From Lasagna Snow to Minor Flooding

January and early February were a blend of snow, extreme cold day after day after day, furnace problems and the most challenging: insurance problems that held up George's medicine he has to have. A very stressful few weeks. 

The amount of drifted snow that gets pushed of the roads in the Laurel Highlands of PA is impressive! This is a mile or so past our son's farm, in one of the areas they call "the flats", where the winds continuously blow the snow across large fields This is several weeks' worth of pushed back snow. The plow drivers are very skilled at pushing the first snows way back from the road, ensuring there will be room for more snow to come. 

As beautiful as the snow was, it was very difficult to get around in. I called it lasagna snow, because it ended up as layers of snow, ice, snow, ice. This is our field below the house beside the river. We tried a couple walks there, but each step was a struggle of breaking through the ice. You would be on top of the snow for a couple seconds, then bam, break through. Pull your foot out, take another step, break though again. It was exhausting! 

It finally started a nice slow melt, and the frozen river thawed nicely, without any ice jams that we could see from our house. 

Then it rained. Hard. Thunder. Lightning. The whole shebang. 

Just minor flooding, but enough to block our access to the field. This is where we normally drive across. 

Not walking across the pond on the walking bridge either! 

 

By this morning, the flood was gone, and the pond and the river in the distance were no longer one body of water. 

And in a few places, the grass was turning quite green (for February)! 

It was soooo nice to be able to get outside for a couple of days and enjoy the warmer temps and even some sunshine. There were actually a couple more nice days that we didn't get to enjoy because we both picked up a nasty stomach bug earlier in the week. No fun. No fun at all.

Anyway, back to the weather. I stayed out today until I couldn't see any more in the darkness. Why?

Because we under a winter storm warning starting at 1:00 AM. Noooo!!!!!!!

Predictions are everywhere from 2 inches to 10 inches. Here's hoping for the lower amounts!

(Although the last few snows were too cold and icy for sled riding. Maybe this one will be just right!)

Ceiling Tile Trash to Treasure

George and I met up with Jessica one day last summer to check out some antique shops in Frederick, MD. It felt so strange to us to be out antiquing for the day, without looking for stuff for the store. Usually those days would end with us bringing back a truckload.

Instead, I bought one thing...

I fell in love with this old tin ceiling tile. Though I didn't like the dark dirty parts. 

I knew I wanted to hang it in out bathroom, but before I got the chance, I went to a wonderful local store called Whispering Pines. It's absolutely gorgeous! 

While I was there, I found the 2 embossed flower pictures on each end. Love!!! I had actually admired them last Christmas, but didn't have any place in mind to hang them. But now I do! I couldn't believe how perfectly they went with the ceiling tile. And bonus... they were on sale! 

But now I really felt the need to do away with dark, dirty part. I like the chippy bluish green with gold showing through, but I couldn't figure out how to keep that and get rid of the dark parts.

So, I decided to paint the whole thing. We found a chalk paint that complimented the color of the embossed pictures. It was a chalk paint which I honestly don't really care to use, but it was the best match we could find. 

After painting it, I used a sanding block to lightly distress it. Then I sprayed it with a sealer (and wouldn't you know, I got a couple runs in the spray varnish. Sigh)

But despite the runs, I absolutely love how it came out!!

They fill the wall, which is what I was hoping for. I love the colors, and how the embossing of the floral pics goes so well with the embossing of the ceiling tile. 

I wouldn't normally think of decorating a bathroom with canning jars, but I have several old blue jars, and the color is so similar to the wall grouping that I couldn't resist. 

Patience won out. I waited a couple years before I found what I wanted on that wall space, and once I saw the ceiling tile in that shop, it all snowballed. Yay! 

A New Year Ice Jam

 What a difference a day makes.

I was hoping to go to a state park yesterday for a first day hike to celebrate the New Year. 

But it was SO COLD. Wind chills in the single digits. 

So, I took a quick walk down to the Casselman River instead.

It had been running high and free in recent days with warmer weather.

But this Arctic cold front brought back the snow and BRRRRR IT HURTS YOUR FACE cold. 

It sure was nice to see the sun again, despite the cold.

Today, we looked out the window one direction, and the water was flowing.

But then we looked down river.

Ice jam!!

Here and there, water was running, but most is ice. It was cool that in some places where the ice is thinner, we could see the movement of the water underneath.

Hopefully it will break free soon without flooding. Warmer weather is coming again. It will be interesting to see how the river looks tomorrow. 

George grew up along a creek, so this is nothing new for him, but it is for me, and I find it fascinating to watch the river and all its changes!

Edited to add: I never got back around to posting about what happened after this. The ice did break free, and melted without any flooding, Yay! It didn't last long though. A few days later, the bitter cold came back, more brutal than before. The river froze again, and it snowed. And snowed. And snowed. But more impressive was the long bitter cold snap. Brrr!!!