Category Archives: Weather

Slammed Again

Posted on February 13, 2014 by AnnieRie

Mother Nature is winning. Howard County got slammed again with snow, sleet, freezing rain. Oh, and after it stopped for a few hours, it started again.

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And, they lied. The 1-3 inches predicted is already 4 1/2 inches. On top of the 16 inches this morning.

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Getting the snow away from the garage to get the snow thrower going. Thankfully, our neighbor’s son assisted with their ATV to clear part of the driveway.

Tonight though, I am worried about the weight of this snow. Trees are getting bogged down all over again.

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I always worry about the lace maples.

As for tomorrow, there is another storm coming in the evening. I wonder if we will even have the Conservancy event Saturday. Check out the website to see if it gets canceled.

As for us tomorrow, we are crossing our fingers that we make it to the ribbon cutting and grand opening of Secolari, in the Mall.

Did I say I hate winter?

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Heading Back Out There

Posted on February 9, 2014 by AnnieRie

Putting together my spring calendar, in hopes of the weather changing. As usual, the Howard County Conservancy and my volunteer work will keep me busy for the next few months.

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How?

A hike and lecture this Tuesday. For naturalists and potential new volunteers and our friends.

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A lecture on the history of Belmont. The site over in Elkridge that the Conservancy will be managing. Where there will be events and summer camp and future field trips.

Saturday the 15th, we are celebrating the lunar New Year with a free event highlighting Chinese and Korean traditions to celebrate. 10 am.

Naturalist training begins in a few weeks. Field trips in April and May. I can’t wait to get outdoors and look for emerging signs of spring.

That’s because I am so tired of winter.

Anyone else ready to get outside?DSC_0012

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Ice Isn’t Nice

Posted on February 5, 2014 by AnnieRie

In the ongoing saga known as the winter of 2014. Now, we get ice.

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It was close to half an inch on every surface around our house. Now, as I write this, the wind is howling. I hope not to hear the CRACK, THUD we heard all day today.

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Only a fraction of the evergreen damage. Our property is surrounded by mature pines, spruce and fir trees. 20-30 year old trees. These by the driveway were many of the Christmas trees bought with the root ball and planted after the holidays by the original owners of this house.

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The tops still looked fragile, and the warming temps made us feel a little better. We have cleaned up huge amounts of branches over the nine years we have been here. It was nine years ago today that we moved our first things here and spent our first night out here.

Back then, we learned about the wind across the fields. How it blasts through these wide open spaces. How it is colder here than in Columbia. Whenever I venture into town, the temps in my car will rise 3-4 degrees sometimes.

Thankfully, my favorite tree, the lace leaf Japanese maple, is doing OK. Just don’t go near it, or the branches will crack.

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If it ever does stop raining, snowing, sleeting or freezing, we will have our hands full doing clean up.

Just another crazy winter week in the west parts of Howard County.

And, a lead in to reminding people to sign up for a very interesting program this Saturday night at the Howard County Conservancy. “Seeing Trees” — appropriate for what we are doing here. All of us “tree huggers”, and nature lovers.

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Coping

Posted on January 26, 2014 by AnnieRie

With everything. The cold. The snow. The burst pipe damage. The trauma of watching the TV with the senseless shooting news.

Yeah, sometimes things just pile up. You wonder just how much you can take. I have lived here 39 years this month. Howard County is one awesome place to live.

The people are wonderful. The location, close to DC, Baltimore, a train ride from NYC, a couple of hours from the ocean. A couple of hours from the mountains.

A place with all four seasons.

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Frankly, it is difficult to watch tragedies. Senseless tragedies. But, we get used to it as we age. 9/11. Hurricanes. Derechos. Tornadoes. Floods. Ice storms.

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This afternoon a Facebook friend talked about how the children are affected by the “Run, Hide, Fight” approach to dealing with the senseless violence. They talked about their parents who lived during the cold war.

Wow! That would be my generation. In grade school during the Cuban missile crisis. The civil rights riots. The Kent State shootings. The war protests.

I keep hearing those song lyrics. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I grew up during some scary times. Did the Drop and Cover thing under our desks in fifth grade, while we hoped that missiles wouldn’t drop nuclear bombs on us.

I was in DC watching the Pentagon burn on 9/11. We lived with the fear of dirty bombs while commuting to DC.

In other words, we coped. We learned to deal with tragedy and stress. A week after 9/11 we drove to Montreal for a planned tour of the Gaspe Peninsula.

We won’t avoid Columbia Mall because of a shooter. We believe that showing strength during adversity is the way to live.

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Another Day, Another Snowstorm

Posted on January 21, 2014 by AnnieRie

Winter is getting old, and it’s only January. So far, as I write this we have about 8 inches of snow on the ground. Plus, all of it blowing off the roof and piling against the doors.

The birds are frantic, as usual.

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The robins are fighting for heated bird bath space.

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The juncos are happy the food is under cover, at least for a while.

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The cardinals are hanging out in the burning bush.

We have checked the heat pumps. Checked the storm drain outside the basement door. Cranked up the heat a bit.

It is going to be another series of very cold, very uncomfortable weather.

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When It Rains, It Pours

Posted on January 9, 2014 by AnnieRie

Or should I say when it is zero degrees Fahrenheit, even what you consider to be insulated pipes don’t always survive.

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The pipe that feeds our tub/shower in the upstairs hall bathroom. Where the crack was, but not where all the “rain” came from.

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The powder room exhaust fan. To the right but under the hall bath. It started raining hot water Tuesday night. Thankfully, we grabbed a large trash can to catch much of it, before it ran its way out into the wooden floored rooms. Tile is easier to dry out.

But, we have six holes in the walls. A really messed up ceiling in a storage room in the basement, over an indoor/outdoor carpet. Somewhat simple to clean that up too, except we have to rip out all the dry wall from almost half that room, which was close to collapsing.

My husband was quick to turn off the water to the hot water heater and stop it all before we had massive damage.

Thankfully, too, Ken Griffin is one amazingly responsive plumbing company. Called them at 7 am. They were here an hour later. All buttoned up in time to take morning showers before noon.

Now, we just have to fix all the messed up dry wall.

Oh, and add the pick up to the other casualty of the record temperatures. Dead battery.

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Less than three years old. So, Sears is replacing it for free.

We are so ready for spring!

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Heard Around the Water Cooler

Posted on January 7, 2014 by AnnieRie

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Or should I say the heated bird bath.

Look who showed up today. The first visit this winter. Along with scads of robins out below the crab apples.

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And, finally the cedar waxwings.

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There were three cedar waxwings in our crab apple. Boatloads of robins everywhere you looked.

And happily for me, the four bluebirds that came for a drink from our heated bird bath.

I have said often. Provide water year round for the birds. They will nest and return over and over to your yard.

There were peanuts in the shell on the ground for the blue jays. Suet for the woodpeckers. Seed for the juncos, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, sparrows and cardinals.

Keep them fed, and give them water. They will never leave.

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Frigid Weather

Posted on January 6, 2014 by AnnieRie

The next few days are going to be tough to deal with, around these parts. Temperatures below zero degrees tomorrow night.

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We have snow on the ground and the birds are pretty active looking for food under the patio table and around the deck. We have unfortunately also had a number of hawk attacks. Lost a few small birds.

I am keeping the bird bath full. It is amazing watching them get into the basin and fluff up their feathers after dunking themselves a few times.

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We now have quite the collection of red bellied woodpeckers. There were three out there yesterday. I refilled the suet holders for them.

Tomorrow (today by the time I post this past midnight) is Little Christmas, the day I usually take down the decorations. I think that will occur later in the week when it warms up.

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The tree needs to be taken out to the landfill later also. They recycle them into mulch. As for the garland, it will become a bed around the rhododendron, where the pine needles can continue to add some acidity to the soil.

I have been heavily using the crockpot, making another batch of venison chili today. I learned a lesson though. My method of putting frozen items in the pot has resulted in a hairline crack in the ceramic insert.

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Thankfully, I do use the liners. Still, I have to buy a new insert. And stop putting the pot on high.

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I am slowly making my way through the Larriland tomatoes in the freezer. Next year I will be getting many more than this time, as they make a world of difference when used in soups and chili.

As for the next few days, I think we will find some indoor projects to tackle. Until it warms up a bit.

Stay warm, and watch out for black ice. And, think of spring.

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Dinner With A View

Posted on January 4, 2014 by AnnieRie

Sunsets out here are often spectacular, and I sometimes think I should time dinner to take advantage of them.

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That was the view from our dining room, but I was still cooking dinner, instead of sitting there enjoying the view.

It is brutally cold. Soup weather. I did make chicken soup today with the remnants of a CSA chicken.

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After roasting the chicken last night, and eating the legs and thighs, we cooked down the wings and saved the breast meat to make soup. I made a very rich stock from the bones, innards and skin and put some of it back in a pot today with carrots, celery, onions and half the soup fixings from our trip to Manheim market last month.

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A little salt and pepper, some parsley. Lots of low, slow cooking and we had one awesome chicken soup. Served with some local bread picked up at Roots today.

I put away two pint jars and another cup container of stock for the freezer. I used one of the Freedom Rangers. A small heritage chicken we get in the CSA. We have enough soup left for another lunch.

Two dinners, one lunch and chicken stock for three meals. Not a bad “Return on Investment” for the chicken.

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Missing My CSA

Posted on January 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

Two weeks ago. We ended the CSA pick ups. Not much left around here, except for what is in the freezer. And a few root vegetables.

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A couple of parsnips, a turnip, carrots, an onion, all created the bed for a roast chicken. A chicken from the CSA, that fed us tonight. Gave us a chicken breast for a Chicken Caesar salad, a quart of chicken stock, plus enough shredded meat for a chicken noodle soup.

Did I take pictures? Nope. Too busy trying to deal with snow, ice, ripped down Christmas decorations, and a few downed evergreen tree limbs.

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Still, the snow was pretty. Just hope it goes away. And the predicted six to twelve inches next week does not happen.

I am already so tired of snow. Where is global warming when you need it?

In other news. Howchow tells us Highland Inn will soon open. Nice of them to miss my birthday.

Crossing my fingers here. Hoping that the winter CSA over at MOM’s Jessup will get enough sign ups.

I need some veggies. I see Breezy Willow isn’t open tomorrow. Too much snow.

Should I run down to Silver Spring market? Or hit Roots for the chili fixings I need.

Stay warm, my friends here in the frigid temperatures.

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