Hello Spring

Less than a month ago we were buried in snow.

Heck, until last week there were still sad little dirty piles of the snow hanging around.

Today though, we have spring blossoms.

Hello warm weather. I've missed you.
Your pollen though? Not so much.

Blizzarding in the 2010

OK, so this last post? I take it back. It is not all the same.

Well, maybe the difference between a dusting and a few inches isn't a big deal, but as anyone who as any kind of interest in weather or the East coast knows right now: We are in the middle of a major blizzard. OK, we are hopefully at the tail end, but it still is getting to be a little bit old.

Thursday afternoon to Saturday night we got 32 inches of snow. Now, yesterday afternoon to this very moment we are getting another 20+ inches of snow. I'm not one for math, but that is a ridiculous amount of snow. The roads are impassible- right now the plows have just given up and are sitting around waiting for the snow to stop. Baltimore has banned all non-emergency traffic from the roads. Trees and power lines and roofs are collapsing. I have not been to work since Thursday and already know there is none tomorrow.

~~But~~

We are safe. We are warm. We have plenty of food. We have lots of firewood to burn. We have a neighbor with a snow blower. And we are together. So here are the pictures so far. Tomorrow they will look very much the same, but with another double digit worth of inches on the ground. Notice the back yard will you... right now that fence is completely buried in the snow.

A Dusting? 5 Inches? It's All the Same.

One of the things you quickly learn when you move to a mid-Atlantic state is that the weathermen have NO IDEA what they are talking about.

Ok – I will cut them a little bit of slack because the mountains and ocean and crazy south to north currents tend to play a little bit of havoc, but it is still a good general rule to watch the weather and then expect the exact opposite of what they say.

Saturday was a great example of this. The prediction was for Virginia to get slammed with snow. The Baltimore area would maybe see a light dusting, if anything at all.

Does this look like a light dusting to you?


The roads were horribly slick, because the city officials apparently DO listen to the weathermen and were not at all prepared with salt trucks, not to mention plows.


But, Gracie did get her first real chance to test out her new boots along with a head to toe lavender snow ensemble. She was hesitant at first, declaring the snow as 'yucky' and wanting it moved so she could walk, but she quickly discovered the joy in tromping in snow up to your knees.

Snow Day

I hate the weather in the Mid-Atlantic. The weather casters just never know what's going to happen. Last night they were predicting "somewhere between 2-12 inches of snow!"

I'm sorry, there is a huge difference between 2 and 12 inches of snow.

I guess you really can't cast blame them though. There is a mountain range and other crazy assorted geographical formations to contend with that we didn't have to account for in the Mid-West. In Chicago we only have the Lake Effect. Which just always means more snow.

Here? Not so much. Panic ensues all the time over the possibility of 'The Big One,' much like the excitement over Nascar crashes. There are school cancellations constantly, just on suspicion of snow. More often than not, not a single flake sticks to the ground.

Last night it did. This morning it has.

Grace got her first official Snow Day. The first time we've donned the snow pants with coordinating booties. (Which caused my mom scoff at the fact that Grace didn't actually own any proper snow boots.) The first time gloves and hat were REQUIRED. The first time we've gotten to experience the parent's side of stuffing a squirming child into 5 layers.

We ventured outdoors and quickly realized that it probably is indeed hard to walk in snow that comes up to your knees combined with slippery polyester boots on your feet. (Read, Grace tried to take a step and face planted in the snow. She was mad. She was ready to go back inside.)

Let's just get the sled out!!! We can pull her!!! Oh, wait. We don't own one. (See 'proper snow boots' above.)

Our solution? Wagon! It's the best of both worlds. Grace could still go fast, but Matt had much more control and she was semi-secured.


The wagon redeemed her opinion of this winter wonderland and caused Grace to spend much of the day looking out the door saying. 'S.No. S.No. Hi S.No. S.No'