fury of fire and snow

[mbhenty]

Just when you think you are inconvenienced by a snow storm, your house burns down. That's what happen to this building just as the snow storm was ending. What a horror show.

New England received the fourth largest snow storm of all time.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRZBQ8gT0HI

[mbhenty]

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Meanwhile, across state and on a somewhat happier note... Onsloe his wondering how he will get his business done during the height of the storm. HOLD IT ONSLOE, HOLD IT
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[mbhenty]

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From the list of storms above, January of 2015, here are some oldies but goodies of Maplecroft in the snow.

[mbhenty]

One or two more:

[Kat]

That's amazing! Your dog at the door showing the deep drift! WOW! Stef sent me a few pics today, too- looks like you had some shoveling to do
Thanks for the earlier Maplecroft pictures.
We're lucky to have them from you

It's awful about that house that burned down...I think they had stuff like that happen right after the Sandy Storm, NY/NJ 2012.

[mbhenty]

Thanks Kat.

Yes, Onsloe went out just after we took the picture. I had just gotten up and rushed outside to shovel a little P&P area for him.

To test their hearts, most my friends my age go for a stress test, EKG. To make certain their hearts are working correctly. I, on the other hand, shovel snow until I feel like I'm going to die. When I don't, I know I have a healthy heart. And surprising enough, compassionate at times. Though all the shoveling in the world will give no clue.

I have a very long driveway and no snowblower or plow. So I park near the road and shovel a walking path. Still a long way.

I'm up late. I know you can appreciate that. So I was out there last night about one o'clock with a flashlight tied to my shovel finishing the job. Helps one sleep well.



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[mbhenty]

oops, sorry about that.



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[Kat]

Wow, again, 1 a.m! Didn't it snow on the new path you made?
The door knocker pic is pretty cool- thanks!

[mbhenty]

Yes Kat it did.

That's why I was out there again at night finishing the job. With large snow storms I try to keep up with the snow fall and do a couple of shoveling sessions. The pleasure of winter in New England. We conceivably have another possible 8 weeks in which it could happen again.

One storm I remember well is not on the list of biggest storms in the post above. But it came close. And that was the 1997 "April Fools" Snow Storm. I remember we got like 16-plus inches at least. Though it was almost as bad as this recent storm, it melted quickly, since April temperatures diminished accumulations rapidly.

One storm on that list was the 1961 snow storm. I remember it well. I was just a little boy. We lived on Wamsutta Street in the Flint section, less than a block from the Emery house on Weybossett Street. The snow drifts were up to our first floor window of our apartment. A car that was parked in the yard had its hood almost completely covered. To a child this was fascinating. Even more fascinating than Hurricane Donna which hit about four or five months previously and blew the chimney off the roof of the house next door. With this storm we could go out while it raged and play in it. If only for a little while.

Some images as a child live with us forever, as the 61 storm has for me.

I remember how cold it was, the frosty flakes sticking to my eye lashes and watering my eyes. The height of the blizzard, the bitter, howling wind, and how my tiny fingers were frozen, and how I could not feel my nose, while I helped Mom sweep the back porch, using a broom in place of a shovel, since we did not have a shovel.

It was the sights and tactile sensations I felt in that storm that set the stage for the opening chapter of Lizzie Borden the Girl with the Pansy Pin, as it starts with Bridget sweeping the snow with her broom from the front of 92.


Below is a map of the 1997 April Fool Snow Storm.


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[mbhenty]

Oh look, I found a map of the 1961 Snow Storm. (click on map to make BIG)

In the city at that time almost no one ever spoke or mentioned Lizzie Borden.

Many, most of them immigrants, did not even know who Lizzie Borden was.

And in 1961 Edward Radin was to release his book, Lizzie Borden the untold story.

[mbhenty]

Yes, Kat. I love that shot of the door knocker. I didn't take it, though. It was Stefani's discerning and artistic eye.

[Kat]

Thanks for all the stories! We love personal stories, especially Fall River stories!
And pictures!

Who chose the door knocker, tho?

I remember Hurricane Donna. We were living in Cocoa Beach and decided to evacuate. It was the only storm we ever ran from. We went all the way to Jax...the bad thing about evacuating is you can't go back until they let you.
As kids were were just strangely excited about the whole thing. It's not until one owns property that the threat become real.

[mbhenty]

Thanks Kat.

I found and purchased the knocker on Ebay. When I built the house I didn't install any door bells, though most bells today don't need hard wiring. I don't like the sound of door bells. Neither does the dog.

Ah yes, hurricane Donna. It was a cat 5 when it hit the upper part of the Lesser Antilles, then cut up through the center of Florida as a Cat 4, existing near Jacksonville as a Cat 3. By the time it hit New England it was a 2.

I love the headline in the paper below. "She Went Thataway."

The other photo is of damage by Donna at Islamorada out in the Keys. Can you think of a better place to experience a hurricane?

Below is the track Donna took.

And of course, Onsloe out looking for treasure
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[mbhenty]

Now, the opening of this thread was about a 'three decker' apartment house in Fall River that burnt down to the ground, on the day of the big snow storm of 2022. That was this past Saturday.

Less than a week before that, a young lady, 22 years of age, (her picture below) who lived in that very house was involved in a hit-and-run accident on Route 24. Her car was rolled over and she was thrown from it. She's in hospital and it is not certain that she is going to live. And if she does, she has no place to come home to. How terrible is that. Sadness upon sadness with no promise that this will have a positive ending. Terrible, terrible, terrible...

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[Kat]

Thanks Kat.

I found and purchased the knocker on Ebay.

---partial

That's what makes it a really cool photograph! Collaboration!

That's terrible what happened to the young lady and her house...so sad...