Foody Friday

Hi!

I got to go shopping in the big metropolis of Summerside yesterday after a dentist appointment- all by myself.  It was nice, but I probably bought too much junk!

Here's what we ate last week.

• Fri- Leftovers
• Sat- Pasta
• Sun- Salmon, Sauted Kohlrabi, Sweet Potato.  This was the first time we had kohlrabi.  The kids didn't like it.  K and I did, it reminded me of broccoli stalks which I really like.
• Mon- Kidney Bean Enchiladas (by K)
• Tues- Chicken Fingers, Toast, Carrots (by K-I had to work)
• Wed- Pasta by N (even though everybody was home because of the storm, N still wanted to cook dinner.)
• Thurs- Sushi

Enjoy your day! :-)

Snow, Snow and more snow!

Mornin!

We are still in a winter wonderland!  We had another snow storm Wednesday.  It was a quick moving storm that everybody knew was on the way.  They closed schools 3 hours early, which was a  good call.  I had to go to work and didn't get to leave until 2:00 when they closed the provincial civil offices.  (I should've worked til 5:00).  Anyway, this was right in the middle of the storm!  It was a terrible drive home.  It took me one hour and ten minutes!  Normally, I can drive it in about 45 minutes (or 35 when there was no snow!). We got around 15 cm (6 inches) of snow that day from about 1:00-4:00.  Then it cleared up, but the roads were still quite messy so it took a while for those to get plowed.  C's dance was cancelled (for the second week in a row) because of the weather.

I was taking the trash out last night and was just amazed at all the snow.  I still can't believe we get so much snow up here.  Coming from the South where a few inches is a lot, it is almost unbelievable to me.  I know there has been snow and ice down in the Southern States and this is causing problems.  But look at the snow we have here:

I know this looks like all the other snow pics, but the drifts on the left are about 5-7 feet tall and the snow on the right is about 2-3 feet!

The side is full of snow about 4-5 feet all over the yard! 

Here's the door snowman.  He's shrunk a bit, but this is how much snow we still have blocking our back door. 

More pics of the backyard.

See the playhouse peeking out? 

We can still climb right up on top of the breezeway roof. 

And the windows are completely covered!

This is not a "normal" winter here in PEI.  The last 2 years we've had more snow than usual, with this year having more snow already than last year!  Last year we even had snow on April 25!

Although this was after most of the big snow had already melted away.

Just to compare, here's the pic taken today.  The fence posts are all covered (except the one on the right by the tree).

Have a good weekend, wherever you are!  Stay safe and warm! :-)

Foody Friday

Hi!

The schools are still cancelled today. We got 10 cm (4 inches) of snow last night.  K had to clear the driveway again, but it didn't take long.  Now the snow is blowing around and there are some white-out conditions on the roads.

Here's what we ate on this "February Snow Break".

• Fri- Leftovers
• Sat- Valentine's Day- Canned Beans in Tomato Sauce, Toast (very romantic, huh? ;-)
• Sun- Chicken Gumbo and Rice- fixed by K
• Mon- Islander Day- Roast Beef with Potatoes and Carrots- fixed by K
• Tues- Snow Day- Curry Chickpeas with Potatoes, Raisins, Peanuts (based on Curried Potatoes with Peas, Raisins and Cashews, Vegetarian Family Cookbook pg 180) Kids had plain chickpeas, mashed potatoes and raisins and peanuts on the side.
• Wed- Pizza from Dominoes picked up by K & N
• Thurs- Baked Scallops ( I just used crushed crackers and croutons and Old Bay Seasoning. It was a bit blah, but we ate it with cocktail sauce so it was pretty good.) leftover potatoes, leftover rice

Have a great weekend! :-)

Thursday- More Snow Pics

Hi!

Well, the storm is over, but school's are still closed!  The roads are still being cleared and there are very high snowbanks so it's dangerous for kids out waiting for the bus or walking to school in the city.  Many back roads have only one lane to drive down. Tuesday we were able to dig out of the driveway, but work and school were cancelled so we didn't have anywhere to go.

Again, here are some pics. :-)

I made the snowman.  K took a picture and tweeted it so it ended up on the Local news!

We were trying to dig out on Tuesday. 

Luckily, a neighbor (the elementary school's principal's father-in-law) came by with his big plow. 

Here it is blowing the snow.  The black car is still buried. 

Almost mostly cleared! 

Yay! It would've taken forever with our snow thrower.

Here's the front of the "blower".  They always seem so dangerous to me with those spinning things gathering up the snow. 

Here are N & C on top of one of the "smaller" snowbanks by the driveway. 

Yesterday (Wednesday) I went to work  at the library and K took a day off to stay home with the kids.  K was supposed to drive C and her friend to dance, but it was cancelled because the dance teacher was waiting to get her road cleared! Today, K took the kids to his parents in Summerside for the day. They're looking forward to that.  K's parents live in front of a church that plows all their snow into a giant hill.  The kids have a lot of fun using that hill to sled down.  When they were there on Saturday, they discovered that someone had dug out a big fort inside the hill, but it probably got filled in with the storm. 

 We're supposed to have a little bit of snow tonight and maybe freezing rain so we'll see if there's school tomorrow...

I'm going to use this day off (no tutoring when there's no school) to relax and catch up on some housework.

Have a great day! :-)

Outside Snow Pics

Oh my goodness!  We went outside in the blizzard.  I didn't think it looked that bad, but the wind! Oh the wind!  Everytime I took off my big ski gloves to take a picture, my hand was freezing!  We didn't stay out long.

Here are the pics.

C is starting to build a snow fort.  See her leaned over in the pink jacket?

  

The driveway.

  

This is our road, looking toward the valley.

The road toward the pond.

We decided those dark things in the road are trees or big branches.

  

The driveway again.

Looking at our neighbor's house.

  

Pond side of the house.

  

Snow drifts are so high, N reaches the roof.

  

Drifts past the bottom of the kitchen window.

Big drift at back of house.

Breezeway is covered.

  

N standing on top of back fence.

  

I walked up on top of breezeway (not the corrugated paneled part, but the asphalt shingled part) and took a pic of C.

On top of roof looking toward pond.

 N on top of big drift in back yard.

Looking down into courtyard from top of drift.

   

The cars.

After walking around the house, I was freezing so I made everyone come back inside!

We came inside and opened the back door.  Here it is with the door open.  

  Isn't it neat how the snow stays up?  Luckily, the front door hardly gets any snow blowing up on it, so it's clear and easy to get out.

It's about 3:00 and there are no plows on the roads yet.... We are still under a blizzard warning for the next 8 hours! I found out that this morning, school was already cancelled for tomorrow and so are all provincial civil services, which include both K's and my work.  Another snow day tomorrow!

:-)

Islander Day- Blizzard

Hi!

We have been under a blizzard warning for the last 24 hours.  It is expected to last thru the morning into the afternoon.  So far, we have about 60 cm (23 inches) of snow!  We also have strong blizzard winds with gusts of 90- 130 kph (56-80 mph).  Just to compare, hurricane winds are 74 mph!  So, with these winds we have huge drifts. The plows were pulled off the roads yesterday and won't be back out until the afternoon. Luckily, we kept our electricity.  There are about 1200 without it!  Since the storm happened on Sunday and today is a holiday, most things are closed anyway.

Here's a video of the blizzard yesterday.

Here's looking out the kitchen window yesterday. Pretty low visibility.  According to Environment Canada: Blizzard Warnings are issued when widespread reduced visibilities of 400 metres or less are expected for at least 4 hours.

Here is the drift at the back door yesterday. You can see it's taller than C!

And it just kept growing!

 This morning, this is what we woke up to.  See the black car in front of the gold one? There's a drift to the left that's taller than the car.

The drifts are high!

Now we have a drift above the bottom of the kitchen window!

  

And high drifts along the side of the back room.

Here's the back door this morning!  That drift is taller than me!

 Somehow, last night the latch on the back door came unlatched and we couldn't get it to close all the way again!  K put a board across so the door wouldn't open under the weight of the snow and come crashing in the back room!

And I thought this was a lot of snow!

Here is a giant drift in the back yard. It's hard to tell how high it is, but it must be 15 feet tall at least!

Here's looking toward the back barn.

Here it is after the last storm when you could still see the fence.

Here's looking toward the breezeway.  The snow has completely gone over the top!

Here's how it looked before!

  

Looking out toward the pond.  The road goes between the trees and it looks like there are two dark spots on the road.  We think they are trees!

Windchills are cold today .  It's Neg 14C (7F), but feels like Neg 29C (Neg 20F).  We'll probably be inside again for the day.  I checked out a couple games from the library so we may try those or some Mexican Train!

Stay warm wherever you are!  Happy Islander Day (and Presidents Day!) :-)