CafeChatNoir

for some sign/indication of the weather to come.  Given that they didn’t have a reaction strong enough to wake up my brother in the moments leading up to the earthquake, they might not be the best indicators of weather-related things that may become reality.  But I’m watching them anyway.

Carmen is getting high off her catnip butterfly I bought for her at the beach.  Lily is testing the specific gravity of every item that lies in her path.

Moxley is (as usual) actively chastising both felines for their behaviour.  (I love him to death, but he is a bit of a narc.)

So, in short, it’s a 110% normal night here.

But hey, we’ve got working flashlights,  3 1/2 days of water, beef jerky & snack pack puddings – so I think we’ll be OK.

So, last night at a little past 0030 NORAD was doing a bit of night training which resulted in a couple of fighter jets in afterburner* flying very, very low over my residence in Northern Virginia.

I was sitting at my computer wasting time and trying to un-engage my brain and I heard *something* coming and I wasn’t even sure what it was other than the fact that I knew it would greatly upset the dog lounging out on the deck and I had to get him inside immediately.  I dashed to the back door and said, “Moxley, get your ass in RIGHT NOW!!”  (It had a sound of very severe thunder and I’d rather him inside than digging a 4 foot deep hole to take cover in outside.)  He happily complied and I went dashing to the deck to see what was up.**

I viewed what for all intents and purposes appeared to be a fighter jet in afterburner leaving the neighborhood, but sounding much more like an airplane about to lose an engine.  TO THE INTERNET!  Facebook & Twitter yielded no immediate answers other than one person on my friend list who had heard/seen the same incident and had the same questions I had.  (I am still quite surprised that there was only the two of us in the neighborhood that took to the internet to figure out what on earth was going on.)

OK, time to mine the Twitter contacts for who may be In The Know.  Well, as it happened, Nathan Hager of WTOP News (@nhagerwtop) had made a post on his account a few minutes before this Very Loud Incident above my home, so I figured he might still be up and perhaps he’d seen/heard something – and shot him a tweet.  Within minutes I had my answer of “Norad training” – and as soon as I saw Norad, I remembered seeing a blurb about a training exercise that had been postponed due to weather.  (Sadly, it didn’t stick in my head until I was reminded of it.)

So, on the Twitter side of this posting – I can’t help but give some big props to Nathan (my personal local news guru) Hager for a) paying attention to his Twitter account, even on what had to be his verge of going to bed, and b) taking the time to post a response.  It was just great to get an answer so soon.  (Really, if you’re not following @nhagerwtop, you should be!

On the “weird after-effects” side – I went to bed and damned if I didn’t have weird airplane crashing and/or end of the world dreams for the rest of the night.  I woke up at 0430 and after realizing I still had 2 hours of sleep available to me, yelled at my brain that it was just all a bunch of weird dreams and everything was OK, and that the dog, the cats, and my brother were all in and I didn’t need to worry about any of it.  Didn’t help as the weird dreams continued, but seriously, BRAIN, LET ME SLEEP.

The last time I had a couple of fighter jets go over my house in afterburner was when I lived over in Burke.  I wallked out to the porch, looked up and thought, “Cool.”  It wasn’t for a few minutes before I thought, “Wait, what??”  I can only attribute the difference in reaction to now having a dog & brother under the same roof.  (Had cats both times and all were inside anyway.)

Really, I have enough on my mind without my brain deciding to create new and non-existent disasters for me to worry on.  Really brain, chill out.

*I have forever referred to it as “on afterburner” but my Godfather (for lack of a better description) let me know it is “in” rather than “on” – WTF do I know, my Dad was on E-2’s – they don’t even have afterburners in the first place, and if you see one “on” or “in afterburner” it means an engine is on fire.

**Not sure how going outside to see WTF was happening bodes for me in the event that the Zombie Apocalypse occurs.  I may be the first one off the map.

This storm was MUCH worse than anyone anticipated – no one realized it was going to be nasty, wet, heavy snow that would bring down tree limbs at every other house in Northern Virginia and cause transformers to blow all over the place.

Saw an short article today saying that Dominion says they could have done better with communication.

Our power went out at 8:45 Wednesday evening.  I immediately reported the outage online and the initial reply was that they were still in assessment mode and couldn’t give a restoration estimate.  Perfectly understandable, given that they had 200,000 customers without power.  I opted for a callback at anytime with an update.  At about 4AM I got an automated call saying the restoration window would be Noon to 6PM on Thursday.  When I got up on Thursday, I checked online and saw that it had been updated to 7AM to 1PM.  (I missed the second update call.)

At 12:20, our power came back on.

I felt that they did fine with communication in my situation.  When they restoration window was established, they called me.  When it changed, they called me.  (Even though I missed it.)  I was able to look online and see those estimates as well.

I’m really not sure they could have done anything else to communicate better with me.

The snow started at about 3:30 and it’s been going like gangbusters and it’s heavy, heavy, wet snow.

School was cancelled for tomorrow at 7:30 PM.

It has taken one of my friends a good 5 hours to get home.

The power just went out a few minutes ago – there are now 107K people without power in the county.  I doubt we’ll have it back anytime soon given that the transformers over the hill have been exploding.

We have a tree down in the backyard – of course, it went into our neighbor’s yard.  Fortunately, thanks to it being a rather light and bendy tree (despite it’s overall size) it is resting gently on the fence.  I do not own a chainsaw.  There is another tree leaning a bit – we knocked off as much snow as we could, but I’m guessing it’s going to go over as well.  That one is at least facing the yard.  And the house…

I can’t say I remember a snowstorm that did this much damage this quickly.  Thunderstorms, yes, but not snowstorms.  And it’s supposed to keep snowing until midnight.  Yay.

About 3 inches in less than two hours already…

And a great example of why kids think adults are idiots.  I’ve got 5th graders this week and next week, and yesterday before dismissal I gave them the big speech about “don’t count on a snow day, it’s going to be rain and then change to snow much later in the day, so do your homework.”  Fast forward 14 hours, we have an impressive amount of sleet and a day off.  I’m sure their parents also said, “She may be a substitute, but your teacher is right, now do your homework.”

Now, while I’m sure some of the kids are happy they have the day totally free to do whatever they want because they did their homework last night, I’m quite certain there is a large segment of the student population thinking, “WHY did I bother with my homework last night???  The adults didn’t know ANYTHING.”

This is why Jack Weinberg said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30.”

During the break in the weather this afternoon, I headed up to the market.  We need milk.  Not because it is snowing, but because we are out of milk as of today – I would have been hitting the store no matter what.  However, it would seem that a LOT of people in the neighborhood had the exact same idea of taking advantage of the weather pause.

Now, when I am at the store and I know we’ve got snow coming, I find I can’t just get the one or two things that are on my list.  All semblance of good nutrition and meal planning go completely out the window.  I suddenly want things absolutely crammed with fat, calories, carbohydrates and any other thing that is particularly unhealthy.  It’s like I’m bit possessed as I roam the aisles.  Fixings for cheese dip!  More stock for cheese grits!  Mexican cheese for tacos for dinner!  Decent tortillas!!  (Why I bought Piñata tortillas the last time I was out is beyond me.)  Kielbasa!  Potatoes!  Cinnamon bread for French toast!  Taquitos!  Mini chocolate frosted donuts!  (Those just appeared in my cart.  I don’t know how they got there.  Some 3 year old must have tossed them in and run away.)

Knowing that this nutritional debacle was looming ahead for the next 24 hours, I did at least have a salad for lunch.

In other snow related thoughts, I have found that in my role as substitute teacher, I am happy to defend snow days.  Yes, I do like the bonus day off – I am human after all.  Yes, I know it totally screws up things for parents, especially with so many families with both parents working.  However, I am fairly certain that on days like this, the Superintendent doesn’t get up at 4AM and dial VDOT for road conditions thinking, “Let’s see how many people I can completely and utterly inconvenience today!”

There are employees that are already en route to work by 5AM, so they’ve got to make the call by 4:30.  If the roads are crap, they can push it back 2 hours if they really think things will improve, but if it’s still crap at 6:30 – the day is done.  Lots of teens drive themselves to work.  Do you enjoy being on the road with 17 years olds on a GOOD day, much less in sleet?  I didn’t think so. :)

I was up at 6:30 this morning – still too much sleet to be safe at that point, and I’m sure it was much worse out in the western part of the county.  We had some rain in the middle of the day today, but it’s just now turned to a snow/sleet mix again – right when the buses would be back on the roads trying to get the elementary school kids home.  I think the closing was a good call today.

I feel so bad when I read status updates on Facebook about people still shoveling snow. This spring is very, VERY welcomed. It’s so nice to have the back door open and the dog can come and go as he pleases during the day. (Though he is having a bit of trouble remembering that he doesn’t have to ask every time he wants to go out.) So far the cats have shown no interest in the dog door other than sniffing at it, and don’t seem to understand that the dog can’t actually walk through walls. Lily has figured out that if she sits in front of the dog door, Moxley will just stand on the other side and not try to come in until I intervene and move her. (Yes, she is a bit of a brat.)

HR 4872 may or may not happen today, aka health care. This should be interesting. I just hope that perhaps this can stop some of the nastiness going about. (Last I heard, Gerry Connolly was on board, deem and pass had gone out the window, and the fence-sitters were finding themselves in quite the spotlight.)

In other news, I am an Avon rep!! (Been dying to try the Anew line, didn’t know a rep and decided I would just be my own rep.) Thank you Melissa for being my awesome first customer! To that end, I have a meeting with my District Sales Manager tomorrow, a “Division Rally” next week and a sales meeting the week after that. Basically, more meetings in the next 3 weeks than I’ve been to in the last 4 years. At the risk of sounding like a sales pitch, I will say the online ordering and direct delivery they have now is pretty spiffy.

Now I am going to figure out what I am going to do with the rest of this absolutely gorgeous day. Well, after lunch.

But really, where did this all come from?  When I went to bed last night at 2:30AM I looked at the local, regional and national radar – and I honestly could not see where any more snow could come from.  Everything was past us and heading in a northeasterly direction.  There was a very small blob of precip down by Blacksburg, but nothing else.  I really couldn’t see where there was any other precip.

Then I was awakened at 7:45 this morning by my NOAA radio kindly letting me know that we’re all going to die.  I am trying to find an animated loop of the regional radar over the past 6 hours to see when & where this second storm cell developed when there was nothing there 5 hours earlier.

I should have stuck with my instincts and just not gone to bed.  I’m serious – I was really toying with the idea.  (Too much snow + too much caffeine = ideas of staying up all night to beat Mother Nature.)  This is what the snow has done to me.  I had been keeping up with the snow on Friday night until I went to bed.  Last night, the driveway, sidewalk and car were cleared off.  And then I went to bed.  And it all went to hell.  IF I’D JUST STAYED UP ALL NIGHT THIS WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED.

Part of me thinks that I should get out there and at least take a few whacks at it.  The intelligent part of my brain says not to set a toe outside until I see my neighbors out there or the wind dies down a bit.  My sweet southern neighbor brought home a brand new snowblower yesterday and while I would never in a million years expect or even ask for help unless I desperately needed it, maybe I’ll get lucky we’ll be out at the same time and he’ll want to do more snowblowing.  :)

There must be a 6 hour radar loop somewhere that I can look at if no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity.

Moxley, Mr. “I love the wind!” went out and then wouldn’t come back in.  WTF dog?!  So, I get dressed, shoes on and take 2 steps out the back door and he trundles right in.  I think it was his way of saying, “If I have to go to the bathroom in this nonsense, you have to get out of your PJ’s.”

*This was the same neighbor who was positively ecstatic when I was house/dogsitting and the tree fell in the driveway.  Before I could even figure out who to call or what to do, he was out there with the chain saw and a huge smile on his face.

And when I heard that on the radio, I will be perfectly honest, the words that came out of my mouth were, “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???”

I really don’t understand how folks that live in places like Buffalo and have this much snow on the ground most of the winter don’t just lose their minds.  I realize it must just be something you get used to after you’ve lived there a while, but I guess I can say I understand how someone might feel the first year they lived there.  (And of course, they do have the experience and equipment to deal with this type of snow in short order.)

I don’t think it’s cabin fever – I can hermit up with the best of them.  But something about this is making me a little nuts.  Maybe it’s the feeling that I have no idea whatsoever what I really should be worrying about, and the knowledge that whatever it is, there probably isn’t anything I can do about it anyway.  Case in point:  Didn’t occur to me until halfway through the storm that I could stop worrying about clearing the outside compressor as this house doesn’t have a heat pump.  (In my defense, I spent over 10 years in a house with a heat pump.  Old habits die hard I guess.)

I did run up to the post office today*.  Conditions I drove on/saw were: clear/dry, slushy, unplowed, plowed but not much, wet, and covered in water and near flooding.  Anything that’s not dry by now is going to be a sheet of ice tonight.

Now that we’ve got another 10-20 on the way, it’s time to go with the “be postive” approach…

– The driveway and sidewalks are clear, and even without the snowblower help I could have (and would have) gotten them cleared on my own.
– I’ve dug halfway to the mailbox.  (Considering the berm is over 4 feet high and somewhere between 5-6 feet deep, I’m OK with that measure of progress.)
– I have the physical ability to keep up with the snow when the next round comes.
– I don’t have to be anywhere.
– I have more than enough food, as do the pets.
– I have Coke, Milk, Beer, Wine, Liquor, Champagne and Orange Juice.
– I have power.
– I got through the first storm on my own and I can certainly hack this one if little bro doesn’t come back before it starts.
– I have good neighbors and friends who I can ask for help if I need it.

So, it’s not quite the end of the world.  Still can’t guarantee that I won’t pull a full on nutter before it’s all over, but I’m trying to be positive and consider this an excellent character building experience.  Or at least a story I can torture younguns with in 30 years.

*Car behaved nicely.  I’ll be sticking with short daylight drives until such time as I can get it to the shop with my favorite car problem: the intermittent kind.

Yes, I was kind of hoping I’d get up this morning and it would all be gone.

The road in front of my house is clear and dry, which is awesome, but from reading various comments around about neighborhood plowing, this is not indicative of the entire county.  We are on a Metrobus route, but we’re not a snow emergency route, and in years past I do NOT remember our road being tended to this well after any other snows.  I’ll certainly take it, but with other storms our road has been great and I’ve gotten out to bigger roads that are total shit, so it’s a bit deceptive.

I need to go widen the opening at the end of the driveway a bit, as addition plowing and such has dumped more snow and it’s not quite wide enough to get the car out, or my brother’s car in whenever he gets back.  I also need to figure out how to tackle the mailbox.  The neighborhood trend seems to be to just cut a 2 foot wide path from the street to the box.  I’m still glad I went ahead and put the mail on hold for a few days so I don’t have to kill myself to get that completely done today – I don’t think my back could take it.

Tomorrow’s WSW has gone from 5 inches to 8 inches with “a good likelihood of snow in excess of 10 inches.”  OH HAPPY DAY!  However, I will try my best to be diligent and shovel as it comes down rather than waiting to try to deal with 10 inches of snow at once.  (I was actually doing pretty well keeping up on Friday – until I had the audacity to go to bed.)

According to the NWS, the average annual snowfall for Dulles is 22.3 inches, and National is 16.6.  So far this year they’ve gotten 46.0 and 45.1 inches respectively.  So, at least I know it is not my imagination and this winter just seriously SUCKS.

I think come spring I’m going to burn the hoodie & jeans that have been doing shoveling duty.

There was maybe 1/4  of an inch of snow that fell after my last battle against the snow last night, so I just decided to go ahead and let the sun finish it off today, which worked just fine.  I think I was supposed to go out and help people dig out their cars or something, but I helped people that helped me yesterday – doesn’t that come out even?  I still have to deal with the mailbox, and given we have more snow coming, I just put the mail on hold for a couple days.  There’s no sense in even putting the mail on the truck if no one can get to the mailbox in the first place.  (There is snow up to the bottom of the mailbox, and then snow going into the street several feet from the plowing.)

Next time we have a blizzard, I need a non-lethal projectile weapon that is at least somewhat accurate.  I have some leyland cypress trees in the backyard with a LOT of snow on them and are leaning in a way which is mildly worrisome.  I’ve not been able to come up with any good way to knock the snow off the higher branches, and not much melted off today.  I tried lobbing a tethered water bottle at them, which kind of worked, but my throwing arm ain’t all that.  I really could have used a water balloon slingshot or a heavy duty nerf gun today – something I could have aimed out of the upstairs window.  (How my brother does not own either of these items is beyond me.)

And oh joy, we have another winter storm watch from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon with “potential for 5 or more inches of snow”  YAY!

On top of the trees and the mailbox, my car decided to stall out on me a couple times on Friday.  So, at some point this week I need to get the car to the shop.  Now, I’d just do it tomorrow and grab a cab home, but the the Federal government, County government and County schools are closed, which I think is their way of saying “Stay off the damn roads!”  Perhaps I’ll just wait until little bro gets home and coerce a ride out of him.  (At least there is nowhere I desperately have to be.)

At least through all this nonsense we kept power, which is a VERY GOOD thing.

Though I shouldn’t complain too much, as I have power, which is more than I can say for about 75K people in Northern Virginia.

There are some small indents in the snow where I worked last night.  So at least I can tell where I’ve already shoveled, but it’s a bit disheartening.  I’d say there’s at least another 10 inches out there.  The patio table (which was clear before this all started) now has at least two feet of snow on it.  The snow is almost up to the bottom of the mailbox, but there was already about a foot of snow there before all this ridiculousness started.

My neighbors on both side have snowblowers.  One has remembered the golden rule of “if you have a snowblower and your neighbor doesn’t, going a few feet past your property line when clearing the white crap out is a really decent thing to do.”  (And going all the way to the edge of my driveway is INSANELY nice.) The other apparently has never learned this.  (I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he’s trying to conserve gas and not being a selfish prick who knows damn well I don’t have an extra set of hands here.)  Someone will be getting some thank you cookies or some goodies of some sort.

The dog has attempted to go out once – I told him that he really needed for me to wait and clear a path, but oh no, he knows best.  He reconisdered once he got about a foot outside the back door.  That is the first item on the to-do list as soon as I get some caffeine in me.

The road in front of the house looks GREAT.  Not that anyone can get to it – the snow berm at the end of the driveway is now at least 4 feet high.

Well, time to start round one of the day.  Of course, I have to do the backyard first for the dog, which no one will see except him, and my neighbors will think I am ignoring the front…  They don’t know how lucky they are that I didn’t sleep until noon as it is.  Sometimes I wish I lived in a neighborhood with more slackers like me. :)

I’ve already done two rounds of shoveling, because I have this deluded idea that it will somehow make things easier in the morning.  The way it’s coming down, I’ll be lucky if there are even slight indentations in the driveway and sidewalk when I get up tomorrow.  I keep telling myself that I have shoveled 9 inches of snow, so there will only be 21 inches to go tomorrow instead of 30.  (It’s not helping.)

The plows that have been coming through have already dumped 2+ feet of snow at the end of the driveway.  I don’t even know how I am supposed to get through that without a flamethrower.  (Another reason I should really have a flamethrower.)  There have been two plows that have been looping through the neighborhood all night, and the street is plowed down to the pavement (as evidenced by the sparks flying off the plow blades as they go by) which is great except for the fact that everyone’s driveways are well and duly blocked.

Tomorrow is SO going to suck.

The National Weather Service is now calling for 16-24 inches of snow and blizzard conditions tomorrow.  We’re under a winter storm watch from 10AM tomorrow until 10PM Saturday.

ABANDON YOUR CARS NOW!!!

Seriously, if I wanted 2 feet of snow at a time I would have moved somewhere north of here.  However, I did go to the store last night and I am well and duly stocked up on ingredients for any number of snow day comfort foods, from grits to chili to baked potato soup.  I have no problem with just staying in and eating my way through the weekend and gaining five pounds in the process.

What I am NOT looking forward to is getting outside every 90 minutes or to try to wrangle my drive and sidewalks to some measure of passable, and keep the compressor cleared off and create some sort of path for the dog to get off the deck.  Sure, it’s great exercise, but I can think of many other much more enjoyable things to do in order to get some exercise in over the weekend.

But, having prepared as much as I can, I at least shouldn’t have to go anywhere.

Let it snow?

Despite all the reasons I don’t like living in the DC Metro area, I really do like the fact that we have 4 genuine seasons.  While I’d certainly like to have 2 months lopped off of winter and added to fall & spring, it’s not too terrible.

Except for the years when we have more than one snowstorm resulting in more than 10 inches of snow.  I’m good for a handful of snowstorms as long as they result in less than 10 inches of snow.

Personally, I hate winter, but I love snow.  Snow makes the 40-degrees-and-steel-grey-skies-and-rain almost worth it.  But I’m talking about easy/reasonable/decorator snow.  Shoving aside the pre-Christmas two feet of snow (where I was wondering if we could get to the airport, much less PHX), the 6 inches of snowblower powder we had last weekend, or the 5 inches of heavy decorator snow last night were perfectly lovely.  Nothing was terribly screwed up, and I didn’t feel bad for undercharging the kiddo that came by today to shovel my walk & driveway.  (I paid him $5 more than he asked – but would have happily paid him double.)

But it would seem that in the next 36 hours we’ll be embarking on a 12 to 20 inch snowstorm.  10 inches of snow is about the most that I can handle with any measure of grace.  20 inches?  That just reinforces my desire to move to Cuba.

Can we all just think “veer off to the Atlantic” thoughts?  Cause I am in no mood to shovel that much snow.  And it only increases my desire to move to Cuba.  Or Costa Rica.  Or anywhere in Mexico where the locals are willing to assist me in getting my Spanish back up to speed.

And my snowshoveling roommate won’t be around this weekend, (damn you Super Bowl!!) and I can’t be sure that I didn’t scare the crap out of the wonderful snowshoveling kiddo by overpaying him  – he might not come back!

Let’s all think moderate snow accumulations!!!!!!!!!!

Other than the “damn, I REALLY want to go drive somewhere, because I really SHOULDN’T drive anywhere” cabin fever, we seem to have survived the not-quite-a-blizzard of 2009.

Our road is looking really good, seems a VDOT truck or two has come through – the landscaping truck helped a LOT though.  Sounds like Arlington is still a mess, saw a report a bit ago of a 5 car pileup on 233 going into National Airport.  It seems to be another good day to simply stay put if at all possible and let the road crews do their thing.

The cats still seem mildly confused when they look outside and can’t figure out where the color all went, but they’re doing their normal sleep/annoy the dog activities.  The dog is quite unimpressed at this point – when the snow is as high as he is (or higher) it takes a fair amount of the fun out of it for him.  However, he has decided that it’s GREAT fun to go sit under the patio table and refuse to come back inside, for he is Moxley, wild dog of Tibet.

The sidewalks are done – well, done enough as far I am concered at the moment.  No, they are not 4 feet wide, but they are passable.  We said “screw it” as far as the full driveway was concerned – there is a clear path down to the sidewalks.  (Yay for 4WD vehicles so we can get in & out.)  I swear, I need to remember this next August and go out and get a little snowblower of some sort.  I am in a bit of pain today – funny how there is no activity that really mimics snowshoveling when it comes to muscle usage.

The only big question remaining is – how overbooked will Tuesday’s flight be?

And it really needs to stop soon. I love a good snowstorm, but around here, anything above 10 inches becomes a touch…unwieldy.  Mainly because we just do NOT have the snow-removal infrastructure needed to keep up with a storm like this, and it shows.  If we got more storms like this, then I’d be annoyed, but we don’t, so there isn’t much reason to have a snowplow brigade that rivals Buffalo.  And to top that off, all above ground Metro services ceased operations at 1:00 this afternoon.  So, everyone is fairly well stuck.

The only reason our street is semi-decent is there was a landscaping truck looping through the neighborhood most of the day, along with a truck with a plow blade on it from the local firehouse.  (I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the volunteer chief lives on our street.)  The truck I thought was VDOT last night was the landscaping truck.  I won’t be surprised if I don’t see a VDOT vehicle on this road until Monday.

Saw lots of footage of Old Keene Mill Road today, which is the main road to get to I-95 in this area and it was a complete disaster.  Hopefully once the snow stops, VDOT can start catching up.  Several of the interstates were shut down at various points during the day today, and at the moment VDOT has pretty much all of them classified as “hazardous” with “significant accumulations of snow and/or ice.”  Lots of cars stranded all over the place – I was surprised at how many people were trying to get around in this mess.

All in all, I’d say we got about 2 feet here, which is more than enough.  Hopefully all the various and sundry modes of transportation will be working again come Tuesday.

And still coming down.  It’s absolutely gorgeous outside, though.  Took the dog out front as there is a little less snow for him to contend with because of the overhang on the front of the house – and he went bounding through the snow and really didn’t understand why we weren’t going for a walk in the plowed area of the street.  Umm, love ya buddy, but we’d both get killed if we tried it.

Our road is looking great, and I don’t think it’s thanks to VDOT.  There’s been a truck from a local landscaping company making loops through the neighborhood since last night, and while VDOT certainly could have contracted them, I suspect it’s either a resident that is taking matter into his own hands or our civic association had something to do with it.  I just think VDOT would be putting any and all trucks elsewhere at the moment.  This would also explain why last night the neighborhood roads were looking pretty good while Old Keene Mill Road appeared untouched even after the snow had been going for a good 5 hours at that point.

Watching the local news – yes, our road is looking MUCH better than any of the roads out in the area.

Great day to just stay in and watch the snow come down.  Now, if I can just get my animals to stop acting like hyperactive 3 year olds, we can all enjoy the day. :)

The DC area has an OMG!BLIZZARD!SNOW!WHITEDEATH!THUNDERSNOW storm on the way overnight, with accumulation predictons anywhere between 8 and 20 inches.

Of course, this means I have to go to the store.  Not to panic buy, but because my life seems to be proof that God has a sense of humor, if there is a storm coming in 24 hours, there is something I need from the store, snow or no snow.  So I contribute to the insanity.  (Today’s visit was for sodas, cause no one wants to see me sans caffeine, ever.  I also wanted a salad cause I’ve eaten horribly the past couple days.)

I pulled into the Huntsman Square Giant and the parking lot is 3/4 full.  I’ve never seen it this full, even during after-work-rush, and this is at 2:00 on a weekday.  I hunkered down, and prepared for the worst.

I walked in and I was shocked. EVERY SINGLE CHECKSTAND WAS OPEN.  Every one.  This particular location annoys me to no end for their usual inability to have enough people working and enough checkouts open on a normal day, so I was completely stunned.  Everyone shopping was giggly and friendly and helping each other (thank you nice guy who got the Triscuits off the top shelf for me!) and seemed genuinely stoked for snow.  (I have to think that has a lot to do with it being on a weekend and everyone can just stay in.)

And the best part?  I only had to wait behind TWO people to get checked out.  Amazing.  Well done, Giant – I didn’t think you had it in you.

Happy snow day!

It’s been a while since we had snow, I realize this.  I also understand that given the transient nature of this area, any given year there are a lot of you out there that have never driven in snow before, so this is all new to you.  There are also those of you that have lived here for years and are just being idiots.

I’ve been out and about on two occasions today and it’s obviously time for a refresher on dealing with snow…

If your employer allows you to telecommute during inclement weather, take them up on the offer.  Even with the economy in the tank, one day less of face time with the boss won’t kill you.  (And if it does end up being your undoing, you were in trouble in the first place.)

If you can reasonably avail yourself of some of our mass transit options, give it a whirl.

If you still have to get on the road, that’s OK.  Just a few things to keep in mind:

Clear your windows.  All of them.  Don’t just have a circle of cleared glass right in front of you.

Try to get as much, if not all, the snow off the top of your car.  It’s not always easy, especially if you have a car that is rather tall relative to your height – but at least give it a shot.

If you have the presence of mind, flip your windshield wipers up off the windshield if you’ll be parked for any length of time.  You’ll be happy when the wipers aren’t frozen to the windshield later.

Slow down.  Seriously.  I’m quite certain that the building you are heading to will still be there when you arrive.

Maintain some space.  What you think is a ridiculous amount of space between you and the car in front of you is probably about right.

Start breaking sooner than you normally would.  (Yes, while still going slower in the first place.)  Again, what you think is ridiculous will probably be spot on.

Please remember that 4-Wheel Drive does not make you invincible.  You will not be able to stop on a dime.  It is not any safer or more socially acceptable to run a red light with 4-Wheel Drive.  Every year, I see more 4-Wheel Drive vehicles in ditches than any other type of car.

In Virginia, it is legal to make a right turn on a red light.  However, as a driver you are NOT obligated to make said turn on red.  Especially if there is oncoming traffic and you don’t think it’s the wisest idea to try to zip out through a big slushy mess in order to beat said oncoming traffic.  This also applies to the person in front of you at the red light and if you decide that laying on the horn to get them to go is a good idea, well, you’re just a jackass.

Tomorrow they’re calling for ice pellets all day.  For that, I suggest you simply call in sick.

As much as I despise winter, I LOVE snow.  It’s one of the few redeeming aspects of an otherwise dreary and light deprived season.  Everything is brighter and quieter.

Between the DCist updates and CNBC coverage, I’d say Obamapalooza is in full swing.  As of 10 AM, the Mall is at capacity.  One Metro line has been shut down.  Several Metro stations are holding trains because you can’t get *out* of the station.  Cell phone service is spotty at best as everyone tries to send cell phone camera pictures back home.

I’d say my decision to stay home and watch from the comfort of home wasn’t the worst idea in the world, but the energy of the crowds is evident, even through the TV.

Word has it that Cheney will be attending in a wheelchair because he threw his back out trying to move things…  Mr. Cheney, didn’t anyone tell you they will provide help for that?  You shouldn’t be trying to move a man sized safe by yourself.

While I don’t think there is enough money in the world for me to want to be the President of the United States, there is one aspect of it all that I do envy:  The moving staff.

Between the time that the Bushes and Obamas leave the White House after their morning coffee and the Obamas return back home this evening, all the old items will be packed up and moved out, and all of the new items will be moved in – AND UNPACKED.  Who wouldn’t want that crew the next time they have to move?

In all seriousness, it’s a pretty nifty day today, and I am enjoying how chuffed people are about it all.  It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of electing someone into our highest office who *wasn’t* a white male (and probably a somewhat older one to boot) was well, inconceivable.

I don’t expect that at 12:01 this afternoon that the world will be filled with unicorns and rainbows.  President Obama will have his share of screwups.  Every President does.  And he’s walking into a bit of a mess to put it mildly, and trying to fix it all without at least a few missteps will be virtually impossible.

However, I’m looking forward to something different.  Maybe it will be better, maybe it will be worse.  But I think a new approach won’t be the worst thing for the country by any means.

Welcome to DC, Mr. President.

But I have PLENTY of words for it, the vast majority of which are unprintable.

Weather Underground is telling me that it is 7 degrees out there, and I can’t say that I disagree.  It’s not that I’ve never been through a cold snap before – hell, I’ve lived in this area for longer than I care to admit, so I know this is nothing new.  However, it seemed that this year it took longer for the cold weather to kick in to begin with, so it’s all just a nasty blow to my system.  (Or I was in complete denial and wearing my Tevas for much longer than I should have after the summer ended.)

The fact of the matter is that I’m a warm weather girl.  Or I have the circulation of your average reptile.  Either one works, but these temps SUCK.

My skin is dried out beyond belief, despite taking in ridiculous amounts of liquids.  I swear that yesterday when I went out, my snot froze.  Now, if you dress for the weather, it’s still cold, but it’s not TOO bad.  I seriously feel for those who have to wear skirts to work during this time of year.  When I ventured out today, it was with tights under my jeans, layered tops and then a coat on top of it.  Which really makes me wonder – how do Alaska and Canada not have negative population growth?  When you have to put on that many layers just to avoid instantaneous hypothermia, by the time you take them all off again, you’re exhausted and need a nap more than you need sex.  (Or maybe I’m just not choosing my layers properly – do our fellow citizens and friends to the north have breakaway long underwear?)

I let my car run for 10 minutes before going to the market this afternoon, which according to Google maps is only a 5 minute drive from here.  My need to not shiver uncontrollably while driving outweighed my need to be environmentally friendly.

In short, I want summer back.  I am one of the few people that LOVES the DC metro area in August – I do not say “gosh I want snow!” on August 15th.  Go out and run in 95 degree weather with 90% humidity?  Sure!  Even contemplate going for a walk in 20 degree weather?  No way in hell.

My dog, on the other hand, is LOVING this weather.  As best as we know, he’s got a good chunk of Tibetan Terrier in him (as in: hanging out in the Tibetan wilds with the Dalai Lama Tibetan) and he does have the coat for it.  However, I get cold just watching him out there.  He’s outside right now, and I figured he’d be smart enough to go out, do his thing and then come back in.  Nope.  I just looked out and he was sitting on the deck surveying his vast acreage that he has to protect against the squirrels.  Seriously.  I told him to either do what he needs to do or COME BACK IN.

Now he’s chasing invisible squirrels around the yard.  At least it’s better than just sitting on the deck.  But he is definitely enjoying being the wild dog of the frozen tundra.

At least he humors me and lets me wrap him up in a blanket for a couple minutes when he comes back in.  (No he’s not spoiled rotten, why do you ask?)  But the cold just pours off him, and being a good dog mom, I want him to be WARM.

And people wonder why I’ve never had any real interest in attending Inaugural events, this year or any other year.  If they held them in June, the idea would probably be a lot more appealing.

Inauguration Day will be a historic day to be sure, but my plans are quite sedate.  I’ll be taking in the festivities from my comfy couch, likely with a warm blanket and a hot cup of coffee.  There’s a good chance that I’ll head up to the pub for a celebratory pint that evening.  No parties, no big food extravaganza, just another day with a historic event in the middle of it.

However, I apparently am the only one taking that approach.  I went to the market and was greeted with a sign saying that “In Order To Serve You Better On Inauguration Day, We’ll Be Opening at 4AM on January 20th.”

4 AM?  I’m out in the suburbs.  It’s not like our local streets will be jammed with traffic all day.  Even if people are having parties, lots and lots of very large parties, I am not quite sure I see the need for the grocery store to be open at 4 in the morning.

If you’re brave enough to want to go into the city for the inauguration, bleacher seat tickets for the parade are going on sale today at 1PM.  They’re $25 through TicketBastard, which means when all is said and done, they’ll probably be closer to $50 a pop what with all their lovely “convenience fees”.

Having seen all the various and sundry road and bridge closures that are on tap for the big day, all I can say is – if you’re in Virginia and need to be in the city on the 20th, I think you’ll need to go the day before. :)  Personally, I just can’t see myself trying to go into the city for that crazy mess.  I will be happily watching from my living room – no line for the bathroom, no security, snacks and climate control!

(As it is, there are reports of slumber parties being organized by Smithsonian employees who will have to be at work bright and early on the 20th.)

Is on it’s way out and has been crazy insane scary a bunch of rain…

Not much wind, lots of rain.  Scattered power outages, Huntington is flooded (not unusual) and Rt 1 is shut down in several places.  Went out to run some errands, roads are a little messy with standing water but nothing really bad.

Nice day to stay in and bake up some pumpkin bread.

If TS Hanna turns out to be a really big nothing around here, I confess it is my doing.

Why?

Because this week I finally got out and picked up the weather radio that has been on my to-do list all summer long.  It occured to me that I am rarely watching live TV, so I miss pretty much all the severe weather alerts, and our weather has been getting more screwy lately, so I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

We have flashlights and batteries and non-perishable snacks and water and the grill, so we can reasonably deal with a couple days of no power.  I just really hope we don’t lose water altogether like we did with Isobel – our hot water heater is gas powered, so as long as we have water pressure, I can still take hot showers.  (Honestly, I think that was the most annoying and icky part of Isobel…)

Let the tropical storm parties begin!

Haven’t been there in forever, I swear it’s smaller than it used to be, but still fun.

Big disappointment – the vendor that used to sell gator was not there. :(  But, all your other standard street fair foods, except I didn’t see any funnel cakes anywhere.  Could have just not been looking in the right place.

I love how you’re welcomed with this cheery sight:

Once inside, I had to get my pirate tattoo. The ink didn’t last too well in the heat, but here is the design:

Stop looking at me like that – I ASKED if they were only for the kids! It’s not like I got one of the balloon swords.

More pics…

Continue Reading “Alexandria Waterfront Festival”

BIG storm went through here this afternoon – little bro just tried to go out and run a couple errands and it would seem that we’re the only neighborhood that still has power.  Tree down over on Burke Road, rendering it closed until someone can get over there with a chain saw.  Lots of traffic lights out, and the local shopping centers are apparently dead in the water.

Tornado was spotted over in Falls Church abot 6 miles from here.  Last time I saw straightline winds like today was in a typhoon – I really thought we were going to lose at least one of the trees in the backyard the way they were bending.

Did a quick walkabout on the street – no major damage here, just little tree branches, lots of leaves, and the storm sewers are working overtime.  I’m sure there will be a few flooded basements.