To our Frends in the Snowy North

[CowPrincess]

Violet Horse, thank you for the update. I'm so sorry for what you are enduring, and for the worry about the roof :( I wish you all the best, and hope that somehow you get some help from somewhere, be it volunteers or National Guard or the emergency services dept nearest you. And I hope the bobcat person shows up! Keeping you (and all the others affected by this) in my thoughts.

 

(I did post again to change the question to you :), it was too late to edit my earlier post)

[VioletHorse]

Violet Horse, thank you for the update. I'm so sorry for what you are enduring, and for the worry about the roof :( I wish you all the best, and hope that somehow you get some help from somewhere, be it volunteers or National Guard or the emergency services dept nearest you. And I hope the bobcat person shows up! Keeping you (and all the others affected by this) in my thoughts.

 

(I did post again to change the question to you :), it was too late to edit my earlier post)

 

Thank you for your good wishes. We'll make it through this mess.

[jaguarstyper]

I cannot even imagine how the people around Buffalo are dealing with the shocking amount of snow they received. I know they are used to dealing with heavy snowfalls, but this is ridiculous.

 

The biggest snowfall I can remember in Pittsburgh was 39 inches that fell in about 36 hours. It crippled the entire city for days and we were without electricity for 8 days. I cant even begin to comprehend another 2-3 feet of snow on top of that.

 

Today I read that heavy rains are predicted for the weekend and now the fear is buildings collapsing from the weight of the rain soaked snow. What a disaster. Where is global warming when you need it? :confused:

[the2ofus]

VioletHorse, you are in my thoughts as we go into the weekend. The weather forecast is certainly cause for concern.

 

There's a great parody making the rounds of the internet, the Abbott Road album cover with the lead Beatle carrying a snow shovel. The songs listed are so right for your situation.

 

Note to fellow CC posters, Abbott Road is not a typo. VioletHorse will get the reference.

[geocruiser]

VioletHorse & all in the snow.

 

Keeping you all in my prayers. I hope that you have no damage or floods.

[Folk Singer]

Thank you for your kind wishes.

[VioletHorse]

VioletHorse, you are in my thoughts as we go into the weekend. The weather forecast is certainly cause for concern.

 

There's a great parody making the rounds of the internet, the Abbott Road album cover with the lead Beatle carrying a snow shovel. The songs listed are so right for your situation.

 

Note to fellow CC posters, Abbott Road is not a typo. VioletHorse will get the reference.

 

You have no idea how close to home that hits. I'm three houses away from Abbott Rd.!

 

We did manage to pull some snow off the roofs yesterday, but since it's so compacted, it comes off in inches. It's slow work for sure. I did open one bedroom window and knocked some snow off the lower roof with hockey sticks. Please note that I did this from the inside. I'm not crazy enough to go out on the roof. I had to alternate sticks based on the curve of the blade. One game-used stick came from a left winger who played for the Sabres. (I want to commend the Finns for making excellent hockey sticks). However, that curved blade stopped being effective so I switched to DH's relatively straight blade Hockey Stick of the Ancients to slice through some of that snow. At one point I was looking at the snow and it was glacial blue - it's like I have Mendenhall Glacier on my roof. That is not good.

 

We are still waiting for the bobcat guy to show up. Last night a different guy came to our door and offered to clear our driveway for a lot of money because he was allegedly going to clear our neighbor's driveway but he had to get his equipment from another location. DH bargained him down to a lesser amount, but this guy never returned to clear either driveway.:mad:

 

Our street still only has an emergency single lane cleared, but we still have a driving ban so we can't go anywhere.

[RuthC]

Violet Horse, and everyone else in the unimaginable masses of snow, I am so sorry for what you are going through. Even though I was near the worst of "The Blizzard of '78", it was nothing in comparison to what Buffalo has now.

 

May you all stay safe and warm as you dig your way out. And may help arrive soon. My greatest fear would be needing the rescue squad, and them not able to get to the house.

Chin up.

[mamaofami]

Violet Horse, I'm very glad you were wise enough to stock up on food and meds and that you still have electricity. I'm hoping you can get cleared out to the street soon and that your roof will stay put. Good luck.

[Folk Singer]

Thinking kind thoughts and hoping everyone will stay safe.

[VioletHorse]

Thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts are wishes.

 

Our street finally was cleared this morning, and I'd like to send a big thank you to the crew from Nassau County, NY who did such a great job.

 

The bobcat guy never showed, however, our neighbor owns a small tractor with bucket. That's the good news. The bad news was the tractor was located at his cabin which is 40 miles south of us. He actually managed to drive out there and bring it back and is currently clearing our driveways out. He's a wonderful neighbor.

 

Roof rakes have become useless in pulling snow off the roofs due to the heavy crystalline texture of the snow. I was able to use the hockey sticks to poke off the snow in the valley between upper and lower roofs via the bedroom window, and that little bit of work took over 2.5 hours of hard labor.

 

The National Guard was here late last night to locate and dig out the fire hydrant in front of our house with a small front loader. DH went out to tell them exactly where the hydrant was, but because the piles of snow were so high, they got confused and were probing the snow with avalanche poles, but in the street, not on the grass where the hydrant was located. It was getting to be a You Tube worthy event, but I relented from taking a video and instead sent DH out again to get them to probe where the hydrant actually was. They found it quickly after that. Thanks to the National Guard for their efforts.

 

We're still under a driving ban so staying put is the order of the day.

[CowPrincess]

VioletHorse, thanks for the update. Glad the fire hydrant has been found! (Love the "youtube worthy event" :D) Good neighbours are a blessing at times like this! It sounds as though you are blessed :)

 

Continuing to keep you in my thoughts. I hope the worst is over, and your roof continues to do its job.

[the2ofus]

VioletHorse, so glad to hear of the progress in battling the snow. I'll be thinking of you as the rain moves in. Looking at the latest weather map, it looks to me like the heaviest rain may go north and south of you. May you be so lucky. Of course, none at all would be a whole lot better.

[the2ofus]

Can't get it to post without my fb stuff. Check out Born In Buffalo on fb for the Beatles Abbott Road takeoff.

Edited November 24, 2014 by the2ofus

[VioletHorse]

It's day 3 of above freezing temps, and the amount of snow melt is stunning. We had almost 5 ft of snow piled up against our patio door, and this morning it's down to about 1 ft. We have not received any rain, nor is any forecast for today so the melt, at least for us, is slow and manageable at this point. Area creeks and rivers are approaching flood stage, but the good news is that there is very little ice which is the major component in severe flooding of these waterways.

 

The bad news is that extremely windy conditions will prevail this afternoon, with gusts projected up to 60 MPH. :eek: This can cause power outages, the sump pump won't work and we'll get flooding in the basement. The sump has been running every 3-4 minutes for the last 60 hours. The roof snow is melting quickly so that's much less of concern for us.

 

Some school districts have closed their schools until Dec 1. This will give them enough time to assess each building's structural integrity. They all have flat roofs, and even if the snow has been removed/melted, there could be enough damage to the structures that would make use of these buildings unsafe.

 

The travel ban was lifted late last night so we'll be making a foray to the supermarket and gas station today, and hope that the power stays on.

[Alberta Quilter]

Thank you for your update, VioletHorse. I am so sorry that you and your community are going through this. I had no idea about the "lake effect". Your Snowvember is much worse than our Snowtember that we had a couple of months ago.

 

Count me among the many CCers who are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers for a slow melt and no flooding!

[RuthC]

Thank you for the update, Violet Horse. At least for you personally, things seem to be looking up. I'm happy for that.

Hopefully, all that snow will be gone before the real winter storms start. It would be nice if the area could get back to bare ground, and not start with a deep base.

[kazu]

Thanks for keeping us apprised Violet! hoping things improve steadily for you!

[the2ofus]

So glad to hear the encouraging words in VioletHorse's latest update. Will keep you and the rest of your fellow Buffalonians in my thoughts.