Winter Storms...

2:11 pm - 33 degrees - heavy fog, 1.5" of snow...

We had some welcomed snow over the weekend, the result of one final storm in a parade of storms that has been going on for over a week. 

This last round of storms has caused severe flooding, landslides, power outages, and even a rare tornado that touched down.

Thankfully, besides a few sections of the driveway washing out, the only damage that we sustained was to a few solar panels that got blown around by the 80+ mph wind gusts.

Water was pouring out of the hillside all along the driveway.

Sections of the county road were flooded.

This is the highest the river has been at the bridge on the driveway.
Over 16 inches of rain in one week!

The 80+ mph wind gusts blew around a few solar panels.

Unfortunately there was some damage to a few of the solar panels.

While all this crazy weather was going on, we had an unwelcome visitor - a first in five years.  Thankfully we caught the woodrat before any damage was done.  

The woodrat made nests in the engine compartments of all our rigs.  Apparently some of their favorite nesting materials include wire insulation and rubber fuel lines.

What a crazy week.

EEEEeeeeWWWW...

50 degrees - 10:12 pm – clear...

This morning our six-year old daughter walked out of her bedroom still sleepy eyed, and wanted to know what that bump behind her ear was.  To my utter disgust (yes, it even made me instantly nauseous) it was a tick, just sucking away my little girl’s life blood with its ugly little face.

Caitlyn wanted me to take a picture so she could see what a tick was.
Even though this is only a picture - it still grosses me out!

Tony was already at work, so I wasn’t able to run to him for help (which is what I normally do in these kinds of situations).  I have never tried to get a tick out before, so I looked on YouTube to see how it was done.  Even after watching that disgusting video, I still failed to get the little nasty guy out.  So off to the doctor’s office we went.

Almost two hours later (most of that time spent driving to town and waiting in the doctor’s office), some very sharp tweezers, some serious digging by the doctor with a fat needle, a few tears shed, and the tick’s head was finally out.

So after all of that, we needed a little cheering up... there is nothing better than Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie for a good pick-me up, so off to the store we went.  No, it didn’t matter that it was only 10 am, we still got our ice cream.