Tuesday, February 9, 2010

SNOW MUCH

I just heard on the radio that Vancouver is having to import snow so they will have enough for the Olympics starting this weekend. From my position here, where we got TWO FEET of snow over the weekend and it's currently snowing yet again, with the possibility of another foot to fall tonight and into tomorrow, I find that laughable.
Overall, we've been weathering this, uh, weather pretty well. Our power was out for sixteen hours from the middle of the night on Friday until right at sundown on Saturday (I was setting candles up in the kitchen to cook dinner on our gas stove by candlelight when the power came back on, hooray!) but that wasn't too terrible. Basset hounds make excellent space heaters, and we spent a lot of time outside playing in the unbelievable amounts of snow on Saturday so it didn't bother me much not to have power. Much longer than that and it would have started getting too cold, but as it was we were pretty lucky. Our apartment complex has also done a good job of plowing the parking lot and clearing the walks, which has been nice. Overall the roads around town are still a slushy or icy mess depending on what time of day it is, and roads that usually have four lanes only have two because there is just nowhere to put all the snow, but we were able to get to church on Sunday and to a coffee shop the past couple of days. The only downside is we don't have cable or internet. We had to watch the Super Bowl at the bar behind our apartment. We haven't seen a TV show other than that since Friday. And the cable company says maybe, MAYBE we'll get service back by this Friday.Thank goodness we're both readers. And thank goodness for the blackberry, which is nothing like actually having the internet but at least I can check some websites and get my e mail and update this blog.
Overall, I think the snow experience has been fun. It's the perfect time for me to be snowed in. I finished my prospectus last week and now have nothing to do schoolwise until that gets approved. It means I have absolutely no work to feel guilty about missing or putting off. And Penn has had snow days every day so far this week and his work is closed again tomorrow, so we've just been relaxing. I couldn't pick a better person to be snowed in with. We've been sleeping whenever we feel like it, taking the dog on long walks in the snow to marvel at the drifts almost as tall as I am, cooking (well, I've been cooking, Penn has been doing the dishes, it's our usual arrangement), reading a lot, and, well, let me just put it this way: I imagine the mid Atlantic will see a baby boom come November. With the whole region snowed in for what is going to end up being a week all told, some people without power and many more without cable, what else are you supposed to do with your time? (incidentally, WE are not making a baby. I still have a two year supply of birth control, remember? But i'm sure plenty of other people are!)
All in all it has been an interesting, very memorable experience. I've never seen this much snow fall at once and I doubt I will again. It feels like a once in a lifetime, or at least a once in a very, very long time experience. I'm glad I am getting to live it. I just hope the power stays on through this current round of snow.
I'll post some pictures when the internet starts working again.

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