Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Lake effect snow... well it is wet anyway


Well I understand the science of Lake Effect Snow but I thought you had to live near a lake to get the full effect. It skipped Buffalo (right on the lake) and made it's way south over the hills and dumped 24 inches in that many hours. Here in what is normally a quiet little river valley town that gets a dusting once in a while. We got dumped on. I hadn't bought a shovel yet because it never really gets this bad this early. I used a pine plank to push a path out of my apartment and down the outside stairs to street level. Used the same plank to push a pile off the RV and tamp down a path to the Jeep. Found my way to work and found I could not get into the building without wading knee deep through drifts. I never even got out of the Jeep. I put it back in gear and went to the hardware store and bought a shovel and a bag of rock salt.


Did I give in to the power of winter weather? Hell yes! It's cold and wet and though the snow fall is light fluffy stuff, it piles up! I got a better work out clearing snow from the stairs, the walks, the entrance and the parking lot and found that one of the doors leaks and it snowed inside! only a small amount but back to the hardware store and a few pounds of weather stripping for indoor and out door use and I got the leak plugged. Worse than plugging and shoring a leak in the flooding simulator. Hey they could turn off the water if it got outta hand there.


And it didn't stop there... it kept snowing, The city plows forgot us and it was off again to open the entrance to the parking lot, clear the city sidewalk that leads to our building and then clear the deck on the freight house in case I had to go in there. And why do you ask did I have to do all this pushing of snow for the last two days... I am the only one who can! I ain't complaining about that (the snow yes, the need to shovel nah) because the other guy is 79 and still kicking.


Work will set you free is what I used to tell my Sailors. Well baby I am free! I like to work and like that I can again.


Enjoy the photo and see if you can name the building, When it was built and what it's original purpose was.

3 comments:

Janiece said...

It looks like a firehouse, but that's as far as my speculation will go...

Jim Wright said...

I know, but then I'm cheating.

And just for the record, the word verification for this comment is the longest I've ever seen: ocusjrmu (sounds vaguely Hindu).

Beastly said...

Janiece;
This my fellow Irish-person type is a Railroad station. Built in 1912 for the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad. It now houses the Salamanca Rail Museum, where I work databasing the collection, restoring the building and selling books, calendars and railroad stuff. I'm not a railroad guy, never worked on one but live in a town that was built on the railroad. These types of stations are all over the country and are works of art. Worthy of restoration and just plain beautiful. You are in an area of the country that has quite a few old passenger terminals still standing and even some working trains for passenger service. If you like old buildings, and want to walk through some place rich with history stop and see one sometime. They are very cool.