Mr Blizzard!

I slept four solid hours waking somewhat abruptly just before 9am. Mindy was certain that I’d wake with a hangover but I didn’t. I headed downstairs while she remained snuggly in bed. I was anxious to see what it was doing outdoors. It was still snowing and blowing, and visibility was shallow. The snow depth was shocking. We already had over a foot as measured by the accumulation atop the deck table, trash can lid, and hot tub.

I completed my sit-ups then decided it a wise thing to rest my shoulder again today after two straight days of push-up and curls. I bundled warmly and headed out with Ykraps. Last second I grabbed my camera to hopefully get a few shots of the wicked weather. My new camera allows for such photo ops whereas my Canon does not, at least without worry of damage. We had little choice but to walk in the street, but even that presented issues. The only hope we had was to stay in the one or two tire tracks, otherwise the snow almost completely engulfed Ykraps. I could see the confusion about his face. He didn’t know what to do. A neighbor was out shoveling her drive. It was comical. I wanted to get a photo, but because I barely know her, I didn’t want her to think I was weird. I did snap a photo on our trek back. The wind an snow facing west was almost unbearable. I knew then that my run would be memorable.

I enjoyed some coffee and cleaned up the small mess left behind by last evenings late night antics. I logged into my work PC wanting to help Ken, my peer & friend, the best I could. I was certain there would be travel issues for those scheduled to work. I worked for the next hour and some helping however I could. I delivered Mindy coffee around 10am. I told her of the blizzard like conditions. I left for a run around 10:30am. By then the blizzard winds had subsided considerably, but I was ready just the same. I wore my ski goggles which was a very wise choice. It helped keep the driving snow from my eyes.

I was fortunate in that there were wide tire tracks in the snow along my entire route save for one small stretch of road on a loop enabling me to run without too much of an issue. It was really quite pleasant. I heard a number of people snicker as I ran by their houses, but honestly, the conditions were far from miserable or treacherous relative to running. It was actually quite nice! To further my point, I’ll bet there were more people out in the weather either working or playing than I have ever seen during a run.

I was back home after about 40 minutes. I went right for my snow shovel anxious to get at least some of the walk and drive cleared should we need to leave. My decision to temporarily give my plain old snow shovel to Jimaken back fired. My new lightweight curve handled shovel broke, or at least the screw holding the shovel to the handle came off. I was rigging it up when neighbor Kenny drove up in his dually pick-up with a plow offering to back drag our drive. At first I declined not wanting to be a burden, but in the end I came to my senses and agreed to move my Trooper so he could do it. It didn’t take him but three minutes to drag it to about an inch or so deep. He saved me a ton of hard labor. Thanks Kenny!!!

Next, I focused my attention on the walk from the drive to the front door. Back inside Mindy was sitting at her new laptop playing a card game relaxing. She uttered that she was happy just to putter today. We pretty much bagged our dinner out plans for the bad weather. I sat across from Mindy and logged back into work where I continued helping however I could. We did little else all day. I bounced back and forth between work and my home PC. On my home PC I finally uploaded pictures to my website dating back to our trip now almost two weeks ago. I felt a sense of accomplishment afterwards.

Sometime mid-afternoon, Mindy made plans with Pat & Lisa, our neighbors. We would be heading to their place around 6:30pm. We agreed to bring some food. We decided to make buffalo chicken dip. The snow continued coming down all afternoon with only one short reprieve around 2pm. It finally stopped for good around 4:30pm and the sun actually came out. In fact, many folks were back out shoveling taking full advantage of the break. By our rough measure, we had nearly 20 inches on our deck. I finally took a shower around 5:00pm after my second short nap. Afterwards I took Ykraps on another walk. He managed to take care of business in the road. For a moment, I thought about shoveling through the additional 6 or so inches that fell through the afternoon but in the end decided to leave it until tomorrow.

Around 6:45pm we walked over to the Shultz’s. I was a little surprised that Mindy was willing to walk. But it was a nice little walk. We took beer, chips, and buffalo chicken dip.

Lisa was napping upon our arrival. We hung out in the kitchen/family room area. Lisa joined us shortly after we arrived. It was a mellow evening of quiet conversation, some drinks, and a little food. We had a nice time. Jake, Jamie, and Alanna were home too. Jamie & Jake conversed with all of us. While helping Jake out of a snow drift we noticed a squad in the court. Initially we weren’t certain at which house. However, I decided to walk right up to the squad and look on the PC screen I could see illuminated from a distance. I could then easily see that they were at 1451 Beman Ct, the Hartwell’s. I went back inside. Pat stayed out shoveling a spot for Jake to park once he returned from the carry-out. Pat came in a few minutes later and told us that it was Bob, his nemesis. Apparently, whatever happened, Bob walked out to the squad under his own power for more tests. Not sure what developed after that. Hope he’s OK. I was worried that it might be his new grand baby.

We stayed at Pat & Lisa’s until 11pm. I was tired & so was Mindy.