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Let It Snow
Greetings from the heart of the storm!
I was going to write an entry beginning with that line late on Saturday night, but I was too bleeping tired and never got around to it.
The snow started on Friday night, and ended sometime on Sunday. In the process, it dumped about 20-25 inches on our house (I haven't gone out with a yardstick to measure it yet). But it actually wasn't too bad. We never lost power, for one thing. Our inflatable Frosty is only supposed to be left on for eight hours at a time in order to avoid overheating the motor, but we left him on for three days straight, because Teri pointed out that if we DID deflate him, he would soon be buried - in which case we wouldn't see him again until Spring.
On Saturday Sebastian discovered snow, basically for the first time. He was only a few months old for his first winter, of course, and for his second winter...well, at less than a year and a half old, he probably didn't remember much (he didn't seem to care for snow). This was probably the first exposure to snow that he may remember when he gets older.
He was heavily bundled up, with flashing winter boots (they had little lights in them), snowpants, a heavy sweater and winter coat, a really nice blue snow-cap that fastened under his chin, and matching blue mittens; everything was really well tucked-in, so that he was basically invulnerable to the snow.
At first he was a bit nonplussed. He didn't seem to like the snow, and kept asking "Where grass go?". But then he accidentally stepped on a patch of virgin snow near the walkway, and saw his bootprint. You've never seen such amazement! With a HUGE grin, at the top of his lungs he shouted "Mumma! Daddy! COME SEE!".
He called them "snow foots", and he made them everywhere - all the while giggling like mad. Of course this involved some messing-up of areas where Teri and I had shoveled, but that was tolerable. Teri tried to show him how to make snow angels, but he wasn't too interested in lying down in the snow. The few times he did sort of topple over, he cried once the snow got on his face.
A little later I showed him how to catch snowflakes on his tongue, which he thought was very funny. But he soon figured out a shortcut, and before we knew it our little boy was on all fours, licking the snow on the ground. We had to steer him towards clean, unshoveled snow of course.
So on Saturday morning we shoveled the walk (Teri did most of that), the driveway, and the sidewalk. Since there were only about five inches of snow on the ground, and it was not too wet, this wasn't much of a challenge. We took Teri to the animal shelter (she volunteers there), and hung out with her for a while. We soon discovered that she wasn't supposed to be there; while we were out shoveling someone had been trying to call us over and over to let her know that she shouldn't go in, because the weather was so bad.
But the animals needed feeding and care, so it was just as well that we had gone. The shelter is in back of the North Smithfield department of public works, so the driveway to the shelter was plowed; a guy in a giant snowplow was clearing things up as we arrived.
Sebastian was very excited (and a little scared) to see all the kitties, but after a while he got a little too rambunctious. So I loaded him back into the car for a trip to a nearby supermarket (I'm adding a link because they're one of the few non-chain supermarkets left). We were low on groceries, and since the storm was supposed to last for another two days it seemed like a good idea to make sure we were well stocked.
A bit of random shopping, then back to the shelter to pick up Teri. We were home before too much longer.
The snow continued to fall, of course. The next day we had a lot more shoveling to do; a foot and a half of snow, at least, and this stuff was much heavier and denser. We'd done the front sidewalk the first time, but now it was clear that it wasn't going to be possible to keep that up - we needed it simply as a place to put the shoveled snow. Our back yard is huge, but there isn't much space along the sides of the driveway, which can be a problem. Each shovelful has to be carried to the front or back yard, which really sucks.
The front yard also gets filled up very quickly. Our fence is a standard white wooden picket, about 3-4 feet high; the snow is already piled high above the top. There are also huge mounds of snow on both sides of the end of the driveway.
Of course the plows had been by a few times. Our street doesn't get ploughed as often as the bigger ones, but nonetheless there had been a pass or two. As a result, the end of the driveway had a huge pile of dirty, compacted snow. By the time I was done shoveling (Teri's back had given out), I was really hurting - not just in the arms and back, but in my stomach where I had the surgery two years ago. I think I'm going to have to get a snow blower, although they really are too expensive. I only hope they work!
On other fronts, I've done quite a bit of Christmas shopping - mostly online. Books and videos are the majority of it so far, but today I found and ordered the perfect gift for Sebastian: a motorized train set and tracks for The Little Engine That Could (his favorite book), along with ALL the trains from the book. I fear he may lose his mind from sheer joy.
I know that there were other things I planned to write, but at the moment I have no idea what they were. Later!
I was going to write an entry beginning with that line late on Saturday night, but I was too bleeping tired and never got around to it.
The snow started on Friday night, and ended sometime on Sunday. In the process, it dumped about 20-25 inches on our house (I haven't gone out with a yardstick to measure it yet). But it actually wasn't too bad. We never lost power, for one thing. Our inflatable Frosty is only supposed to be left on for eight hours at a time in order to avoid overheating the motor, but we left him on for three days straight, because Teri pointed out that if we DID deflate him, he would soon be buried - in which case we wouldn't see him again until Spring.
On Saturday Sebastian discovered snow, basically for the first time. He was only a few months old for his first winter, of course, and for his second winter...well, at less than a year and a half old, he probably didn't remember much (he didn't seem to care for snow). This was probably the first exposure to snow that he may remember when he gets older.
He was heavily bundled up, with flashing winter boots (they had little lights in them), snowpants, a heavy sweater and winter coat, a really nice blue snow-cap that fastened under his chin, and matching blue mittens; everything was really well tucked-in, so that he was basically invulnerable to the snow.
At first he was a bit nonplussed. He didn't seem to like the snow, and kept asking "Where grass go?". But then he accidentally stepped on a patch of virgin snow near the walkway, and saw his bootprint. You've never seen such amazement! With a HUGE grin, at the top of his lungs he shouted "Mumma! Daddy! COME SEE!".
He called them "snow foots", and he made them everywhere - all the while giggling like mad. Of course this involved some messing-up of areas where Teri and I had shoveled, but that was tolerable. Teri tried to show him how to make snow angels, but he wasn't too interested in lying down in the snow. The few times he did sort of topple over, he cried once the snow got on his face.
A little later I showed him how to catch snowflakes on his tongue, which he thought was very funny. But he soon figured out a shortcut, and before we knew it our little boy was on all fours, licking the snow on the ground. We had to steer him towards clean, unshoveled snow of course.
So on Saturday morning we shoveled the walk (Teri did most of that), the driveway, and the sidewalk. Since there were only about five inches of snow on the ground, and it was not too wet, this wasn't much of a challenge. We took Teri to the animal shelter (she volunteers there), and hung out with her for a while. We soon discovered that she wasn't supposed to be there; while we were out shoveling someone had been trying to call us over and over to let her know that she shouldn't go in, because the weather was so bad.
But the animals needed feeding and care, so it was just as well that we had gone. The shelter is in back of the North Smithfield department of public works, so the driveway to the shelter was plowed; a guy in a giant snowplow was clearing things up as we arrived.
Sebastian was very excited (and a little scared) to see all the kitties, but after a while he got a little too rambunctious. So I loaded him back into the car for a trip to a nearby supermarket (I'm adding a link because they're one of the few non-chain supermarkets left). We were low on groceries, and since the storm was supposed to last for another two days it seemed like a good idea to make sure we were well stocked.
A bit of random shopping, then back to the shelter to pick up Teri. We were home before too much longer.
The snow continued to fall, of course. The next day we had a lot more shoveling to do; a foot and a half of snow, at least, and this stuff was much heavier and denser. We'd done the front sidewalk the first time, but now it was clear that it wasn't going to be possible to keep that up - we needed it simply as a place to put the shoveled snow. Our back yard is huge, but there isn't much space along the sides of the driveway, which can be a problem. Each shovelful has to be carried to the front or back yard, which really sucks.
The front yard also gets filled up very quickly. Our fence is a standard white wooden picket, about 3-4 feet high; the snow is already piled high above the top. There are also huge mounds of snow on both sides of the end of the driveway.
Of course the plows had been by a few times. Our street doesn't get ploughed as often as the bigger ones, but nonetheless there had been a pass or two. As a result, the end of the driveway had a huge pile of dirty, compacted snow. By the time I was done shoveling (Teri's back had given out), I was really hurting - not just in the arms and back, but in my stomach where I had the surgery two years ago. I think I'm going to have to get a snow blower, although they really are too expensive. I only hope they work!
On other fronts, I've done quite a bit of Christmas shopping - mostly online. Books and videos are the majority of it so far, but today I found and ordered the perfect gift for Sebastian: a motorized train set and tracks for The Little Engine That Could (his favorite book), along with ALL the trains from the book. I fear he may lose his mind from sheer joy.
I know that there were other things I planned to write, but at the moment I have no idea what they were. Later!