Winterizing

We have a lot to learn about 'winterizing' for our first northern winter! Last week we were supposed to get our first snow, up to 6 inches! Then they changed it and said that we would just get 1-3 inches. If you know me and Lance then you know we LOVE snow (we might change our tune after this winter) so we were excited, but we are not ready for the snow. So we decided that we needed to get a snow shovel. Now, the duplex we live in keeps the back of the duplex plowed (where the garage is) and the city keeps the street in front of our place plowed, so all we really have to 'shovel' ourselves is the path for the mailman. If you don't have a clear path to your mailbox, then they won't deliver your mail and they will eventually fine you. I know, crazy, but you have to understand that a mailman actually walks from house to house and puts mail in a 'mailbox' on your porch, there aren't too many mailboxes on the street. Anyways, we decided to go to Fleet Farm  (http://www.fleetfarm.com/) which is an awesome store! It is like a mix of a Wal-Mart, Co-op, Lowe's, and Home Depot all in one store!

Who knew that there would be sooooo many choices for snow shovels!!!

isle 1

isle 2

Ansley had a blast helping...

Anyways, after about 45 mins we finally made our choice....apparently for it to be a 'good' snow shovel you need one that is either all metal or has a metal tip on it so you can chip through the ice. I'm not sure if I'm ready for my first northern winter!! We also bought some salt and ice scrapers for our vehicles. Once we got home, we could hear the salt trucks and we were getting excited. After spending all night getting ready for the first snow, it didn't even end up snowing. It went southeast of us, but we aren't too upset cause we know that the snow is coming soon enough!

Recently I noticed some red sticks along the driveway when I was getting the car out of the garage. I didn't think too much about the sticks til I got to work at the hospital and noticed they had sticks as well around the curbs. So I asked a girl who i work with and who is from here, what the deal is with the sticks. While she was laughing, she explained to me that the sticks are there so the snow plows know where the curbs are and where to plow! Are you kidding me!?!

Not sure if you can tell or not, but here are the 'sticks'

One we first moved here, I noticed that the fire hydrants had these long poles attached to them and I just ASSUMED they were some kind of GPS to help locate the fire hydrants. Nope the long poles are so they can be found in the snow...it makes sense now! :)

Starting tomorrow, November 15th, we begin even/odd parking....which is where you park one day on the even side of the street and the next day on the odd side of the street. They do this for the snow plows...crazy!

Have I mentioned that it is gonna be a LOONNGGG winter!!! :)

Only 9 more days till our visit home for Thanksgiving!

Continue to pray for us and our adventure!

We love and miss you guys!