for snow tomorrow. We're suppose to be on the northern edge of it so we won't get as much as southern Virginia, but we might still get upwards of 4 inches. That forecast should be enough to clean the stores of milk, bread and toilet paper. They keep changing the forecast and expected accumulation amounts. I guess I'll need to watch the weather reports later tonight to get the latest. Sounds like a good weekend to have a fire.

Went to the Dermatologist on Tuesday. No weird looking moles or anything so I guess I'm good for another year. Eyes are also feeling better. I do a follow up on them on Monday. Good part about that is that it's another work at home day. Yea!

What Weekend?

I just had a three day weekend curtesy of a compressed work schedule, but now looking back to do a recap, I'll be darn if I can remember half of what I did. Well lets see what can dreg back up.

For blog that titles itself: "Ready...Row", there hasn't been much on rowing lately. This is due mostly to the time of year. There isn't much rowing going on in these parts during the winter, at least out on the water. Heck up to this weekend, the Occoquan has been frozen in places. The Park Authority also takes a dim view of rowers out in this cold weather and water. Unfortunately there hasn't been much indoor rowing, or erging as it's called, by yours truly either. It goes this way almost every year. By the time my rowing season ends in November, frankly, I'm a bit burnt out and take a break. Plus going from rowing on the water to rowing on the erg really sucks. So by taking a break, my fitness level goes into the toilet. By the time I realize I need to get with it, my times on the erg suck and I get discouraged and I don't erg as much as I should. This year seems worse then usual. By the time I got back on the infernal machine, my 5,000 meter time was horribly bad. Like beginner bad. Like times I had when I first got the erg back in the mid 90s. I'm sure the fact that I had a bad cold and was hacking up lots about of goo from my lungs didn't help matters any. I've been trying to be a bit more diligent with getting on the erg more frequently. So far, I've take a minute and half off my 5,000 meter time. My time still isn't good though. Its gone from being horribly bad to just bad. Hopefully I can get it to something resembling reasonable over the next few weeks. Come 1 April. I want to be able to hop into a single and be able to do a decent 7 or 8 mile row without gasping for breath and taking a break every half mile or so.

Saturday morning was the initial get together for the Board of Directors/Officers for my rowing club as we try to get things ready for the 201o season. The best I can say for the meeting is that it was held to only 2 hours and we did nail down what coaches we want to approach to come work for us in 2010 and the dates for our "Learn to Row" days. We have a bunch of newcomers on the Board this year, which is a good thing really, but it was obvious it's going to take a meeting or two to get everyone up to speed. While we're at it since this is a pretty informal organization, if we could keep our Roberts Rules or Order at home that would be a big help also.

Other than that, not much went on over the weekend. The usual chores and a lot of football watching on Sunday. Poor Brett. Is it in his DNA that he has to throw an interception late in play-off games with the game on the line?