Winter Weather & Christmas

WEEKS TWELVE & THIRTEEN: We spent the week before Christmas trying to tighten up and cover up. Because of the shape of the house, we had cut four large triangular pieces off the tarps. By taping two of these together, we made two large tarps that we hung from the sill plate over our possessions. These we draped so that if moisture came in, it would run off onto the floor. We also went up on the deck and examined those tarps. We patched with tape the weak places that we found.

That Saturday we received 7 or 8 inches of snow. During a lull in the action, we blew snow off the deck. Frank had trouble coming up the long lane. He went into town and bought chains for his car. One of them came off while he was coming back up, he lost traction, and slid into the ditch--at least on the high side of the lane. After removing the chain that had wrapped itself around the axle, he pulled with John's tractor, and I drove the car up the lane. That night we packed for our trip to Lancaster County.

We started about 8:00 Sunday morning. The worst roads were getting down our lane and off the mountain on the back roads. We saw places with less snow than we had, and places with more. The most was about 18 inches down in parts of Maryland. For the most part the roads were in good shape. Some were even dry!

We spent parts of every day with Frank's dad. This was the main reason that we went there. Frank and his brother Glenn and Dad met with the attorney, and took care of some legal things. We visited with Frank's brothers and sisters and in-laws in the area and ate way too much delicious food. Thursday we also went up to the Reading area and visited friends, relatives, and former neighbors. We were able to attend the Christmas Eve service at Exeter Meeting. After visiting Dad again briefly Christmas morning, we started back here--just as the next storm began. The roads were much worse this time with slush and fog, but we arrived back safe and sound.

Saturday Frank worked on finishing Tonya's guest bathroom. Tonya and her friend had tiled it the week before, and Tonya grouted it while we were away. Frank also hooked up their wood stove.

Now it looks like we will have another week or two of winter weather. I doubt if we will be able to do anything on the house for some time.