Snow and sports
Here in central NJ, we got about two feet of snow this weekend. It snowed pretty much from Friday night to Sunday morning. If only the storm came a day earlier or later, there'd definitely be missed days of work. Even today, there are plenty of people who are "working from home", even though the roads are relatively good and you had all of Sunday to dig out. But whatever.
Snowpocalypse 2016
So the snow started on Friday night while Angie and I were nice and settled in for the night. I was playing games while Angie was puzzling for a little after work. Then we did our normal Friday activity of watching Hawaii Five-0 while playing a drinking game we made up for it. And once the snow start to accumulate, we had to maintain an area on our porch so the kids (dogs) had an area to run around and poop/pee in. And since Lady is prone to waking up in the middle of the night and needing to go, there was a 2-4 am session (not sure when) when we both bundled up and re-dug the area. Apparently the snow was falling at a rate of 1-2 inches an hour, so maintenance was required.
So the next morning, we awoke to a few inches of snow and again, more digging. This was Alfie's first major snowstorm, so we were interested to see how he'd react to it. He was at first hesitant/scared, but eventually we "tricked" him into jumping into the snow. He was pretty panicked seeming, but eventually seemed to like to play with snowballs and such.
Here was the scene Saturday morning while we were digging a path on the patio.
The path was basically just a loop around the table. In previous years, we made a bigger path that looped in the yard, but the snow was blowing pretty hard this time.
Those lights in the background will eventually get totally covered.
Notice the amount of snow on our cars for reference to future photographs.
Here's Alfie running around confused.
So we originally planned to go out on Saturday but the snow/state of emergercy/travel ban/etc changed our plans. So we mainly just watched tv/dvds, played games, Angie puzzled more, and made some baked ziti. It was a nice lazy Saturday together. We may go out next weekend or something instead. We also decided to take a really warm bath after lots of maintenance of the patio. Around midnight, Angie opened her gifts. We didn't shovel any of the other areas mainly because we were lazy and the snow was still falling at a decent rate. Also, it was very windy so snow blowing and stuff might counteract our actions, but laziness was probably the number one reason.
Alfie and Jabba snuggling up on a lazy afternoon
So Sunday, the snow was done, but time for the hardcore shoveling. We originally planned to shovel our house then do it for Angie's parents, but it took us about 4 hours to do our own home. Angie's parents just did their own before we were done. There were various times where neighbors came by to help with snow blowers and that helped a ton with the more packed snowed at the bottom of the drive-way, but there was just so much snow. I do think the hardest part was trying to find places to put the snow. Now, we have piles which are extremely high. So I think the total in our area was about two feet, but it was hard to tell due to snow blowing. There was a random spot that you could see blacktop and others that we much higher.
The scene out our front door.
My car during the dig out process.
So after digging out, Angie still headed to her parent's since she does that on Sundays. She brought Alfie so he could get some exercise playing with Molly (her mom's puppy). So I mainly just watched football until Angie returned. And it was a very good football Sunday, but I guess I'll go on about that later in another cut.
The remaining kids in a giant sleep pile under the sun.
Eventually the shoveling really caught up with me. At first, I would say I just got tired and such. But after several hours, all my muscles were sore. Like before going to bed last night, my arms, legs, and back were all really sore. But I guess this is part of getting old.
Football
So while I was less interested in football the last half of the season, I guess its hard to stay completely uninterested. And this Sunday was a good day, I'd say. First, you had the Patriots losing to the Broncos. Tom Brady having a terrible game while Peyton Manning had the strong defense this time around. I think the whole Manning v Brady narrative is kind of terrible because if you look at the results, the home team always won the game between them in the playoffs. Plus people get too hung up on winning and losing to determine the worth of a player. Like you're one player who doesn't even see the field for the whole game. But whatever, the cheatin' Pats lost.
Then the Panthers, once again, won by so much that you had to turn off the game. I wonder why people continually think they're not that good. And Cam Newton should definitely win the MVP this year.
Unfortunately for Peyton, I could see a scenario where that Panther defense crushes them again, like their Superbowl against Seattle. I'm not sure who I'd root for in that game since I do like Carolina and Cam, even though they're in Atlanta's division. Probably because they're a nice old fashioned defensive running team. But I think I'll root for Peyton to win it and then retire.
Another random sports thing is that the NL (baseball national league) is considering the DH (designated hitter). Being a NL guy, I hate this idea. First, why do you have some bozo who is too much of a loser to play the field, but gets to hit? Plus pitchers hitting adds lot of strategy. Like pinch hitting is much more important when pitchers have to bat. If anything, they should get rid of it in the AL. I remember hearing a few years ago that the NL owners were super against adding a DH, so I don't know why they'd consider it now. So hopefully this is a story with no real effect.
Snowpocalypse 2016
So the snow started on Friday night while Angie and I were nice and settled in for the night. I was playing games while Angie was puzzling for a little after work. Then we did our normal Friday activity of watching Hawaii Five-0 while playing a drinking game we made up for it. And once the snow start to accumulate, we had to maintain an area on our porch so the kids (dogs) had an area to run around and poop/pee in. And since Lady is prone to waking up in the middle of the night and needing to go, there was a 2-4 am session (not sure when) when we both bundled up and re-dug the area. Apparently the snow was falling at a rate of 1-2 inches an hour, so maintenance was required.
So the next morning, we awoke to a few inches of snow and again, more digging. This was Alfie's first major snowstorm, so we were interested to see how he'd react to it. He was at first hesitant/scared, but eventually we "tricked" him into jumping into the snow. He was pretty panicked seeming, but eventually seemed to like to play with snowballs and such.
Here was the scene Saturday morning while we were digging a path on the patio.
The path was basically just a loop around the table. In previous years, we made a bigger path that looped in the yard, but the snow was blowing pretty hard this time.
Those lights in the background will eventually get totally covered.
Notice the amount of snow on our cars for reference to future photographs.
Here's Alfie running around confused.
So we originally planned to go out on Saturday but the snow/state of emergercy/travel ban/etc changed our plans. So we mainly just watched tv/dvds, played games, Angie puzzled more, and made some baked ziti. It was a nice lazy Saturday together. We may go out next weekend or something instead. We also decided to take a really warm bath after lots of maintenance of the patio. Around midnight, Angie opened her gifts. We didn't shovel any of the other areas mainly because we were lazy and the snow was still falling at a decent rate. Also, it was very windy so snow blowing and stuff might counteract our actions, but laziness was probably the number one reason.
Alfie and Jabba snuggling up on a lazy afternoon
So Sunday, the snow was done, but time for the hardcore shoveling. We originally planned to shovel our house then do it for Angie's parents, but it took us about 4 hours to do our own home. Angie's parents just did their own before we were done. There were various times where neighbors came by to help with snow blowers and that helped a ton with the more packed snowed at the bottom of the drive-way, but there was just so much snow. I do think the hardest part was trying to find places to put the snow. Now, we have piles which are extremely high. So I think the total in our area was about two feet, but it was hard to tell due to snow blowing. There was a random spot that you could see blacktop and others that we much higher.
The scene out our front door.
My car during the dig out process.
So after digging out, Angie still headed to her parent's since she does that on Sundays. She brought Alfie so he could get some exercise playing with Molly (her mom's puppy). So I mainly just watched football until Angie returned. And it was a very good football Sunday, but I guess I'll go on about that later in another cut.
The remaining kids in a giant sleep pile under the sun.
Eventually the shoveling really caught up with me. At first, I would say I just got tired and such. But after several hours, all my muscles were sore. Like before going to bed last night, my arms, legs, and back were all really sore. But I guess this is part of getting old.
Football
So while I was less interested in football the last half of the season, I guess its hard to stay completely uninterested. And this Sunday was a good day, I'd say. First, you had the Patriots losing to the Broncos. Tom Brady having a terrible game while Peyton Manning had the strong defense this time around. I think the whole Manning v Brady narrative is kind of terrible because if you look at the results, the home team always won the game between them in the playoffs. Plus people get too hung up on winning and losing to determine the worth of a player. Like you're one player who doesn't even see the field for the whole game. But whatever, the cheatin' Pats lost.
Then the Panthers, once again, won by so much that you had to turn off the game. I wonder why people continually think they're not that good. And Cam Newton should definitely win the MVP this year.
Unfortunately for Peyton, I could see a scenario where that Panther defense crushes them again, like their Superbowl against Seattle. I'm not sure who I'd root for in that game since I do like Carolina and Cam, even though they're in Atlanta's division. Probably because they're a nice old fashioned defensive running team. But I think I'll root for Peyton to win it and then retire.
Another random sports thing is that the NL (baseball national league) is considering the DH (designated hitter). Being a NL guy, I hate this idea. First, why do you have some bozo who is too much of a loser to play the field, but gets to hit? Plus pitchers hitting adds lot of strategy. Like pinch hitting is much more important when pitchers have to bat. If anything, they should get rid of it in the AL. I remember hearing a few years ago that the NL owners were super against adding a DH, so I don't know why they'd consider it now. So hopefully this is a story with no real effect.