Snow What?

Well, I guess it had to happen sometime. We experienced several precipatory near-misses in December and January--the kind where the Weather Weenies worked themselves into a lather about "SNOW Coming Our Way" and prognosticated ominously about the size of the storm, the possible accumulation amounts, and the potential treacherous driving conditions--and we ended up with (dun-dun-dun-duh)...a light sprinkle of rain. Each time (after mocking the meteorologists) we chuckled in relief, expressed sympathy for Philadelphia, or New York, or Boston--whoever had taken the Winter Bullet for us this time--and calmly went about our business.

Maybe we should have laughed a little less, since it appears we ticked off Mother Nature (or perhaps her son, Snow Miser). She sent us a sugar-frosted Snow Bomb this time, arriving exactly at Rush Hour yesterday. The skies opened up and the white stuff began to fly, cascading down on us at a fast and furious pace. Just to add visual excitement to the show, she threw in flashes of lightning, and enough of a breeze to stir up dancing snow funnels. The kids were already off from school (yes, our school system had them stay home...because you know, it MIGHT snow later...or something), and Husband fortunately made it back before the roads got horribly dangerous. I had even dragged Riley to the grocery store earlier (oops, of course I mean "persuaded to accompany me and be a helpful, cheerful assistant"), so we were all set, foodwise. Possibly more critical: we had managed to visit Beers R Us as well; so really, our biggest concern involved the flickering lights and the unsettling crashing noises reaching our ears from the white-blanketed Outside World.

As far as the power situation, we remained among the Electrically Favored. Our house went dark for all of about 10 seconds, just long enough for Emergency Technician Derek to locate and distribute flashlights (I'm not kidding--I immediately put him in charge of our Family Safety Plan...just as soon as I invent one!) When we finally got curious enough to investigate all of the weird sounds happening out in the dark, we discovered that it was branches crashing down onto ground from the weight of the wet, heavy snowfall. In fact, one large limb from the sizable old maple tree in our front yard had snapped off and was lying across the driveway. BUT...that was the extent of the damage. (Phew!!!) Naturally, the kids were off again today, and Husband was effectively blocked in (besides the fact that his little Honda, reliable and fuel-efficient though it may be--is not what you'd call a Snow Beast), so we bundled up and trooped outside to survey the Winter Scene. Even I've gotta admit, it was pretty.

But after the drama and week-long buried-alive situation of last year's "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowmageddon", the very first thought that popped into my winter-weary brain was: "Pshaw--who needs a plow? I can SO get out of here! And the second thought, hard on the heels of the first: NOW can we please have Spring?