Snow in CT

[Brian Jones]

We have a beautiful snowfall happening in CT right now. Love it. Gonna have to get outside soon.

 

[redbar0n]

beautiful weather. we just yesterday got here in MO 2-4 inches of sleet, making for a real pain in the ass on the roads, but a blast to be out in in the woods.

 

[k_estela]

Roads are actually surprisingly slippery here in Bristol Brian. I hear the coastline is even having a tough time with the snow and that is odd. Fairfield U has cancelled classes. That only happened once while I was there.

You're right though, it is really nice out.

 

[Brian Jones]

Yeah, it dangerous alright, but great for hiking in my book! Here's current news:

Man dies in weather related accident
Posted Feb. 22, 2008
Updated 12:25 PM

Newtown (WTNH) _ State police say they've had a busy morning responding to weather related accidents across the state, including one that left a Southbury man dead.

Sgt. Donna Tadiello of the CT State Police says officers have responded to over 170 accidents so far today. Sixteen people were injured in those accidents and one man is dead.

The fatal accident happened on I-84 in Newtown around 4 a.m. Police say Norman Semrow was traveling with two other people when their Jeep flipped over. Semrow, 64, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sgt. Tadiello also tells News Channel 8 that police responded to over 200 calls for assistance. She advises people to stay off the roads and if you must get in your car, slow down.

 

[siguy]

yeah it is coming down alright. i hear its supposed to go right on until morning in most areas...making it a 24 hr snowfall.

i went out for a minute earlier and its a shame the snow is that light fluffy stuff...tough to make a snow shelter out of. on the other hand its nice because its easier to shovel...

 

[k_estela]

You can make a shelter out of this snow but you have to pack it and let it set. Once it hardens over some time, you can dig it out. I'm with you about the ease of shoveling!

 

[siguy]

how long should i let it settle before its safe to start digging out?

 

[k_estela]

If it isn't an emergency, let it sit overnight. If you can pack it down pretty hard, about 8-12 hours should certainly do. Conditions vary so your best bet is to experiment. I've packed it hard and dug it out in as little as 4 hours. Test out your packing job before you really commit to digging out the shelter. Look to see how the snow is sticking or not sticking together.

Good luck!

 

[Brian Jones]

Good advice, Kevin, and so is all your other advice! When I come up to visit Marty's school and hang with you guys, if it was a martial arts school, I'd have to take off my belt and put a brand new white belt on again! I'll bet I'll be learning and relearning a lot!

 

[k_estela]

Brian,

That is the great thing about the rendezvous'. The wealth of knowledge shared by the LEO's, instructors, lifetime woodsmen and women, knifemakers, store owners and all others is mind blowing. I'm by no means a know it all and I leave each rendezvous with a new understanding and appreciation for additional outdoors skills.

Your words are kind and I'm sure I could say the same about you buddy!

 

[Brian Jones]

Thanks, Kevin, but you'd be surprised. After my car accident and recovery period, a lot of stuff literally got knocked out of my head. I'm lucky because at one point I was partially paralyzed on my left side due to bleeding in the brain, but all that is past. I had to relearn some basic motor skills.

I learned that survival skills are perishable if you don't keep them up. Same is true with guns, martial arts, and tactics. Some of it stays with you like riding a bike, but the more difficult skills seem to fade. I'm intensely retraining myself again. But it's exciting to be given a second chance. Many people who had the injuries I did never fully recover. I'm one of the extremely lucky ones.

In the first weeks after the accident, I would call my friends to say hi, then sometimes call them again one or two times more, and say the same things, completely unaware that I had already called. Short term memory effects. My friends would answer (if it was a repeater) and say, "Hello, Rerun.") LOL! It was my nickname for awhile.

Of course my friends also like to joke that the accident seemed to knock something back into place that had been out whack the whole time previously. At least I think they're joking...

 

[hollowdweller]

Thanks, Kevin, but you'd be surprised. After my car accident and recovery period, a lot of stuff literally got knocked out of my head. I'm lucky because at one point I was partially paralyzed on my left side due to bleeding in the brain, but all that is past. I had to relearn some basic motor skills.

I learned that survival skills are perishable if you don't keep them up. Same is true with guns, martial arts, and tactics. Some of it stays with you like riding a bike, but the more difficult skills seem to fade. I'm intensely retraining myself again. But it's exciting to be given a second chance. Many people who had the injuries I did never fully recover. I'm one of the extremely lucky ones.

In the first weeks after the accident, I would call my friends to say hi, then sometimes call them again one or two times more, and say the same things, completely unaware that I had already called. Short term memory effects. My friends would answer (if it was a repeater) and say, "Hello, Rerun.") LOL! It was my nickname for awhile.

Of course my friends also like to joke that the accident seemed to knock something back into place that had been out whack the whole time previously. At least I think they're joking...

Wow. That sounds like a wicked injury. So do you have any cognitive problems now or have you recovered totally?

 

[Brian Jones]

Not that I can tell for sure, Hollowdweller. I do have "some-timers" (as opposed to alzheimers), where I'll be talking about something and then.....completely lose what I was talking about, kind of "blank out." But only in some basic conversations. Or I'll start talking about "This guy I know real well, his name is...is...is.." even though I know the name by heart.

I'm probably a little feistier than I was before, but that could be just an emotional result of the experience. I don't mince words or beat around the bush to be as diplomatic as before, but at the same time I'm more forgiving of others and ready to accept others flaws and all, since I was forced to admit, accept, and deal with a lot of my own shortcomings in character and personality. I certainly feel humbled. I'm not as afraid to show weakness or admit when I'm wrong as before, since the experience will knock the Type-A ego right out of you. Well, maybe not all of it. For awhile, and for the first time in my adult life, I was helpless and had to depend on family and friends for almost everything. It was the opposite of the "self-reliance" concept I lived by. It was REALLY hard for me to swallow, and it freaked me out for awhile and caused major anxiety until I accepted it.

It taught me that you can't control everything in life, and you sometimes have to just endure instead of overcome. Some things are beyond you, and there will always be things that are like that in life.

I've always been more right-brained/creative, but I'm actually better at analysis/left-brain stuff like math than I used to be. Strange. They say the brain learns to reroute the synaptic signals to compensate.

So I feel I am as fully recovered as can be. I'm still discovering what's same, what's different.

Now, of course, if I repost all this again like I never said it before, please shout out, "RERUN!" and I'll go back and see the neurologist for a refund. That word was an arranged code for my friends to tell me I had already called (and to save them from me going on and on and on about the same damn thing again....)

I decided early on to have a sense of humor about it, and told my friends to do same, so they busted my chops just like before. This is not PC, sorry, but they gave me a bicycle helmet for my first post-accident birthday with the word "RETARD" in bold letters on it...it's a treasured gift and makes me laugh when I see it.

 

[hollowdweller]

Not that I can tell for sure, Hollowdweller. I do have "some-timers" (as opposed to alzheimers), where I'll be talking about something and then.....completely lose what I was talking about, kind of "blank out." But only in some basic conversations. Or I'll start talking about "This guy I know real well, his name is...is...is.." even though I know the name by heart.

I'm probably a little feistier than I was before, but that could be just an emotional result of the experience. I don't mince words or beat around the bush to be as diplomatic as before, but at the same time I'm more forgiving of others and ready to accept others flaws and all, since I was forced to admit, accept, and deal with a lot of my own shortcomings in character and personality. I certainly feel humbled. I'm not as afraid to show weakness or admit when I'm wrong as before, since the experience will knock the Type-A ego right out of you. Well, maybe not all of it. For awhile, and for the first time in my adult life, I was helpless and had to depend on family and friends for almost everything. It was the opposite of the "self-reliance" concept I lived by. It was REALLY hard for me to swallow, and it freaked me out for awhile and caused major anxiety until I accepted it.

It taught me that you can't control everything in life, and you sometimes have to just endure instead of overcome. Some things are beyond you, and there will always be things that are like that in life.

I've always been more right-brained/creative, but I'm actually better at analysis/left-brain stuff like math than I used to be. Strange. They say the brain learns to reroute the synaptic signals to compensate.

So I feel I am as fully recovered as can be. I'm still discovering what's same, what's different.

Now, of course, if I repost all this again like I never said it before, please shout out, "RERUN!" and I'll go back and see the neurologist for a refund. That word was an arranged code for my friends to tell me I had already called (and to save them from me going on and on and on about the same damn thing again....)

I decided early on to have a sense of humor about it, and told my friends to do same, so they busted my chops just like before. This is not PC, sorry, but they gave me a bicycle helmet for my first post-accident birthday with the word "RETARD" in bold letters on it...it's a treasured gift and makes me laugh when I see it.

You are lucky as hell then:thumbup:

Your statements remind me of Ram Dass. Don't know if you know of him but he was Richerd Alpert who was a psychologist and friend of LSD guru Timothy Leary. He went to India and was sort of reborn as a kind of Hindu new age Philosoper Ram Dass. He's written a lot of books and stuff.

Anyway he was sort of a self help guru and was in the Seva Foundation and was into a lot of charity things.

In 97 he had a mega stroke and recovered albeit with deficits. One of the things he said that reflected what you said was he always served and he had to learn how to be served and that sort of opened up a whole new line of thinking for him

http://www.ramdasstapes.org/usatoday article.htm

 

[oldman/Marty]

Brian,
I didn't know you before your accident but from the last couple of conversations we've had you seem to be pretty sharp. I'd say you have made fantastic progress.
Oldman/Marty

 

[Brian Jones]

Holy Crap! That is amazing. The parallels are so similar. I'm certainly lucky maybe because I was in peak condition before the accident and certainly younger than him, and my injury was a little different than an ischemic attack. But his words and experience are so similar to mine, wow. Thanks for posting that, HD!

 

[Brian Jones]

Thank you, Marty. A large part of knowing my progress came from the observations of friends and family who knew me before, and could tell when I seemed more back to myself again.