Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Let It Snow


We had snow over the weekend. It comes as no surprise to folks who live east of the Blue Ridge Mountains that the weather forecast of between 2" and 12" was still wrong. Try over 16". The snow started on Friday, when I was running my last pre-Christmas errands. It was light but slippery as I drove back roads home. I counted seven cars already in distress. Five minivans skidded off the road into ditches or into pastures. From the skid marks, I deduced that speed and lack of experience in driving in snowy condition were the culprits. One truck in a pasture -- think this was speed. One sports car on its side in a ditch. The driver was all right -- I stopped and asked. He was waiting for a tow truck. Good luck. He knew he shouldn't be out in that weather, but he was on his way home when he got caught. Oh yes, he admitted he was driving faster than the road conditions allowed.

We were snowed in all day Saturday. By Sunday, our private contractor plowed the roads in our community, but the county road leading to our community hadn't been touched. Good news is we didn't lose power. We lost Internet and part of our cable service (all CNN/ESPN stations vanished for two days from Comcast). Not all that bad being off the grid for a couple of days.

So what do you do when you can't get out. Roast a chicken for my husband's birthday dinner. Snuggle. Light the fire. Snuggle down with a stack of books and DVDs. Pet the cat. Did I say snuggle?

We are back on the grid as they say and ready for our holiday trip to Hyde Park, NY. I'll be offline until next week. Have a terrific, politically incorrect Christmas. No "Happy Holidays" for me. See you next week.