The whole ordeal started out with days of warnings. It's coming....IT's Coming!.....IT'S COMING! Get ready...IT'S COMING!!! I don't know of 5 people that believed it. Wow, we were ALL wrong. Life went on as normal, most of us with our heads in the sand. While the meteorologists were shouting we took a road trip toward Texas and picked up Mollie and Gracie for a weekend visit with BeBe and Papa. We'd return them to their mommy in a few days.
WELL, IT sure enough got here.
The first blow was 14 inches of snow in one day.....the town shut down! Schools closed, highways closed, and the cars and trucks that did attempt to navigate the roads ended up in the ditches. Fire trucks, police cars and ambulances were themselves among the dented and upturned. We sighed with relief because at least the power stayed on and we were warm and well lit! Neighbors checked on neighbors, shared food, shovels and strong backs.
After a couple of days of peering out the window and watching the wind whip the beautiful white powder into all sorts of flowing drifts, we ventured out the front door. It was SO cold. Mollie and Gracie bundled up and attempted to walk through the waist high magic. It was impossible for their little legs to self-plow.
The recipe was all wrong for a snowman. It was too dry, couldn't even form a snowball to get started. Our outdoor adventure lasted all of 3 1/2 minutes.
The next warning came. There would be a "dusting" of snow, nothing to be concerned about. The weathermen pulled their heads out of the drifts when 4 more inches were added to the pile. More closings, more scooping, more layers, more wet boots, more games and little girl tea parties in the living room.
Having two little girls in the house was the saving element of this whole ordeal. We pulled out all the stops, all the old games and all the new ones. I didn't realize how big this house actually was until we spent time playing hide and seek. It was a small riot with squeals of delight each time Papa was found. Gracie won the Wii bowling tournament, but Mollie was the "chickenfoot" champ. We made cookies and ate them, poured bubbles in the tub and covered little bodies with them. We relived the Kentucky derby again and again on two toy horses "racing" around the kitchen. The magic tent was put up and served as a stable. We played the piano and the music boxes. We learned the words to "Deep in the Heart of Texas." We read umpteen "Berenstein Bear" books and followed those with the cartoon version on the TV.
A "roads are now passable" window of opportunity arrived on Sat. and Papa drove the girls back to their parents. They'd been with us a week and their mommy and daddy wanted them back. We'd been given a very unexpected but very fun "BeBe Camp in Winter." The house became way too quiet, way too fast, and I returned to my actual age, no longer pretending to be 4.
Next warning came. Sunday night another front was going to move through.
This time we would be ready. Honeybums went to the nearby Walmart and there was not 1 loaf of bread, carton of milk, or an egg to be found. EVERYONE was getting ready for FRENCH TOAST. That seems to be the menu for snowbound folks.
IT CAME AGAIN. 6 more inches of snow at our house (25 inches at the town of Jay, northeast of us.)
The driveway, sidewalks and my dryer vent are snow packed again. The area schools have been closed for two weeks. Our neighborhood still has not seen a snowplow.
(As of today, I've been in the house for 12 days, minus one morning when I crawled to the dr. for a shot in the behinny, a breathing treatment and $300.00 for medication. Honeybuns brought a bug into the house he'd picked up on a business trip a couple of days before the blizzard hit.That's another story!)
A heat wave is coming, should be here by tomorrow. 70 degrees is forecasted for Monday. We will have jumped from -12 to 70 in a week's time. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for this horrendous amount of white to melt. I'm expecting a flood!
Once in every 100 years, so we'll probably not be around to witness this again.
BUT.....IF/WHEN the weatherman starts shouting "IT'S COMING," I'll make sure there are some grandchildren in the house. They are much more valuable in combating Cabin Fever than bread, milk, and eggs. Who needs French Toast when you've got giggles?
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