Saturday, January 31, 2009

Even with just a little bit...










We didn't get much snow - only about an inch. We did get ice on top of the snow, though, enough to make it very slippery, and enough to support weight without breaking right away. Jim came in from clearing the walks and told us to get ready for some sledding. The kids were ecstatic! We let them slide (sled is not quite right) down the driveway - as long as there was an adult at the end to catch them! Jim could not let the day go by without a try - he went down the driveway, too!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Snow!









It is finally winter here in Baltimore. We have had a few days of cold weather, and a few flurries, but no real snow, no real storms. It is nice to see snow covering the bland greys and browns of winter.




















Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Not much of a holiday









Yesterday was a federal holiday. While Jim had the day off, it didn't mean it was a vacation. We worked anyway. Jim helped Dorothy clean her room. I did school with James, worked on my quilt top, and shoveled the snow that fell in the afternoon. Still, that wasn't the worst.
When we woke up we could hear that the street was wet - but not from snow or rain. We looked out the window to see a stream running down our street! Not long after we discovered that we had very little water pressure. Scratch laundry day.
After a while I went to prepare lunch, and found that there was no gas to the oven. No hot water, either, as the water heater is run on gas. Scratch baking and cooking other than in the microwave. Sometime later we lost all water to the house. Scratch doing dishes or running the dishwasher - or brushing your teeth!
We called both the city (for water) and BGE (for gas). BGE came out sometime in the afternoon. It took a while to get the problem located, but in the end it came down to a corroded pipe broke and filled with water. They worked through the evening, and sometime before 11 we had gas restored to the house (but the water heater could not be turned on, due to the lack of water!). It is very hard to sleep with jackhammers working outside your window.
Sometime after BGE was done the city came through. They worked during the night on the water problem. I heard the water come back on around 5 am - just about the time they began to use the jackhammer again! They will have to fix the large holes in the street soon.
Today we have to light our water heater pilot light so we can get back to work. And then it will be crazy, trying to catch up on everything that didn't get done yesterday!

Thursday, January 08, 2009

These past few weeks

This week has been busy - too much new stuff to put away, too many bowl games to watch, too much back-to-school! In a semi-quiet moment I sat down to edit some of our photos from "vacation." You can look at them HERE.

It was great fun to see everyone, and it actually was relaxing, other than the 8-hour trips to get there and back. We got and bought some really nice things - too much to fit into the car for the trip home. Thanks to those who hosted us, thanks to those who entertained us, thanks to those who gave us gifts. We love you all!