Monday, December 11, 2017

Snow Day!

As El muy viejo Sargento de la Fuerza Aérea reported on Saturday a large winter storm was headed his way and he was looking forward to some snow.  Some folks are, as they say, "a day late and a dollar short."

For, you see, Texas had already experienced said storm.  Literally, the day before.

Well, juvat, how was it?

Evidently, as reported here from a position close to the coast and close to Corpus Christi, it was comparatively bad.  Reports from some of Mrs Juvat's customers from the Houston area reported nearly an inch.  Austin ISD cancelled school. 

Here in my locale?

Horrible!  (Pronounced Haw' ripple)

There was panic in the streets (Well the local supermarket parking lot anyhow.

Evidently mass starvation was imminent.

And, by the time I got home, even the horses were panicked.



OK, maybe not panicked per se.  But...Hungry.



By the time I got to the barn, the snow drifts were starting to form.




The snow had gotten so deep, it felled some trees.  (with the help of a chain saw, last summer)

The horses did come running, but they do that anytime I approach the barn.  That chore completed, I gathered some firewood, started dinner (chicken, barley and pea soup, thanks for asking), started a fire, in the fireplace of course, and awaited the return of Mrs Juvat from her day of mercantile activities.

That night we received word via the Bat Phone that the following day school would be delayed by two hours due to blizzard like conditions and "an abundance of caution".  What does that mean anyway?

So...I poured myself an additional libation and rewatched "White Christmas", because it IS the Christmas Season and apparently tomorrow would be white.  Made sense to me at the time.

Dawn broke, (no, I couldn't sleep an additional two hours, bladders wait for no man), and I peeked out the window.  To what did my wondering eyes appear?

Well, there was a nice 6 point deer, but that's not important now.


The Humanity! *

What to do?  Will I be able to make it in to work?  

Taking my life in my hands, I decide to brave it and head to work at my regular time.  Placing my faith in the creator and knowing that nobody else would be there for two hours, thus I could work uninterrupted, I walked out the door.

Where I promptly needed my highly tuned gyroscope, to keep my head and feet in their proper orientation vis a vis the ground.  You may notice a slightly different colored patch in the lower right of the above photo.  

Physics, (my favorite science) would dictate that a liquid such as rain, or melting snow, when chilled below, say 32o F, becomes a solid known as Ice.  But, as I say, I avoided impact with the ground and proceeded on my way.


Forewarned to be on the look out for glassy looking spots, I passed our relatively well stocked wood pile, pictured above just to document that there was actually some accumulation of snow that fell.  It just didn't survive long on the ground, warm as it was.

Drove off towards the highway, keeping an eye out for suicidal deer (one of whom terminated Mrs Juvat's vehicle last month,  USAA finally called it quits and totaled it. Visiting the Car Dealer on Tuesday, more to follow)

As I passed through a particularly scenic and peaceful part of the journey, I saw this little piece of Winter Wonderland.

So stopped the car (of course) and took a snap.

The rest of the journey in was wondrous.  I saw no cars, in either direction.  Nirvana achieved!

That evening as I retraced the route (with cars this time), I was treated to a nice present from the guy upstairs.


If anything the colors are a bit subdued in the picture.  He did well with that sunset.

I also got a present from My Beautiful Daughter.  As I said, Austin, San Antonio and Corpus got quite a bit more snow than we did.  MBD was driving to the supermarket  with a friend  after work when she saw a man in a wheelchair trying to roll himself up a hill in the snow and having a very difficult time making progress.  She circled the block, had the friend drive the car while she pushed him up to the top.  (The friend drove along beside for safety. Yes, I asked.)

It's nice to get a little reminder that maybe, just maybe, we did ok in raising our kids.

26 comments:

  1. The dance of unexpected slippery footing!

    Blogger "The Silicon Graybeard" wondered if there is grant money available to find out just how much snow it takes to trigger the "French Toast Reflex" and start the bread, milk, and egg buying stampede to the food store.
    We dealt with Philly's snow fall by clearing the drive and staying home.

    I did look up "horse snow shoes" and found that they exist. I wasn't surprised.

    A very good post.

    BZ for your parenting. It is obvious when parents do a good job, and extremely obvious when they don't.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. I'm pretty sure that the amount needed to trigger the reflex is inversely proportional to the time since last snowfall. I think the amount of the snowfall triggers the amount of Bread, milk, eggs purchased.
      That's my theory anyhow, no real interest in testing it again anytime soon.

      Delete
  2. Ah yes, the first snowmageddon of the season. We had maybe an inch. Picturesque, didn't even have to shovel.

    It is nice to get reminders that we didn't screw up our kids. Many do, and think it's the gubmint's fault.

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    1. Yeah, it was picturesque. Since we hadn't had any snow in the last few years, and my office is right next to the Primary School, it was fun to go outside and watch the Pre-K and Kinder kids playing outside in it. Even their teachers were having fun playing in it.

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  3. Location. Location. Location. We got 3-4 inches. 50 miles to the west, 6+. 50 miles to the east maybe some flurries with no accumulation. Piedmont Triangle International airport at Greensboro, maybe 20 miles as the crow flies, recorded 1 inch officially. Some people were in a panic. Why? Because the news and weather stations have to justify their existence hype the situation to the extreme. Err on the side of extreme caution.

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    1. I've taken advantage of the difference in weather in different locations several times. Letting down in 0/0 without the fuel to divert is officially "no fun".

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  4. Not much in the way of precipitation along the Front Range. Last winter was harsh. Wind! Saw a FB posting, "Everywhere a Category 2 hurricane, in Wyoming it is Wednesday".

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    1. Haven't spent any time in Wyoming, but one of the very few memories I have of childhood in ND would tend to confirm that posting.

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    2. I have a good friend who was born and raised in Laramie.
      He informs that it does not snow in Wyoming... the wind just blows it all there from everywhere else.
      He also advises not to get sick there after 6pm, as all of the veterinarians are closed..

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    3. I think there's some truth there....In both statements.

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  5. I would think that up in the hill country you'd get more snow than San Antone. Must have been a front that mostly missed you. We always laugh when the local news reports on rain here in San Diego with the leader- "STORM WATCH." I guess when you get the weather gig in San Diego, you gotta do something to spice it up.

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    Replies
    1. Having been to the San Diego area numerous times and never seen anything worse than clear and a million, I would think that a rain forecast might actually qualify for a Storm Watch advisory. But, you're right, the weather channel has to do something to generate interest.

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  6. Thanks for the post. What is this ' snow ' of which you write?

    Paul L. Quandt

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Paul, as always.

      Yes....well....It's cold, white and makes otherwise normal and intelligent humans utterly, and completely stupid. Especially when operating a motor vehicle.

      Delete
  7. Yeah, I heard they go so much snow in LA, the bomber fleet at Barksdale was grounded!

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  8. Here in western MI we got maybe 3". But that was the most snow yet in 2017 in the Grand Rapids area according to the weather gang. I had to go out today (stupid eye doctor's appointment as I broke my glasses on Sat)and the drivers were just crazy. Everyone was heading for the ditches. On my 15 mile straight shot down Rt 37, I saw about 2 slide offs per mile. Folks need to sloooow down when there is ice/snow on the roads. After the plowboys have salted and sanded, then folks can go fast again.
    I putted along like a little gray haired old lady, got to my appointment safely and only 4 minutes late, and then back home again without incident.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Yes, well...slow and steady wins the race. My disappointment was the people driving 40 in a 70 on clear two lane roads, due to an "abundance of caution", then accelerating to 75 in 4 lane passing sections. Passive aggressive, thy name is thou!

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  9. Snowmageddon, indeed! Were any of the locals forced into cannibalism? Or worse, vegetarianism??

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    1. No. apparently it was Boozeism. There didn't appear to be any Rum in the Class 6 stores for some reason.

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  10. Funny story--my current Other Half is from CT and previously lived in northern MD (before I bought the current house in southern PA) told me that even in CT the first snow resulted in "Ice Follies" as people who lived there year around apparently forgot how to drive in snow from year to year. I get that if you're south of the Mason-Dixon Line and snow is a Christmas photo-op, but up here it's anytime from Halloween on. It's got to be worse in NE. How the Hell do you not know how to drive in snow when the only snow-free months are between Memorial and Labor Days...?

    As for French Toast, I lived in Philly for 20 years. Every snowfall or even threatened one the ingredients flew off of the shelves with breast-heaving stories on the local news. Times I ate French Toast? Zero. And what's the deal with snow shovels? What happened to the one bought last year, when there was no real snow? "Made in China" doesn't cut it--it snows more in Beijing than it does in Philly....

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    1. Can't disagree with anything there. DC blizzard of '96, after the 6th consecutive day of shovelling the driveway, I mistakenly asked my beloved how she liked the change in seasons (this being our first winter after leaving HI). Snowshovel left a small mark on my forehead. (not really, more of a verbal slap in the face.)

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  11. ROTF... Yeah, those shiny patches WILL get one's attention! We got 60 degree weather, that was it... Glad your daughter helped out, and yes, good job there!

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    1. Thanks, both my kids continually amaze me with how they turned out.

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  12. Replies
    1. Thank you, sir. Couldn't have said it better myself.

      Delete

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