Mini-Van Mom: Blizzard of 2016

Friday night at sundown. Doesn't look like much, does it?

The snow storm of the century has begun! Last night, the weather was still a little wimpy. I had expected it to roll in with a huge crash-bang! But no, it silently tiptoed in. Tiny little snowflakes wandered lazily down from the sky, meandering on their own independent pathways on a slow, gentle, journey towards the ground. The State of Emergency for Maryland began early yesterday. We had originally planned a college trip with the middle child in order to look at a graduate school in Virginia. We cancelled our plans Weds. morning and decided we'd wait until spring break. Since I already had the day off, I didnd't go in at all. We met up with friends for breakfast at Panera. I was surprised to see how many people were leaving with loaves of bread, bagels, sweet buns. When we arrived at 8, the shelves were full of bagels and bread. When we left a little after 9, there was no bread left and only 2 bins of bagels. (I guess it's safe to say our town loves Panera's bread!) I ran a few more errands with the kids before we went home and "parked it" just a little before noon.

Sundown, around 5:00 Friday.

Husband went in to work and was sent home at noon because of the impending weather. Our school system went in, and the kids had a 3 hour early dismissal. Middle child's college was supposed to start Monday, and move in day was supposed to be today. That's been pushed back. As of today, move in day for everyone is Monday, and classes begin on Tuesday. I'm curious to see what that's going to look like come Monday morning! I don't foresee the roads and parking lots being cleared enough for us to move everybody in Monday morning.

Last night, we had a great dinner, ran laundry, cleaned the messy room in the basement (which isn't quite so messy anymore), played Farkel, and Apples to Apples. There was about 4 inches of snow on the ground when we went to bed.

This morning, we woke up to the sounds of thunder snow. You know, a snow storm that has so much energy it thunders. I never heard of Thunder Snow until I moved to the Mid-Atlantic. The wind has picked up, and the snow is blowing sideways. We live on top of a hill, and I can usually see the 3 miles from the top of this ridge to the top of the next one, where the center of town lies. This morning I can see the houses across the street, but not any farther.

As measured in our driveway this morning, we are at 19" of snow. Think about that for a minute. 15 inches of snow fell between the time we went to bed at 11:00 and the time we went out to get wood for the stove at 7. That's 8 hours. That's a LOT of snow.

I do have a couple of safety concerns. Tragedies that happen every time we get a major snowstorm. We don't get major snowstorms every year, so people get lazy, forget, or have moved in from another area south of here and just don't realize the consequences...

One- If your power does go out, do NOT cook on a kerosene or propane stove INSIDE the house. The carbon monoxide will kill you. Cook outside in a sheltered place. We have our grill set up under the carport. The neighbor has an outdoor covered kitchen. Yes, it's cold.

Two- If you have a gas furnace, fireplace, or water heater, make certain that the outdoor vents are kept clear. This is a significant snowfall, and those vents could easily become clogged or covered with snow. If your vents are on the roof - keep an eye on them. Carbon Monoxide will build up and be released into your house if the vents are not cleared.

Three - If you have a fire hydrant near your house, get out and clean around it as you can. A 3 foot radius is what the fire crews need in order to access the hydrant. Nobody likes to think of it, but houses do burn to the ground during snowstorms. Be careful with open flames, and remember to dump your fireplace ashes in a fireproof container. We heard of a house that burned to the ground last year because somebody dumped their ashes into a cardboard box and put the box outside, on the wood deck, next to the house.

Stay safe!