After spending thirty-four years in Oklahoma I thought I was a veteran of every kind of storm there is. We had dramatic weather in every season from fire to blizzard. I truly believe the utility workers of Oklahoma are the best in the world, recovering from unimaginable damage over large areas with amazing dispatch. I was so happy to hear that Oklahoma crews were here to help Massachusetts recover from our recent winter storm.
This year since September we have experienced Sandy, followed almost immediately by a nor'easter followed by this recent nor'easter. I thought I was knowledgeable about storm preparation, but the storm that the Cape Cod Times is calling "Wintercane" and the Weather Channel is calling "Nemo" taught me a few things. First the winners of my preparation:
1. Knee high rubber wellies from L.L. Bean are worth every penny, even if they are not pretty.
2. Gigantic storm coats from L.L. Bean really do keep you cozy no matter how bad the weather gets.
3. The
Wovel is a good tool.
4. Everyone should have a Coleman Stove.
5. Headlamps are better than lanterns.
6. Down duvets will keep you toasty at night when it is under 40F in the house.
7. Wool socks FTW!
Lessons learned:
1. Get more and better snow removal tools for each of the cars.
2. The little plastic pusher that is great for 2" of snow on the deck is not a shovel. Get a good shovel.
3. The Coleman stove is good after the wind dies down, but in 40-60 mph winds gusting to 80 mph not so much. Mine actually blew off the porch.
4. Park the car(s) close to the street so you don't have so much to shovel.
5. Because the Coleman stove will not be really useful until the wind dies down have prepared foods to tide you over. We had peanut butter and jelly but could have had something better.
6. Little knit gloves are not suitable for shoveling. Get proper waterproof gloves suitable for heavy use.
7. Double check the charge on EVERYTHING. My Kindle ran out of charge.
8. If you do not have an established lawn service you will never get anyone to plow your driveway. :(
9. Cape Cod
will lose power with every storm no matter what (even if a car drives down the street too fast) and it may come back slowly. Don't let wishes blind you to this sorry fact.
Friday afternoon our storm started with a snow and rain mixture. When the wind shifted to the north it started snowing in earnest. I started clearing snow from the porches before I went to bed. Lights went out for good about 10 pm. We had average wind speeds of 40 mph all night, gusting to 85. Snow all day Saturday at a rate of over an inch an hour until 4 pm. We cleared the front porch an walk several times and started on the driveway but progress was difficult, to say the least. Temperatures in the house were quite cool, about 42 Saturday night, and under 40 Sunday morning. Lights came on Sunday evening. A lot of the Cape is still out, and streets in some parts of metro Boston are still impassable. Some areas will have freezing rain today. Altogether a tough storm for everyone. We were lucky not to suffer any damage (not so far obvious, anyway) but many were not so fortunate. Because we are not right on the coast we had less damage but more snow. A fair trade, I think. We were also lucky enough to have friends come to get us Sunday to get out for breakfast and a shower before returning home to dig out a car.
The local TV weatherman announced on the first of March that we were beginning meteorological spring, that is to say that the coldest months were now behind us and we could look forward to steadily warming temperatures. Astrological spring, that is to say the Vernal Equinox, is still a few weeks ahead of us. On Cape Cod spring comes when the waters of the Atlantic Ocean say it comes. The Atlantic moderates our fall and winter temperatures as well, but it's hard to be fair when it seems that winter will never end. Although I think we are past the chance of significant snow I have not yet returned the shovels to the shed.
Today we are having yet another winter storm. The winter storms around here have come nearly every week and last at least two days. Here on the Cape we are having mostly rain with periods of snow. On the mainland it seems to be all snow. Here on the Cape we are buffeted yet again by high winds and destructive tides. With the number of storms that have lined up since the first of the year there are crazy numbers of trees down. I've lost a couple of fence panels, and I don't have the heart to go out in the yard yet to pick up all the small branches that have come down. I watched my neighbor's trees waving around all morning, but did not want to look at my own for fear I'll see one about to come down.
As a matter of habit I knit for myself from January to June and knit for gifts from July through December, with exceptions made for emergency gifts and irresistible babies. Generally I start with two pair of socks, one plain and one fancy. Beach and gardening weather come along at the end of "Knit for Myself" season, so sometimes that's about all I end up with. This year I did make my plain pair of socks, a super thick pair of Online self striping intended to keep me cozy in the rubber wellies that have been an inescapable part of my weekend wardrobe.
A comparative glance at my bulging handknit sock drawer and lightly stocked outerwear bin, supplemented by a weekend spent wearing wool outerwear in the freezing cold and unlighted house quickly readjusted my priorities. I seem to have plenty of gorgeous alpaca mitts and cowls but few heavy weight gloves and hats. I currently have a pair of convertible mittens on the needles, a pair of gauntlets To warm up my alpaca poncho high in the queue, and am mulling over several cozy hat patterns. Of course I did buy some gloves for shoveling. None of my handknits will be put to such strenuous use.
Our group chose Jared Flood's Juneberry Triangle for a February knitalong. I started it in the last few days of January, but because I ripped out the initial attempt I consider it to have been a February start. Juneberry starts with a garter tab, has pattern on both sides, has a knitted on border and bobbles: four new skills for me. It's a fun knit for a knitalong because it can look quite different with changes of needle size, yarn weight, and intensity of blocking. I like a BIG shawl, so I made mine up in Cascade 220 (also makes it inexpensive!) on size 9 needles and blocked it severely. Love It! It will be making its debut tomorrow at Stitch & Bitch. It does need attention while knitting, so it may not have been the best choice to knit at meetings but I can hardly wait to see everyone's version.
Shana and I would like to have visited all of the beaches of Cape Cod - a rather heroic goal! Today we went to Corporation Beach, which I had seen once before but Shana had not. It's a beach especially loved by locals with small children because the water is shallow for a long way and usually quite calm. It has no services to speak of, so is not a big tourist attraction. We nearly had it to ourselves, along with Shelley and a friend of hers visiting from Oklahoma. Roxy had been furiously bored all week, so a walk on the beach with a few strange dogs to greet was just what the doctor ordered.
Tomorrow It will be South Cape Beach for a brief walk to entertain the dog and exercise Shana's achy back - as long as we don't have more of the awful weather we have had every weekend. Snow is expected again but not in the horrifying amounts we've had on past weekends. There are forecasts for a significant storm next weekend, forecasts which I hope prove to be wrong!
After spending thirty-four years in Oklahoma I thought I was a veteran of every kind of storm there is. We had dramatic weather in every season from fire to blizzard. I truly believe the utility workers of Oklahoma are the best in the world, recovering from unimaginable damage over large areas with amazing dispatch. I was so happy to hear that Oklahoma crews were here to help Massachusetts recover from our recent winter storm.
2. Gigantic storm coats from L.L. Bean really do keep you cozy no matter how bad the weather gets.
2. The little plastic pusher that is great for 2" of snow on the deck is not a shovel. Get a good shovel.
7. Double check the charge on EVERYTHING. My Kindle ran out of charge.
Friday afternoon our storm started with a snow and rain mixture. When the wind shifted to the north it started snowing in earnest. I started clearing snow from the porches before I went to bed. Lights went out for good about 10 pm. We had average wind speeds of 40 mph all night, gusting to 85. Snow all day Saturday at a rate of over an inch an hour until 4 pm. We cleared the front porch an walk several times and started on the driveway but progress was difficult, to say the least. Temperatures in the house were quite cool, about 42 Saturday night, and under 40 Sunday morning. Lights came on Sunday evening. A lot of the Cape is still out, and streets in some parts of metro Boston are still impassable. Some areas will have freezing rain today. Altogether a tough storm for everyone. We were lucky not to suffer any damage (not so far obvious, anyway) but many were not so fortunate. Because we are not right on the coast we had less damage but more snow. A fair trade, I think. We were also lucky enough to have friends come to get us Sunday to get out for breakfast and a shower before returning home to dig out a car.
