Surrey Hills Farm

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Results of a Blizzard and Prediction of 2 More Snow Storms

After having a blizzard that dumped 8 inches of snow, then another "small storm" that added another 5 inches, and predictions of 2 more ''possible storms", the results are: empty store shelves, a snow covered driveway, very cautious driving and snowboots for walking in the snow!

Last Saturday Mel & I decided we would go to town to get "stocked-up" before the next storm or storms came in. Something I have never experienced in my life were empty store shelves. There were NO eggs or bags of sugar to be found in Sulphur. Braum's said they received 60 cases of eggs Friday morning and by mid-afternoon Friday ALL were gone!! Yesterday we needed to go into our small town to do banking business and to mail some letters. We stopped at the small local grocery/feed store and they had eggs and sugar both. Now we are ready for more storms (as far as groceries are concerned).

Luckily last week-end the storms that were predicted did not happen (Thank goodness!). In fact the temps warmed up and melted a lot of the snow. Today the prediction is for another snow storm with 6 - 12 inches of snow possible. The temps for next week could be in the 60 - 70 degree range. Only in Oklahoma could these extremes occur!!

The empty shelves at the store

Heading down our driveway with just ruts for the road

My trusty snowboots that have been very necessary the past few days.

Friday, February 4, 2011

MORE Snow!!

The weathermen told us last night we had a chance of a "dusting" of snow today. This morning they updated it to 1 - 2 inches of snow. Then as of 9:45 a.m. the update to the update is 2 - 4 inches of snow for our area. So Mother Nature is just piling snow on top of our 8 inches of snow! Guess what! The forecast says more snow on Sunday and then a more significant winter storm coming on Wednesday. Wow! We are experiencing winter! At least you have to say it is beautiful!!

The update at 9:45 a.m. with the radar and snowfall

The road conditions on the map

How it looks in my flowerbed

Birdseed I put on the patio for the birds. Earlier this morning I had 50 or more birds on and around the patio. Poor things! They cannot find food in all this snow.

One of the birds sitting on the back of a bench on the patio

UPDATE: As of 4:45 p.m. we had 5 inches of snow and it is still snowing lightly!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Blizzard of 2011

We were warned that a severe winter storm would move into Oklahoma. After a little freezing rain, sleet, 8 inches of snow, temperatures in the teens with wind chills below 0 and winds up to 50 mph we knew the blizzard had arrived! Oklahomans decided the weathermen were correct on this forecast!

February 1st - Gary England and Jed Castles updating the weather at 4:00 a.m.

The predicted temps

Radar

David Payne with the same forecast

The radar showing heavy snow

Heavy snow falling

The snow and drifts around our well in the front yard

Our patio

Mel after getting in from feeding the cows and walking to the house (see story below) - he had dressed in multiple layers

His boots and jean legs are frozen and have snow on them since he had to walk a distance

Mel had taken our white pick-up thinking it would be okay in the snow. Little did he realize about the drifts and amount of snow. After getting the white pick-up pulled out of a drift with the tractor, he accidentally locked the keys in the pick-up. He had to walk to the house.
Later in the afternoon he drove the old green farm truck (which has 4-wheel drive) and decided it did much better in these conditions than the white pick-up. Can you tell we are not accustomed to blizzard conditions?

Monday, January 31, 2011

Great Wolf Lodge

The Bradford Family Christmas was in January this year because Bryan, Melodi & the kids would be back in the States to stay for a while. The Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas sounded like a good place to have fun indoors - it was January and it did prove to feel like it a couple of days while we were there.
Loading kids in Grandmom & Grandpop's car (we did have the DVD) and adults in Mitch & Amberlea's car, we headed out for Texas.
Chili's at Gainesville was the choice for lunch, then on the road again for a while to reach our destination - The Great Wolf Lodge. Wow! Very impressive as we drove in!
The kids spotted the waterpark right off! After checking-in we put on our wristbands - our identity while there and also our room key.
After getting unpacked everyone met at the waterpark for an afternoon of fun times!
The slides, wave pool, lazy river, basketball in the pools, obstacle course and the dump provided hours of wet and fun time for all.
We were all tired and hungry so ordering pizza to have in the room sounded like a good choice. No one wanted to get dressed and go out for supper (as we call it on the farm) or dinner (as Amberlea calls it).
Storytime was at 8:00 p.m. After some ice cream it was time for bed. The boys spent the night in our room the first night. The next morning everyone met at Starbucks (in the lodge) for coffee and hot chocolate, to visit and then we were off to the Old West Cafe in Grapevine for breakfast.
Talk about huge portions!! The coffee was served in a large coffee mug and the food orders provided more than enough for everyone to be "stuffed".
Walking around the Grapevine Mills Mall was the place to "work off "the big breakfast in a warm environment since an Arctic cold front had moved into the area. Everyone went their separate ways to shop and we kept in touch with cell phones. After shopping it was time for the waterpark again. Another afternoon of rides on the slides and having fun together.
Mitch & Amberlea and Bryan & Melodi went out to eat together. Grandpop and I went to get chicken for the kids. Back in the room we played games, built a fort with pillows and blankets between the beds, and watched TV until parents returned. This was the night for the girls' to stay in our room.
Friday - going home day, we met at Starbucks again. Mel & I took Bryan, Melodi & the kids to DFW Airport for them to fly to Kansas City. Leaving them this time was so much easier than when previous times when they had to go back to Germany. They are so much closer and we can all get together much more often.
What fun times and memories we have of 2010 Bradford Family Christmas at the Great Wolf Lodge. As the kids said, "AWESOME!"

Ready for the journey to Great Wolf Lodge