Thursday, January 7, 2010

Mostly Wordless Wednesday (On Thursday): Snow Dogs

The window in my first floor office is about 3-4 foot or so off the ground. The snow on the lawn outside my window is up to the bottom of the window. This is the part that's NOT drifted. That's just how deep the snow is. There is a drift up against my window....cutting off the bottom 1-2 feet. I'm slowly being snowed in.

I consider this window my own personal fire escape. My own personal "oh my god, he's got a gun" escape. My own personal "get me the heck out of here, I can't take it any longer" while pulling all my hair out escape.

My escape route has been compromised.

It's cold here. I mean, yes...it's Nebraska in the winter. Winter = snow, ice and cold. I still love the weather, winter is my second favorite season. But this is craziness!!! It's currently (with windchill) a -21. Tomorrow the high is going to be -2....WITHOUT the windchill factored in.

We've had to scoop our driveway so many times, that I no longer can. Not because of my sore back muscles. Not because I'm just sick to death of shoveling. And not because any exposed skin will turn black and fall off after 30 seconds of exposure.

(slight exaggeration)

Nope...it's because the pile of snow along the side of my driveway is so tall, I can't lift the shovel high enough to put snow on top of it, or over it, any longer.

I'm glad it's windy today....at least in a blizzard, you can throw the snow up in the air, and let the wind take it wherever it deems fit. That is my current method of shoveling. Wait for the wind to pick up...then throw it in the air.

Redneck snow blower? Yeah, I guess it kinda is. :-(

The snow in my backyard is even with our deck. There are 4 steps up to the deck...and the yard is EVEN with the deck. But...you can't tell...because the piles of snow on the deck shelter the view of the rest of the yard.

Good thing we built that deck to second as a bomb shelter, eh?

Kidding about the bomb shelter thing.

Kinda.

Roaches and our deck...that's all that will be left. :-)

Anyway......we were on a mini vacation in Denver all weekend....and I've been pretty busy since we got back. I'll start posting about the trip tomorrow...I swear!

Today, I only have this one picture for you....taken this morning.

My 15 minute commute to work took 90 minutes. Accidents as far as the eye could see. As I was driving, it was so slick, my tires felt wobbly. I actually thought one (or all) of them were ready to fall off. Between the wind, the snow, and the 100% pure ice interstate...I"m just happy to have arrived here in one piece. Slow and steady wins the race.

So....I finally get off the interstate at my exit....and as I'm driving down the street to work, I see a sun dog....correction, a snow dog. HUGE!!! Full snow dog. From one horizon to the other. HUGE!!!

Did I mention it was huge?

:-)

Because my main motivations today were to remain in the standing position....NOT falling on the ground....I opted to leave my purse at home. I stuck my wallet and phone in my pocket, and off I went.

Two hands empty and ready to catch myself at a moments notice.

No camera.

(sigh)

So, this is what I took, with the camera on my phone. Just not as impressive as the real thing.



Can't help but smile when I was looking at it. Totally turned my day around.

(guess I wasn't mostly wordless today, was I? whoops!) :-)

11 comments:

Brook said...

Pretty! Glad you made it safe, slow and steady is way better than hurried and hurt. As for the snow under your window, consider it your own personal stunt man landing zone to keep you from breaking a leg in your mad dash to freedom!

Nej said...

Now I just have to figure out how to get it open....with all the snow piled up against it. I'm having a hard time controlling the urge to knock flop myself into the drift....it's so pretty!!! And so soft looking.

But, they'll need a harness and cable to get me back out of it...it's DEEP!!! :-)

Nej said...

To knock flop????? Man, this coffee thing is awesome! Makes my fingers type all kinds of fun stuff. :-)

MJenks said...

I thought for a while I was the only one who knew what the term "sun dog" meant.

Thanks for making me think I'm not crazy.

Unknown said...

I just want you to know that they highlighted Omaha on the news last night for the weather and I thought of you. In fact my laptop was, well on my lap...and I showed my hubby your pics from the snow there. Even we Vermonters were mighty impressed. Stay safe and sane!

Nej said...

@ mjenks - I thought the same thing for a while. I say sun dog, and people look at me funny.

Maybe we're the strange ones?




Nah. :-)

Nej said...

@ Moonspun - This definitely isn't the norm, weather wise. I mean, we get snow....lots of it...we get cold...really cold...and we get wind....insane wind. But we've had the "perfect storm" combination of all three for weeks now.

Plus, they are saying that next week we'll get a storm that makes the ones we've gotten so far look like a spring rain.

Craziness!!!! :-)

(It's kinda fun knowing that Vermont is looking at our weather. Modern technology is so darned cool.) :-)

Elliott said...

Stay SAFE! Maybe investing in one of those avalanche beacons for your jacket would be a wise investment before you shovel again.

And here I was sad because the frost has killed off all the tropical plants in our yard. I probably just need to suck it up.

Nej said...

@ Elliott - Avalanche beacon is right. I'm thinking that scooping is highly overrated, and I'm about to ban it's practice at our house. :-)

Bummer about the tropical plants. That does really suck.

Lyvvie said...

That's a fine sun dog, indeed! Next time roll down your window first ;)

Nej said...

@ Lyvvie - I wish! Unfortunately, that was through my front windshield...and it's way to cold to knock that baby out for a picture! (hehehehe)