Crazy Weather 200 Year Anniversary!

I recently found an article that was very interesting as it pertained to the weather in our area from 200 years ago.  The title of it was 200 Years Ago: The Year Without a Summer.  You can read it HERE.  Then I found another article that gave the reason why there was not a Summer in 1816.  You can read it HERE.

After you read both articles, which aren't that long, tell me if you think something like that could happen in today's times?  I think it can happen again.  I hope that I am prepared if something like that were to happen.

Angela

West Virginia Hit by Devastating Flooding

I'm sure most people know that a week ago today many areas across West Virginia were hit by devastating flooding that destroyed many homes and businesses through out several counties.  51 out of 55 counties have been declared a disaster area.  Thousands of people have lost everything they own.  

I am amazed at all of the support we are getting in West Virginia after the devastating flooding that occurred last week. A lot of businesses not only local, but from other states, big and small are really doing a fantastic job stepping up and helping our people. I can't forget the support of the local churches and individuals that are also helping with this massive cleanup and rebuilding efforts. I've been seeing on the news that Tide has brought in their laundry trucks for people to do their laundry. Duracell has brought in a truck full of batteries and charging stations. Huggies is donating diapers. P&G has supplied personal hygiene products. Baby beds, car seats and playpens have been donated. Clay County has been donated an ambulance. Clendenin has been donated fire fighting equipment. The city of Hurricane has sent in their city workers with heavy equipment to help Richwood to get their water and sewer back in service to the people. Several restaurants like Chick fil a, PaPa Johns, Applebee's, etc. and food trucks have been providing meals for people. On the news they said they are feeding anywhere between 2,500 to 3,000 people just in Clendenin alone.  I seen yesterday where one lady drove around making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for people. The need is great. It is overwhelming to see the pictures of the devastation of the homes that were lost, the roads and bridges that were washed away, cars that were lost, grocery stores under water, gas stations underwater and sadly there were lives lost. Things can be replaced, but life can not. The flash flooding didn't just happen in one small area. Entire towns were under water. Not a few inches of water, but several feet of water. The homes and businesses that were under water lost everything they had, but with the help of many generous people and businesses from all over West Virginia will rebuild and be better than we were before. We are Mountain Strong! 

May God Bless each and everyone who is helping out in any way shape or form!

Angela

PS  I know a lot of you that were regular readers of my blog know that the area where I live has flooded before.  I was so blessed when a sweet blogger wrote me to ask if I was ok.  I thought I'd let everyone know that it did not flood where I live.  We did have minor flooding where I live like the road was flooded that caused us to be flooded in and my husband was stuck sleeping on the floor at work.  That is nothing compared to what others experienced so I'm not going to complain about that one bit.  

Our First Snow of the Year!

 Saturday morning I woke up to find this white stuff on the ground!  It has been since last year that we have had snow so this was a nice sight to see.

 As you can see we didn't get much snow at all.  There wasn't enough to build a snowman or do our mule ride sleigh rides. 

 Jazz heard me when I was taking pictures and came running at corgi speed.  She's faster than a speeding bullet! 

Hopefully we'll get a better snow this year.  Seems like Old Man Winter is skipping us this year.  The kids really want a few snow days, but I don't want them to have to make it up by going longer into the summer like they did last year.

Angela

Crumbling Roads

This Winter has been harsh on the roads here in West Virginia.  It has been especially hard on a less than a quarter of a mile of road that is on a small bench with a creek down below it.  There are currently 3 different slips within that less than a quarter of a mile road!  This past weekend it rained pretty hard on Friday.  Saturday we went out to survey the damage and this what we found.

 

This is a new slip although my husband says that it isn't....  A few of the other neighbors also agree with me that it is a new slip.  The road may have been cracking there, but there was not a slip! 

This picture shows just how close the road is to the creek that has a 15 foot drop off down into that creek!

This is the chunk of road that slipped down sometime this past weekend.

This slip above is one that the county has fixed I think 3 different times over the past 6 months.  It just won't hold.  I've blogged about this section of the road before.

It really is hard to tell from this picture just how deep this slip actually is.  Take my word on it you don't want to drive over the end right here!  I personally wouldn't even stand down there on that slip!

Here is another slip that hasn't gotten that bad yet, but it is a bigger slip waiting to happen if you ask me.

This is what this slip looks like below it.  You can see that some of the road has actually fell down onto the side of the hill.

I'm not sure what the county is going to do about this section of the road.  Like I said at the beginning this has been a very harsh Winter on all of the roads in West Virginia.  All we hear is how they don't have the money to fix the roads.  That leads me to believe that it will be a long time before the county will fix this road if at all.  Unfortunately, the second slip is on our property.  We own both sides of the road for a little distance in that area.  One neighbor mentioned to me in passing that she is going to request that they dig out the hillside.  I'm not for that at all, but I didn't tell her that.  It is straight up and down right there.  I should have taken a picture of it!  There is also some huge rocks right there on the side.  Another neighbor told me today that he thinks they probably should close the road before someone gets hurt.  I somewhat agree with him on that.  The only thing is then I can foresee people with 4 wheelers cutting themselves a path through our woods to get up and around this slip.  I don't want that to happen at all. 

I haven't called the county about the slips yet.  I'm not sure if I want to.  If and when this road completely falls into the creek my house will be on a dead end road.  It might be nice to not have any traffic going by my house.  I have a different mindset, I know.  There are a few others reasons I would like to see this road closed, but it is a road that my husband uses to go to work.  It's also my preferred way of going anywhere when I go somewhere because it is only 1 mile of driving on a one lane road.  After that it is 2 lane driving to where ever it is that I'm going.  

Angela

It feels like Spring!

 Mother Nature is really confused this year!  We've had temperatures below zero in the past 30 days along with snow, ice, rain, thunderstorms, flooding, and now spring like temperatures.  You never know what to expect from the weather!

 We reached 77 degrees here at the house according to my temperature gage.  It felt it if you were sitting still in the sun, but there was a nice gentle breeze that kept you from sweating.  Two was loving the warmer weather today, but she was also trying to stay in the shade so she wouldn't get too hot.  My girls love to lay under the rocking chairs.  It's their little dens.

My husband got me a new camera for Christmas.  I'm still trying to figure out what all it does.  It's a little to fancy/smart for me!  lol  I was playing with it yesterday and discovered that it does a split shot which is what the picture above and below are.  It's kind of neat don't you think?

You know I had to put up a picture of Jazz!  She too was loving this warmer weather, but where she has that double coat that is black she was trying to find shade herself.  When she wasn't on the porch with me she was chilling out in the garage where it was cooler or she was in the house with me being my shadow!  I am hoping to take her to a groomer soon to get her a good bath.  I'm hoping they can do something about her shedding.  We had a great time outside today soaking up the sun.  My Young Lady even painted my toes purple with stars.

Angela

Detours!

 The past two days have been nothing but detours for me.  Yesterday I had plans to do something.  Then my Young Lady called and wanted me to bring her a jacket at school.  I ran a few errands and I had planned on picking my Little Man up at school.  I wrote the note that he was going to be picked up and to please not put him on the bus.  Well....  They put him on the bus!  So I had to chase the bus down to get him off.  That was yesterday and this was today!

 

 

Early this morning a storm came through that put down some rain.  My husband made it out with the kids this morning.  I called to see if the water was up.  He said no and he didn't think it would get up.  Being extremely tired because I just don't sleep good at night because of the medicine I am taking I went back to sleep.  I even stayed in bed when my mom called.  I finally got up and seen that the water was indeed up.  I didn't have time to guess as to if the water was still going up or if it was going down.  I hurried and got ready to head out so I could get the kids from school.  I called the school to let them know I was picking them up instead of them riding the bus home.  

 When I tried to leave the water was just a littler higher than I felt comfortable driving through so I turned around so I wouldn't drown!  I didn't want to ruin my sweet ride so I stayed on the other side.  I did happen to see the neighbor who lives right by this area of the road.  He assured me that I could drive through it as his son had just went through it, but when he said the water was going down decided to wait it out as long as I could.

 I waited until it was time to go get my Little Man at school.  The water was still up, but it wasn't that deep that I went ahead and drove through it.

 You know me, I've got to get the action shots if I can!  I had to take pictures of me driving through the water!

 Once I got through I was able to see the flooding that was going on down the road.  The water was high, but isn't it so pretty with that blue sky!

 This area seems to hold water anymore because it has been a very wet Winter.  I noticed that there was something swimming in that water so I zoomed in to try to see what it was. 

A pair of ducks was having a great time today in the water.  So here we have it, yet another detour today!  I had planned on staying home today.  If I had been up earlier and knew what was going on with the water I would have probably went out earlier because you never know how long it will take the water to go down enough for you to get out.  I did already have our flood bug out bags already packed and in my truck just in case as I knew it was going to storm last night.  I knew flooding was a possibility.  I just wish my husband hadn't had downplayed it like he did, but then again I did get to get more beauty sleep because of it!  

Angela   

Snow!

 We finally got a pretty big snow today!  My Little Man took his yard stick out into the yard to measure it.  He came back saying that there were places in the yard where we had 5, 6 and 7 inches of snow!  It looked like a Winter Wonderland out there today.  This is my favorite type of snow.

I have more pictures to share.  I'll put them in another post so it won't be hard for you to load the pictures.

Angela

Weather Guy Falls into Creek

Yesterday our local news put up a video of one of our weather guys fell into a creek while filming a coal slurry spill that was in a creek.  It's kind of funny so I thought I'd share it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahM47QB_t0k&feature=youtu.be

Flooded in Again!

I forgot to put up these pictures of when we were flooded in again this past Wednesday.  I wrote about what happened the previous day in the post before this. 

The water is no where near the house in these pictures.  I zoomed in to be able to show you the tree line and the water a little better.  It does make it look closer but I assure you it isn't no where near the house.  Thank God!

It amazes me just how much water we get at times.  The ground is so wet that it feels like you are walking on a sponge.  We are supposed to get some more snow Saturday morning. 

Angela

Preparedness

Everyone that reads my blog should know by now that I am a bit of a preparedness freak.  We live in a day and age where we need to be prepared for anything and everything.  I'm hoping that I can encourage my friends who are my readers to do a little preparedness for their homes and vehicles after reading what I have to say. 

Disaster #1:  Most people can still remember the Derecho storm that passed through the entire state of West Virginia and a few surrounding states 2 summers ago in June.  People were without power for upwards of an entire month.  Temperatures were in the 100 degree mark at that time. There was a run on gas and water at the stores.  My mom was without power for a good week in which I drove out to go get her to stay with us during that time.  Fortunately, our electric did not go out during that storm, but all of our neighbors were without electric.  Most people that live out here are used to the power outages so they have purchased generators for just that reason.  A few years ago we were finally able to afford one so we bought one.  We have a whole house generator that comes on when the electric goes off for so many seconds.  It runs off of our free gas and I don't have to do anything at all when the electric goes off.  The odd thing was we didn't have to use our generator during that storm.  One of my neighbors was not prepared for this storm or anything for that matter.  She brought down some food from her freezer for me to store for her.  She would charge her cell phone at our house because she didn't have a phone charger for her car.  She didn't even have a corded phone for her land line in her house either.  She had no water.  Nothing.  She would drive to a friends house who had a pool who also had not electric and she would go swimming all day there and then come home in the evening stopping by to pick up something from the freezer that belonged to her.  I could go on but I won't.  Do I think she is prepared for another event like this?  Not at all.  I myself think it is irresponsible of her to not be prepared with the little things.  That probably sounds harsh, but why would you want to mooch off of someone else in times of trouble when you don't have to?  Did I mention she has 3 kids and a husband and 2 dogs?

Disaster #2:  Before that disaster we experienced a little disaster of our own.  My father in law had a heart attack and was in the hospital for a few days until the hospital decided they couldn't help him any longer and sent him to another hospital out of state.  They decided to move him around 10pm at night and didn't get him on the road until around midnight.  There was a storm at that time so they couldn't fly him there.  Anyway, we drove to Kentucky at midnight through a storm with my husband's mother.  We did not know we were going to be in this position so we didn't have any clothes, medicines, chargers for the kids games, or anything other than I did have a snack bag that I keep in my truck at all times for just in case of an emergency we might need it.  That didn't last long though with 5 people.  We were 4 days wearing the same clothes.  This is still hard to think about as the outcome was my father in law passed away at the hospital, but I did learn a few things that I'll share at the end.

Disaster #3:  West Virginia is currently still in a State of Emergency, in my opinion, due to a chemical spill into the public water system that contaminated the water, hot water heaters, pipes in over 300,000 homes.  People were told not to use the water except to flush their toilets as it was/is extremely hazardous to your health.  People are getting chemical burns on their hands, face, eyes, and their bodies for using this water.  I would hate to see what it is doing to the insides of those who drink it.  Pregnant women and children are being told to avoid the water altogether.  Everyday we are learning more and more about this spill and the news is not good at all.  First they say it was this amount of chemical.  Then they add an extra chemical to that chemical and then they say it was even more of the two chemicals.  At first they said it all happened in a short period of time on that day and now they say it had to be leaking for at least 20 hours!  It has been 20 days and people are still using bottled water to wash their dishes, cook with, drink, and wash up with.  Not everyone is still doing that, but most are.  My mom isn't using the water except to wash her clothes.  Schools were shut down for a week.  Restaurants were shut down for over a week.  Hospitals had to cancel surgeries for a few days.  There was a run on the water the first few days and the stores sold out very fast.  Being the prepared freak that I am I had 2 cases of bottled water at my house.  I also have 5 gallon water jugs that we use to drink because we like the taste of it.  I took water to my sister and my mom.  My sister had just bought a case the day before and my mom had been storing up water for an emergency such as this.  I also took them some paper plates, cups and baby wipes that I had on hand.  This disaster is ongoing....

Disaster #3:  This isn't happening in my home state of West Virginia, but it is currently happened in the state of Georgia where one of my dearest friends Sandie lives.  Georgia is not used to getting snow ever so they are not prepared and equipped to handle such an emergency even with as little as 2 inches of snow.  I doubt it if they even keep salt on hand for snow because it just doesn't really happen there.  In West Virginia that is a common occurrence. In Georgia there were hundreds of people who  were stuck on the highway trying to get home.  Sandie's husband was one of those people stuck on the highway with no where to go.  He was stuck for over 24 hours trying to make it home. I seen on my local news where they reported that there were many children at school whose parents were unable to get there to pick them up.  Those children spent the night at the school last night.  This is a big event for them and scary I'm sure. 

Disaster #4:  With the extreme winter we have been having our temperatures have been as low as 20 below zero these past few days.  At my house I've had a reading of -9 below zero.  Schools have shut down yet again due to the extreme temperatures.  Every county in the state of West Virginia was shut down due to this weather this week!  I haven't been out for 10 days now due to the extreme weather conditions and my kids being home from school.  There is no need to go out when you don't really need to.  I am prepared for this.  We have everything we need to survive.

We never know when a disaster will strike so we have got to be prepared for not if it happens, but for when it happens!  It will happen!  There will be a day and a time when you and your family will be at the mercy of whether or not you prepared for such an event.  There are many ways to prepare.  Having a nice variety of foods in your pantry and freezer will help to keep you from having to make a trip to the store during a snowstorm.  

I like to keep bottled water around for emergencies.  Also, some baby wipes are nice to have along with paper plates, plastic cups and disposable forks and spoons in case you can't wash dishes.  Those items would apply to most all disasters.  I have a few packets of powdered milk in case we run out of milk.  Canned soups can be a life safer come dinner time.

When the electric goes off most people don't realize their cordless phones to their landline won't work so you need one of those old fashioned corded phones.  I have one of those in my bedroom by my bed.  I have the phone number for the power company stored in the emergency list so I can call them in the middle of the night without having to try to find their number.  Having them on the speed dial of your cordless phone will be of no use when the electric is off.  We don't have cell phone coverage at our house.  I try to keep gas for the grill and some extra gas for a vehicle in a gas can.  It was several days before you could get to a gas station after the Derecho.  I was lucky I had a full tank when it happened and was able to drive over to my moms to rescue her and her dog.  I cook with gas so I have a 2 burner electric stovetop unit that I use when our gas is off.  I don't have a microwave.  I don't want one. 

In the winter I always keep a few throw blankets in the backseat of my truck.  I keep a small bag with extra gloves and hats in there also.  I also have a flashlight in case of an emergency.  A snack bag full of a different variety of snacks is a must all year round.  I generally do carry a cooler with water and Gatorade especially on long trips and in the summer.  Ponchos are a great thing to have around when you are caught in a rainstorm and an umbrella won't do.  Since I have long hair I like to keep rubber bands for just in case I need them.  Being a lady I keep some of those ladies days things in there also!  I now keep chargers for the kids DS games, my husband's cell phone, my daughter's cell phone and the ipad.  I even have a few of the toothbrushes that are disposable.   Having been stuck in a hospital for 4 days I now have a deck of cards and a few things that could keep us busy while waiting.

In my purse I now carry around a few essentials that helped when we were at the hospital.  I have Advil, Rolaids, Chapstick, Zertec, Alavert, band-aids, a swiss army type of knife.  I now need to carry around my prescription that I have to take 2 times a day.  Tic tacs or some type of candy or gum.

There are many different ways you can prepare for a disaster at your home or for when you are in your vehicle.  I hope that you will take some time to evaluate your family's needs and get prepared for the next disaster should you have one at your house.

Angela   

Jazz loves the Snow!

I keep seeing pictures of dogs that are left outside during the cold weather we've been having. Lots of people keep telling us to bring our pets in. Well, I do bring mine in, but mine loves the snow!

Jazz is laying corgi split splat style with her belly touching the snow. Her fur on her belly is not anywhere near as thick as the hair on her back.

 

 

She is laying out in the sun in the snow!

She is actually getting hot from the sun on her back.

Jazz is a catbird! Look at her eating the snow while she is sunning in the snow!

She moved to another spot in the yard and is still laying in the snow on her belly.

Yet another place in the snow!

She loves eating the snow! I gave it a taste myself and I didn't think it tasted that good to me!

Angela