No work today, my company shut down for the day because of the cold and icy roads. My car is rear-wheel drive, and I don’t have chains, studded tires, or even snow tires so I’m not going anywhere. All the schools for 11 counties around are closed, and many businesses. Now those of you who live in places where this weather is the norm are probably snickering, thinking we’re a bunch of wusses to shut down for this. Ok, I can accept that. We joke about Portland’s one snow plow, but it’s not far from the truth. They don’t sand the roads here, they just spray gravel onto it which does nothing to de-ice, and as soon as it melts a little, then refreezes we start at square one again. Right now it’s about 14 degrees in my backyard, not counting windchill.
Anyway for comparison’s sake, here are a couple shots of what my street looks like today:
5 responses so far ↓
gypsyscarlett // December 15, 2008 at 11:52 am |
Hey Astro Sis,
Yes. Hailing from New England…I am laughing.
(good naturedly, of course)
Hope you enjoyed your day off from work.
Digital Dame // December 15, 2008 at 12:07 pm |
Hah! I’m an old New England girl myself. It still amazes me how unprepared they are out here, even though they get socked with at least one storm like this every single year. They’re talking more snow on Wednesday, we could be shut down for a week! At least many of us can work from home these days, if we can’t make it to the office.
gypsyscarlett // December 16, 2008 at 2:55 am |
So- my Astro Sis also comes from the land of Sox, clam chowder, adorable accents, and freaky weather.
Why am I not surprised?
maryjblog // December 16, 2008 at 11:44 am |
It’s so pretty before the snow gets dirty, isn’t it? As I write this it’s snowing here in NJ – sticking quite a bit, but it’s big wet flakes and we’re expecting temps in the 40’s tomorrow so I don’t think it’ll amount to much.
Hey, how did Write a Novel Month go? Did you finish a couple of chapters?
Digital Dame // December 16, 2008 at 1:30 pm |
The problem with the snow here is it generally turns to ice. It’s solid ice on the roads for about 4 blocks around my house. Very scary to drive on. We’re expecting more snow tomorrow, could be 6″, and then again on Sunday! This is very odd for this area. And they don’t sand or salt the roads, the damn gravel just blows off and doesn’t do much to give traction. I made it to work today but the roads are still pretty bad.
NaNoWriMo went pretty well for a first attempt at it. I got real close to 27,000 words, which is slightly over halfway to the target of 50K. I got off-track and never regained momentum after a couple days of not writing. Oh well, I’ll probably try it again next year, it was actually pretty fun!