jimsjournal

jimsjournal

A snowy day -- 02/12/06

Well, I think the worst of the storm may be over, although it is still snowing and the winds are quite fierce.

Jill cut her snowboarding weekend short (she had been up at Mount Snow, Vermont) because she was worried about driving back tonight in wintery conditions but she didn't want to stay over until Monday because she might not have been able to get back in time for her first class on Monday -- so she came back last night, reaching home a little past midnight with light snow falling.

She and I have just finished shoveling snow, clearing the driveway and sidewalks. Weatherunderground says that our area has had 10 to 16 inches of snow. I would guess that maybe 10 or 12 is right for our neighborhood but it is very hard to tell because of the drifting. Our driveway varied from almost bare pavement to more than 18 inches, depending upon the way the winds sculpted the drifts. (Most of it was around a foot deep.) We got off kind of easy here; there are a number of areas that have hit twenty inches and still have more falling. (They have 21 inches in Hartford, Connecticut.)

The latest Internet bulletin (about an hour or so old) says:

	`travel not recommended in eastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island through early this afternoon... Dangerous conditions were occurring along the southeast New England coast early this afternoon. Seas were near 18 feet east of Boston and Nantucket as northeast winds gust over 45 knots...with bands of very heavy snow moving northward through coastal New England.`

	The view from our front porch -- As you can see, our driveway already has a light coating of snow covering where Jill and I had shoveled. Our across-the-street neighbors are out shoveling their driveway -- they are hidden by our tree, but all three children are "helping" their parents shovel (the youngest is in kindergarten).

We had prepared for the storm -- last night I made sure small flashlights were handy, rechargeable flashlights were plugged in, candles and matches were easy to reach -- and, this morning, most important of all, filled a large thermos with hot coffee -- in case we lost power.

I'm a bit tired from shoveling snow -- spent about fifty minutes shoveling so I guess I don't need to head down to the basement and lift weights or run on the treadmill.

I really should install Turbo Tax now and get busy working on our taxes. I bought the software three weeks ago and just keep postponing working on it...

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