Overnighting All Over the Country
Last night our ministers and mission board members, some with their spouse, were scattered out in a number of different cities for the night. They probably should have stayed in Florida another day.
Lorne and Grace were in Houston, Gary and Rosanna in Dallas, Dad in Atlanta, David, Amos, and Oren and Jo in Minneapolis. Julian and Bertha were still in Florida, as far as I know, and LaVerne and Rebecca had scooted home just ahead of the worst of the the blizzard. All of them traveled by air, courtesy of a travel-agent church member.
Dad is scheduled to arrive in Wichita around 9:00 P.M. and the Minneapolis bunch around 11:00.
Church is canceled for tomorrow morning, and plans are still being formed for a commissioning service in the afternoon or evening. The sun is shining and the wind has died down. The temperature is up to 41 degrees, so the plowed roads are emerging nicely out of the snow. But our driveway is not navigable.
Shane and Dorcas showed up here around 3:00. They had fairly clear sailing between here and Colorado by taking a more northerly and less direct route--on I-70 rather than US 50. At Ellsworth, KS they headed south on K-14, which passes through the area five miles west of us. However, they had to turn back on this side of Sterling, when they reached some impassable drifts. They threaded their way east to Nickerson, and came by here from the north. They parked their car at the road and walked in by stepping high and wide in the tracks Hiromi had made earlier.
Dorcas' parents are still en route here by car from Virginia--headed here for tomorrow's commissioning service. They encountered freezing rain around Kansas City and were progressing very slowly part of the time.
In our front yard, a drift several feet high creates a barrier between the porch steps and the drive. Grant seems to have made off with our best snow-moving shovel--not a great one, at that, so Hiromi did his best at clearing snow from the porch with a push broom. He made one foray outside after the snow quit around noon to see that the dog, cats, birds, and sheep are all taken care of.
He came in exhausted, with his boots full of snow and his pant legs wet past his knees. When he fed the sheep and called them, they answered from the hog barn where they had gone for the night. A deep drift blocked their exit, and they weren't about to plow through it, so Hiromi took their feed to them. That was especially awkward, trying to carry the feed pan and all. He looked very short and slightly disabled.
I handed him a measuring stick, and Hiromi trekked to the middle of the front yard (walking right over the place where the irises were coming up, I noted) to plunge it into the snow for a measurement. "Sixteen or seventeen inches," he announced.
Max, with all his "toys" buried under snow or confiscated last week and deposited in the trash, made the best of the situation by chewing off the rubber coating on the broom handle Hiromi had propped up next to the front door. He also dragged his blanket out of the garage and left it on the driveway drift by the porch. Anything to make the place feel like home, I guess.
This morning he went charging around, breaking through the snow, or sliding over the top. He came by the picnic table where Hiromi spreads bird feed, and since the surface was at nose level anyway, he sniffed it well and tried a bit of the bird seed for taste.
The black iron kettle in which Mom used to heat her wash water has been used for a planter for several decades now. This morning only the rim was visible, the rest buried under snow. It sported a lovely "whipped cream" dollop of topping.
Lowell's children made a snow cave in a drift so high that Lowell, who is 6 feet tall, could just see over the top.
The snow plow that went through around 1:30 must have nailed our mailbox. It's now headed south instead of east.
The latest prediction for tonight's low is 17 degrees. That is about 17 degrees too cold for the fruit trees that were in bloom. The miniature daffodils I enjoyed last week while we constructed the greenhouse are tucked away out of sight. I wonder what more than a foot of snow does to daffodils.
We haven't heard from Grant since his triumphant and cheeky declaration after having arrived at Kenny's place. He's probably intoxicated with making money from all the snow-pushing he gets to do. It's a good antidote for the heebie-jeebies built up after a week of hardly working at all, except here at home in the yard, and in the kitchen, when I pressed him into service.
Several others were at Kenny's house for the evening and ended up staying for the night, David and Ida after getting stuck once on the way home. They got out finally and headed back to Kenny's house. Today when Shane and Dorcas came by close to their home, the 4WD truck was stuck again. David was babysitting it while he waited for help to dig or pull it out. Ida had walked home, about a mile away. I wonder if she could still feel her feet by the time she got there.
A day of rest tomorrow will be welcome this week for many reasons, especially for those who will wake up in their own bed, after having spent the previous night in an airport. A beauty-feast for the eyes will be part of the pleasure, especially from inside the house. For the children or child-like, the enchanted playground outdoors will call for celebration. For dogs like Max, it will be time to look for something new to chew on or drag out for display. As for Grant--we're counting on him to figure out what to do about this snow-clogged driveway. For him, it may not be a day of rest.
Lorne and Grace were in Houston, Gary and Rosanna in Dallas, Dad in Atlanta, David, Amos, and Oren and Jo in Minneapolis. Julian and Bertha were still in Florida, as far as I know, and LaVerne and Rebecca had scooted home just ahead of the worst of the the blizzard. All of them traveled by air, courtesy of a travel-agent church member.
Dad is scheduled to arrive in Wichita around 9:00 P.M. and the Minneapolis bunch around 11:00.
Church is canceled for tomorrow morning, and plans are still being formed for a commissioning service in the afternoon or evening. The sun is shining and the wind has died down. The temperature is up to 41 degrees, so the plowed roads are emerging nicely out of the snow. But our driveway is not navigable.
Shane and Dorcas showed up here around 3:00. They had fairly clear sailing between here and Colorado by taking a more northerly and less direct route--on I-70 rather than US 50. At Ellsworth, KS they headed south on K-14, which passes through the area five miles west of us. However, they had to turn back on this side of Sterling, when they reached some impassable drifts. They threaded their way east to Nickerson, and came by here from the north. They parked their car at the road and walked in by stepping high and wide in the tracks Hiromi had made earlier.
Dorcas' parents are still en route here by car from Virginia--headed here for tomorrow's commissioning service. They encountered freezing rain around Kansas City and were progressing very slowly part of the time.
In our front yard, a drift several feet high creates a barrier between the porch steps and the drive. Grant seems to have made off with our best snow-moving shovel--not a great one, at that, so Hiromi did his best at clearing snow from the porch with a push broom. He made one foray outside after the snow quit around noon to see that the dog, cats, birds, and sheep are all taken care of.
He came in exhausted, with his boots full of snow and his pant legs wet past his knees. When he fed the sheep and called them, they answered from the hog barn where they had gone for the night. A deep drift blocked their exit, and they weren't about to plow through it, so Hiromi took their feed to them. That was especially awkward, trying to carry the feed pan and all. He looked very short and slightly disabled.
I handed him a measuring stick, and Hiromi trekked to the middle of the front yard (walking right over the place where the irises were coming up, I noted) to plunge it into the snow for a measurement. "Sixteen or seventeen inches," he announced.
Max, with all his "toys" buried under snow or confiscated last week and deposited in the trash, made the best of the situation by chewing off the rubber coating on the broom handle Hiromi had propped up next to the front door. He also dragged his blanket out of the garage and left it on the driveway drift by the porch. Anything to make the place feel like home, I guess.
This morning he went charging around, breaking through the snow, or sliding over the top. He came by the picnic table where Hiromi spreads bird feed, and since the surface was at nose level anyway, he sniffed it well and tried a bit of the bird seed for taste.
The black iron kettle in which Mom used to heat her wash water has been used for a planter for several decades now. This morning only the rim was visible, the rest buried under snow. It sported a lovely "whipped cream" dollop of topping.
Lowell's children made a snow cave in a drift so high that Lowell, who is 6 feet tall, could just see over the top.
The snow plow that went through around 1:30 must have nailed our mailbox. It's now headed south instead of east.
The latest prediction for tonight's low is 17 degrees. That is about 17 degrees too cold for the fruit trees that were in bloom. The miniature daffodils I enjoyed last week while we constructed the greenhouse are tucked away out of sight. I wonder what more than a foot of snow does to daffodils.
We haven't heard from Grant since his triumphant and cheeky declaration after having arrived at Kenny's place. He's probably intoxicated with making money from all the snow-pushing he gets to do. It's a good antidote for the heebie-jeebies built up after a week of hardly working at all, except here at home in the yard, and in the kitchen, when I pressed him into service.
Several others were at Kenny's house for the evening and ended up staying for the night, David and Ida after getting stuck once on the way home. They got out finally and headed back to Kenny's house. Today when Shane and Dorcas came by close to their home, the 4WD truck was stuck again. David was babysitting it while he waited for help to dig or pull it out. Ida had walked home, about a mile away. I wonder if she could still feel her feet by the time she got there.
A day of rest tomorrow will be welcome this week for many reasons, especially for those who will wake up in their own bed, after having spent the previous night in an airport. A beauty-feast for the eyes will be part of the pleasure, especially from inside the house. For the children or child-like, the enchanted playground outdoors will call for celebration. For dogs like Max, it will be time to look for something new to chew on or drag out for display. As for Grant--we're counting on him to figure out what to do about this snow-clogged driveway. For him, it may not be a day of rest.
posted by Mrs. I at
3:04 PM
2 Comments:
One minor correction: David, Amos, Oren, and Jo spent the night in Atlanta, and headed for home early this morning via Memphis and Minneapolis. They have spent a long time in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, the airline had routed Dad home a different way,leaving later. After a canceled flight, it looks like he will still get to Wichita two hours before the other four. --Linda Rose
By
Anonymous, at 3/28/2009
Once Grant is done with your driveway he can swing around the corner and do ours. It's only the first 20 feet from the road that has the big drifts. Oh, and I should maybe mention that the whole 1/2 mile section of road past our place is completely covered with 3 feet of snow. We're assuming that the snowplow will go through some time in the next 3 days or so! He isn't known to be very speedy in these parts. I doubt anybody could get through with a tractor the way it is now. Have a restful day of rest.
By
Brian M, at 3/28/2009
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