Baby's first snow day

We finally had our first snow accumulation today--maybe 3 inches or so. I (of course) had to take pictures of the great outdoors


This is our hawthorn tree we planted in spring 2009. I love this tree. It looks neat every season. The red berries against the white snow were just beautiful.


And our evergreens fit right in with the decor ;)



::Dr L makes list to include trimming back the grasses::

So of course this was a perfect opportunity to suit S up and get her out in the snow for the first time. There is zero wind, it's pretty warm (all things considered--it's in the low 30s), and she had a snow suit that I got for $12 at a consignment sale.


"I don't get all this gear but the hood looks interesting"



"Crawling in this getup? You have to be kidding"

I bundled us both up and plopped her in the middle of the back yard.



"OK, what now?"


"Hmmm, what's this?"



"I'm much more content sitting on Mommy's lap and watching the neighbors"



"Seriously, how many shots in the snow do you want?"

Basically she was nonplussed. S tends to "shut down" in the cold, where she just sits there and doesn't say much. She's like that on more brisk mornings when we've gone for a walk. I think she was just taking in the newness of it all. It should be more entertaining when she can run around in the white stuff.

We survived the snowicane

So when we got home from our unexpected hotel stay, we had to deal with this:



And note how heavy the snow was on the trees:



And all of the forecasters were predicting 12-24" of snow on Thursday, followed by snow and wind on Friday. So much wind, they started calling it a snowicane. And the radar made it look just like a hurricane--a nice circular storm making its way up the east coast. Gee, we couldn't wait. Both of our companies started warning us that work was going to most likely happen remotely.

And that's exactly what happened. It snowed all day Thursday. And it snowed, with wind gusts up to 50mph, all day on Friday. It finally started to calm down Friday afternoon.



In the middle of all of this, I was sick. So I guess it was good that I couldn't make it in to work. I'd hate to be coughy and congested on a snow-covered highway, when I could do that in my living room. J didn't feel that great either. We were quite the pair.

This morning we puttered around the house, getting ready to finally go into work after almost a week. Of course, I saw this sight late this morning:

You have GOT to be kidding me.

No snowpocalypse for us

Since Wednesday or so, the TV stations have been all over the latest approaching snow event. Massive snow down DC way, maybe reaching up here, to the tune of 1-3". Or 2-4". Depending on whether you believed the weather girl or the meteorologist.

J and I hit the grocery store on Friday to beat the rush, and planned to hunker down today and ride out the storm. For what it's worth, the grocery store was a ghost town on Thursday. But the parking lot was packed on Friday when I drove by on my way home.

We slept in, and I woke up about 9-ish to check out the weather.

We have nothing. Not a flake. The driveway is black as night, the roads are clear. There are low clouds, but that's pretty much how it's going to stay today.

J got up a little later and told me there were 16" outside. Little did he know I'd already taken and peek and knew how nice it was out there.

We're still staying homebound, because there are some things we need to do around the house, and it's cold, and it's more entertaining to put on The Weather Channel and watch the Snowpocalypse going on down in DC. My Baltimore friends are surely snowbound for the whole weekend. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed they all have power.

Happy February!

Snow day

Yes, we were part of the seeming majority of the country that got snow today. We knew it was coming for days--my boss even showed up in my office yesterday morning and said, "Stay home." I had a conference call this afternoon, and he wanted me near a phone, not on the road fighting ice, sleet, snow, and other drivers. Hey, what can I say? He had a point.

The weather folks were predicting the snow to start between 6 and 9 am. They were only off by a half hour--the flurries first came in our area around 9:30. They didn't stay flurries for long.

For whatever reason, I always use the evergreen in our yard as a snow indicator. This was late morning.

And a nice video of the snowfall. It was SO quiet...

This was about 2pm, before the plows had arrived.

I love these shots. I accidentally left the flash on, so it caught the snow falling. GIANT flakes!

By noon J was home as well. Hobbes had been chomping at the bit to at least look outside. Must be the Siberian in him. We decided to give him a shot at the great outdoors.

Still thinking about whether this snow thing is a good idea.

Scurrying back into the house after eating some greens and prancing in the snow.

An action shot with the snow on his head.

It was a good day :)

The snow had ended, and J even hit the driveway with the snowblower. All is well.