Monday, December 16, 2019

White As Snow

Late last week predictions of winter weather started to trickle in. With a gleam in their eye, forecasters predicted multiple waves of snow, sleet, and freezing rain over the weekend. The upcoming storm was the topic of conversation at every event I attended. Depending on their tolerance for snow, people were either frantic or unconcerned.

The whole mess was supposed to start somewhere between 9 am and noon yesterday.  Hubby Tony and I went out right after breakfast to run a couple of errands, and at that time the only sign of the impending storm was a cold breeze and a heavy layer of clouds that completely blocked the sun. Tony had a volunteer commitment at noon. When he left, there was a dusting of flakes on the ground. By the time he returned 90 minutes later the driveway was covered with a layer of snow. The snow came down most of the afternoon. When it stopped I went outside to shovel a couple of inches off the drive, walkway, and sidewalk.

But we weren't out of the weather woods yet. There was a little freezing drizzle predicted overnight, and then somewhere between three and six more inches of snow today. This morning the walkway looked clear, but when I stepped outside I almost slid into the grass and realized they were right about the ice part. After breakfast, the snow started coming down with a vengeance. It tapered off mid-afternoon, but continued to flurry for most of the rest of the day.

Tony brought his work computer home on Friday, and today his "commute" involved walking down to the basement office. Most of the things on my To Do list required leaving the house, which I decided wasn't going to happen. Instead, I spent the day straightening the house, packing up some things to take to Goodwill, reading, and piddling on the computer.

I wasn't surprised to hear that the local schools declared a snow day, and as the day wore on social media informed me that many stores and even grocers were closing early. The holiday dinner party that we were scheduled to attend tonight got cancelled. I was really looking forward to not cooking tonight, and fortunately we had leftovers that I could just throw in the microwave.

Early in the afternoon I was getting a little stir crazy. The snow had pretty much stopped, so I went outside to shovel the driveway again. I felt like I was all alone in the world. There were no people or cars visible, and the only tire tracks on the street were from the mail truck. It was magical. And cold. I finished up my job as fast as I could, so I could get back inside.

Five years ago today: Christmas Tree Crudités

6 comments:

  1. It's good when we can work from home when it is snowing hard outside. I remember once in a bad snow day the work's restaurant staff worked from home and we had nothing to eat! Also the security staff worked from home and did not open the office. The cleaners worked from home and cleaned their own homes instead. I was the only one to turn up because I had to give a lecture. No one turned up for the lecture.

    "I am"... I said
    To no one there
    And no one heard at all
    Not even the chair.

    God bless.

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  2. My husband had a volunteer commitment too, I was home with the flu and wouldn't even have thought of starting up the snow blower. Luckily we only got 2 to 3 inches and in the end we decided to just let it melt off the driveway whenever it was good and ready. Sounds like all the weather drama was down your way.

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    Replies
    1. If I had been under the weather, there's NO WAY I would have tackled a strenuous job...but it felt good to do some physical work.

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