Snowmaggedon!

Hi everyone,

Writing this blog today and it's bloody early n the day of course because I think my fingers are the only muscle group not aching.  Yes, we had a little frozen precipitation and we handled it just a fraction better than the UK does, which means it was poor at best.  Yes I know it's a "once in a lifetime" storm -a bit like 2010 was so I'm assuming they mean once every kid's lifetime -, and the sheer volume of snow makes it incredibly hard to simply push it out of the way, after all it's got to go somewhere but here's my thoughts.

The communication and co-ordination of the plows (editors note - Yank spelling, for UK readers I of course mean plough) seems massively lacking, I'm not sure where the responsibility of Loudoun County stops, and the Home-Owners Association (HOA) begins, but when you see a plow come down, do a partial sidestreet and a cul-de-sac  you kind of assume it's going to turn and plow your part... nope.  Never saw him again.  What I did see & hear was a gritter going up and down outside our house at 4am. Yes, his warning lights work well, as does his reversing alarm.  His traction less so, as he got stuck 20yds past us, leaving the rest of the street untouched.

Given the temp rose  yesterday and still nothing came through despite the street becoming slushy, I was able to dig down to the road and clear an easy walking strip so I could cart the snow from around the car across to a massive pile - which ended up higher than me and I'm not even finished yet.  It just seems more of a mess than normal and I wonder what lessons can be learned to prevent such a shambles next (lifetime!) I'm not even convinced the roads were treated at all, of course with 30+ inches of snow over them it's unlikely to have solved much, but maybe it would help the thaw.

Anyway, I'm not a weatherman so what the hell do I know? What I do know is the drifts around the cars were more aggro than expected and for me the hardest part was shoving the snow off the car roofs, and I'm tall enough to reach across.  When Paul gets round to clearing his car I'll see how he  manages!  So far he totals as much time "supervising" as shoveling and even that seems to have been too much for the poor old man!

For the kids obviously Hannah is much too small to understand or be out in it, but Ryan has covered himself pretty well and left many 'Boo Piles' on the deck and in the garden but realistically its probably too much for him to have loads of fun.   School is closed and I'm not sure who will crack first Mommy or the icicles hanging from the roof!  Jessica does not handle being stuck indoors with 2 demanding kids & me very well so there might be another epic meltdown before the weekend!

Stay tuned!
J,J,R &H