More Snow

Blimey, mate, it snowed again. Two bloody days in a row. It keeps being sneaky about the whole thing.

What do you mean sneaky, you old fool, they predicted both these blows?


Yes, but it didn't follow their instructions, now did it?

What is it with you and this sudden British accent? 

I don't know. Probably 'cause I'm reading Keith Richard's Life right now. You know I've always been prone to this, like some kind of weird accent sponge. I went to Tennessee for ten days once and it took me six weeks to get rid of the twang. It just happens. If I am in conversation with someone who has a distinct speech pattern I will start speaking the same way. It is embarrassing. I always fear the person will think I'm mocking them. It just happens.

But how I am a speech chameleon has nothing to do with our two days of snow.

Okay, okay, don't go postal on me. Why is it sneaky?


They said on Thursday night we get a dusting in the morning. Okay, no biggie, I have to go to work and there will be a bit of flake across the fields. I was more concerned about coming home, but even there it didn't sound too threatening since the heavy fall was called for late morning. I go major highways and they were saying we'd get an inch.

So there I was happy as a nerd in Twinkie and Mountain Dew heaven, tapping away at the computer when I noticed it was 8:00 AM.  Hoo ha, maybe I better shake a leg rather than tap a finger. I have to feed the birds, take out the trash and bring in the paper, yakety-yak, don't talk back! (Old song reference. Look it up to see why it flashed in my mind just then.)

I walk in the living room to pick up my son's keys, because I also have to move his car to get mine out and, Great Snowballs of Frosty, Batman, everything is white!

Now I am into my coat and gloves and out in it and it is really coming down and I think, "Dusting? This ain't no dusting!" There was three inches of the stuff on the cars, on the drive, on the lawn.

I told the birds to forget it, anything would be quickly buried. I had a number of old things we had decided to put out as trash, but I said forget that too. Last week when it snowed over New Year's the trash truck never showed up that pickup day. I just put out the usual two cans, although they are actually hard rubber, but I guess we still call them cans. They are really fairly large. I wonder why we don't call them barrels?

When I backed my son's car out it squiggled all up along the road. Little slick this morning, I will go down our hill in a low gear. Our streets were not great, but once to the highways it was fine.

Now this morning, once again, supposed to be a little snow around seven o'clock, then a couple hours of cloudy sky. I am figuring I can go for my walk if I leave at dawn. They say the heavier falling is coming late morning into the afternoon. The hourly report shows no more snow until ten o'clock. I'll be home by then.

I go into the room and there it is, everything white again and snow swirling all about. Well, now, I have to go out. We are nearly out of cat food and if the snow should get bad... Put it this way, I don't want to be eaten by our cats while we sleep.

I don't have to move the boy's car because he had to be at work at six this morning. I back out and I squirrel a bit. Once more into the breach and once more into a low gear.

Our streets are pretty slippery,but again when I reach the highway it isn't too bad. The roads this morning are fair, not great and I go over one fairly snowed under to get to the store. Beyond that, though, the roads have been plowed and are basically wet. After getting the supplies I need and then a stop at the gas station, because I was nearing empty in the tack, I decided to go for my walk anyway.

I decided to go to Alapocas (which is where the photos on this post are from this morning) because the side road was pretty good and the first parking lot was just off of it.

I arrived and was the lone car to pull into this lot. I backed into a space so I was pointed slightly downhill, just in case I need gravity to help pull me from the undercoating later. (When I say space, I mean I made a space because you couldn't see any lines under the two inches of snow.) From here I walk around the athletic field, then down by the golf course by the second lot and on into the woods.

I was glad to reach the woods with its gravel path. The gravel provided a non-skid surface for on the paved pathway going by the second parking lot I fell.  (Photo on right shows the skid marks of my plunge.) There must have been some ice beneath the snow cover and I was walking briskly and found it. kerplunk, wasn't a thing I could do about it. I went down in a semi-split, then kind of pitched forward onto my hands and knees. I think I skinned my left knee. I haven't yet looked, but my pant leg was sticking to the kneecap when I got home so I reckon there is blood.

I didn't have gloves on at this point and the worse aspect of my tumble was my hands were now wet and my pants were covered in snow.

I proceeded down the hill from the parking lot with less speed. Oh, lets be brutally honest. I walked like a turtle with too tight shoes.

The woods were quiet. I wasn't the first out. There were the prints of two joggers on the trail. They had come from the other direction. I only met one other person, though, a man on a bicycle. Amazing, he was coming up hill on the path when we passed.

I was glad to get the walk in this morning despite the weather. Since I began walking again last fall I have shed weight and reduced my waist size three inches. However, I put four pounds back on over the holidays.

Just too many treats everywhere. The temptations are pretty well consumed at this point and if I keep moving, I should shave off the pounds gained quickly.

I only went as far as the great gates this morning. It wasn't the trail or distance, cold or snow that dictated this as my turn around point. Oh, I suppose it was technically the snow. I was concerned with what it was doing to the highways and byways I had to travel to get home.

I went back and posed before my car for a final shot, which is the first one on this post. My hood was frozen stiff with the coating of snow atop it.

There was one other car in the lot now, parked far down from where I was. A lone snowplow was going along the road.

I had no problem pulling out of the lot and the roads on this end were fairly clean. However, when I got closer to home the snow had recovered much of the surface of roads that had been good when I left. I skidded some when I turned into our development and threw the car down into low gear again because it was downhill from here to a stop sign on a cross street.

Sure enough, I had to fight skids at the stop sign.

When I reached my street, and remember I am up a hill, I discover there was no way the road surface was going to allow my turn. I would have gone right up on the sidewalk if I had tried to insist. I gave up the idea and went down to the next street, which is not as steep and around the block.

It was wheel spin time at the end of that street and I was a bit concerned about making the turn into my drive coming down the hill. I swung wide to the right and made a good arc to the left and made it home unscathed.

Then I went out and shoveled. Better to do two inches at a time.  At this point I do not know if we will get out for dinner as is our usual Saturday evening practice.

Say, you do realize you were talking to yourself early on in this post?


Shut up!