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(Long) Weekend Update
On Friday, the word came down.. a winter snow storm was a-coming and it was gonna get ugly. My wife and I agreed that we'd scrap our plans for Saturday and just relax and stay inside. But before that, we needed to get some things.
I ran off looking for a shovel, some salt and a couple last minute things we needed for Christmas. K went to the store to get food. it was hell for both of us.
Lowe's was out of shovels by noon and had no pet-safe salt. PetsMart had HAD pet safe salt.. half an hour ago, but just sold out. And there was a run of groceries. K couldn't even get a half a gallon of milk. The best she found was lactose-free milk (which doesn't taste as bad as I feared.)
We got home, warmed up and waited.
By Saturday morning, 6 AM, there was already 10 or 11 inches of snow on the ground. I'm not joking. We mostly rested and relaxed all day. I made sure to go out once after noon to try to clear out a bit of a path but past that, we just stayed in and let it snow. I played video games. K got the tree up and just the way she wanted it. By the time we went to bed, it was well over half a foot of snow. A friend of ours nearby said that by early afternoon she'd gotten 19 inches, I believed it.
Sunday, I got out long enough to get groceries. the roads were a disaster. No plow had been down them that I saw, and so I slid around a bit, especially around the parking lot. Luckily, the grocery store is less than 5 minutes away (normally) and it was early enough that it was quiet. Then we both got out long enough for K to clean off her car and me to shovel it out. I was out there an hour.
Sunday, for most of the DC area, became the Big Dig out. Metro had closed their above ground stations, most busses were out, most things closed, travel advisories all over the place, and so everyone had the time necessary to shovel the foot and a half of snow from their driveways or around their car.
We didn't do much ourselves. K watched some stuff she'd recorded. I.. played video games. Lunches were made, some laundry done and calls were made. My dad wondered if we could get together for dinner Thursday, and we tried to make plans for that. And K's mom dropped a scary bombshell on us. They were talking ice storm for Wednesday night.
Nooooooo!
Luckily, that doesn't look like it's going to happen. It might get ugly Friday, but we'll be long gone by then. Which is good because, in short, if it was too nasty to drive Thursday morning, we wouldn't. :p But things look OK so far.
By Sunday, we also found out that the government was closed and the VDOT was still arguing with roads. K had the day off since the government was closed and I could take it off if I so chose. After thinking about it (and listening to K who was concerned about the roads), I so chose.
I feel a little guilty but not that guilty. Yesterday, we finished up stuff that hadn't been done Sunday AND we got out. A five minute trip to the store to get more B-2 turned into a trip to the movies and that was.. good, honestly. It gave us both a good ideas of the roads (some roads are still lousy. Especially local roads where lanes can appear and disappear due to the shoddiness of the plowing), but clear enough to drive on.
So.. we survived the Big Snow Storm of 2009! Truthfully, I'm still kinda shocked it worked out that way and, no, DC isn't prepared to battle winter storms very well. One can only hope they take away lessons from this storm should it happen again...
I ran off looking for a shovel, some salt and a couple last minute things we needed for Christmas. K went to the store to get food. it was hell for both of us.
Lowe's was out of shovels by noon and had no pet-safe salt. PetsMart had HAD pet safe salt.. half an hour ago, but just sold out. And there was a run of groceries. K couldn't even get a half a gallon of milk. The best she found was lactose-free milk (which doesn't taste as bad as I feared.)
We got home, warmed up and waited.
By Saturday morning, 6 AM, there was already 10 or 11 inches of snow on the ground. I'm not joking. We mostly rested and relaxed all day. I made sure to go out once after noon to try to clear out a bit of a path but past that, we just stayed in and let it snow. I played video games. K got the tree up and just the way she wanted it. By the time we went to bed, it was well over half a foot of snow. A friend of ours nearby said that by early afternoon she'd gotten 19 inches, I believed it.
Sunday, I got out long enough to get groceries. the roads were a disaster. No plow had been down them that I saw, and so I slid around a bit, especially around the parking lot. Luckily, the grocery store is less than 5 minutes away (normally) and it was early enough that it was quiet. Then we both got out long enough for K to clean off her car and me to shovel it out. I was out there an hour.
Sunday, for most of the DC area, became the Big Dig out. Metro had closed their above ground stations, most busses were out, most things closed, travel advisories all over the place, and so everyone had the time necessary to shovel the foot and a half of snow from their driveways or around their car.
We didn't do much ourselves. K watched some stuff she'd recorded. I.. played video games. Lunches were made, some laundry done and calls were made. My dad wondered if we could get together for dinner Thursday, and we tried to make plans for that. And K's mom dropped a scary bombshell on us. They were talking ice storm for Wednesday night.
Nooooooo!
Luckily, that doesn't look like it's going to happen. It might get ugly Friday, but we'll be long gone by then. Which is good because, in short, if it was too nasty to drive Thursday morning, we wouldn't. :p But things look OK so far.
By Sunday, we also found out that the government was closed and the VDOT was still arguing with roads. K had the day off since the government was closed and I could take it off if I so chose. After thinking about it (and listening to K who was concerned about the roads), I so chose.
I feel a little guilty but not that guilty. Yesterday, we finished up stuff that hadn't been done Sunday AND we got out. A five minute trip to the store to get more B-2 turned into a trip to the movies and that was.. good, honestly. It gave us both a good ideas of the roads (some roads are still lousy. Especially local roads where lanes can appear and disappear due to the shoddiness of the plowing), but clear enough to drive on.
So.. we survived the Big Snow Storm of 2009! Truthfully, I'm still kinda shocked it worked out that way and, no, DC isn't prepared to battle winter storms very well. One can only hope they take away lessons from this storm should it happen again...
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