Balking in a Winter Blunderland
The place that got the most snow during the recent storm was Howard County, Maryland. Elkridge had 38″, Columbia 34″, and at Aleph Blog Global HQ we got a measly 30″. Here are some photos:
looking out the front of the house
back deck from the inside…
and the back deck from the outside…
looking up the street…
icicles hanging from our house — eight feet long
some of my kids starting to shovel before the storm is over… and…
That should be an AVI file. There were six inches to go after that.
Well, we have been busy bees, and we may be getting busier. There is another storm coming. Another 10-20 inches. Wow.
Economic commentary on this? It’s good to have boys — we have been helping out people where we can. Neighborhood relationships have tightened as people have made efforts to help the elderly and infirm.
Maryland can’t afford storms like these — major roads are only half to 2/3rds plowed. This may generate a political crisis here, but I am only surmising. Even well-off Howard County can’t keep up.
All for now, gotta buy some more snow shovels and salt, if I can find them.
February 8th, 20108:52 pm at
Wow! I’m cold and a little icy but no snow piles like that. Drive safe (assuming you get out one of these days).
February 8th, 20109:17 pm at
Long icicles indicate you need more attic insulation.
February 8th, 201011:59 pm at
The Federal government is closed AGAIN?!?!?!
Seriously, you guys are a bunch of sissies. Believe it or not, this country once functioned without endless bailouts, federal disaster zones, and people crying “help us!!!” without bothering to do a single thing for themselves
Enough already. Washington DC should be at “work” tomorrow (if their lack of productivity can be called work). If they aren’t there, dock their pay TWO days.
No one in the private sector gets a day off from work. Time for the losers in Washington to lead by example
30-40 inches is a big storm, but the DC area has already had FOUR days to deal with it. Stop whining and get back to work
February 9th, 201012:21 am at
Jenn, I work in the private sector from home. The US Government, well, we might all be better off if we took Congress and the leaders of the Executive Branch, and sent them on long vacations. We are all better off when they do little.
February 9th, 20103:27 pm at
As a Canadian, I’m tempted to say “big deal!”, but that is a lot of snow.
You may want to shovel your roof, with those icicles it looks like you might have a thermodam on the roof. Water backs up, and leaks in from under the shingles.
February 9th, 20104:22 pm at
Thanks for the advice. I have no way of getting up to that part of the roof. I grew up in Wisconsin, so I am used to the snow, but it is rare anywhere away from the poles to get more than two feet at a time — both cold and moisture are needed for a big snowstorm.
February 10th, 20105:35 pm at
OK David — so we are now having a “blizzard” in the NYC area. Its a lot of snow.
Where is our federal disaster money?
When do we get to take 3 days off from work, paid for by Federal bureaucrats (not taxpayers / ourselves)?
I can assure you that our DPW workers are very capable of dragging out the cleanup process for days, and if necessary weeks
Start sending our checks now. I expect $15 billion — since that is the going rate. I want the same as Goldman Sachs, no more, and no less.
February 10th, 20109:04 pm at
With respect to ice dams in the gutters, there are plastic shovels that are attached to ~16 feet of extendible poles. If you get a warm day, the snow melts, then freezes at night. Then the water can go up the shingles and leak inside the house. You don’t need to shovel the entire roof, but to prevent ice dams it is quite helpful to keep the roof area within 2 feet of the gutter clear, and also to have kept the gutters clean.
For the future, consider getting Gutter Stuff at costco.com for the difficult to clean gutters.