Archives for December 2009

Last week-end The Weather Channel forecast a blizzard and posted a winter storm warning for my area. Now if that isn’t a sign that winter has officially arrived, I don’t know what is. I decided to spend the day at the office and later head out to the grocery store. Never go to the grocery store when they’re calling for a blizzard unless you’re prepared to take a few elbows or become engaged in a fight over a shopping cart, parking space or the last gallon of milk or pack of Charmin. That’s just how it goes. I have concluded that I love drama. Why else would I have waited until the eve of the blizzard to enter into the danger zone. I must admit that it was uneventful, I was able to throw the few items that I needed into the cart and slipped out of the parking lot unnoticed by the idiots arguing a few vehicles down. Rather than head home, I decided to fill the car up and head to Michael’s. I would occupy my time during the blizzard blog hopping and knitting after preparing a crock pot of potatoes and pork chops. I had made homemade vegetable soup earlier and placed a few containers in the freezer. I pulled a container of soup to defrost. There’s nothing better than homemade soup on a cold, snowy day.

Their forecast was correct, snow fall started at approximately 10:00 pm. The local weather station called for approximately 2.5 feet of the white stuff. Part of me dreaded the event, but another part of me was excited. Our last blizzard was in 2003. We had approximately 3 feet dumped on us at that time. I made sure the shovel and rock salt was on the front porch and said let the show begin. I took the picture shown above at mid-night. My reindeer and bushes are now covered.

The storm ended after dumping 2 feet of snow. It was a beautiful sight. This is a picture of my storage buildings and a barn that sits behind them the next day. I wish my grandson was here to enjoy making snow angels and building Frosty. I’m hoping we will have a little left when he arrives December 28 for a week.

This is a picture of one of my decks the next morning. I’m so glad my decks and table are strong.

This is a picture of some of the evergreens along my back yard. They were beautiful. I enjoyed the event, but I’ve had enough snow to last for the next 10 years. One thing that I have noticed is that children don’t enjoy the blizzards the way I used to when I was growing up, at least in my neighborhood. When I was growing up, we spent the day sled riding and making snowmen. I remember going through old cloths trying to find the perfect hat and scarf and looking for branches for our snowman’s arms. We also stole mom’s carrots for his nose. We had a coal stove in the kitchen, so our snowman truly had coal black eyes. We used a licorice stick for his mouth. I remember my father giving us sandpaper to sharpen the runners on our Lightning Guiders, sleds, so they would move faster. We stayed outside until we were damn near frozen. When our feet could no longer move, we thawed by the stove and sipped hot chocolate. Oh they were the good ole days. Mom spent hours making homemade vegetable soup too, which we devoured in minutes.

I did not see one child build a snow man or go sled riding in the neighborhood this past week-end. I would bet my paycheck they’re on the computer or playing some computer game. Listen up children, get off the computer and put your video games away. You’re missing out on some great memories.

How did you spend your days during snow storms?  How do your children spend their days when it snows?  Leave us a comment.