You know I went out into the virgin snow and thought about building a tunnel just for the hell of it. I really should have, maybe tomorrow. You should build it and sleep in it, you’ll never get another chance around here. I just hope that the snow is strong enough to hold up.
Reston. Wunderground.com says there’s a 50% chance of snow, and weather.com says there’s a 60% chance of it. Also, I said in my earlier post that I hadn’t heard any word on the number of inches. Still haven’t heard that, but the National Weather Service is calling for “heavy snow” on the 15th and 16th.
Oh yeah. Capital Weather Gang is not ready to go out and predict much on that though they did acknowledge that. I’m trying not to think about it.
**Typo Knig ** just might shoot himself though. Since I haven’t felt up to doing shopping yet (and couldn’t lift anything heavy even if I did)… he’s felt the brunt of the grocery-store pain this week. Not to mention all the shovelling (again, I can’t help). And our new snowblower will not have arrived by then either. Og has a very sick sense of humor.
I never thought I’d see snow four feet deep in my neighborhood. It’s as if all the storms from the past twenty years which were predicted but never happened, just showed up all at once.
We’ve got about 9 inches of snow now, give or take, with big piles of cleared/shoveled snow at the end of every driveway on my block. One of the neighbors has a snowblower and clears of about 1/2 the block’s sidewalk when there are more than 4 or so inches. She’s awesome!
This round of snow is light and powdery and wasn’t too bad to shovel (I still had to do the walk up to my house and the end of my driveway). But, yeah, winter can end at any time.
So sorry for those of you who are out East; that really sounds like a pain.
And Neidhart, hee, you’re right. I was just thinking how funny it is that forecasts have been spot on for about a week running.
Everyone stay safe!
GT
Office closed today; I was shocked–the much-repeated company policy is to close only for full states of emergency, not snow emergencies, and it wasn’t that bad this morning. I almost didn’t call the emergency info number to check; but I’ve never forgotten the incident in my first year on the job, when I showed up after a snowstorm and walked in only to hear the security guard saying into the phone, “You can come in and keep me company if you want, but the office is closed.” So I called, and listened to the closing announcement twice to make sure I hadn’t hallucinated. Then I hung up and unpacked my lunch.
Around three the TV made that nasty emergency-notice sound and announced the Schuykill Expressway had just been closed. I looked out the window at the blizzard conditions, and who do you suppose was trudging up the building courtyard, with a weary step, a thousand-yard stare, and a pizza box carefully balanced in his hands? The Papa John’s delivery guy, that’s who. Bless the poor bastard.
I’m planning to go to Boskone in Boston this weekend, and I’m getting a bad feeling about it. My last two Boskones were blighted by external factors (affecting me only, however), and Mom always said bad things come in threes.
The feds are closed again. I wonder if we can make a week out of it, and Monday is a holiday making it six days off.
Now to think of some good snowman to make.
9.7 inches here. Very much colder today and blustery. 20-30 mph winds tonight and gusts to 45. There’s an icicle outside my window that’s almost 5 feet long.
Wow - what do they feed the Papa John’s delivery people? Are they mailmen in training or something?
And yes, at least my car can easily be pushed out of a ditch as easily as it goes in. 
I suppose I could use the same tactic I saw the owner of a Mini use. They got the flatbed tow truck from the nearby service station to get their car back up the hill and into the parking lot.
What is “snow”? 
You sick SOB. A lot of us will be happy to introduce you to it. 
Well, the Feds were finally open for business today, the fifth workday after the big one (and the big follow-up one). A “DELAYED ARRIVAL/UNSCHEDULED LEAVE” policy was in effect – people could be up to 2 hours late or take personal leave.
The Farifax County Connector buses weren’t running to Metro, and Metro wasn’t running aboveground anyway. I could have made my wife get up two hours early and drive me to an inner Metro station that was working, but the trains were running only every 24-30 minutes according to their website, and the last time there was a a station closure I walked to the next station (about 45 minutes in the rain) and then my wife came out to pick me up and we were stuck in massive stalled traffic for an hour-plus. I thought that seemed likely to happen again tonight and it seemed a lot to ask of her, so I called in and stayed home.
Promptly followed by a Metro train derailment throwing the late-morning commute into the crapper. And many people were commuting late today due to the 2-hour delayed arrival policy.
Not on my line, but still, made me look smart for not trusting them. I knew they weren’t really ready. I’m sure it caused delays to cascade through the system.
The Snownicorn survives in slightly a wind-carved, partly soggy state. Burds have finally started to come out and we’re feeding them off our balcony (which we previously were not doing because our cat likes to hang out there, so they’ve had to take a day or two to discover the feeders).
we had septa roulette in philly. round and round the bus goes where it will stop nobody knows!
today a new element was thrown into the mix. some routes were canceled, other routes were not starting until late morning, and the usual one bus will go down this street, one bus down that street.
keeps the population on the bus down 'cause you will be standing on the wrong corner when the bus goes by a block away. you will be lucky if the next bus goes to the corner you are on. even better you think “ahhh, they are going down pennsylvania”, so you leave fairmount and go to the corner on pennsylvania. then the next 2 buses will go on fairmount!
3 main bus routes in my 'hood were canceled until around 9am. just lovely.
the good news… the volvo dozer scooped out the wee street again. strangly other bigger streets have not been dug out.
Background - I work in TV news at DC’s CBS affiliate. When it snows, I work.
I live in Southwest Frederick County, MD, hard hit by the blizzard.
Wednesday, after running around with a reporter covering a barn collapse (40 cows trapped, released without injury by owner & firefighters) I dropped off the reporter at her home in Rockville and proceeded North. I had been listening to the Frederick County scanner and knew it was bad - abandoned vehicles, roads closed, police & fire personnel stuck and no rescue possible. I made it to Frederick and found all roads home were closed.
After waiting a couple hours I parked the Suburban in a parking lot and went to sleep. Around6:30am Thursday I awoke and took another shot at returning home. Rt 340 was impassable so I tried old Rt 180, which had a large fron end loader and plow trying to cut through the 12’ drifts. As I waited a Md State Trooper pulled up beside me and we chatted for an hour while he too was trying to make it home.
Finally they broke through the worst of it and I bid my new friend goodbye, and drove over the mountain and finally made it home to my wife in Jefferson. She had neck fusion surgery a few weeks ago and needed help with the chickens and geese.
I got home (barely) showered, ate some soup then helped with chores. Then back to work. I shot video as I drove back towards Frederick. As I made my way East on Rt 340 I found a stretch of road where tractor trailers & cars lay abandoned in snow drifts. I parked my truck on the top of a hill at Mt Zion Rd, established a microwave signal to the station and began feeding live video and live reports for the next ten hours.
Eventually I was cleared for the night and made my way back home. Many of the roads homewere still being covered over with drifting snow again.
Later at 9pm I heard a tidbit on the scanner about another rescue and I wanted to take a look. I started from my home, crested the hill and BAM! right into a snow bank. No problem, I went to get my wife’s big deisel F350 to yank it out. Ten minutes later, both were hoplessly stuck.
Not willing to leave a $100,000 live truck and my wife’s baby abandoned in the snow, I walked home again, brought 2 shovels and a hand crank comealong, and by 2 in the morning both were freed and I went home, showered & slept.
Today I hurt.
Is it spring yet?
[quote=“Sailboat, post:192, topic:527804”]
**Well, the Feds were finally open for business today, the fifth workday after the big one (and the big follow-up one). A “DELAYED ARRIVAL/UNSCHEDULED LEAVE” policy was in effect – people could be up to 2 hours late or take personal leave.[\b]
Promptly followed by a Metro train derailment throwing the late-morning commute into the crapper. And many people were commuting late today due to the 2-hour delayed arrival policy.
Not on my line, but still, made me look smart for not trusting them. I knew they weren’t really ready. I’m sure it caused delays to cascade through the system.
I decided to call in and take the day off. I had to use voicemail to record my message but I too felt vindicated when I saw the report about the derailment issue–I was already concerned about Metro claiming all of its stations were open and then discovering that an overhang had collapsed on the King Street station. Now, I don’t have to go to work until Tuesday (Monday the 15th is a federal holiday.
I understand we’re supposed to get some more snow on Monday-a clipper system that won’t stick around too long. We’ll see.
I was just at the starting line of the dogsled races here in Bancroft. Shall I send them your way?
Unless you’re the lead dog, the view never changes.
Hee - I finally got to use that!
I liked the suicidal snowman, 2gigch1.
Just caught up on this thread. Love the pictures, both old and new.
Our snow wasn’t as spectacular as that out East, but it was still quite enough for me.
Thank you. Snowman courtesy my wife’s barn manager. Raw bunch the equestrians!