Snowy Sunday

[Rockrolex]

This is what I woke up to this morning.
The house across the street.


Our back yard.


Another back yard shot.


And one more.


We'll be lucky if our street gets plowed by tomorrow. Our cars are absolutely pitiful in more than one inch of snow so we are stuck here for the duration.

Thank god I've laid in a good supply of single malts.

[JJ Irani]

Picture postcard shots, Ed!! Very picturesque and beautiful. Well, as long as you are warm and cozy...that's all that matters!

[C.J.]

The scenery looks great, Ed We ended up with only a few inches up here but thats enough to keep our roads a mess for a couple of days.

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by C.J.

The scenery looks great, Ed We ended up with only a few inches up here but thats enough to keep our roads a mess for a couple of days.

You're lucky, Craig. I talked to my son who lives in Manhatten and he said they're getting hammered there. But then when you live in the city it's not much of a problem, until the melting starts.

[padi56]

Great pictures Ed but you can keep the snow over there, or better still just in the pictures.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

You're lucky, Craig. I talked to my son who lives in Manhatten and he said they're getting hammered there. But then when you live in the city it's not much of a problem, until the melting starts.

Sorry for asking, but haven't had much experience with snow. What exactly starts to happen when "the melting starts"?

[C.J.]

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

You're lucky, Craig. I talked to my son who lives in Manhatten and he said they're getting hammered there. But then when you live in the city it's not much of a problem, until the melting starts.

It looks like everyone around us got hit hard. Lucky for us the ocean keeps the temps up a little. We were all rain here until nearly 5am

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Sorry for asking, but haven't had much experience with snow. What exactly starts to happen when "the melting starts"?

In the city (I was talking about Manhatten but it applies to all cities), the nice white snow turns to dark, black dirty slush. You have to slog through wet mush. Your shoes and pants get wet and dirty. And when the cars and buses come by at speed, they splash ugly, messy slush on you as you stand on the corner waiting to cross the street.

It's not a pretty sight.

[JJ Irani]

Thanks for that explanation, Ed. UGH!!

[mailman]

Hey Ed, it only looks like there's maybe at best four inches tops on the ground there. What's the problem? That's not much.

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by mailman

Hey Ed, it only looks like there's maybe at best four inches tops on the ground there. What's the problem? That's not much.

Try 12", Paulie. Don't you watch the weather outside your provincial little neighborhood?

And remember, we're not used to the mountains of snow that you polar bears get. This is nominally the South, you know.

[mailman]

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

Try 12", Paulie. Don't you watch the weather outside your provincial little neighborhood?

And remember, we're not used to the mountains of snow that you polar bears get. This is nominally the South, you know.

You guys will be snowed in for a week. If you were here, I'd come and plow you out. But you're not so you're screwed

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by mailman

You guys will be snowed in for a week. If you were here, I'd come and plow you out. But you're not so you're screwed

Our street got plowed by mid-day and our driveway is being cleared right now. (Notice it's being said in the present tense while I'm typing this.) I'll be out of here and in to work at the usual time tomorrow morning (8:00 AM for you lazy b#st$rds who don't get to work till the day's half over).

[BruceS]

Nice pics Ed. I kept hearing about how much snow we got in the area, but I bet we only got 4 inches at my house! It was heavy snow though. Lots of trees and limbs down in the hood.

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by BruceS

Nice pics Ed. I kept hearing about how much snow we got in the area, but I bet we only got 4 inches at my house! It was heavy snow though. Lots of trees and limbs down in the hood.

I guess the northern and western burbs got more (which is usually the case), although Columbia got 20-21" and that's only about 10 mi. northeast of us. Our snow was more of the fluffy variety. Didn't see any snowball throwing going on outside.

After the driveway got cleared, I put down salt last night and by this AM when I went out to get the paper, the driveway was almost entirely clear. No ice glaze at all on it.

Pfffffffffffft.... we get that much every other night.

But I suppose if you aren't used to it, it can be crippling.

We actually had a great weekend for Winterlude, not a cloud in the sky either day this weekend past, and highs both days around -6C. Perfect!

BTW Ed, nice pix.

Funny, last friday we got home and found the city actually used my tax dollars wisely. As the snow falls here, the residential roads tend to get narrower and narrower. The city came by with a giant snow blower (mounted on one of those giant rock movers) and widened the street to it's normal width (it was down to almost a single lane). The bonus was, they didn't blow any snow on anyone's driveway, for a change!

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by Atomic

Pfffffffffffft.... we get that much every other night.

But I suppose if you aren't used to it, it can be crippling.

We actually had a great weekend for Winterlude, not a cloud in the sky either day this weekend past, and highs both days around -6C. Perfect!

BTW Ed, nice pix.

Funny, last friday we got home and found the city actually used my tax dollars wisely. As the snow falls here, the residential roads tend to get narrower and narrower. The city came by with a giant snow blower (mounted on one of those giant rock movers) and widened the street to it's normal width (it was down to almost a single lane). The bonus was, they didn't blow any snow on anyone's driveway, for a change!

I remember as a kid in New Rochelle (a New York suburb in Westchester County), we had a hugh snowfall (maybe 18" or so). I spent the entire morning clearing our two car driveway with a hand shovel. Of course the street had not been plowed yet, so I could only shovel up to the street line. Just as I had finished, a snow blower truck came by. I stood there in my clean driveway thinking, "Oh no, he's going to blow all this snow back onto the driveway and I'm going to have to do this all over again.". But he was a nice guy. He turned the chute to the far side of the driveway and blew the snow away from the cleared area. I clapped and thanked him profusely. Fifty years later and I still remember that act of kindness.

Well, the last 'big' dump we had, I think five men dropped dead of heart attacks shovelling out the mountain of snow deposited by city plows (note, not the snowfall itself, but the mountain. Unless you shovel that mountain right away, it freezes quickly and is hard as concrete).

I guess they're trying to minimize the death toll. Either way, it works for me. Normally they have a grader trundle down the street, and I guess the amount of snow moved to widen the street would have blocked people in for weeks, they redirect the chute.

Either way, I'm happy! But you're right... it's the small acts of kindness that people remember for years. When I used to drive to work, I'd frequently pay for the coffee of the person behind me in the drive-thru line, just for the hell of it. Small jestures pay big dividends.