Monday, December 21, 2009

I survived the Blizzard of 2009

I wonder when the t-shirts saying "I survived the DC Blizzard of 2009" will be available.

Yes, I survived. I haven't run out of toilet paper, milk or meat yet. One of my friends posted on her facebook, pictures of the shelves at her Safeway in Alexandria, VA. Milk completely gone...unless you wanted chocolate for your coco puffs. Meat section, empty! Clearly some people were planning on doing some serious BBQing. The only insanity I experienced was Friday night, trying to get gas. I NEEDED gas, I was on E. There were lines at every gas station like you'd think it was the 1970s again and the gas was going to run out. I decided to go to Target, get something to eat (all they had left were cheese pizzas), do a little shopping and then get gas.

At 9:30 when I left Target, the snow had finally started. My car was covered in a quater inch of the white dust. Off to the gas station. I won't even go into how annoying people were at the gas station. I am surprised I didn't witness any accidents or fights. I have decided that only the meanest of a species ends up surviving...nice, fair people such as myself, well, we get walked over. I got my gas, and that is all I have to say about that.

Saturday morning...I woke up to this:



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My little porch decoration couldn't even escape the snow.

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It was only about 7 inches at this point. Nothing an Ohio girl can't handle. It was also nice, light, fluffy snow, even though, it still took me an hour to clear the sidewalk and my car off.

At 10 a.m., this is what the car and the front of my house looked like:

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I know, I know, already a dusting...actuaually it was about a quater inch of snow at this point and as you can tell from the picture of my house, it was snowing again and was coming down harder.

So, back in the house I went for a morning of baking (2 loaves of pumkin bread, lasagna, tomato-garlic-rosemary chicken, and a crockpot of chili). When I get baking days, I make several meals that I can freeze and pack for lunch. So much healthier and more satisfying than the boxed microwave meals. My house smelled amazing!

At 2 p.m....I took another look at the snow. I had been watching it come down on the deck from the kitchen but the gradualness of the buildup didn't phase me...until I looked out the front door.
Where the heck is my car?

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Holy cow! It doesn't look like I had cleared this stuff off at all! the snow was almost even with my front porch and I have three steps that lead up to it. Steping out onto the side walk that was clear of snow 4 hours earlier, I was up to the top of my boots.

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So, I started digging again. My neighbor cam out and commented "Boy, you must love to shovel". No, really I don't. I hated that LONG driveway we had in Ohio that we'd have to help shovel...then after we took care of our driveway and sidewalks, we did our grandparents' next door. My dad didn't get a snow blower until all of us kids had left for college. One thing I learned growing up in Ohio...its better to maintain throughout the storm...then to do it all when its over. I'd rather deal with just 7 inches of snow at a time...not 20 inches all at once.

Here are the results of the second dig out.

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The deck looked like this...I didn't shovel it and I should have...I was just tired after doing the second clearing out front.

Remember from the photo I took in the morning, I had a planter on the table...can't see it now. Nor can you see the 10 inch planters that are along the back deck railing. In the morning, the top lip of the planters was visible, now...nothing.


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Hey, is that Frosty the Snowman chillin' on my lounge?

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The aftermath...these photos are from Sunday morning.

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Not too bad. My neighbor was wishing she had done what I had done in because I only had 3-4 inches to shovel and clear off my car at this point.

In the afternoon, I did drive down to Quantico to photograph the museum in the snow. I'll blog about that later today. The Federal Government in the DC area is closed today...so, I'm taking advantage of this rare free day (I do have to use vacation) to get some other things done around the house before Christmas...then I'll be back catching up on all my blogs.

Stay warm everyone!

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