Well, this winter has been anything but normal! We had our once-in-a-decade storm back in December (see earlier post), where we received about 16" of beautiful powdery snow. Now, my oh-so-looked-forward-to Rockettes show was cancelled, but I had snow! It was wonderful.
For the last ten days now, we've had our once-in-a century winter. Last Tuesday afternoon/evening, we got about 5" -- enough to make the trees absolutely gorgeous, and the morning commute challenging.
Then, Friday morning about 11 am, the real snow started, again. This heavy, wet snow fell all night, so that by about noon on Saturday, we had about 15-18" of new snow.
This is the big fence outside our building. And yes, that is the lawn furniture out front.
Then it switched to a lighter, more powdery snow, and presented another 5-10". It was beautiful, and the city was crippled. So, because it is our century-highlight, it got worse.
Our walkway yesterday afternoon, before the snow started again.
The walkway this morning, during the blizzard, as the snow continued to fall. Yes, the lawn furniture is now virtually buried.
The storm last week dumped snow for 36 hours throughout the mid-Atlantic, and then headed out to sea. This week's storm is cutting a path straight up the eastern seaboard. We've had snow for nearly 24 hours, including blizzard warnings, white-out conditions, and another, oh probably, foot of snow. While it's ending here, my parents are both getting hammered now in Connecticut. We missed the show we had tickets to last night, a flamenco gala. We've been rescheduled for Sunday's show, different, but another in the festival. And, there's a clipper system on its way to us for arrival Sunday evening/Monday morning. Really?
So how odd is this? Here are some crazy facts:
* The storm last weekend broke the century-old winter snowfall record total at National Airport. Today's broke the all-time record.
* Before this current storm, Dulles Airport had received 63.5" of snow. In comparison, Albany NY this winter had received 21" and Buffalo NY (well-known for its incredibly lake-effect snow from the Great Lakes) had received 61".
* The federal government closed early on Friday. It has been closed ever since. If it is closed tomorrow, it will set an all-time record.
* The Smithsonian Institution, which is quasi-federal but operates on its own schedule, has been closed since Saturday.
* The Postal Service, also quasi-federal, also operating on its own schedule and well-known for its motto which allows no weather condition to interfere with its solemn charge of mail delivery, closed Monday and today.
* The State of Maryland, the State of Virginia, and the District of Columbia had all exceeded their annual budgets for snow treatment/removal before the monster storm last Saturday.
* The State of Maryland was about out of salt and road treatment before this current storm.
* All this, plus plows out of commission because of heavy use and extreme conditions (we don't have much of the really heavy-duty equipment here), highways closed because of unsafe conditions, incredible numbers of people without power, empty grocery stores, and I can't even imagine the tolls on small and local businesses and restaurants, not to mention the exhaustion of the plow crews, emergency personnel, power repair folks, etc.
As for us, it's been unusual too, although in a very low-key way.
Greg did go to work on Monday, and made his flight to Charlotte. They had their pre-meeting that evening, and then he received the call from the airline: he could take a 6am flight back Tuesday morning, or they would try to get him back on Thursday. So he came home, irritated about having made the trip at all, given all that. He'll probably be back in the office tomorrow, at least for a while. But he's working on a variety of projects.
Me, well, I've been sick. Honestly, two years without a cold and now two ugly colds this winter. I would have gone in on Monday, to make sure our public area was open, but thankfully I've been able to rest instead. And it's been a great mini-vacation at home! I finished a book, have made a HUGE dent in my magazine backlog, watched several movies and have nearly cleared out my TV backlog too. I've cleaned through the three boxes of books from storage, and have started preparing them for donation. I've made it through the years-long collection of magazine articles and recipes, and have that all organized. I cleaned out the closet, finished the article I was writing on the field school, cooked and baked. I've been able to get back to Rosetta Stone and have been doing some Jazzercise at home.
And today, I broke out the puzzle! Now, this is no ordinary puzzle. We were working on it before we moved, and it's been rolled in the closet ever since. It's a monster, 3000 pieces, and a hugely difficult scene of old ships during a twilight battle, so it's all muted sky shades and dark boat shades. We picked it because it was the hardest puzzle we could find. The size alone is complicated, but it really is tough.
This is where it was when I unrolled it -- lots to do! And yes, the floor is the only place it fits.
I fully expect that the government will be closed again tomorrow, and probably the Smithsonian too. I imagine that we'll try to be open on Friday though. We do have a big festival this weekend about chocolate, and that is planned to go forward. I'm starting to feel better too, which is good. However, this "vacation," while great fun and productive on a personal level, is absolutely killing my project. Well, nothing I can do about while no one can get anywhere to observe any activities (which aren't happening anyway) or interview people (who aren't in their offices either), so I guess I'll figure that out when we get back.
And, in the meantime, off to Minnesota next week! And working to plan my trip to Tucson. Stay warm and safe!
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