Snowpacalypse 2010 - Some Thoughts and Lessons Learned

The snowfall this weekend was a doozy. We got 25 inches measured in our front driveway. I know more fell in the area (Dulles Airport apparently measured over 30 inches). But I woke up this morning feeling pensive... there are certainly things that sucked about this weekend. But there are many more things now that I am truly grateful for. And some things I learned.

I am grateful that:
- I have a wonderful husband and dog, who kept me warm when we lost power and heat.
- While we lost power and heat, we did not lose hot water, and were able to take a hot shower.
- Our homeowners association was on top of the plowing and the roads were clear enough such that when it got too cold that...
- We were able to get to a hotel, that looked the other way when we told them we were bringing the dog.
- We lost power for only 40 hours. I have too many friends who are still without electricity and whose streets are not plowed. I'm thinking of you.
- The Federal Government was wise enough to close for the day to allow the roads to be cleared more properly... so that it's safer for everyone.
- For the little things - like heat, or a warm drink after shoveling in the cold, or a hot shower, or a hot meal.


Things I learned for next time:
- Always do laundry before the snow comes. It would suck to run out of socks and underwear with no way to replenish (I came dangerously close).
- Make sure the firewood is stocked. We really rationed our wood, using it only to dry clothes, etc. But it would have been nice to use it to simply keep warm.
- The garage is a great fridge in the winter when there's no power.
- All cell phones and Blackberrys should be fully charged at all times - they are the lifeline to civilization right now. Turg and I rationed the power on those too - always having at least one off, so that we had a backup for when another died.
- Lighting a bunch of candles can actually warm up a room pretty significantly - not like a roaring fire, but noticeably enough that we were grateful for it.

Icicles of Death

And because some shit is just too perfect:

Yesterday, after being home for a couple of hours without power, we decided to call-in our outage again to the power company (as suggested on the radio). I went through all the menu options, typed in our account number and got the following message: Pepco crews are currently working in your area to restore power. The estimated time for restoration is approximately 4pm. (it was 3:15pm when I called). I had the phone on speaker, looked at Turg and said, "Hey, 4pm!" and hung up. Literally one second after I hung up the phone, everything in the house powered back on. Stunned, I look at Turg and he says, "You should have called them sooner!"

They are forecasting another 6-12 inches of snow for tomorrow night to Wednesday. We know what we need to do to hunker down. I love the snow generally. But this is exhausting.

**UPDATE** Now they're saying 10-20 inches. I'm already tired thinking about the shoveling we'll need to do...