The Blizzard of '24

Kris and the girls made snowmen in the front yard. . .

'Sup gang.

First of all, before I even get started with this, let me state for the record that if I had a nickel for every time some Goddamn Boomer brings up the Blizzard of '78, I wouldn't have to teach anymore. I'm so f***ing sick of hearing Boomers talk about how much snow they used to get back in the day.

Congratulations on growing up in the years before Global Warming was a thing (thanks a lot for causing Global Warming, by the way.)

Anyway.

We got a random snow day on Wednesday - our first of the year - due to a few inches of snow/ice that came overnight and prevented the school buses from running as usual. The roads were a little slick, but I ended up going to the gym in the afternoon, then Lodge in the evening, without an issue. This would ultimately end up being the Prologue to the main story, however - Friday evening would see our first legit storm of the year roar through, and nobody was expecting the havoc it would wreak.

My school district didn't have students reporting to school on Friday, as it was scheduled to be a 'Records Day' (a day following the close of a semester when teacher input student grades.) Most other districts throughout mid-Michigan were closing their schools in anticipation of the big storm, which was supposed to hit us some time in the afternoon, but our superintendent was adamant about staff reporting to their duty locations for the day. This, obviously, pissed a lot of people off, and folks had their eyes glued to their weather apps throughout the morning. Fortunately, by about 1:30pm, they let everyone head home in order to get ahead of the impending weather, so Yours Truly didn't have too bad of a drive back to Midland.

The blizzard was supposed to start up around 2-3pm, but didn't really reach us until 6-7pm. The temperature plummeted - and would remain below 15 degrees for days - and the snow kept piling on. 

Ice ended up being the chief catalyst with this storm, though - the wet snow/ice mix was heavier than usual, and brought down trees throughout the city. Thousands of homes lost power, but fortunately the Houghs never did (thank God.)  I ended up shoveling our driveway, like, six times over the course of three days, but we got through it relatively unscathed. . . with the exception of our large garden conifer in the back yard (which you'll see later on in this post.)

So here you go, America - the first great storm of 2024. Enjoy. . .

Samson makes his move.

I came home around 2pm and found the girls still in the process of assembling their snowmen with Kris (and the dogs.) 

Kris, once again, had the girls assemble a family of snowmen (representing each of us) in front of our house, like she's done in previous years.

Abby decked out her doppelganger with glasses and 'hair.'

The Cannonballs.

A selfie (of course) with their finished products.

(My snowman has clearly been hitting the gym.)

In the evening, the weather began to rear its ugly head. My buddy Collier texted our group chat this pic of his commute back to Midland from where he works in Clare. US-10 was a death trap.

As it began to get darker out, the weather intensified, and our family of snowpeople in the front yard embraced the coming chaos.

Fast forward about, oh, three hours or so. The first wave of snow and ice came through, and when we let the dogs out to use the bathroom one last time before putting them to bed, we saw our trees had taken a solid pummeling. The wet snow and ice weighed all of the trees and bushes in our backyard down considerably, and we still had an entire night of snowpocalypse ahead of us. . . .

The next morning, it was obvious we had gotten another six inches over the course of the night.

It might not look like it here, folks, but that snow was heavy. . . and it was not coming off the trees.

After some coffee, I headed out to shovel out the driveway (for like the third time over the course of the last 24 hours.) 

After finishing the driveway, I headed into the backyard with a rake and a ladder in order to try and remove this weighted-down branch from the power line running to our house. About 15 feet off of the ground, the branch was packed with ice and leaning out over the line, threatening to bring it down and cut off our power (not something we were looking forward to in 6-degree weather.) I was able to scrape off a lot of the snow and ice from the branch but it was still bowed over quite a bit.

Just to give you an idea of how bad the levels of snow and ice were, here's a Before-and-After pic of the large, conifer tree in our big garden in the backyard. Not sure what it's going to look like once all this crap melts away, but hopefully it can spring back. 

After I was about 90% done with the driveway in the afternoon (again), Kris came out to 'help' me. This more or less entailed her cleaning off the snowman family so they were once again presentable for people driving by. 

We've had much worse snow totals since we moved back to Michigan, but this snow was heavy and wet.  I don't mind shoveling when it's powder, but this stuff is a bitch on one's back.

It'd be awesome to get winter landscapes like this without all that tree damage, slick roads, and power outages nonsense that comes along with it. It's definitely scenic, though.

Even after freeing the hanging branch that was hanging over that power line in our backyard (from the garden bed tree that got totaled, as shown in the pics before), we noticed that an even bigger pine tree was hanging over the exact same line on our neighbor's side of the fence. Where that tree was leaning over was probably over 20 ft high, so even with my neighbor's willingness to let me attempt to fix it I couldn't possibly reach it standing on top of either of the ladders I own. We just had to cross our fingers and hope to christ we didn't get any more ice (or heavy snow.)

(You can kinda see what I'm talking about in this pic - just trace the line back to that giant tree in the background, just past the chain-link fence.)

Since we were snowed in all damn weekend, I figured I'd try out that beer recipe book I got from Mitch at that Christmas party last month and slow-cook one of the included meals. We went with the chili, which turned out pretty damn good after I added a pilsner to it.  Overall flavor was amazing, but I wish I would've had some jalapenos, hot sauce, or red pepper on hand when I made it - it could have used some more heat.

A common sight while driving throughout Midland the last two days (whenever a pressing need demanded it, that is) - fallen trees, blocking off several streets. Made commuting about the suburbs of our fair city a total blast.

Alayna felt the drive up our street was so pretty she had to document it (very 'Hough' of her, honestly.)

The last night of the weekend, as we all prepared for the coming work/school week, two different ambulances (you can see one in the street at the right, and one - identifiable by the bright, white light to the left - in the driveway) stopped off at my neighbor's house, two doors down, lights and sirens blaring. They were there for like twenty minutes but I couldn't see if they were bringing out body bags or anything. This weather is bleak enough to make one want to take their own life, but who knows what happened over there for certain. I'll keep you posted. 

- Brian

A Mild February: Pinnacle of the 2020 Winter

Samson, in a rare moment of not being a total spaz.

What's up, fellas.

February may just be the winter-iest month we've had this year, buuuuut that's not really saying a whole lot.  November thru January might as well have been a continuation of Fall; we barely had any snow to speak of, the temperatures hovered in the 30s - 50s, and everyone in the Education sector were furious over the lack of Snow Days.

At least I was.  I love me some paid time off.

Then along came February, which, while much more mild compared with previous Februaries, brought about some more typical wintery weather.  We had two or three snow days, temperatures dropped into the 20s, and the universe seemingly went back to normal.  Still a far cry from the Polar Vortex-slinging, Hoth-ish winters we've had in previous years, but hell - at this point, we'll take it.  Two snow days are better than none at all.

The Houghs stayed pretty busy this month:  nearly every weekend was spoken for, and so not surprisingly this month flew by much faster than its predecessor.  I could've devoted separate blog posts for some of these events, but I'm pretty lazy so I just said 'screw it' and lumped them all together.  So apologies in advance if this month is on the long side.

Here you go, gang - February of 2020.

Enjoy.

This picture accurately sums up what life with two dogs is like.

It NEVER STOPS.

Samson, finished going to the bathroom, keeps an eye on his bro.  They like to wait for one another before going back inside.

Samson's new tactic when dealing with his more dominating roommate, is to hide underneath the chair and attack Watson from safety.  It's impressive.

Snuggle bros.

Like I said before, this winter has been eerily warm (see: Global Warming.)  As such, our buddy Erik - who always hosts the annual Superbowl party for our group of friends - came up with the idea for the dads to watch the game outside this year.  It was in the low 40s, and he dragged out his portable fire pit to keep us warm (the one we utilize during Halloween Trick or Treating, which is also held at his house.)  This allowed us dads to sit around, smoke cigars and drink beer, without having to share TV viewing with moms and kids.  Zero complaints here.

This worked out pretty well - hopefully next winter will be just as warm.  But this is Michigan, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Yes, yes it does.

They're both pretty big fans of napping.  This works out pretty well.

I received my Masonic Passport in the mail this month, which is pretty awesome.  Anytime I go to another lodge, a Masonic event, or any other kind of activity along those lines, I receive stamps - just like when you visit other countries.  It encourages travel between lodges, which I'm a big fan of.

Abby and her BFF, Ella, at their school's World Culture Day event (pretty sure that's what it was called, at least - I could be wrong.)  Some three-hour-long thing they set up in the school cafeteria, where people set up tables for different countries and brought in a bunch of items that represented that culture.

No idea what this is.  I assume Kris took it at their church, because there's a giant frickin' cross in the background. . .

Abby picks out some pretty interesting outfits these days. . .

The girls decided to turn Samson into Simba, after watching the new The Lion King on Disney+, using lipstick instead of ground roots or berries or whatever-the-hell that damn baboon in the movie uses.

Our first Snow Day of the Winter of 2020.  I spent most of the day catching up on house stuff and side projects, doing laundry, and devouring an entire novel in one day (I was pretty proud of myself.)

This is what the girls decided to do with their day off of school. . .

A four-room fort (I might have helped them a little with this.)

The dog's kennel was converted into additional hang-out space.

The dogs ran in and out of it as well, tearing pieces down from time to time.  I spent a good chunk of time doing repairs throughout the day, rest assured.

With all the crazy fluctuations in temperature we've had this month, we were bound to get a bunch of these terrifying, instruments of death. . .

One of Kris' friends texted her this picture, taken when the friend was picking up her kid from Northeast.  We had NO idea Alayna had created this thing, which hung alongside a series of other kids' posters, down a hallway at the school.  Apparently they had to create a poster based on their family's 'culture,' and THAT'S the picture Alayna opted to use for herself.  No question this kid's a Hough. . .

Remember the broom balancing trick thing that was all the rage online for, like, a day and a half?  No?  You didn't miss much, but Alayna felt it was necessary to try it for herself. . .

It sure does seem like we get a lot of these this year, but, once again, Alayna had an Orchestra Concert.  Like last time, it was also held at Central Park Elementary, and seeing how last time we were forced to sit through not only Alayna's 6th Grade Orchestra, but also that of 7th and 8th Grade, this time around I planned ahead:  I brought along a book.

As if sticking around for two additional concerts that your child was not involved in wasn't bad enough, this time around they featured 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Orchestra Concerts not just for Northeast, but also for Jefferson - Midland's other middle school.  Yes, you heard that right:  we had to sit through SIX F***ING CONCERTS.  Alayna (pictured closest to the camera in the back, left row) only played for, like, five minutes, then we had to sit through nearly an hour-and-a-half of three-song 'concerts' from five other orchestras I couldn't give two shits about.  I don't know who the hell planned this thing out, but they clearly don't have children of their own.  Parents don't give a f*** about anyone else's kids, and forcing students to sit and wait for all the other orchestras is just a real, shitty move on Midland Public Schools' part.

Well, there you go, folks.  That's all there was from Alayna and her orchestra.

I've never wanted to throw a rotten tomato at someone so much in my entire life. . .

Samson's a big fan of hugs.  Fortunately for him, so is Kris.

Girls Night Out with the Mom Squad

Kris went in to Chestnut Hill to help chaperone Abby's classroom Valentine's Day party. . .

. . . where they had themselves a frickin' Barbershop Quartet?  What the damn hell??

I haven't seen so many spilled, red Solo cups since my days at WMU. . .

These are some lazy-ass dogs, folks.

Abby and her Girl Scout troop assembled one evening to prepare Swedish Meatballs for their upcoming World Thinking Day event.  They went with Sweden this year, so that's the 'traditional' Swedish dish they decided to prepare.  Not sure whether or not that's entirely accurate. . .

I don't know whose house this is, but I truly feel sorry for them.

The staged troop picture. . .

. . . aaaaand the accurate one.

So Alayna, who has always liked the poppy-rap bullshit they play on the radio - like nearly every other middle school-aged girl I know of - has recently gotten into '90s Rap (which, in terms of quality and artistry, could be compared to rock's zenith in the late '60s and early '70s.)  I may or may not have had a hand in this; I realized that if she was going to be playing rap in my house, she might as well be playing good rap music.  So after sampling various artists over the course of many months, she landed on the heavy-hitters as her favorites: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys, 2-Pac, and The Notorious B.I.G.  She texted me this picture one day, which I found hilarious:  these two, hip-hop rivals share the same birthdays as her and her sister.  Thug. Life.

World Thinking Day '20, at long last.  Here Ella and Abby prepare to watch the opening Flag Ceremony. . .

After watching a few, different countries' skits, it was time for Kris and Courtney's troop to present their skit for Sweden:  a dance around ye ole May Pole.  Or something.

The Scandinavians, properly assembled.

I ended up having to leave for Clare (where I was meeting up with my old High School crew for a weekend camping trip in the woods, if you'll be so good as to recall) after about a half hour or so, just long enough to see the girls' skit.  Alas, I had to skip out on all the grazing at other countries' booths (you can definitely fill up on all the free snacks different Girl Scout troops set out to represent their country of choice.)  Kris and several other couples in our friend group - who all have daughters in various troops - stayed for the entirety of the event, which gave the kids time to snack and hang out (as seen here.)

While I was away in the woods, Kris dyed Alayna's hair.  This was taken right after it was dyed, washed, and dried, but eventually it toned down a bit.

Hanging out with Kris' friend, Kim, and her daughter, Makayla.

Came home from work one day and found that Samson had torn up about a 10" piece of carpeting right out of the center of the Living Room.  I f***ing hate dogs sometimes.

We were able to trim it down a somewhat, and superglue down the edges to keep it from being torn up again, but now we're gonna have to plug it with carpet sample or put a frickin' area rug over it.  Thank God it's right in the dead center of the room. . .

I've been wanting a bumper sticker that represented my love of record collecting ever since I got my new car, but all the ones I found online were either too obvious, too obnoxious, or otherwise looked like crap.  I had always thought the Add to Collection logo from the industry standard, Discogs, looked awesome, so I reached out to the company to see if they had a large-size vector graphic with which I could create a sticker of my own.  Their marketing department shot me down, so my brother was good enough to help me create a resizeable graphic based on the design I came up with.  Once I had the design, I found an all-weather, auto decal printer on Etsy who was willing to print the design for me, all for a mere $6.  Now I have a simple, bad-ass decal on the back of my car that only true vinyl enthusiasts will readily identify and appreciate.

The last weekend of the month, it was time for the annual Chestnut Hill Elementary Carnival.  As in previous years, me and some of the other dads in our friend group volunteered to man the kitchen. . .

One of the guys bought cloth chef hats for all of us, which was a nice touch.

Preparing nachos, pretzels, hotdogs, pickles, and gallons upon gallons of cheese sauce for the hungry masses.

We knocked it out of the park this year.  Got this shit down to a science.

Some of the moms, scraping the remainder of the cotton candy cauldron at the end of the night.

Alayna and some of her middle school squad, who were on hand because their little siblings still attended Chestnut Hill.  For awhile in the evening, they manned the ticket booth so give the moms a break in their duties.  Nothin' like child labor to make your workload more bearable. . .

- Brian