The last few weeks have been rather trying, to say the least. It all started the Thursday before last, when Cat and I spent the evening dealing with the uncertainty of the snow forecast for the next day. The weather forecast called for snow starting sometime in the late morning or early afternoon, but we weren't sure how bad it would be, so I opted to stay home from work. Cat worked for a half day, returning home in time to beat the nightmare commute that always occurs during snow in this area. By 6 pm that night, the snow was falling in earnest, with plenty more expected throughout the night and well into the next day. We went to bed with snow continuing to fall and awoke to a thick layer of snow covering everything in sight. Our patio furniture had at least ten inches piled on top of it and the trees in the neighborhood were heavy with snow. By lunchtime, we watched from the comfort of the dining room as our neighbors made foolish attempts to dig out their cars with the snow still coming down. Instead, we opted to wait until the snow's end to begin working on the cars.
Later that evening, I ventured outside to clear a path down the sidewalk and begin clearing the snow off of our cars. We also bundled Nathan up in several layers of fleece and some improvised gloves to give him a chance to take in the snowy scene. With the lack of traffic in the neighborhood, Nathan was able to run laps up and down the parking lot while the rest of us shoveled snow. The scene outside was hard to believe. In addition to the typical mountain of snow that accumulates at the end of our parking lot after a heavy snow, the break in the median outside our parking lot had been completely blocked by an eight foot mountain of snow deposited there by the snowplows when they ran out of room in the parking lot. After the last big snow in December, we had speculated that the snow piles left behind would still be around in March or April. However, warm weather and rain almost eliminated them by the time this most recent snow started. These new piles, however, could stick around long enough to prove suitable for extinguishing fireworks on July 4th.
The next day, the sun came out and started to melt some of the snow, drying out our parking lot in places. We managed to dig out both cars, but opted to stay home since the roads were still quite sketchy. Before the start of the Super Bowl (go Saints!), I managed to walk down to Hard Times to pick up some wings and chicken fingers. The walk to Hard Times gave me a better idea of what a mess the city was in. While our street, Azalea, was in relatively good shape, with plenty of pavement visible, Nelson, the next street down which was managed by the city, was still in bad shape. Almost no pavement was visible; instead, cars drove on a dangerous mix of slush and packed snow. To make matters worse, our condo association had not cleared the sidewalks, in spite of a county regulation requiring them to be cleared within 24 hours of the end of snowfall. Therefore, not only was the walk to and from Hard Times quite strenuous--much like walking in sand--it was rather dangerous, as walking in the road was the only option. On the walk back, I had to trudge into the knee-deep snow to step aside in order to allow cars to pass. The grilled chili lime wings, however, we worth every step. If only I'd had beer.
Monday the 8th was originally scheduled to be Nathan's first day in daycare at Cynthia's house, an in-home day care provider in Falls Church recommended by a coworker of mine. Instead, with the Maryland roads still in bad shape and Fairfax county's roads undoubtedly in worse shape, we took a snow day. (When I visited Cynthia's house in December after the last snow, the roads in her neighborhood were still a disaster, with several inches of hard-packed snow covering much of the pavement. Fairfax county is notoriously bad at clearing snow from its roads.) With yet more snow forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, we decided to brave the roads on foot (and via stroller) and venture to the grocery store in King Farm a few miles away. Thankfully, the maw of most snow blowers is exactly as wide as the wheelbase on Nathan's jogging strollers, so we were able to carve a precise path down the sidewalks. Though the bright sun that day made for some pretty views of the snow-covered landscape, it did not make the walking any easier. Eventually, though, we made it to King Farm, stopping for lunch at Quizno's and coffee at Mayorga before proceeding to the grocery store. Once there, we were able to replenish our milk supply and stock up on some other necessities, but had to pass on eggs, since the entire egg section had been cleaned out. Then it was time to brave the variably cleared sidewalks for the walk back home.
By Tuesday, we were quite sick of the snow and were very displeased to hear the reports of another massive snow--including blizzard conditions--headed our way. Already at home for two days (three days for me), we were all suffering from cabin fever and the following days would not help. On Wednesday morning, visibility plunged during the snowfall, with gusts of wind so strong that we could not even see the cars in the parking lot. This time, I decided to try the method of snow removal used by our neighbors from Alaska; instead of waiting until the end of the snowfall, I made several trips outside during the snow to brush the snow off the cars and shovel the surfaces around the cars. This helped somewhat, since the snow was not as hard packed and heavy as the first time. It was not, however, pleasant clearing snow in blizzard conditions, especially when the wind repeatedly knocked large chunks of snow from the branches above. After each of the snows, though, we were afforded several good opportunities to chat with our neighbors and grumble about the weather as we all worked to clear out the parking lot. The endless days of snow shoveling also made for a wonderful workout; we went to bed sore and slept soundly after each day during and after the snows.
Now, after surpassing the seasonal snowfall record set in 1899 with an official total of over 55 inches, we are to the recovery stage. Many of the roads are still a mess--including some of the roads in Cynthia's neighborhood--but Nathan is now attending day care during the day and we are going to work. Since the snow piles have exceeded the capacity of the snow plows to manage, front end loaders can be seen throughout the city, piling snow into gigantic mounds on the side of the road or loading it into trucks to be dumped elsewhere. An entire parking lot in downtown DC has allegedly been turned into a snow dump and the median in our neighborhood has been filled with even more giant snow mountains, some almost ten feet high. It is also much more difficult to run our usual errands, since many of the areas we frequent suffer from disappearing lanes, reduced visibility around snow piles, and messy slushy conditions overall. A little bit of snow melts each day, since the temperatures have been rising about freezing, but the ice constantly reappears overnight. And it is still jarring to go outside after a day of work to see the landscape covered with snow piles. When, oh when, will spring arrive?
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