It's November 22nd and we're having a BLIZZARD!!!!

What's up with that???

I've already sweet talked Anderson Excavating Company because we will no doubt be snowed in by morning.  The wind is blowing so hard you can't see a foot in front of your face.  Anderson's will start plowing at 4 am and get to us about 10:00am. 

This is what it looked like the last time Anderson had to bail us out several years ago.  We won't have near this amount of snow (I hope)  but I've never seen the wind blow as hard as it is tonight.  

I've read all your lovely comments and will get to them in the morning (if we still have power.)

Next up?  No doubt the electricity will go off...

My closest blogger buddy  Mark (in Spokane) over at Ordered Liberty will probably  have the day off tomorrow.  Have fun , Mark!

It Snowed Last Night

(Just enough to be appreciated.... Thank you God)

We have gorgeous sunsets

Father Costello

*****A few weeks ago I posted on finding two holy cards for Father William Costello in a book I purchased at the thrift store. I wondered what had caused him to die so young and put him up for "adoption." My blogger buddy Packrat offered to adopt and pray for Father Costello and so I mailed one of the two cards to her.

Just days ago I received this email from Greg in North Carolina:

*****Hi there... I was running some Google searches tonight and found your blog about my cousin (well, technically my mother's cousin) Fr. William Costello. How funny you'd find his cards tucked away in a book after all these years! I still have one of those myself!

*****Fr. Bill was a Jesuit scholar and formerly head of the English Dept at Gonzaga in Spokane. He was Harvard educated and then went on to England to complete his PhD. He was the first Jesuit scholar admitted to Cambridge since the Reformation. One of his brothers, Fr. Frank Costello, is the retired VP and former head of the Political Science Dept at Gonzaga, and his sister Mother Mary Michael Costello is Mother Superior of an order of nuns in Bridalveil, OR. She had been a Provincial Mother when I was young, and after a petition to the Vatican, she was allowed to form her own order by decree granted by Pope Paul VI.

*****Our family originally came across in a wagon train in 1852 and settled in Spokane as either the first or some of the first white settlers. My great grandmother Caroline Costello lived in Moscow, Lewiston and the Nez Perce area in the 1910s and 1920s. My grandmother Reta Costello Breshear graduated from Lewiston Normal School for Girls in +/- 1906 and I believe her first job was teaching in Nez Perce. I have a postcard from the school dated 1910 inviting her to an alumni dinner which was addressed to her simply as "Reta Costello, Nez Perce, ID." I also have a photo of her dorm room from Lewiston Normal, which is one of my most prized possessions.

*****I could go on & on... my great grandparents are buried in the family plot in Walla Walla (I graduated from Whitman) and it just happens that I am the de facto keeper of the family history. My mother is still living (in the San Juan Islands); she adored Fr. Bill and I am sure she would love to have the prayer cards. If you want to drop them in the mail I will forward them along.

Thanks for the posting. Always nice to find these bits and pieces of the family floating around.

Greg also added this to the combox:

*****Adrienne, I sent you an email via gmail. Fr. Bill is my cousin. He died after a ruptured aneurysm caused a massive stroke. He had been head of the English Dept at Gonzaga; his brother Fr Frank Costello was head of the Political Science Dept at Gonzaga as well. His ties to Cambridge were because he completed his PhD there, and he was the first Jesuit scholar admitted to Cambridge since the Reformation. I don't know if that book of his was a barn-burner or not but I suspect it was his doctoral dissertation. They are not known, generally, to be great reads.

Adopt a Bowl Person for Lent

*****If you are new to this blog or missed the post on my "bowl people" and the adoption program you can read about here

*****Lent would be a wonderful time to adopt one of these souls as your very own. Over the past few years I've probably adopted out over 100 people to be prayed for in a special way.


See you for Saving Money Saturday. Seeing as how our current President's 3.55 trillion budget will cost each and every citizen of the United States over 25 thousand dollars, we will do well to be thrifty.

Hubby's First PictureThis proves he's not just another pretty face!


The snow just keeps coming.....



For the Ladies:
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Hubbies Cost 7 Hours of Extra Housework a Week

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Posted Apr 7, 08 5:47 AM CDT in Arts & Living, Science & Health

(Newser) – Husbands create seven hours a week of extra housework for their wives, while they themselves spend less time on housework than they did as singles, a new study has found. But it's not all bad news for women. Researchers tracking housework hours of single and married people also found that women devote less time now than they did in 1976, while men do more than twice as much, the Ann Arbor News reports.

Still, women devote more hours to domestic work than men do, with 17 hours a week in 2005 compared to 13 hours for men. In 1976, women worked 26 hours a week in the home while men worked just six hours. A stay-at-home dad said he wasn’t surprised. “With more women working, men have to pick up some of the slack,” he said.

Breaking News:

Boise, Idaho: An emergency session of the Idaho State Legislature has met to push through legislation making it a criminal offence to wish for a white Christmas. A conviction carries with it a mandatory sentence of one year house arrest for a first offence. Prisoner will be allowed out for shoveling. A second offence is life in prison with no parole.

Public opinion was heavily in favor of the death penalty, but Bishop Michael Driscoll stepped in and said the Catholic Church does not support the death penalty for "white Christmas wishing" offences. There is also a large Mormon population which also backed the life in prison sentence.

Two-time offenders have already been spotted in snow mobiles trying to cross into neighboring states to avoid prosecution. Most have been turned back at the border. Utah in particular has been vigilant at patrolling their borders.

Utah official, Benny Hanna, was quoted as saying, "we have our own criminals to worry about. Utah is considering the same legislation and will pattern it after the recent Idaho law. These people have got to realize they just can't go around wishing for anything they want without concern for the impact on others."

Tensions continue rising with snow levels
Dec 26, 2008 06:32 PM PST
KXLY

SPOKANE -- Over the past few days the number of assaults on plow truck drivers, which have ranged from shovel throwing to gun threats, have continued to climb along with December's record snow levels.
Ho, ho, ho, and Merry Christmas


Fear of roof collapses mounts with snow
Trevor VanDyke/KREM 2

INLAND NORTHWEST - Another round of snow is expected this weekend, and forecasters say that the expected warmer temperatures will make for more wet and heavy snow.

With record snowfall in the month of December, many home and business owners are concerned about the threat of roof collapses. Clearing rooftops has become as big a priority for many as clearing driveways and walkways.

SPOKANE - The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for much of the Inland Northwest until noon Saturday.
KREM 2

Snow accumulations of 3-6 inches are expected by Saturday afternoon over portions of the Palouse and Spokane area. Up to 9 inches is possible in the Coeur d'Alene area.

Snow is expected to start this evening and continue through Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon snow may change to rain.

History has been made:

Snow fall sets record for December

I so like being a part of history!

OMGosh. Where's the deck?

Snow shovel is always ready

We're expecting another 8 inches tonight with winds. Can you say snowed in again? Our neighbor made a path for us all with his tractor, so I'm going to do what makes me happiest while I have the opportunity. Go to Costco!

Wow! Look what I got....

Dear Adrienne,

I am sending you a tree for Christmas....

Beautiful Belinda over at Belinda's Brain (which is a sight to behold - both her and her brain), felt bad because we couldn't have a tree this year. Even worse we may be snowed back in before Christmas Eve and all through Christmas day.

I have advised our pastor, who lives next door, to stay at the church office, which he will probably do. No priest = no Mass.

As for us? I have tons of incense, candles, missals, and EWTN. Our window of opportunity is today (our neighbor finally made a hole in the drifts), for running a few errands before the next two storms hit.

Second big winter storm pounding Inland Northwest

Coeur d'Alene area, Northern Panhandle of Idaho, Central Panhandle Mountains of Idaho, Idaho Palouse, Northeast Mountains of Washington

A winter storm warning is in effect until noon Monday for these areas.
Snowfall will vary across the region. Expect snowfall totals of five to ten inches in the valleys with up to 18 inches of snow in the mountains.

****I know that it's not all about me. I know my powers are not greater than others. I know there are probably other people who thought a "white Christmas" would be nice. I never actually fell to my knees in the corner of my office with a lit candle and said, "Dear God, please send snow."

****But the good Lord knows our thoughts and secret desires. And perhaps there was just enough of us fools who sent up that heartfelt plea for a "white Christmas." And God said, "Let there be snow. Tons and tons of snow. Next time they'll be more careful what they ask for."

****In the meantime we wait patiently for a call back from Anderson Excavating, for we are once again snowed into our humble home.

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The simple human decency of George Bush

by Rick Moran

****"Many readers of this site - including yours truly - have disagreed vehemently with George Bush on numerous occasions. Unlike the left, however, most of us have seen the president as a decent, God-fearing man who took office and served during perhaps the most consequential period of American history since the Civil War.

****He will never, ever be vouchsafed this decency by the left - no matter if the evidence comes up and smacks them over the head." read more

~````````~

Email to my Brother

(who thinks he hates the Catholic Church, when he bothers to think at all)

The headlines at the Huffington Post, the "citadel for truthful reporting" said, "Pope Likens Saving the Rainforest to Saving Gays." Huh?

In response to his perception of what the Pope said:

You need to read beyond the headlines and work on your reading comprehension. What he said makes perfect sense to anyone not caught up in socialism, global warming, the goddess Gaia, or heavy masturbation.

The Pope's Statement (my comments in red)

*****"(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. Yep - that's the Church's job. Tell us the truth and help us get to heaven. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.

*****"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less." He just said man was more important than all the "greenie weenie" crap the ignorant Yuppie yahoos of the world dish out (on biodegradable plates, of course!)

Chuck sent John

(sounds almost Biblical, doesn't it?)

Hi, John!!! Sooooooo nice to see you!

You go, guy!

Chuck is coming...

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Chuck is coming...

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Let's all give a big cheer to Anderson Excavating.

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Hip, hip, HOORAY!!!!!!

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Light at the end of the tunnel....

The road. Sure glad Chuck is coming....


But ok - it is beautiful!!!

This would have been nice

...or this


or even this....

But this is what we have.....sigh

It's Snowing Again
Hubby hard at work. That's my shovel just hanging out waiting for me to get back to work! *I doubt we can get out our road once we have a path dug for the car. That's just about one quarter of the driveway and forget the circle. We'll see that in the spring!

Back corner of the barn

Our poor truck....

Won't be using this entrance for awhile - say like spring....

Still Digging

****I heard the official snow level for Post Falls was 27". *Spokane broke records with over 19" of snow in a 24 hour period.*Some of the drifts in our driveway are over 6 feet and we are still completely snowed in. We worked on and off for about 7 hours yesterday and still do not have a car width path down our driveway. It snowed another 4" last night, expecting another 4 today, and on Sunday we're supposed to have another "big" storm.

Be Careful What You Pray For.....

Taken from our deck which is over two feet off the ground...

Gosh - I'd take a picture of the front but I can't get to it. The drifts are almost to the top of our front door and windows. Driveway? Fagetaboutit!! All we've managed so far is a little trail to the barn.


Our neighbor on the end is out with his tractor. Maybe he'll take pity on us and unearth our barn doors.




Those drifts are waaaaaay over my head and I stand a regal 5'2".

And guess what?? It's still snowing!

Hundreds of volunteers across the Inland Northwest took time on Saturday to dig out their neighbors with shovels, snowblowers, bobcats, and snow plows after all of this week's snow stranded people in their homes.
Volunteers dug out driveways, cars and sidewalks and uncovered buried fire hydrants.

More snow arriving in the Inland Northwest

You read that correctly. Expecting 2 - 5 inches of snow between now and tomorrow night. This is getting ridiculous!

It's Official

Our official snow fall for last month hit 40". That is twice as much snow than we are usually blessed with for the entire winter. And, guess what, IT'S SNOWING!

We have run out of places to put the snow. In the interest of charity, Eastern Washington and North Idaho have made a plan to ship our extra snow to Minnesota. I think record cold temperatures without snow is not much fun. Expect the convoy of trucks to hit the Minnesota border by this evening.