Our part of New York was hit with a GINORMOUS storm this week. I've never seen this much nonstop snowfall in my life. It's still going. The snowflakes are like magic though--thick, heavy, wet. They don't seem real, yet here they are falling from the sky by the millions per square inch. The landscape is draped in white as far as the eye can see.
It's early Friday morning and I haven't stepped foot in a car since noon on Tuesday. Doesn't look like today is a go either. If it wasn't for our daily 'nature hikes' around the village the wee ones and I would most certainly suffer from 1st degree cabin fever.
That said, we are relishing the school closings, the slow mornings, the soup + sandwiches, the afternoon puzzle-a-thons {today we did 8}, the imaginary tales, the childish wanderings, the reading and cozying and warming by the fire. Bleu had a rough Tuesday and Wednesday due to some hardcore teething, a runny nose and the fact that she's of a certain age and temperament. But it's all good. We all survived.
Today {meaning Thursday, since I haven't gone to bed yet} I saved our trees and vines from collapsing by knocking snow off branches with a broom stick. The kids watched from the living room window and laughed HYSTERICALLY while I got drenched. There was a lot of "Again, Mommy, again!!" I even tripped in the snow a few times--on purpose--for their amusement. Afterwards I looked like I'd just jumped into the Niagara River fully clothed.
It took me almost an hour to get Bleu down for nap {that's a whole other post}, but as soon as I did Buby and I slipped our boots back on headed out to shovel. Living in a village you need to shovel. Or in his case, play pretend rocket ship on big snow mound. So cute.
Bleu woke up. We fast threw her in a snowsuit, took medicine for my back, and returned to the great outdoors. Our place is all sidewalks and patios and long pathways, and I shoveled my heart out only to have it all covered up within an hour. After dinnertime and baths and two bedtimes I headed back out AGAIN to shovel around 10 p.m. This time branches were down and trees tipping and pathways blocked. It truly is a blizzard here.
The worst part of being stuck at home during a multi-day storm is that we're out of everything good and necessary to eat. Grocery shopping was on the agenda for late Friday or Saturday morning after T-ball. As of this afternoon we are completely out of bottled water and milk and Bleu's beloved cheese. The village water has been coming out dark brown since Tuesday {I have no idea why}, and there's no way we're drinking that. Plus, we lost power six times already tonight. So far. I'm just waiting for it to go out for good.
Update #1: It's 2:30 a.m. now, there is a tree against the house, and I'm still waiting for My Sweets to get home from work. He's stranded on a train about an hour from home {I think}, a train he left work at 7:20 p.m. to catch. There were two initial delays on his line, one being a train in front of his that went off track. His train stopped between stations for over an hour waiting for word that they would continue after repairs to the track. They did continue.
Then a tree fell on the tracks and halted his train indefinitely in the worst possible spot. {This is just like a Thomas the Train story, and Buby would freak if he was up.} To make matters worse, Tom's Blackberry battery died and we lost contact about three hours ago. There is a blizzard outside. I wish I could just go rescue him from wherever he is... it's awful.
I pray to God he is safe and warm and pulls in the driveway any minute. Talk about a long day for him. You know he wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to go to work, and I still have to show him a tree emergency or two. Every couple of minutes our one huge tree slams against the side of the house. I'm thinking something bad will happen soon. Today's part of the storm has probably claimed a good deal of our beautiful landscape, and that's going to make My Sweets sad. Very sad.
I really should get back out there and shovel some more, but at this point it's a losing battle. We'll deal with it in the morning, in a few hours.
Update #2: We lost power for good around 2:40 a.m. Tom arrived home this morning around 3:30 a.m. Our entire area is out {grocery stores, gas stations, etc.}, and people are saying it'll be two to three days before power is restored. We're freezing, have no food or drink and no cell batteries or Internet service, so we packed up the kiddies and headed to the only place anywhere with power. We're at Panera with free WI-FI and charging up our phones, but it looks like everyone else here has the same idea. We've been waiting for our soup for over an hour. :( Hope you're all warm and cozy. We'll check in when possible.
