Simple Pilgrimage

This Winter has all the features of a prize fight with the next winter storm being Round 5. We’ve already had 5 ft. of snow with the current forecast being for 16 - 20 more inches on Tue-Wed. That will smash all records for accumulated snowfall for this region, along with a lot of property, no doubt. Donna and I traveled down Ivy Mill this afternoon and were surprised to see many trees had fallen over the road and been removed to the side of the road. There are many others ready to go with the next storm. At least there are no power feeder lines along that road. We were surprised how many driveways have not been cleared yet. If they’re out of town, they should stay there for a long time.

Posted on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 3:31 PM

I realized today as I took time to read some poetry by Rumi and to journal some just how much I’ve let my interior life slack.
For a good part of my life I had very good discipline with taking time to know myself, my motives, my feelings, and to focus on connecting with God. Unfortunately I’ve been neglecting that discipline for a while now and it’s showing in the rest of my life.
Hopefully my time this morning will be the jumpstart I needed to get that part of life back on track.

Posted on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 9:55 AM

Mike and friends came to visit last night to sled down our hill but the snow was too deep. He said our road was pretty bad, which is usually the case right after a storm. They left here looking for greater adventures, which his tweets indicate they found.

We think we ended up with 27 - 28 inches - it’s hard to tell for sure because of the wind. The official total for areas close by were about 27 inches. It’s interesting how fast the snow compacts in the sunlight. Snow depth at mid-day is already down to 21 - 22 inches. Nonetheless, this snow will be with us for a long time.

Thankfully, our power never went out - all the storms we had this Summer and Fall must have cleared the trees waiting to come down on our feed lines. I’m still glad we installed the emergency generator. BGE reported that nearly 8,000 homes lost power in Baltimore County - been there and done that but no more.

Our good neighbor cleaned our driveway with his tractor and front end loader. The piles at the edge are more than 5 feet high! At 6AM this morning, and again around 9AM, the County was cleaning the roads with backhoe/loader equipment. First time we’ve seen them do that but it worked pretty good - they even cleaned the snow over the ends of the driveway.

I refilled the bird feeders this morning as they were emptied during the storm. I had to dig out under the feeders so the squirrels can’t jump from the top of the snow when it hardens - they’re not out running around yet but it won’t be long.

Apparently, the accumulated snowfall so far this Winter is about 1 inch from the record for this area, and we’ve still go more than 5 weeks until Spring. We’ve already exceeded 5 feet of snow The storm forecast for Tuesday is for 6 inches, which would shatter the old record. Six feet of snow is easily within reach.

Oh, well, we have keep thinking that Spring is fast approaching and the water from the snow melt will fill the swimming pool.

Posted on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 9:40 AM

Now this is a snow storm, even by NY State standards! We’re close to 2 ft now, headed to about 3 ft when we’re done. This is a good one, for sure!

Yesterday morning we attended a funeral for the husband of a friend. It started snowing as we were driving to the funeral home at 11AM. At the cemetery, the snow was light and melting on the roads and grounds, which was actually better than rain would have been. Traveling throughout the afternoon was easy. It wasn’t until after 5PM that the temperature dropped below freezing and the snow started to accumulate.

At 9AM this morning, there was 18 - 22 inches of snow where we were out cleaning around the house. The local weather service is reporting 22 inches nearby - there is definitely more snow at this time than the December storm. The winds had died down from during the night when there was a lot of drifting. I awoke briefly before 5AM and heard thunder but did not see any lightning. Wbaltv.com is forecasting another 10-12 inches by the end of the storm tonight.

Donna and I cleaned some heavy snow from trees close to the house, especially Jack’s Magnolia and the big Scotch Pine. Donna dug out the front walkways while I dug out the emergency generator in case it is needed. It was buried and could have choked on the snow if it had tried to start. I also dug out around the heat pump for the garage side of the house. It was about half buried because it sits about 4 ft high. The gas fireplace is working good. We’re good to go for now!

The local news reports 33,000 people are without power around Baltimore. We had the emergency generator installed this Fall, which probably means we’ll never lose power again - a small price to pay for that security. One benefit of all the snow this Winter is the swimming pool will be full when Spring arrives. It was drained this Fall when renovated and then half filled before being closed. I checked the water during the thaw in January and it was near the top step so it is on schedule to be full in April. It’s hard to envision swimming right now but it is a pleasant thought.

At 11AM, it’s snowing harder with bigger flakes - thankfully, the winds are light. The bird feeders are attracting many birds. The post the feeders are on is 7 ft high but it looks much, much shorter right now. The backyard looks like a flat plane with all the bushes covered. Some of the outdoor furniture can still be seen but they are slowly being covered, too.

Pappy’s dog, Big Red, doesn’t know what to make of the snow. He’s less than a foot high so it is overwhelming to him but he has some paths cleared for him to go outside near the house.

Posted on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 8:20 AM

I heard this song for the first time last night and fell in love with it. Thought it might make a great “comeback” post. Enjoy.

My life, it don’t count for nothing
when I look at this world I feel so small
My life, it’s only a season
a passing September that no one will recall

But I gave joy to my mother and I made my lover smile
and I can give comfort to my friends when they’re hurting
and I can make it seem better for a while

My life, it’s half the way traveled
and still I have not found my way out of this night
My life, it’s tangled in wishes
and so many things that just never turned out right

But I gave joy to my mother and I made my lover smile
and I can give comfort to my friends when they’re hurting
and I can make it seem better for a while

- Lyrics by Iris DeMent

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I know that I’ve lost all readership but I am still alive, in case you were wondering. I’m also still skinny(have been maintaining about 190 through the winter) as that was a topic of interest on here.

My life is fairly boring these days though so that explains the lack of updates. Just working away, playing soccer(Indoor at SCOR now after a fall CVSA league), and trying to enjoy life some. You can always see smaller details on twitter (@danielfarrell) if you want to know what I’m up to.

Posted on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 12:27 PM

2010 is more than a new year, it is also the start of a new decade. We’re encouraged that this new decade will be a good one! The past decade was a challenging one. We miss our loved ones who have gone before us - Grace, Jack, Jarrett and Marion. We rejoice in the additions to our family - Mickey, Alicia and Sarah. One of the most consistent things about life is it is always changing. We have no choice but to take the bad with the good, trusting that God is in control and will work all things out for the good…

As far as this Winter is concerned, it is a real one! This area hasn’t had much snow the past few Winters so we are due for lots of snow, and it’s happening. With the December storms plus the 5.5 inches of snow last Fri-Sat and the 5 inches last night, accumulated snowfall so far is more than 3 ft. I just read that another storm is predicted for this coming Fri-Sat with an additional 15 inches, and the forecasters see more snow next Tue-Wed. Let it snow!

While this is abnormal weather for this area, it is mild for Upstate New York, where we moved from, where 200 inches (more than 16 ft.) a year is normal - one of the reasons we moved away! There is a weather video on AccuWeather.com about ice falling from the sky in Richmond, which is actually from an office building. The building entrance had to be closed for people protection - a good idea!

As one that watches the weather forecasts closely, I occasionally check The Old Farmers Almanac against the weather services and what actually happens. In some years, The OFA has good weather forecasts, and in some years they don’t - not unlike the National Weather Service. So far, The OFA has forecast rain when we have gotten snow. February is forecast to be warmer and dryer than normal but the opposite is happening and expected. So much for The OFA? Anyway, we can’t do anything about the weather except talk or write about in blogs… just like the weathermen but we don’t get paid for what we do.

Be encouraged though, Spring arrives in 6 weeks so this won’t last too long!

Posted on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 7:01 AM

This was a good snow storm but not a record setter or nearly as bad as predicted. The final accumulation where we live was about 17 inches over a 24 hour period. Some areas around us reported 20 + inches. It appears the worst of the storm was slightly East of us. The high winds forecasted never happened. We’re thankful that it wasn’t worse, and especially thankful for our neighbor Bob, who worked through the storm to keep our driveway plowed, and then came back the next day to help with the clean up, as did my son, Mike. This will give us a white Christmas, which is a rare event in this region. Everything is beautiful as we offically start Winter today.

One last comment - I checked the Farmer’s Almanac for 2010 just to see what they predicted. Their forecast for the period of the storm was warm weather and heavy rain, so they got it half right.

Posted on Monday, December 21, 2009 at 12:30 PM

This is a pretty good snow storm but the residents of Upstate NY would laugh at calling this a blizzard. Snowfall began around 11PM last night. At 2PM, I measured 12.5 inches of snow. My calculation says that is 15 hours so the snowfall is less than 1 inch per hour, which is one of the criteria for a blizzard as we learned and experienced living 10+ years in NY. The other criteria is wind, which is predicted to blow over 30 mph but hasn’t started yet. If that happens, this will be something because the snow is dry and will easily blow into some big drifts.

Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 12:20 PM

It’s still about a month away, but November is coming. It’s the time of year when we will start to worry about our Christmas shopping and contemplate how to avoid annoying family members at the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. But, a few thousand people (like, about 100,000), will be burning the midnight oil doing something else. The few, the inspired, and the possibly crazy will be registering for NaNoWriMo, aka National Novel Writing Month.

In a mere 30 days we will attempt to achieve the seemingly impossible, we will write a book. It may not be the next great American novel, but it will be. It will exist. We will have conquered the inner Editor/Judge/Bitch and the terrifying blank screen.

I’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo for the last three years, but I’ve never risen to the challenge. This year will be mine! I’ve started preparing, which will hopefully work better than the “winging it” I’ve done in the past.

First, I’m joining a writing group with fellow NaNoWriMo authors. We haven’t hammered out the details, but we’re gonna meet regularly to review each other’s work, give advice and encouragement…and more importantly, accountability.

Second, I’m looking for help. So far, I found that many people who have succeed at this in the past have a NaNoWriMo Survival Kit. Many of their suggestions include their laptop, candy for rewards, cozy socks and some sort of writing guide. Hmmm, what would be in my survival kit?

Of course, my laptop and my journal. Maybe some tea. Oh, and Nutella! And, many reminders from Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, Natalie Goldberg and others who tell us that this writing thing I’m choosing to do is not easy.

My third resource that will hopefully help me achieve this goal of writing 50,000 words in a month, is a new treasure to me called The Snowflake Method. It’s a 10 step guide to writing a novel. Seriously, they can break anything down into a 10- or 12-step guide these days.

Do you have any tips for surviving and thriving during NaNoWriMo?

Another tip I recently received about writing a novel came from some very wise authors at the most recent James River Writers’ event. The novelists each said that their novels start with a question they can’t answer, or a paradox they see in life. Today I spent my morning coming up with the question for my novel. I think they are right! I’m energized and excited for my story. Answering this question has become deeply important to me, and I know it will constantly be in my mind over the next few weeks. Ah, I love it!

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