No day off for Emjay…

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Well….   did I get a "holiday"  today?   No!….    while Federal Government employees and every school kid in the area had a day of fun I trudged to work.   I navigated the little trenches 3 of my neighbours had dug before coming to a dead-end where residents of 3 houses maybe 4 have not stuck a spade into the snow.  Dead-end ahead: 

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No path ahead:

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With snow above my knees I waded out into our street – it has still not been plowed but the snow has been packed down by 4-WD vehicles so it's not too bad to navigate on foot before turning onto Georgia Avenue - a major road and also a snow emergency route.  It was slushy and slippery but I walked along it anyway because you'd have to be 7 feet tall to walk through the snow on the footpaths.   Taking to the main road – my metro station is opposite that fancy new apartment block on the left: 

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It took 2 hours to ride the metro to work today because service is severely limited.  The 40 minutes I had to wait at the first station gave me time to ponder many things including wondering how long one would have to sit on the stone/cement seats before they warm up: conclusion: if they are still frigid after 40 minutes they are not going to warm up!   

Recently one of my Aussie vox neighbours asked where all the snow goes when they grade the roads……  here is the answer GOF -  giant hills along the side of the road.  This is Arlington, VA where I work: 

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  Of course, most often, this cuts off access for pedestrians to the footpath:

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 There's a lot of snow in the park – no dogs out frolicking today:

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Oh – and just incase someone in  Washington hasn't had enough snow they needn't despair – there is more forecast for tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!     

 

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Digging out begins…

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Being at home by oneself started to get a little boring by mid-afternoon – even with the wine and chocolates.   I made a first pass effort on the shovelling – just enough to let me see the steps so I could get safely out to the street.  There was just over 23 inches of snow in our front yard.  

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  I don't know how much was down in the back courtyard -  I'm not going down these steps until the snow melts.  The alleys are not plowed or treated so I won't have to take the rubbish out for pick up this week. 

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There is a lot of snow on top of the rubbish bin anyway: 

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I walked up our street:

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I thought how nice it was not to have a car to dig out!  I watched one guy across the street take about 3 hours to liberate his car!  It didn't look a lot of fun.

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This is Georgia Ave -  a snow emergency route.   I've never seen it so empty.

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This is New Hampshire Ave –   also a snow emergency route. These are both major roads and generally packed with traffic.

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I tried to stay out of the way of emergency and working vehicles -  even though they had to share the road with me:

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I trudged a few blocks – everything was so pretty: 

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I came across these guys looking for a cell phone in the snow.  There was a guy sitting in a car ringing the number and these two guys were digging towards the sound.  They had not found it as I walked off.

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  Tomorrow I will have a better go at my front path and steps and also tackle the footpath. The sun is going to be out tomorrow so that should help.

 

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Still here; still snowing…

Still here; still have power, internet and television;  still snowing.  They forecast it will continue to snow throughout the day with another 7-9 inches on top of what we've woken to this morning. 

Taken Friday night 11pm – from my front door barely stepping outside: 

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Chairs on our deck Friday 11pm: 

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The same chairs at 7am this morning:

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Taken from the bedroom window around 7am this morning:   There is a set of  4 steps in there somewhere – you can just see the handrails against the snow: 

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The snow is a heavy wet type which sticks to wires   this is causing power outages around the area:   Photos taken around 7.30am while standing barely outside on the bottom deck – neighbours either side of me:

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My favourite light post across the alley – not so pretty without its glow:

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This is the snow piled against my front storm door – which opens outwards!  Photo taken 8.15am.   I just tried to open it – it moves 6 inches.  Even naked I could not squeeze through a 6 inch opening!! :

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Snow hysteria

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Yesterday the forecast snow accumulations for the coming storm kept increasing and increasing.  Each new alert sounded more alarming. We are going to be breaking records, crippled, and paralysed.  People will probably die.

And a huge, huge number of people think they are going to starve!!       Shops overcrowded so badly that some had to close and other places made people shop in batches.  There were lines 10-deep at 2am this morning in one 24-hour supermarket.   Serious question:  why do people race out to buy toilet paper?  Do people wait until the last roll or an empty cylinder before adding it to a shopping list?     Even if I was "stranded in place"  for a week with a gastro illness I would have enough toilet paper.

Area airports have people queued up out of the building and into the street – people trying to escape before a flake falls.  Afternoon flights inbound have been cancelled.  The metro has announced that they will close down outside stations when snow reaches 8" and schedules for the underground lines will be modified to a train every 30 minutes.

We've had a total of 27" so far this winter when our average is about 15" .  The storm approaching now and causing all this hysteria could bring 18-24" .

I got home from work yesterday to find that I had nil Comcast service;  no phone; no internet; no telly.  Oh no!  A blizzard's coming and I won't have any entertainment!    I do have books to read but I really hope the internet is fixed.  I guess if they don't get it fixed by late morning it won't be as no service guy is going to go up in a cherry picker in a blizzard!  

Well, my office never closes so here I am!!   I did buy some chocolates, ok a lot of chocolates,  at a corner store on my way in this morning  – that way I won't starve if I'm stuck in the metro going home (LOL).  

Here are some photos from the other day. This was a 5" storm -  I am actually looking forward to the beauty of  2 feet of snow and although I'm not looking forward to the shovelling, I imagine it will eat up all the calories I have lying in wait for me in the chocolates I bought.  

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