I can’t even bring myself to put this stuff in away in the garage.  We need it every day!  Either, there is more snow (most days) or one needs to chip away at what is there least one ends up with solid ice.  You can add roof rake, snow thrower, ice scraper, ice melt, and sand to this lot.

Yes, the immense quantity of snow is annoying also, but the persistent cold is getting old.  Today I decided that I needed to break out the real winter socks – the wool ones I only wear when skiing or other winter vacationing.  I’ve NEVER worn them during a regular day.  But, its cold.  If I could just stay home I’d be fine.  But, I think the morning waits at the bus stop start me off on the wrong foot (literally).  It just goes downhill from there as we’re out and about to school and activities.

This is one of my two year-olds first sentences.  Given how often this has occurred lately I guess it only makes sense.  They said we’d gotten 5 feet in two weeks prior to this recent storm, which left us with another roughly 18 inches.

There’s been no school the past two Mondays (five snow days total).  With no school for Martin Luther King’s birthday and February vacation next week that will be 4 out of 5 weeks with long weekends.

I took some more outdoor pictures before and after the most recent mess.  You can compare to Feb 4.  The BBQ and bushes are almost entirely gone.  Somehow the lamppost still stands.  The tree is readily accessible for climbing.

We made it slightly above freezing yesterday giving us a brief respite from the cold before more snow arrives.  Through a combination of ice melt, sun, warmth, and elbow grease I had the driveway entirely cleared of ice.  This morning, however, we got a lovely layer of freezing rain and then two more inches of snow.  I shoveled it before the temperatures sank back down to the single digits, but the driveway is back to a (thinner) layer of black ice with no hope of melting anytime soon barring another ice melt application.

And, we’re due for another 12-18 inches from Saturday through Tuesday according to forecasters.  I’ll try to take some pictures for the before and after on this round Friday afternoon.

We got it!  Unlike some other parts of the country we really did get the forecasted amount – 2 feet!  This dealt us two days without school (assuming they’re back tomorrow) and some nice pictures.

Realize this is one snowstorm, we had nothing beforehand.  Here’s the sidewalk to give another idea of the depth, though its a bit hard to see.

That being said, us folks away from the coast got a lot of wind, but no real problems.  So, I’m curious what folks are going to do with all the gallons of water and bundles of wood I saw them buying on Monday.

I don’t understand the water.  We used to be on a well so I understand there are places where having bottled water is necessary in a storm.  But, we’re part of a gigantic metropolitan water system which has failed once in my memory, and that still brought boilable water.   Also, it is snow.  One can collect from outside and melt it.  I admit we do have some bottled water, though probably not the gallon/person/day for 3+ days they recommend, since we largely have it because the grocery stores give it away for free over the summer in greater quantities than we consume.  It is nice to have some, but buying gallons before a snowstorm just doesn’t make sense to me.

Firewood does make sense.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and hope we have school tomorrow; they’re forecasting another (potentially school cancelling) storm for Monday.

I find this time of year very annoying.  For about two months around lunchtime the sun goes in our upstairs bathroom window, straight down the stairs, and out the front door.   It looks interesting, but is blinding everytime one has to go upstairs.