Saturday, January 29, 2011

Thursday's Treasure

Yes, yes, I DO realize it is no longer Thursday. However, since I lost almost a day this week, I ask you to please bear with me.
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On Wednesday morning, as predicted, it started to snow here. It started out as light mixed precip, and by 3pm started to snow in earnest. When I looked out the window, I told Sophie it looked like it was raining snow. Weather people were saying 3-5 inches for us. Mike was at work, and I called to tell him he should leave early. He was in a meeting, and didn't get my message right away.
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By the time Mike left work, all of Northern Virginia was in a total gridlock. Due to the volume of traffic, plows couldn't get through to clear the roads, and the snow was coming down so hard that cars were slipping and sliding everywhere. People were abandoning their vehicles right and left, adding to the danger for those still on the road, and adding to the inability of the plow drivers to clear the roads.
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Our power at home went out at 8pm. I added blankets to the beds, put on Sophie's battery powered nightlight, and crocheted by lantern for a couple of hours. Mike called to say he'd made it to a grocery store, and was going to hang there until things cleared out. He spent 3 hours in that grocery store, and things still did not "clear out".
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I woke up to Mike coming home at 2 am. He had braved the crazy drivers and the fallen trees and made it home to us. We still had no power, but were hopeful that it would come on overnight.
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Woke up Thursday morning to a 55 degree house. Mike built a raging fire in the fireplace, and we played board games. By 2pm, we decided to go out and get something to eat. Came home- still no power. Finally, at 4pm, 20 hours later, our house lit back up and the furnace started to hum. What an ordeal! Thank you very much to Dominion Power for working so hard to get everybody re-electrified!!
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So now, how behind am I? SOOOOOOO far. Sophie missed 3 days of school last week, and this coming Monday is a scheduled teacher workday. And can you believe another storm is predicted for Tuesday? UNCLE!!!!! UNCLE!!!!!

6 comments:

Minx's Den said...

oh my goodness jennie! you have been through alot! glad ur hubby made it home ok! you must have been worried! I would be very worried too if my hubby was stranded! eek! yeah, that same system you are getting tues will hit us sunday and monday....makes me wonder if spring holds many rounds of severe weather!

Steph said...

Woah, what a day! Bless your hubby for going through all that. Snuggle up together. x

Donna -Little Tiny Stitches said...

OOOOoooo, so sorry Jennie, but snow as you know I just love:0)
Maybe I wouldn't though if we had proper storms like you have?
I'm so sorry your husband got stranded though, that's no fun :(
Pleased it all turned out ok and he got home safely.
I have been wondering if you're all ok over there ~ especially as you weren't blogging.
You take care Jennie, and keep warm.
Love and hugs to you all x

Laura said...

I am glad that everything is going back to normal!!..I missed reading your posts!!..lets hope now that the next storm don't hit that hard!

CelticKnot said...

I'm so glad to hear Mike made it home safe and you have heat again. What an ordeal. I hope this next storm isn't as bad.

Ribbons Undone said...

Wow--I certainly can relate to all that chaos when we had the huge storm up here in NJ on Dec 26th. The roads sound equally as bad, but our power stayed on. Oh, I don't know what I would do in your case. We have one of those new tankless hot water heaters that run on electricity; if the electric goes out, no hot water. Eek!

We had quite a bit of snow this week too. Wednesday was pretty messy and dangerous out there. The kids had no school on Thursday. Seems like we're sharing some of the same weather, Jennie. Stay warm and toasty. Missed you, Victoria