well, we survived it. no reports of mass panic or wide-reaching power outages...roads are crap and shoveling is a lesson in perseverance to say the least. (builds character!)

i made an igloo and slept in it for a few hours.
3 tealights, a foam mat, a thermos of coffee and a 0 degree bag made it a suprisingly pleasant experience. i kept waking up though, feeling claustrophobic because of all the layers and the mummy bag...but man, was i cozy! ive no doubt i could pull off a snow shelter and survive in it, should i have to...


unfortunately, another beast is knocking at the gate. the storm slotted to hit us sometime tomorrow evening has the potential for 20"+ snow and blizzard-like wind gusts. word is that it is neigh-impossible to effectively navigate Baltimore City, as they've plowed streets in @the cross-streets and are trucking out the snow at their leisure. i believe DC is in a similar situation, with above-ground Metro being all but stopped.

as far as emergencies go, this could paralyze the baltimore/dc metro areas, as there is already 20-some-odd-inches of snowpack on the ground already...there is nowhere to put the incoming stuff.

nevermind the fact that roofs collapsing, trees falling, water mains breaking, roads impassable and power outages are almost guaranteed - this could prove to be a very real issue and test the limits of people's endurance and civility.

ugh.


...then it melts, and it floods.

All my neighbors have one question when they start digging their cars out (street-parked): "Where do I put the snow?"

The sidewalk they've been shoveling for the past three days?

Or the street, where you'll end up playing ping-pong with the plows?

I've no plans to move my car so it will be dug out, eventually, by the sun. Sometime in March, perhaps....


:-)

Make sure there's a channel for the snow melt to make good its escape.

A neighbor already took care of that.

So many people are bored they're thinking of shoveling the street.

Gidget and I are resting between treks and Dogapoloozas at the park.

Great pictures! Thanks!

-john

Dagny..great photos!!!..the ones we see on TV here could be taken anyplace but yours really gives us/me an idea of the East is like right now...the TV stuff is trucks spinning their wheels,car being pushed out of snow banks that could in Denver.

You're welcome and thanks for the compliments. This storm has been a photographer's dream - and round two starts any moment now. Widely divergent accumulation forecasts for this next bout (which will go into tomorrow - Wednesday).

Gidget will tell you it's all about The Snow Bowl:

I think most married men can relate to the last pic.

LOL! Here are a few more to caption.

and the end of that series.... These pups are having a blast every day!