The Great Blizzard of 2015

When the media gets as hot and bothered about a storm as they did about this one, it brings out the skeptic in me. And if I lived in New York City I’m sure I would be rolling my eyes and pooh-poohing the weatherman.  But even so we went to the grocery store with the other crazed masses and made sure our pantry was well stocked. A good time to make spaghetti, Lee declared. Sounds good to me!

This storm developed off the east coast and headed north from the Carolinas on Monday. They said all along that if it tracked a little further to the east it might not be as bad, a little further to the west and it could “be a storm of historic proportions”. Well down by New York City it DID track a little to the east, but once passed Long Island it headed a bit to the west, straight toward Boston and southern New Hampshire.

The storm started Monday afternoon. Fat lazy flakes started drifting down around 2:30 in the afternoon. We took the dogs for a short walk and then came home, hunkering down to wait and see what would happen. And Monday night what happened was nothing much. There was maybe an inch of new snow on the ground when we went to bed Monday night.

Tuesday morning was a different story. At 6:30 AM there was 13 inches on the ground. The snow was falling fast and furiously. I put on my snow pants, my down coat, my boots and my ski gloves and went outside to clear a little bit of a path for the dogs. I knew Lee would make a better path with the snow blower later, but I had to do something until then.

I opened the door and told them to go out. I know that dogs can sense the weather. Harper and Heather were both like “NO NO NO.” I had Lee hand them to me and I made them go outside. I could make them go out, but I couldn’t make them do their business. They weren't having any part of it and scurried back inside as soon as I would allow it.

Cosmo on the other hand thought it was great, all the white fluffy stuff to run through, sniff, dig and roll around in. He would have stayed out longer, but it was cold and windy out there.

The rest of the morning we watched in amazement as the snow just came pouring down. By 10:30 AM we had 24 inches! That’s over 2 inches an hour, very impressive. But by 12:30 things had slowed down considerably. We had 25 inches by then and never really accumulated much more. In the cleared off spaces several inches would appear, but in my measuring spot it wouldn’t translate into much of anything. It was so light and fluffy that it just kept on compacting.

Every three or four hours I’d get the dogs to go out and I’d go out too. It was beautiful out there. Later in the afternoon when it had slowed down I took my camera out and had fun taking pictures, but it kind of made me nervous because it was getting wet. And my hands were freezing!

Wednesday morning I went out with my shovel and my big snow boots. First I had to wallow through the snow to the bird feeder. The snow and wind had glued it shut and the birds weren’t at all happy. The snow was up to my thighs! I was glad it wasn’t very far away.

Then I shoveled the steps to the driveway from the back yard. I knew where they were by the plow sticks but otherwise I would have had no clue.

Same with the front steps; it looked like a big mound of snow. As I cleared the front steps and the porch I started running out of places to put the snow. I had mounds of snow that were as high as the porch on either side.

Finally I had to dig out the propane tanks and the generator. The propane tanks looks like three cone heads before I cleared them off.

My total Wednesday morning was 26 inches. Nashua, New Hampshire won the lottery with 33 inches of snow. 26 inches was enough for me, thank you very much.

The papers are comparing this to the Blizzard of ’78. The snowfall amounts are comparable, but there is one big difference. This time they shut down the roads and ordered everyone to stay home. That way the streets were clear and the plows could get through. Our street was drivable by Tuesday afternoon. That’s New England for you. A little snow doesn’t slow us down!

Florida Here We Come!

We left New Hampshire and drove to NYC on a cold but clear Tuesday morning. We are headed to Florida to escape the cold, the snow, the endless New Hampshire winter. For the first 3 years in New England winter was exciting, but as we have gotten more acclimated it gets old.

We plan on doing this drive in stages, we are too old to be doing any of those 12 hour days. It's an easy and uneventful drive to New York City, sunny and cold. We check into one of our favorite Kimpton hotels on the West side. I get us an upgrade to a nice room with a 14th floor awesome view. There is a nearby dog park which includes a friendly lab with a red ball that shares with Harper. Our trip is off to a good start!

Dinner is at a French bistro in the East Village, Lucien's. We thought we were going to the restaurant where we met Stephen and Bob a few years ago but turns out it was a different place. Still basic french bistro food, done very well. Lee had hanger steak with mushroom sauce and frites; I had a squab with a delicious risotto.

The next morning it's off to Fairfax, Va to visit with my friend Catherine. Another uneventful drive, but we are watching the weather with increasing concern. A chance of snow is morphing into snow, ice, sleet, and "an ice storm of historic proportions" to quote the hyperventilating weather reporters. We can get to Fairfax, but will we be able to get out?

It's nice to sit at Catherine's kitchen table, watch the birds at the feeders and talk. Lee and Catherine are both consultants and enjoyed comparing notes. The dogs were polite and well behaved, no accidents, no barking at squirrels.

We ate dinner at a funny little Thai place in Fairfax City center. As we were eating it started snowing, but just a little. We were still hopeful that the hype would be greater than the actual storm. This restaurant was decorated to look like someone's library, with a wall of random books. It was darling, and the food, although nothing spectacular, was decent.

We fell asleep thinking that maybe we had dodged a bullet. It was snowing lightly, but not much accumulation so far. But the morning brought a different story.

There was snow all right, a lot of snow. Catherine's front door was blocked, and when Lee opened the garage to let the dogs out the snow was over their heads. He shoveled them a small path and we sat around the table, trying to decide what to do.

We were supposed to drive to Durham North Carolina to visit with Richard and his wife, but it sounded like the Raliegh-Durham area had been very hard hit by this storm. Their roads were covered in ice and nearly impassable. But first we had to dig out Catherine's driveway and see if we could even get out of her subdivision. Then we would decide if we thought we could travel that day.

Catherine's driveway was not very long, and she had three snow shovels, so we got to work. Harper and Cosmo supervised our progress, with Cosmo urging us on. He could see the street, just beyond where we had shoveled, but the snow was too deep for him to barrel through, although he tried!

Once we had cleared the driveway I put the dogs on leashes and walked to the end of her subdivision. The subdivision had been plowed, and the main road had been salted and sanded as well. My car has all wheel drive. Should we make a run for it? How far could we get?

We decided to give it a shot. We would aim for Richmond, about a two hour drive in normal conditions. Any progress we could make would make the drive to Savannah the following day a little less painful. We packed up the car, gave Catherine a hug and headed south. Lee did the driving for the first part. The road that led to I-95 was cleared, after a fashion. The plows had created a single cleared lane in both directions, but the intersections were a mess. Piled up snow made each crossing a bit of a challenge, but my car was a trooper and barrelled through without incident.

I-95 was clear. There was no one on the road, and Lee could even go the speed limit. Before too long we were approaching Richmond, and we really weren't ready to stop yet. We decided to keep going and see how far we could get.

The temperature hovered in the low to mid 30's. The only issue was that as we drove further south there would be more ice, and less salt. We wanted to stop before that became an issue. A dog friendly Marriott Residence Inn in Rocky Mount North Carolina decided things for us. That's where we determined to spend the night.

Snow Flowers

Fence Snow and Blue Sky with Clouds

We had a very fast winter storm that started on Saturday. It snowed 5 inches in 5 hours, big fat flakes. Then it snowed another inch that night, and a little bit more Sunday morning. This was a wet, heavy snowstorm. I shoveled what I could, and our intermittent plow guy came sometime Saturday evening. Unfortunately since it snowed again Sunday morning and he hasn't come back, our driveway is a bit of a snow-covered mess. But I can get the car out, so its okay.

This heavy snow has been draping itself over things in all sort of interesting shapes, so this morning, in between picking snow balls off dogs and packing for St. Louis I took my camera outside and got some nice pictures. Its sort of fun to take these snow pictures, remembering what these same plants looked like in the green of summer!

Snow Draping Itself Over a Bush

The Dogwood Looks Like its Covered with Snow Blossoms

The Evergreen Bushes are Blanketed with Snow

A Downy Woodpecker Hangs out on the Windchimes

A Maybe Blizzard, a New Fitness Device, and a Riveting Book

No, these three topics have nothing to do with one another, but they are what is currently on my mind, and when has a trio of non sequiturs ever stopped me? I'm sure I can figure out a way to make all three of these topics flow nicely from one into the other.

We are in the midst of one of those weather events that could be a big deal or could end up petering out into nothing much at all. The National Weather Service has been predicting a major storm for several days. Eight to Twelve inches! Blizzard-like Conditions! Blowing and Drifting Snow! Dangerously Cold Temperatures!

So far none of this has really come to fruition, but give it time. It started snowing early this morning, a fine, soft snow. We had two inches at 7 am, and now at 3 pm we might have three or four. But it is supposed to snow all night and much of tomorrow, so we could still end up with a lot.

So far the winds don't seem to be too bad. I actually went for a run this morning and I've definitely run in worse weather.

The cold on the other hand, seems to be a winner. It was 15 degrees F at 7 am, and that was the high for the day. Now at 3 pm its 7 and that is predicted to get much much worse tonight.

I do still like exciting weather, but I don't like cleaning ice and snow off of little dogs, or shoveling. But a big ole storm with howling winds would be kind of fun, as long as all of our trees stay where they are supposed to!

Speaking of exercising in cold weather (told ya I could join these topics together!), Sarah gave me a Fitbit. Her work had given her one and she didn't want it, so she gave it to me. A Fitbit is a glorified pedometer that will upload your steps, calories and miles to an app on your phone or your Mac or PC whenever you are close to that device. You can wear it inobtrusively on a bra or your pocket. The fancier ones will even monitor your sleep! The thing I'm discovering is that without my running I'm not all that active. Since I'm retired I don't need to walk from a car to my workplace, or walk around at my job. I have to be more purposeful about getting exercise. I'm trying to get to at least 10,000 steps a day and even with a short run in the morning I don't always make it. So like today when the weather is bad and the dogs probably won't get a walk I'm going to be short about a 1000 steps. It makes me want to go pace around in the basement or something. Now, I could start cleaning the house today, and that probably would help, but nah, I think I'll put that off until tomorrow. It does help me understand why my weight has been going up a bit lately. I especially like the fact that I can just glance at my phone occasionally and see how many steps I have for the day. Its fun!

Well, with all this bad weather, its a good time to get totally lost in a good book. Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch is exactly that. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through. I started it maybe three days ago, and its 700 pages long, so that gives you some idea how hard it is for me to put down. I don't want to give the plot away, but there is enough urgency to the events that I have a hard time staying away from it for very long. I love Donna Tartt. Her first book, A Secret History, is one of my all time favorites. She only writes about one book every ten years, and I literally have been waiting for this new one about that long.

Although The Goldfinch is listed as one of the top ten books of the year by the New York Times, not everyone has enjoyed it. My friend Christine, a fellow obsessive reader, was disappointed. The New Yorker thought it was overdone and over the top. But I am enthralled. I love her imperfect protagonist, the Dickensian references, the motley cast of characters, the intense sense of urgency as the story hurtles to a close. Do I think it is as good as The Secret History? I'm not sure at this point; I'll have to see how she handles the conclusion. It would be easy to go off the deep end and have something crazy or stupid happen. I'm expecting something good, or even great; I hope I'm not disappointed!

So that's it for this snowy New Hampshire afternoon. The doggies are napping, Lee is busy in his office and the light is slowly failing. As I look out the window, quiet flakes of snow are drifting down. The cold is increasing but so far at least the winds are holding off. But its only the second of January. There is plenty of time for some real winter weather here in New England.

Lee took this picture, I LOVE it!