Recently in Home Category

Today’s encounter was a bit unexpected. I was off to drop off the recycling this morning, than what should I find but a nice, big snake in the middle of the road. Nothing poisonous or anything. And it hung out for a while. I had enough time to turn around and get the rest of the family, so the kids could see a live snake up close for the first time.

No, they weren’t allowed to touch it. (One of the kids — I think it was Daniel — did ask.) But it kind of went back and forth, without ever getting off the road. Made for a nice conversation piece with some neighbors and others driving by. I think my neighbor eventually came back with a bag to move it to another, more appropriate location. (He’s a Scoutmaster — I trust him to find a proper home for it to continue living out its life.)

Definitely not something you expect to see every day.

And yes, that’s 3 postings in 1 week. These are short enough to pull off. I need to catch up some more.

Well, our first snowfall this year was 2 weeks earlier than last year. However, the amount we got was just a relative dusting — not even enough for anything on the roads. In fact, 3 hours after I took the picture to the right, it’s melted and gone in any spot exposed to the sun.

The kids (particularly the twins) are kind of disappointed that they couldn’t play in the snow. And they are calling for a winter much closer to normal (i.e., not as much snow as last year), so we won’t probably have the multiple large snowfalls of last year, much to the kids’ chagrin.

Late yesterday afternoon, the snow did turn into rain/sleet, through the overnight hours. That made for a nice slushy mess on the driveway and front walkway. The wind also picked up, rattling the outside vent for the fireplace many times.

However, shortly after sunrise, it all changed back to snow. And it’s really starting to come down now, particularly with the strong wind continuing. The kids want to get out in it, but with the wind really blowing, we’re not going to go our right now.

The rain did much to wash out much of the snow from yesterday, but the weather forecast says today’s snow should accumulate. That should make for lots of fun tomorrow.

Channeling a little Beatles there…

So, I know Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this year, presaging 6 more weeks of winter, but these snow storms we’re getting? This is our 4th significant snowfall this winter season, so I guess we should be used to it by now.

It has been snowing since around 8am this morning, without any of the sleet they were predicting, and the thick flakes started shortly after 9am. It hasn’t been accumulating on the roads yet, but it is starting to fill in on the ground. School was canceled this morning for Will, as I guess they didn’t even want to risk a half-day and then delivering kids home in the snow. As you can see from the picture, it was probably a good idea, as the western half of the county is probably getting it worse than we are here.

But that means Will only had 1 day of school this week, and that one started 2 hours late. And how many days will we lose next week after this storm? I feel makeup days coming on.

This one isn’t predicted to be too bad — less than a foot of snow. But I know my parents and one sister living in NoVA are going to get it pretty badly. Best of luck to those farther north and west.

Well, the snowfall ended about dinnertime last night, though the wind continued to blow. What was the final snowfall? Hard to say, as I didn’t measure last night. But when I went this morning to start shoveling things off, we had over 12 inches on the ground. That’s about the same as the snowstorm in December.

The boys still had some fun stomping through the deeper snow this morning, though it was a bit intimidating at times for Sean and Daniel. It was deep enough to definitely drop some snow down into my boots when I had to wander out into it. The boys and Kellie helped with some of the snow shoveling, though help may be a bit strong of a word for what the twins did. A video in the picture album below shows you how they helped there.

(I’m trying out a new photo album style. This one allows YouTube videos to be played within the slide show. Let me know what you think.)

The sun continues to shine today, even if the temperature is barely above freezing. The driveway, cars, and sidewalk are nicely cleared and melted, but the neighborhood roads still await a plowing. School for tomorrow has already been canceled. This is actually the first canceled school day of the year, as the last snowfall arrived after winter break started. I’m guessing Kellie and I won’t get canceled work days, however.

Yup, we’re getting socked by another snowstorm this winter. This is our third significant snow, though only the second one I’d call major. But having two major snowfalls in Richmond in one winter is out of the ordinary. The snow started overnight, but was relatively light. However, shortly after 8am, the intensity kicked up, and it has not let up since. In fact, it may be snowing even harder now, with more wind, too.

We ventured out into the snow around 10am this morning, and we already had 5 inches of snow at that point. The kids had fun stomping around in the snow — even Sean and Daniel stepped right into it. I shoveled the driveway off for a first cut, knowing more would come later, and the kids had fun wiping snow off the cars. They had fun catching snowflakes on the tongue. Unfortunately, this snow is fine and powdery, not good enough for snowballs or snowmen. But the kids were out in the snow for almost 45 minutes, enough to get just wet enough.

As I write this entry, not quite 4 hours after coming inside, I can barely see any evidence of what I shoveled on the front walkway. We’ve had that much more snow fall and get blown around. We also cannot see any tracks in the yard where Kellie and the kids walked around. And this storm isn’t over yet. Total snowfall could be interesting for this one.

Wow, I am so far behind in my notes, it’s not funny. Let’s see what kind of stuff I can get out during January. Not sure how much I’ll catch up, but I will certainly try.

Like the fact that we had another dusting of snow this winter. This one occurred just over a week ago, on January 8th. This was 3 weeks after the previous snow — AND WE STILL HAD SNOW LEFT FROM THAT PREVIOUS SNOWFALL! How crazy is that? And this wasn’t snow that was in shade most of the day. This was snow by the mailbox, where some extra had been shoveled but where it was also exposed to sun pretty much from sun up to sundown.

Yes, that’s how cold the last 3 weeks had been, barely getting above freezing. I won’t get into that. (I should note that the freezing and below temperatures finally broke a few days ago, getting near 60 this weekend. Finally, some more normal temperature variations.)

Anyway, back to the story. We got just a dusting of snow. It wasn’t even enough to cancel school — just a 2-hour delayed opening. But the roads were slick underfoot. I could feel the slippery ice as I walked down the street to take that photo.

It was a nice, peaceful view to wake up to.

Yes, we did wind up with a White Christmas. OK, technically it’s not snowing now, and the snow on the ground is almost a week old. But there is snow still there, so I think it counts.

The kids were wild this morning, tearing into their presents. They were really happy to see what Santa and family gave them. But things have now settled down a bit, though you certainly wouldn’t know it by looking at the floor.

But let’s also remember what this season is all about. And Linus and Charlie Brown really seem to have it down. (Yes, this is a repeat from last year. It’s still as relevant.)

Yes, it’s a bit odd to think that the winter solstice isn’t here yet, but we already had a significant snow. (Okay, not really, but it’s interesting to think that we still have 2 or 3 more months of cold weather to come, where we might get yet another snowstorm.)

The snow essentially ended around lunchtime, though there was a brief dusting around sundown. I measured around 11 inches at lunchtime, so figure it was a bit more than that. I couldn’t get a good reading this morning, as the top layer had largely frozen over and been compacted a bit.

The kids had a blast, though Sean and Daniel were too spooked to actually walk very far in the snow. The footing was just too unstable for their preferences, and they just wanted to be carried in it. That make it tough for actually doing anything with them, like building a snowman or riding on the sled. But they made the most of grabbing chunks of snow and throwing snowballs while walking along the cleared sidewalk.

The snowman was eventually finished by Kellie and Will late Saturday afternoon (I had rolled the base earlier). He did survive the sun on Sunday, though it’s clear the headshrinkers were at work on him today. That is a photo of him this morning, before the sun got to work on him.

The snowplow (or farm tractor with a snowplow blade, as is done in our neighborhood) came by around lunchtime today. And with the temps slightly above freezing and a bright sun, the roads in the neighborhood are already starting to melt away. The main roads just outside our neighborhood were already well-plowed this morning. I went to church this morning for lectoring duty, and Mass was done in double-time — about 50 in attendance, and we were done in 35 minutes (whereas our priest normally has Mass last about 70 minutes).

Time permitting, I will post a bunch more pictures and video of the kids (and adults) playing and having fun. This was definitely the most snow we’ve had since I moved down here almost 10 years ago, but actually not much more than what we got last spring.

Just a quick update on the storm. As of 8:30am Saturday, we were at almost 9.5 inches of snow on the front stoop. And that could be a bit compacted, as it’s been more ice crystals than snow for the last hour or so.

As I write this entry an hour later, the ice has now changed over to major snowfall again. So it looks like will be adding to the base we have so far.

Needless to say, the kids are itching to go out in the snow. But it’s probably a bit too stormy to go yet. Hopefully, our sanity holds on until they can go out.