Blizzard, Part 2

Well, in spite of an amazing blizzard that hit New England over the weekend, we survived fairly unscathed. For those of you who don’t know, we live in Connecticut which was one of the states hardest hit by the storm. We ended up postponing the trip by one day because we lost power at the house. Friday night everything was going along smoothly inside the house. Outside, it was snowing hard, and we could hear the wind whistling outside. We had dinner, washed our clothes for our upcoming trip to Las Vegas just in case the power went out, and were sitting on the couch watching, ”American Pickers.” A few times during the evening, the power went out but came right back on momentarily so we were counting out blessings. But at 9:47 p.m., the house went totally black, and this time, the power did not come back on. We had flashlights all ready to go, so we turned them on. With no light, there was not a lot we could do, so we got ready for bed and read by flashlight for awhile. The next morning, when we woke, it was still snowing. Not as hard, but the snow was still coming down. I thought it was beautiful, but Chuck was not as enthused! In fact he began to be quite worried about the water pipes freezing. The dog had to go out so we hooked her up to the dog run. There was so much snow on the stairs, she refused to walk down them and stayed on the top of the deck where Chuck had shoveled a flat area for her. He then shoveled the snow of the stairs while I shoveled a path for her in the yard so she could get out there and do her business. The snow was up a little bit past my knees. She followed the path I had made but veered off it and kept losing her balance as she decided to try to go to the bathroom off the path. I guess she and Chuck have neatness in common! Chuck shoveled a path to bring the generator down out of the garage to the area under the porch where the plug was. Together, we rolled it down the snowy slope, and plugged it in. It worked…for about 45 minutes, then conked out. The trouble seemed to be old gasoline that had been sitting around for about 18 months since Hurricane Irene. For the rest of the day, we read and did a few things around the house, although it was getting rather cold in the house. It was down to 57 degrees when we woke up in the morning. That’s not cold for outside, but inside a house, it feels pretty chilly. We walked around in layers of clothes, including bathrobes, and I had an extra blanket around me as well. By lunchtime, it had stopped snowing, but the trees were bowed over with the weight of the heavy snow. Chuck had called a guy to plow our driveway the night before. He said he would do it in 2 stints so he wouldn’t have to plow it all at once. He had come late Friday night. By 2:00 p.m. he hadn’t come back, although the snow had stopped. Chuck was concerned about us not being able to get out of the driveway to make it to the airport. I looked at the driveway and noticed there were a lot of heavy, snow covered branches hanging down over the driveway. We spent about 1 hour out there banging show off the branches so they would go back up to their normal height. There was one large branch that had broken off due to the weight of the snow. Chuck had to get a saw and saw it off. We finally had most of the branches out of the way, but not without some casualties. Chuck had a small cut on his face from where a branch had hit him, and my fingers were frozen so much that they hurt. I had gotten pelted with a lot of falling chunks of snow, but nothing too bad. At 5:00 p.m. Chuck called the neighbors to ask if they knew anyone who could plow us out. The snow was extremely heavy because it had snowed the night before about 6 inches, then rained, froze overnight and then another 12 inches fell. This made the snow quite heavy to shovel. The neighbor found someone who came and plowed part of the driveway, enough to let us out of the garage. Saturday night we had a fire in the fireplace. It wasn’t very warm unless you happened to be right up close next to the fire. I mentioned this to Chuck and he said that’s because it was a fireplace for show, not for function. There were no ventilators to let the heat into the house. We spent about 4 hours huddled up next to the fireplace, again with layered clothing, bathrobes and blankets around us. I will never forget sitting across from Chuck, in to separate chairs, 18 inches away from the fireplace, with the dog between us in her bad, also covered with a blanket. We ate cold salads with leftover cut up steak and chunks of cheese for dinner. It was nourishing but something hot at that point was what I was longing for. At 10:00 p.m., we again got ready for bed. The temperature, even with the fireplace on, had now slipped down to a chilly 54 degrees. I tried to read in bed but it was too cold to even do that. We went to sleep, and Chuck was quite alarmed in the morning when the temperature inside was only 47 degrees. He decided to postpone our trip to Las Vegas by one day to see if he could do something with the generator. After calling a friend who helped him siphon out the old gas, they went to get new gas from a gas station and lo and behold, it worked. By noon, the temperature inside the house was up to a whopping 50 degrees and climbing all the time. I had to venture out to pick my parents up from a cruise in a town 30 minutes away. I was a bit nervous about driving, but while the side roads were pretty bad, especially for my small Toyota Yaris hatchback, the main roads were fine. As I got closer to the town I had to meet them in, I realized that there was power in the towns north of us. All the towns along the coast, including Old Lyme, were hit with very fierce winds, which is why we lost power. The towns North of us still had power, but got a bit more snow. While I was driving my parents home ( can you imagine coming back from 8 days in the Caribbean to 25 inches of snow?!!!) Chuck called to say the power was back on. I could hear the huge sense of relief in his voice. We dropped the dog off with my parents, and are ready to go to Las Vegas! (I will bring you up to date on Las Vegas soon...we are here and are enjoying the 60 degree weather...sorry for those of you back in cold Connecticut!)

Snow Day Due to Storm Nimo/Charlotte

Apparently the storm that is hitting the Northeast right now has 2 names. The weather channel is calling it, "Nemo" and the Connecticut station WFSB is calling it "Charlotte". Well, whatever it's called, I am loving it! It is Friday afternoon at 4:52 p.m. The weather outside is not "frightful" yet, but the predictions are that it will become that way soon. We have about 4 inches of snow on the ground right now. It's been snowing all day but mounting up slowly. Now we are gearing up for blizzard conditions with heavy snow and winds tonight. We are expecting another 8 - 14 inches to total the predicted 12 - 18 inches. Chuck is concerned about losing power. I am absolutely thrilled. I love snow. And the more the better. As I look out the window now, the porch and railing are covered with white fluffy snow. The tree branches in the many trees behind the deck are all covered with beautiful white snow. And it's still snowing. For years we were stuck in two different houses during snowstorms, in 2 different towns. This is the first big storm we have been able to be together for, and I couldn't be happier. In a little bit he is going to start a fire in the fireplace. We are getting ready to have a very relaxing evening after both working on our computers for most of the day. Call me a romantic, but I love being stuck in the house with the love of my life with a fire in the fireplace, a glass of red wine, and the snow swirling around outside. Now if I can just get Chuck to relax and enjoy it as well, we'll both have an enjoyable night. Wishing you all cozy and romantic nights... Karen

My Favorite 6 Minutes of Each Day!

I used to say I had a favorite 3 minutes of each day. Those 3 minutes were right after the alarm went off each morning and Chuck would reach his arm out so I could snuggle in next to him. The warmth of his body next to mine was a very comforting way to wake up. Especially for me because I am a notorious night owl and love to sleep late. For the past 2 months I substitute taught at the same school every day. It was 35 minutes away from out home and required me to get up at 6:15 a.m. each day. What a horrible hour to have to be "up and at 'em". The only way I survived those mornings were those 3 minutes of each day I spent surrounded by my husband's loving arm. It helped me face the day knowing that I was loved and comforted. It gave me an extra boost to start my day. Lately though I have discovered a second favorite 3 minutes of each day. At night, just before we go to sleep, we turn out the light and cuddle together in the same way. It makes me feel so happy once again to feel loved and comforted. We kiss good night and then get into a sleeping position. Some nights I can't seem to wipe the smile off my face as I drift off to sleep. I am a blessed woman to be so loved, and to be able to love my husband back so fully. Thanks Chuck!

Meet Our New Baby

Now before any of you start getting all excited thinking we are actually going to have a human baby, I hate to disappoint you but our new baby is a dog!!! And actually she's not officially ours yet. She belongs to my daughter Morgan. Morgan rented an apartment in September from a man who said that he might let her bring her dog, but by the time she moved in, he had decided that he didn't want her to bring the dog for liability reasons. So, Chuck and I said we would be foster parents for this dog, Reeses, until the Spring when she may be able to locate another apartment that will take dogs. It is now January and the fact is we have fallen in love with Morgan's dog.Reeses was adopted by Morgan in October, 2011. She is part Australian Cattle Dog, and part Terrier. This dog weighed 28 pounds when she was taken to the vet in September. Unfortunately, her most recent weigh in showed that she is up to 42 pounds!!! I think it's due to all those snacks Chuck gives her! She is such a sweetheart and fits into our life very well. Chuck has repeatedly said that he didn't expect to love a dog as much as he loves her. He tells me this, but I have also heard him telling Reeses this! The 2 of them look so cute together on their walks. On New Year's Day we took her for a walk at a nearby Nature Walk, the 3 of us tromping through the snow together. It was a great treat for all of us. When I call Chuck at the end of my workday to say I am on my way home, he always tells me stories of what he and Reeses did that day. And it usually includes a car ride the 2 of them took together. She loves to ride in the car so he often takes her on errands with him. He sometimes stops off at the Old Lyme Beach so she can sniff all of the wildlife that has passed by. I hear all about it and it makes me happy to know he has had someone to keep him company while I have been away substitute teaching all day. He bought her a very comfortable doggie bed which she immediately climbed into and curled up in the moment she saw it. And he buys her bags of treats weekly. She is very smart and entertains us with her antics with her toys and loving behavior. She also loves to chase balls so will run after whatever we throw for her. If Morgan is able to find a place that will accept Reeses, we will be very sad. But if she can't find a place, Reeses has found a home with us forever.

Back from Amsterdam

We are back from Amsterdam, and I miss it. As you can tell, once Chuck was done teaching, I didn't have a lot of time to update this blog. I had such a wonderful time walking around by myself and taking pictures of bikes, doors, and skinny rows of houses when he was teaching. But it was hard for me not to feel a bit guilty because Chuck wasn't able to relax and enjoy Amsterdam the way I could. Once he was done teaching, he was able to enjoy Amsterdam with me.Wednesday night we found a wonderful Dutch restaurant called, 'The Pantry" which served traditional Dutch food and the waitress was very nice. We learned a lot about traditional Dutch food from her. We liked this restaurant so much we went back Friday night. On Thursday and Friday we had time to explore together. On Thursday we went to the Rijk's Museum and saw some paintings by Rembrandt and others that were truly amazing. We also went to the Heineken Experience which was quite and adventure and I have a new found admiration for Heineken. The next day we went to the Anne Frank House and museum, which was quite sobering. We had gotten tickets to the Hop On Hop Off bus so we got a nice tour of Amsterdam on a warm bus because it was snowing again outside.Crazy that they say it doesn't snow much in Amsterdam because they are too close to the water and we had snow on and off the whole time we were there. To me, it added to the excitement of being in a foreign country, and having snow at Christmas time. That night we went on a canal cruise because it was the very first night of the Celebration of Lights that Amsterdam is trying to promote. This was the first year for this new celebration. The best part of this cruise was being able to see inside the homes to see what the skinny houses looked like on the inside. Many were decorated with Christmas trees and it was really beautiful. We were able to see inside some of the house boats as well. The lights that they were talking about were mostly in the center of town.The canal cruise actually went through the Red Light District which was interesting to say the least. We got just a glimpse of things and saw a lot of red lights! The canal ride was pretty though because each canal bridge was lit up, which is just a normal thing in Amsterdam, not having anything to do with Christmas. It was a nice way to end our trip.We got home last night at about 8:00 p.m. and found we had no heat. Fortunately Chuck had a heater here to warm the bedroom up enough that we could sleep quite comfortably. The guy came this a.m. and fixed the furnace and right now things are warming up. I am still in my clothes, a sweatshirt and a bathrobe though so it's not totally warmed up yet. Well, tomorrow it's back to our regular routine...I will be subbing in Sprague and Chuck will be heading out to Orlando for a meeting on Tuesday. But Amsterdam will forever be special in my heart!

Well, I was up for an hour yesterday morning before Chuck had to wake up to teach. Once he was up and ready, we went down to breakfast, and oh my, what a breakfast buffet there was. When I saw it, I felt like I had entered breakfast Heaven! There were all kinds of fruit, sliced and whole, yogurt with bowls of various toppings, eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, many types of bread, a whole variety of meats and cheeses, a variety of juices, and coffee and tea. It was a truly amazing sight to behold! And the taste…wow, unbelievable! Everything tastes so fresh here. More like real food. We came back up to the room and Chuck gathered his things and was off to go teach. I feel bad that he has to go to work while I get to have fun today and the next 2 days as well. I will probably venture out in a bit and explore the area around here, but this morning I am going to do some writing for this blog and Hub Pages. But guess what…it’s snowing in Amsterdam. The hotel guide book says it rarely snows here in Amsterdam but there’s usually rain and sleet. I love snow. I just opened the hotel room window and discovered it’s snowing and I am extremely happy right now. I hope it keeps up.More later.....Well, it's later, actually much later. It is now Tuesday a.m. here in Amsterdam. I did go for that walk yesterday morning in the snow and it was just as beautiful as I had imagined it would be. People were excited about the snow because it doesn't snow here much. Everything seems prettier with snow falling down around it. I walked for about 45 minutes, and then came back and sat down in the lobby of the hotel and wrote a hub about it! Chuck found me at about 10 a.m. in the lobby and had brought me a heart shaped cookie that they just happened to have as refreshments...ever the romantic that guy!!! Then Chuck joined me after his lunch for just a few minutes. I wrote some more, then decided to go for another walk. This time the snow had stopped. I had a great time taking pictures. I wandered across the street a bit. We are staying in the area of Amsterdam called, "Leidseplein" which is the center area for nightlife. That's not exactly our style but it means there are lots of restaurants and night life to watch so it's a good place to be as tourists.I walked around for about an hour and took pictures. There are Christmas decorations up all over the area and it makes everything very festive. I headed back to the hotel to meet Chuck and as always he needed to work out. I had already taken two nice long walks and all of a sudden felt very tired. I realized I had actually been up since 3:30 a.m. so took a 30 minute nap while Chuck worked out. We headed over across the street to find a restaurant for dinner. I had fun showing chuck the areas I had discovered earlier in the day, especially the area for ice skating with a beautiful Christmas tree in the center. We found a Heineken restaurant that looked good because it offered soup and sandwiches and a nice area to observe the street and people going by...mostly on bikes of course...even in winter. I had tomato soup and he had a really thick green pea soup with meat in it, and slabs of what looked like thick bacon on thin slices of bread on the side. We each also ordered a cheeseburger and fries which costs about $20 each...yikes! Isn't that amazing? We goofed on that one. We could have each had soup and split a cheeseburger because we were so full we had trouble finishing our meals. We headed back out into the cold, carefully picking our way through the streets so we didn't get hit by the bikes here!!! Once back at the hotel we were tired so went to bed to get ready for another day tomorrow. Poor Chuck...he's teaching while I am having fun exploring. But at least we will have Thursday and Friday here together to be tourists.

We're in Amsterdam!

We are here in Amsterdam!!! Just wanted to catch you all up on our adventure. We first flew to Chicago, and had a 6 hour layover which we spent in the United Club Room. Chuck thought it was funny that I was quite excited about having a 6 hour layover. If you have ever been to the United Club Room in the O’Hare airport, or in any airport for that matter, you may understand why. The room is actually a few rooms with comfortable chairs, and some tables. There is a variety of snacks available which I am going to write a hub article about so I won’t go into too much detail here, but we had access to as much coffee, soda, hot chocolate, tea and herbal tea as we wanted. There were also snacks like cookies, fruit, cheese and crackers, etc. It is not often that I get 6 hours to sit down somewhere and write so I was having a ball. Of course traveling with Chuck means we need to be early everywhere, bless his heart. There’s no way we will miss a plane if he’s along! So we didn’t really have 6 hours because we needed to be at the gate early so we could be first in line when they started boarding. But even so, we had about 5 hours and that was great. My time in the United Club Rooms always seems to go fast because I enjoy myself so much! Once on board the plane, we had an 8 hour flight. They fed us dinner and we read and watched a movie with Meryl Streep called,”Hope Springs.” It’s the one they just made in Stonington, CT. and even though we both had head phones on we got all excited and made pointing gestures to places we recognized when they came onscreen. After the movie, we went to sleep. It was not a very comfortable sleep because we were basically sitting up except for the few inches the seat went back. I was awakened a few hours into my sleep by a sharp pain in my knee from being in an uncomfortable position for so long. Breakfast was served…a croissant, fruit and a drink of our choice. Within an hour we were on the ground in Amsterdam. The weather was 37 and it was raining and sleeting alternately. We made it to our hotel, the smallest hotel room I have ever been in, except for 1 we stayed in when we went to New York City once. It has a nice bathroom with amenities that are a bit different from those in the U.S. because they include a toothbrush kit and razor. There is a narrow area for the bed, which is full sized…yikes! And then an area at the end of the bed with a chair and desk set up. When we finally made it to the room it was about 1:00 p.m. Amsterdam time, and 6 a.m. Eastern standard time. We probably only slept about 4 hours at the most on the plane so I was tired but Chuck said we needed to keep moving, and not go to sleep just yet. Apparently the worst thing we could do is sleep then because our bodies needed to get used to the new time zone. We went to the hotel restaurant and had a great view of the street in front of us which is a main area and near a park. We saw tons of people on bikes as that is a main form of transportation here. By this time it had stopped raining but was still cold. I wasn’t very hungry because I was so tired so I just had tomato soup which was served with the most delicious bread and a side of fresh butter that was absolutely yummy. Chuck had a Panini that was similar to pepperoni. We had fun watching everyone go by. After lunch I still really wanted a nap but Chuck convinced me to stay awake and we went for a walk. I must admit that I was getting a bit cranky in the hotel room because I was SOOOO tired, but fortunately once we got outside, the cold air woke me up and I was much better, both in terms of my mood and alertness! We walked down the street and came across a large park where many people were walking, with dogs or on their own, and again there were lots of bikes. We wandered on past shops and restaurants and found a canal that had tour boats leaving every 30 minutes so we decided to take a tour. It was a great way to see the city and I took a ton of pictures. The canal boat had a glass roof over it and it was really warm inside. Half way through I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. Turned out I was sitting next to the window right next to a heater! I changed seats and continued to take lots of pictures. The houses are so cute, all smushed together side by side going up 3 stories high. After our canal boat ride which lasted 75 minutes, we walked around the city a bit more and saw tons of restaurants. I don’t know how people can make up their minds as to where they want to eat! We went back to the room arriving back about 6:30 p.m. I was fighting sleep so read a guidebook about Amsterdam then Chuck showed me how to set up my computer to use the internet and a different plug for Europe. By this time it was 7:30 p.m. and I was beat so I told him I couldn’t fight sleep anymore but to stay up as long as he wanted as it wouldn’t bother me. Apparently I was right because that was the last I remember until 3:30 this a.m. when I woke up needing to use the bathroom, and I haven’t been able to get back to sleep since. That’s fine as I can nap today while he teaches. After lying in bed for an hour and 15 minutes, I couldn’t fight the urge to get up and write, so here I am, at 5:00 a.m.writing to all of you. We are here, safe and sound and ready for an adventurous week in Amsterdam!