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It started with Snowmaggedon the weekend before Christmas. It continued last weekend with the Snowpocalypse, and culminated with the Snowverkill yesterday. Unless you're living in a complete media vacuum, you've probably heard that Washington, DC has been buried in more snow than ever recorded for an entire winter season. I grew up with snow of this magnitude...the Great Lakes can generate snowfalls of truly epic proportions. But the regions around the Great Lakes also have the equipment and skills to cope with such snow. Here in the South, they struggle to plow residential streets with pickup trucks, and I'd be surprised if any of the plow operators has ever even heard of a wing plow.
The federal government closed early on Friday, and has yet to officially reopen. After spending the bulk of four days shoveling snow (I actually was able to take a break on Tuesday!), I decided to go to the Office today anyway. I have work that needs to be completed this week (though I'm now in a holding pattern, waiting for a response from an attorney in Seattle). Besides, it was nice to get out of the house for a while. I might come in again tomorrow, at least for a while, even if the government makes a full week of it.
The good news is that all the shoveling has been good for me. Yes, my arms, shoulders and back ache. But I've noticed that my pants have become increasingly loose around the waist. I pulled out the scale to confirm it...I've lost almost 15 pounds since I last weighed myself before we left for Steamboat Springs, CO! Now, if I can just manage to keep it off...
I've long told people that I miss having a "real" winter here in the DC area. I missed having real snow and real cold. I always thought that I'd really like to have a week or two of it every year, just to get my fix. Well, I've got my fix for this year. Unfortunately, the forecasts seem to indicate that we are going to continue in our current pattern for a while. In fact, I'm hearing that there may be more snow coming early next week. At some point, it will warm up, and the snow will melt. The question then will be how fast will the melt off be? If it warms up quickly, and especially if it rains at the same time, we may well have some serious flooding problems...
Meanwhile, the Winter Olympics begin tomorrow in Vancouver, and they don't have enough snow, and the temperatures are above freezing so they haven't been able to make any. I wonder if we could load up a train with some of our snow and ship it west...
The federal government closed early on Friday, and has yet to officially reopen. After spending the bulk of four days shoveling snow (I actually was able to take a break on Tuesday!), I decided to go to the Office today anyway. I have work that needs to be completed this week (though I'm now in a holding pattern, waiting for a response from an attorney in Seattle). Besides, it was nice to get out of the house for a while. I might come in again tomorrow, at least for a while, even if the government makes a full week of it.
The good news is that all the shoveling has been good for me. Yes, my arms, shoulders and back ache. But I've noticed that my pants have become increasingly loose around the waist. I pulled out the scale to confirm it...I've lost almost 15 pounds since I last weighed myself before we left for Steamboat Springs, CO! Now, if I can just manage to keep it off...
I've long told people that I miss having a "real" winter here in the DC area. I missed having real snow and real cold. I always thought that I'd really like to have a week or two of it every year, just to get my fix. Well, I've got my fix for this year. Unfortunately, the forecasts seem to indicate that we are going to continue in our current pattern for a while. In fact, I'm hearing that there may be more snow coming early next week. At some point, it will warm up, and the snow will melt. The question then will be how fast will the melt off be? If it warms up quickly, and especially if it rains at the same time, we may well have some serious flooding problems...
Meanwhile, the Winter Olympics begin tomorrow in Vancouver, and they don't have enough snow, and the temperatures are above freezing so they haven't been able to make any. I wonder if we could load up a train with some of our snow and ship it west...
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