Winter Woes: Snowpacalypse Cometh

Stormzilla buries Prince William County under more than a foot of snow—felling trees, knocking out power and freezing all modes of transportation.

--- www2.insidenova.com

It's almost 5 p.m. and the snow that began around 12 p.m. yesterday is still coming.  At times it is beautiful - with delicate flakes wafting down from the sky in pretty swirls of powdery delight.  At other times, the winds make the temperature drop and the snow pelts the ground  (and those unfortunate enough to need to plow down the layers accumulating in the driveways to a manageable level) with a ferociousness that is downright painful. 

My shovel met its demise this morning as Marq tried to free his car from the nearly two feet of snow that had gathered overnight.  

 

That was at 10 a.m.  

Ya was out briefly, mostly because Mommy wanted to go outside.

Chi has refused to leave the house until the snow ceases.

I went out while Ya and Marq napped and pushed a bit of snow off the doorstep and the walkway.  Suddenly our usually reticent neighborhood has people outside and talking.  It's a nice change, as we exchanged superficial information about our lives and asked questions about comings and goings we've (secretly) watched from our windows. 

Just a little while ago, about 10 of my neighbors - all with functional shovels - formed a gang of sorts and went from house to house shoveling the new snowfall from around cars.  They even cleared our street so that at least one car could try to get through to the main road (which hasn't seen a plow since about 4:30 a.m.).  I felt pretty bad watching the efforts from my window, but not bad enough to attempt assistance with my pathetic tool formerly masquerading as a shovel.

 

And suddenly the tremendous curiosity about the total height of our snowfall (and the discovery of my obscured ruler) got me interested in venturing outside.  How could I make an appearance, though, when I'd not shown my face during the shovel fest?

I went out anyway.  I thanked the neighbor who said he dug out our car.  I spoke to a teacher-turned-administrator who moved from the same condo building to our townhouse row when we did.  And I snapped a few pictures before Ya demonstrated his new ability to open our front door by flinging it open and announcing his presence with a wail and cryfest.  I quickly tried to get a measurement, but my little ruler disappeared in the depths of snow (as did most of my arm), and so I couldn't get a good reading.

And now we're all stuck inside for the night... waiting out the slow passage of this blizzard of 2010 while wondering if Tuesday's call for 6 more inches on top of whatever is on the ground is really coming.

 

Make it stop!