Blizzard

 Last week we had a blizzard. We knew it was coming. It had been the subject of news reports and weather alerts on the internet. It was no surprise.

I woke up that morning and lay there watching the snow out my window. It was coming down heavy. And it was blowing almost straight across instead of falling straight to the ground.

I stayed there and watched for a long time before I made myself get up. I like to look out my window in the morning.

When I got dressed I saw that the truck of the neighbor behind me was almost hidden under the snow. I thought it must have been coming down for a while.

Then I went to the kitchen and looked out that window. The woman that lives across the street has a porch swing. It was completely full of snow up to the top of the back of the swing.

I looked past her house. I could see for most of the rest of her block. It was snowing so hard that visibility was practically nothing.

When I turned on the news I watched the closings. All the schools were closed. We get reports for parts of three states here. Nebraska schools for at least 100 miles from here were closed. South Dakota schools were closed. Iowa schools all around the area were closed.

Everyone was advised to stay inside unless it was absolutely necessary to be out. Many businesses closed so their employees could stay inside.

Health clinics and doctors' offices announced closings. What surprised me the most was that hospitals closed!

I am sure that meant that they were taking emergency cases but anything else was cancelled.

Needless to say I was more than happy to stay nice and snug inside. There was food in the pantry and refrigerator. We did not lose power thank goodness. I had the use of the television and computer. What more could a person need?

It was a fluffy snow we had. It did not pack tight like the more wet snows do. So the close to 20 inches of snow was a little easier to maneuver.

My son takes care of clearing walks. Otherwise I would pay someone because I do not want to do and perhaps could not do it.

I have told you about the dog having problems moving around. She is so much better but my son still takes her out when she needs to go instead of just putting her on her chain. Sometime her back legs get tired and she either just sits down or her legs go out from under her.

So when she needed to go out during the blizzard my son went out with her. The snow was so high that he had to shovel a path for her to do her "thing". When they went back out later he had to shovel again.

The blizzard ended. Snow was piled high. The gas station of our little town plows the streets. That meant huge edges of snow on the side of the street.

After a few days I did need to go to the grocery store. I was also feeling a little bit house-bound.

All I can say is thank goodness for 4-wheel drive. We would have had to dig ourselves out of the driveway without it.

I have mentioned before that I have a long drive to get groceries. It was uneventful because I waited a couple of days to go. While I was there we decided to splurge and grab some fast food to take home.

Then I woke up this morning to more snow coming down. I did not expect it. But there it was. At the time it was a heavy snowfall.

I did notice something interesting this time.

Near my window the snow was soaring upward and swirling just a bit. It was a nice effect.

In my back yard the snow was angrily hurtling itself at an angle to the ground.

Then in my neighbor's yard the snow was falling in that lazy way they show in movies as it gently floated toward the ground.

I found the scene to be fascinating. All the different perceptions of the way the snow came down. I know that the snow close to my window was going up because of its closeness to the house. It is a recognized anomaly and the reason people put up fences in the winter to protect against drifting.

I suppose the distance of the neighbor's yard also had something to do with the way I saw the snow falling there. Maybe the huge evergrren trr there had something to do with it.

By the time I got up and dressed the snow had stopped. It was fun to watch for a while.