Oh, I wish!

With 5 inches of new snow on the ground (up to a possible 12 tonight - on top of the 2+ feet we got the other day), a fire in the fireplace, hanging with the Wife, life feels kind of good right now. To top it all off, work is already closed for tomorrow so there is no stress to be seen.

So before heading off to bed I wanted to check the weather, just to see what they're saying lately. Going on to weather.com I was presented with this...

THAT is what I call beautifully targeted advertising.

Baby It's Cold Everywhere!

19 degrees outside, 64 degrees inside. Can't turn the heat on because the heat pump is snowed under and I don't want it to burn out. Wouldn't do much good anyway, what kind of heat can a heat pump get out of 19 degree weather? Can't make a fire in the stove because we're out of wood in the holding bin outside and I haven't shoveled a walkway to the wood pile yet. Did I mention it was 19 degrees out there?

So, what's a guy to do?

Make bacon and eat apple cake of course! Oh, and a steaming mug of hot Tang helps too. Good, good times. And when Wifey adds a couple fried eggs to the mix the world is a very good place.

What's apple cake you ask? Even if you didn't, I'ma tell you anyway. It's cake people! That you can, and should, be encouraged to eat for breakfast! In all its apple-cinnamony-sugary goodness!

Witness-

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It usually comes out a bit more firm than these pics let on, but who cares, a crumbly pile of apple cake is way better than anything else you can eat in the morning! And, if you're so inclined (read - this is for P if she wants to try it out):

Apple Cake - courtesy of my mom-

• Cut 4 apples into small chunks. Mix with 2 tbsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sugar. Set aside.
• Mix the following together until nice and thick - make sure there are no clumps of flour left, they don't taste good if you don't mix them in well:
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 3 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Fold apples into the batter (it will be thick).
• Pour into a greased circle tube pan - don't use the fancy bundt pan, the cake will stick too much.
• Bake 75 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Enjoy your cakey goodness.
  

Oh, and for a brief public service announcement - Oscar Mayer bacon is the guvment cheese of the bacon world. This stuff is horrible. Almost no meat on this at all. What's that you ask? Of course I'm going to eat it, what kind of dumb question was that? Oh, you didn't ask that? Good, 'cause that would have been a really dumb question.

Snowpocalypse 2010

Wow! Now that was a storm! Being a NY transplant to a state much further south, I've been wishing for this for years. We got a good one back in December and, except for the delayed visit from my beautiful K, we were so thankful for the winter wonderland we were able to go out and enjoy. Kids need to be able to go out and play in this type of weather. Some of the only childhood memories I haven't repressed are from great times outside in huge snowstorms back home. :)

With the storm finally over we bundled up the three amigos and took a short walk (in distance only, short legs in deep snow makes for a lengthy stroll) around the neighborhood to see what Mother Nature had done to our community. With pictures rolling in to Facebook from friends all over we had to bring our camera with us to document the event. The little legs of two members of our party were very tired by the time we got back home, and the legs of the two biggest ones were pretty sore as well from having to bushwhack our way through the 2+ feet of untouched snow coming back to our house. I carried Red through, put her down on the other side and went back for Pudge so Wifey could concentrate on not slipping and breaking an ankle. By the time we got home I was ready to crawl into a hot tub... wish we had one of those.

Enjoy the pics-

- Pudge, ready for battle.

- The snowbank on our back patio is taller than JAM. Pudge doesn't even stand a chance.

- Mondo icicles hanging from our roof. And yes, our Christmas lights are still up. Don't judge me.

- Snow up to Wifey's thighs.

- It's about to swallow Red!

- Pudge to the rescue.

- My angel making an angel.

- My van's in there... somewhere.

I love snowy trees. My favorite photo of all time is Ansel Adams' Oak Tree, Snow Storm. I know. poofta.

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- Our driveway, absolutely untouched. I don't think I'll be at work on Monday.

- Do we finally throw in the towel when we see the monster tow truck stuck in the snow?

Um... would someone tell these people to get the hell out of the road?

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- Resting in a snow bank on the side of the road. Stay classy Greenbelt.

| - Dunno, just liked it.

- All was quiet on our abandoned roads.

We walked down to the soccer/baseball field down the street to see how it looked. The snow was way too deep to do much but we played for a minute.

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- Cars just absolutely buried.

- Quiet road at sunset.

Our new playground. Wonder why no one was around?
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Check out this zoomed pic. Don't think I've ever seen something like this - the snow stacked up on the kiddy swings. This will be fun to think about during those hot summer days playing at the playground.


- Poor Pudge, with his little legs, was not at all happy about walking back up the hill. Especially as the snow plow hadn't been by yet and we were having to walk in tire ruts.

- Untouched snow - it was really pretty out. And so quiet.

- If ever a sign was not needed, this was it.

- Looking back down the hill at the buried cars. They're not going anywhere anytime soon.

- Guess who's had enough?

- The wind was playing cool tricks with the snow in between the houses near us.

- Us. Wifey commented that we hadn't taken any pics, just us, in a long time. Well, consider that oversight rectified.