Home again, home again, jiggity jig. I arrived home Monday night in the middle of a snowstorm. They weren't even sure if we would get to Chicago, let alone land in Chicago. But, the snow angels were on our side, allowing us to land safely, and for me to arrive home without too much hassle. I wasn't feeling well when I got home, I was running a slight fever. I still had it Tuesday morning when I got up, so I stayed home from work. When I got back up at 9:00AM, this is what I saw outside. And it was still snowing.

I love how the snow is on every branch, it all looks so pretty. I'm not sure why the pictures are so dark. I set the camera on "Cloudy" and this is what I got. Hmmmm. Anyway, by mid-afternoon, the snow had stopped, the clouds parted, the sun came out and most of the snow was off the trees. It's still on the ground, however. And, we're supposed to get another inch or so tonight I've heard. Have I mentioned lately that I want Spring to be here?

Tonight, I heard the news about my dear friend LittleWing who finally succumbed to cancer. I will miss you dearly, even though it's been a long time since we talked. Rest in peace with the angels, Wingie.


Yonder Mountain String Band - To Say Goodbye, To Be Forgiven

Are you one foot in the grave, or one step closer to your savior
Brother tell me how it feels, it's much too soon to meet your maker
You ain't ever walked a line, boy, you always were a rebel
Now ain't no time to strike a deal now, now for someone to cheat the devil

Won't get a nickle for your name, no, 'course you won't need it where you're going
But brother tell me can you feel, now, the winds of change that started blowing
It ain't a hot and dusty road, no, it ain't a highway it's a journey
Sure you're walking for the train still, but it's a train that's bound for glory

Every man is born to die, there ain't no mystery but livin'
Brother tell me is it hard to say goodbye, to be forgiven
You won't ever get it back, don't you hear the angels calling
'Cause you listen to them now, now that the tears have started fallin'

When he reaches out his hand for you, and you kneel before you savior
Say, your brothers know you're gone now, gone to heaven a believer
Say, your brothers know you're gone, gone to heaven a believer

Robert "Uncle Bob" Douglas

1929-2008

Rest In Peace

Friday February 22 I will be flying to California for a memorial, to be held on Saturday February 23. My Uncle Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease several years ago, and up until six months ago, was being cared for at home by his wife and a caregiver. When he could no longer swallow on his own, a feeding tube was inserted and he was placed in a full-time care facility. He lived a long and happy life, and I know my Aunt will be just fine, with the support of so many family members that love her.

Anyone remember my post from February 11, 2007? Check it out HERE to refresh your memory. Almost one year to the day, I had the same problem happen again. My pipes froze over the weekend due to the cold temperatures, and Monday night they started bursting. This time it burst from under the sink, in the cabinet, punctured the drywall, and was shooting a spray of water out about six feet into my hallway. I had just fallen asleep at about 12:30AM, when the water hitting the bathroom door woke me up. Shutting off the valve under the sink didn't work, neither did shutting off the one under the toilet. Fortunately, maintenance was there within 10 minutes, but it felt more like 30. He shut off the water to the building, but had to go back to the other apartment he had been working on when he was paged for my emergency.

About 20 minutes later he comes back, with Jack (my buddy from last year), the maintenance supervisor. They proceeded to try to replace the damaged section of pipe, but every time they'd turn the water back on, another area would start leaking. They left about 3:45AM since there was nothing more they could do until a plumber came. They were hoping to have one there by 6:00AM. I called work to leave a message for my boss, explaining what happened, and that I would be there in the afternoon. I went back to bed at 4:00AM and slept till 9:00AM, so I could be up, showered and dressed before the guys with the shop vac came to suck all the water out of my carpet.

Monday night, showing the drywall that was cut out to get to the pipes, and the interior insulation that was pulled out from around the pipes.

This was taking Tuesday morning, after the plumber had been in while I was sleeping. They pulled the toilet up (it's sitting off to the left in the bathtub) and ripped out more drywall.

Here's a close up of the pipes and insulation in my wall. If you look carefull, you can see some small shiny sections of copper pipe. Those are the newer pieces they put in to replace the busted sections. I'm assuming some are from last year. There are at least four that I can tell in the picture, one longer piece on the right side, lower pipe, one small piece in the middle top pipe, and one small piece on both top and bottom pipes on the left.

Because of the water on the bathroom floor, I knew it would start leaking to the carpeting in the bedroom, so Monday night (Tuesday morning actually), once the water was shut off, I started getting everything out of the way before the water got to it. I dragged it wherever I could, and still leave a path to my computer.

Here's the finished bathroom tonight when I got home. Same toilet, can't get that replaced yet (next on my list), but I have a new vanity, cabinet, sink, faucet, I got it all. If you compare this photo with the first one, you can see the difference in the cabinet door. This new one is much nicer quality than the old one.

Everything needs to be thoroughly cleaned, but the water is back on and working. This morning when I got up for work, I didn't have any hot water, so took an amazingly quick shower, then called Jack from work. Apparently, while the plumber was here yesterday, they had been turning the breaker on and off for the water heater, because it's electric, and Jack forgot to turn it back on when they left. So my water heater wasn't heating any water! It's back on now, and I have hot water again! This Saturday, after my dentist appt, I'll be cleaning the bathroom, and putting everything back in it's place in the bedroom.

What are the odds this would happen two years in a row, and on exactly the same day?

Ok, I'm SERIOUSLY ready for Spring, any day now it can arrive, I won't complain, I promise. I've REALLY had enough of the below zero temperatures. At the rate I'm going, I won't make it to 2009 before moving to California. I've really gotten intolerant of the cold in my old age. Keep warm, where ever you are!

The storm I was supposed to get didn't quite materialize as they expected. The snow was supposed to start last night, but the cold air didn't move south enough to change the rain to snow. So instead, I got rain all night, which turned to freezing rain/sleet this morning on the way to work, then about 9AM turned to snow. It snowed steadily the rest of the day. By 1:30, management of my company decided they would let us leave starting at 2PM, as the weather was not looking to improve until supper time. Some areas were expected to get over a foot of snow, with areas by me expected to get closer to 6 inches.


Fortunately, the highways weren't too bad, and traffic wasn't too heavy, so I made it home in under an hour. Not bad for the middle of a snowstorm! When I got home, while it was still light, I took a few pictures. This is the tree right outside my front door. The wind was blowing the snow in every direction, so the trees got a good coating of snow all over.

Also standing from my front stoop, this is a picture of part of the parking lot. The one car in front hadn't moved in at least a couple days, so it was all covered in snow. Mine is the silver one on the far left, partially obscured by the tree. There are piles of snow from the plow, and the sidewalk hadn't been shoveled yet. Those are footprints on the far right side leading up to my door, where people had to trudge through very wet and slushy snow.

From my apartment, this is looking out on the golf course. The darker areas in the middle are where the water was collecting from all the rain we got before it changed to snow. This was taken without flash, from my bedroom, through the window. You can actually see the water droplets in the picture that were on the outside of the window.

The snow has finally let up I think, not sure when we're supposed to get more, but I'm sure winter hasn't finished with us yet. This has been a very snowy winter, as opposed to last winter, when we had very little snow but brutally cold temps for several weeks. I would much rather have the snow than the below zero temperatures.

Anyone want some snow? I'll have enough to pass around to several people by Wednesday morning:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

SNOW WILL BEGIN TUESDAY NIGHT AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THERE MAY BE SNOW DEPTH OF 6 INCHES OR MORE ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL... NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL WILL PROBABLY BE NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 AND TO THE WISCONSIN BORDER. THE TRACK OF THE LOW MAY DETERMINE SNOW FALL ACROSS THE REGION. AREAS SOUTH OF THE KANKAKEE RIVER MAY HAVE LESS SNOW BECAUSE THE SNOW MIXED WITH RAIN AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS EVENT.

Is it spring yet?

From the National Weather Service:

"A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM CST MONDAY.

SNOW WILL RAPIDLY OVERSPREAD THE AREA EARLY THIS EVENING...WITH SNOW POSSIBLY BECOMING HEAVY AT TIMES. THERE IS A CHANCE FOR SOME THUNDER SNOW...WITH VISIBILITIES LIKELY FALLING BELOW A HALF MILE DURING THE PERIODS OF HEAVIEST SNOW. SNOWFALL RATES OF UP TO AN INCH PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE AT TIMES THIS EVENING...WITH TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE TO THREE INCHES LIKELY BY MIDNIGHT.

THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL WILL LIKELY OCCUR OVER NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS BETWEEN 6 AND 9 PM...AND OVER NORTHEAST ILLINOIS INCLUDING THE CHICAGO METROPOLITAN AREA BETWEEN 7 PM AND 10 PM. SNOW WILL END LATE THIS EVENING OR SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT."

Is it Spring yet?

Whew! Figured it out. Working with HTML is so picky, the slightest little thing will make it not work! Just had to go away from it for awhile, then when I came back, I was able to figure it out. Now I'm all set for this month.