Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Hi Everyone,

I hope all of your East-coasters managed the storm this weekend OK. Paul and I decided to be daring and actually headed up to the lake...which just happens to be the highest point in the Poconos so we got hammered with snow. Just under a foot is what we guess (somewhere between 10-11 inches in about 12 hours) and it sure did feel like a foot when we were shoveling it all up the next day. Luckily we were aware of the weather coming and packed our boots, gloves, and waterproof snow pants. We actually had a great time. The snow was beautiful big flakes and we had a fire going in the house and luckily we never lost power so we just cuddled up and enjoyed the early snow.

Snow Storm!

I made a little sign with the date because I couldn't believe it was October my card says, 10/29/11. Last time it snowed in October was 1952...so you can see why it was kind of a big deal.

Pretty Winter Snapshot!

Once we managed to get organized and shoveled out on Sunday we headed back to New Jersey to drop of Sarah, (Paul's parents dog) who we took up with us over the weekend. It was once we got back to NJ that we saw just how bad the storm had been for other folks. Town after town was out of power, trees down, snow, power lines down, it literally looked like a war zone. The weight of the snow on the trees whose leaves hadn't fallen snapped and broke trees which came crashing through power lines. We called Paul's parents to see how they managed and found out they had been with out power since Saturday afternoon. Once we got to their house and dropped Sarah off though we noticed a huge problem.

For those of you who are not fish owners....tropical fish specifically need to have constant air flowing through the tank and the water kept at a warm temperature as they are...tropical fish. When we got to Paul's parents house we realized the fish were in serious trouble as there was no air flowing....as there was no power...and that also meant the fish heater was off and the water was a brisk 60 degrees. Immediately we went into fish survival mode and decided that we needed to relocate them to my apartment as I had been fortunate enough to not lose power. We bailed out the water to within an inch or so, so we could lift it, and quickly hurried the tank over to my house. The relocating was no easy job as the tank is a 29 high which is probably 15-20 pounds of tank plus the rocks at the bottom which is probably about 10 pounds, plus the water left in for the fish, which is another 10 so it weighed about 35/40 pounds all together and because of it's shape was hard to get two people on either side to move it....not to mention having to carry it down two flights of stairs and up two flights of steps while trying not to slop the water around. In the end it was a rough 24 hours but the fish managed to make it and are doing great. Although Paul and I laughed as we now have 3 fish tanks in my living room and it is starting to resemble Sea World but we were glad that we got the fish out of there as the power didn't return for Paul's parents till late last night and we weren't sure if the fish would have made it till then. So the fish are officially relocated.

After the exciting end to the weekend we were exhausted so we headed to bed but lucky for Paul he got a late call from his school that told him he had a day off on Monday as the school he teaches at didn't have power. So he spent Monday getting the jack-o-lanterns ready and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters before I got home from work and surprised me with dinner. Pizza! So we enjoyed pizza for dinner and a couple pieces of Halloween candy ourselves in between trick-or-treaters.

Don't judge. Pizza, apple cider, and water for dinner.

My pumpkin!

Paul's pumpkin!

Once the last trick-or-treaters came we blew out the pumpkins and headed for bed. Paul's off again today as the school is still without heat (and I kind of wish my office didn't have power) but that's OK. He's on laundry and dish duty while I'm at work today so I don't mind too much. :0)

Hope you all had a happy Halloween! Stay tuned for more news tomorrow!