2 or 3 Feet Under: Day 3

Post by brittanydyan

February 7, 2010 at 8:33 pm

The storm is over and clean up has begun.

Snow removal is a big job, and this area of the country is not know for doing it well.  I give GHI an A+ for getting the coop community passable by this afternoon.  Will also gets an A+ for digging the car out of the snow/ice crust.  Greater Greenbelt gets a B- for clearing the roads well enough for cars with 4 wheel drive.  We know this because we, for better or worse, headed out this afternoon for a little drive.

Can you blame us?  We really needed some pizza.  And, the rumor was that Safeway would be open.  Well, Safeway wasn’t open, and CVS ran out of Digorno’s frozen pizzas.  Our only option left was to order from Papa John’s and pick it up another half a mile away.  This half mile turned out to be much more troubling than the first mile.  Without going into details, we made it back unscathed.  Perhaps not the smartest decision we’ve ever made.  But, the pizza tasted great, and we got out of the house.

Day 3 has had many advantages over Day 2, all having to do with the maintenance of electric power.  I sincerely hope that power will be restored to those without it very soon.  Yes, it was boring to not have television, Internet, and limited laptop/cellphone access.  And, yes it was annoying to not shower and pack our refrigerated food items in the snow.  But, the worst part was that it was really starting to get cold in our house. A warm place to stay is something for which to be very thankful.

As for today, I tackled such exciting tasks as laundry and cleaning out the filing cabinet.  Later, we filled out visa applications (fun) and became very frustrated with the process of filing our taxes online (not fun).

Since the federal government and the University are closed tomorrow, there will be a Day 4. Perhaps we will update with pictures if we are inspired.

2 OR 3 FEET UNDER: Day 2 Grousing

Post by Will

February 6, 2010 at 7:35 pm

Today has been absolutely, positively without a doubt … miserable.

Wait, you thought everything was peach fuzz and gummy bears?

Gone are our child-like fancies when it comes to thoughts of snow. Gone are the magical notions that snow is one of the most wonderful things in the world. Snow is a serious thing (especially when you’re measuring it in feet and not mere inches) and frankly, I am personally waving my white flag and inviting the 90° temperatures and heavy-handed humidity back into our lives. As much as I dislike summer and its hot, hot heat, a few days in the snow makes me pine for the good ol’ days (namely, last summer, when it never really hit in the mid-90s like the year before last year, y’know, two years ago).

Certainly, this is another overreaction on my part (i.e. the whole Comcast Fiasco), and this litany of transgressions against the very notion of snow is really addressing the fact we did not have electricity for the better part of the day. But, shoveling is hard work, especially when you really are not using a proper “snow shovel”, having to rely on a small garden spade and when you come in, after a few hours of extraditing your car from a 200 gallon cowboy hat worth of snow (not to mention you have to dig a path to get to your car) you are in that midpoint of being in a sweaty/frozen mess and you can’t defrost in the shower (I know that last sentence didn’t make sense … but that is exactly how everything feels).

Another issue that came into play was a little thing called “Cabin Fever”. We are such a connected culture, I fear that the only time to recognize how much we rely on technology is when we are taken from it (an aside, I did periodically turn on my phone to check up on the random minutiae of the day). So, we were reduced to a few rudimentary, primitive means of keeping ourselves complacent. For instance: reading books, talking, physical labor, laying in bed to keep warm. It truly is a hard life.

But seriously, this day is another reminder of how thankful for the basic items we have. So, be forewarned. Snow might be an exciting concept, but when two and a half feet of it knocks on your front door, you might want to temper your buzz. That is unless it happens to cancel work Monday (fingers crossed).

2 or 3 Feet Under: Day 1

Post by brittanydyan

February 5, 2010 at 8:40 pm

Okay, so we’re not quite there yet.

But, we are about to experience a “history-making snow storm” according to Brian Williams on NBC’s Nightly News.  I mean, we are under a blizzard warning people!  For these reasons,  I thought it might be neat to chronicle the event.

As of now, we have approximately 4 inches on the ground.  Will and I are somewhat underwhelmed and doubtful of the impending doom.  However, I have been raised to have a deep respect for meteorology, and I generally trust the Weather Channel and the sensible, smart local broadcast guys (see Ken Cook and Bob Ryan).  And, all these outlets are in agreement.  Tonight’s weather will produce heavy wind and snow piles.

Right now, it’s a very wet, heavy snow, and I’m seriously worried about the survival of some of the plants in the yard.  They are a’ leaning.  Considering what’s coming, the little trees might snap. The roads are turning white, and I hear less and less road traffic every hour.  I really don’t think there is anywhere to go…

…which brings me to the question(s) of the hour: what are we going to do this weekend, and how long will we be here?

Well, this Friday night doesn’t feel that much different that others.  We have plans about 50% of the time, so tonight is much like other Friday nights.  Will was “released” from work at noon, and Metro-ed home before the snow became problematic.  We enjoyed our weekly Digorno pizza and plan to watch our Netflix movie.  Everything normal here.  We just keep peaking outside to assess the snowpocalypse in action.

Tune in tomorrow for stories of shoveling, stir crazies, and snow pics.  I hadn’t even considered that we might lose power until Will’s mom asked me about it earlier today.  Eeesh!

For now, we aren’t going anywhere, and we’re happy about it.

Here are some pictures of snows gone by.