Wednesday, February 02, 2011

that poughkeepsie church is right: whoever is praying for snow, please stop

For as long as I can remember, whenever it snows my dad never fails to bring up 1979. As in "Oh, well this is NOTHING compared to '79." Or  "I was the only one on Ogden Avenue in '79. There was so much snow, you can't even imagine it!" Or "We got stuck in a drift and I didn't have something in the car, so I had to dig out that big Oldsmobile (Delta '88) out WITH MY BARE HANDS." Or "You were just a baby in the carseat, you didn't know what was happening." And "Yep, this is nothing like '79."

The newscasters say today's snowfall beat '79 by several inches. I am so glad that I can finally have something that will trump that. But I think '79 is so etched in my parents' memory because they had only recently experienced snow for the first time in general, let alone a blizzard. Nothing will probably top that one for them. But this is a doozy.

The hospital had warned us to "come prepared to stay," so yesterday morning I had a bag full of overnight stuff, books and snacks. Because of my old career, I get sort of excited whenever disaster looms, so I had been looking forward to hunkering down with books, granola bars and first-aid kits to be useful during an emergency at work. So when I was sent home at 3 p.m.--before the snow REALLY started to come down--it was disappointing. They told me to be back there by 7 a.m. to relieve the people who had stayed.

By 9 p.m., the workplace was on lockdown and leaving was a terminable offense. By midnight, they had shut down the city and by 3 a.m., no plows were even allowed on the road. My coworkers called at 6 a.m. and said not to come in but stay in touch. They are preparing to stay another night. HOWEVER, PATIENTS ARE STILL COMING IN FOR THEIR TESTS! There must be a lot more snowmobiles around these parts than I thought. 

So I am at my parents' house. My mom is actually battling the flu, so it's a plus that she can rest, because no one is allowed to call off on days like this (if we were able to come in). Jon and I talked on Skype for two hours as the snow was building and building. He has set up a time-lapse video of the balcony. But because my parents live in a loop, the effects are much more dramatic here. There's about four feet of snow piled up in front of our front door, and the drifts are up a quarter of the way past my sedan's windows.

Work called again, and some crazies I work with are trying to make their way there. The police have announced that if you go out in this, you are essentially on your own. And if you get stuck, you will get a ticket. Godspeed, my friends. 


This is the shot out the front door. We'd try to get out through the garage, but there's about that much snow in front of it, too--we know because the wind has forced in a good pile under the garage door.


5 comments:

  1. so basically you can now up one over your dad's 79'experience :)
    gosh imagine someone had to rush to the hospital to have a baby in this storm?

    ReplyDelete
  2. My dad references '79 storm all the time too! Blah Blah Blah...what about '99? True enough they'd not seen too much snow, let alone a blizzard. Welcome to America, right? Baby B doesn't seem impressed. Tucker on the other hand, is like a crack dog swimming through the drifts. Will post pics soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. All I see in that picture are hundreds of snowmen just waiting to be built. Climb over the top and get strted for goodness sakes! Times a wastin'!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ale: yep! i can't wait to hear what he has to say about this in the years to come. you know how things get exaggerated over time. i was thinking the same thing about the baby delivering! but i haven't heard of anyone giving birth in a snowbank, so i think they were all safe.

    EB: i know! they were saying 1999 had much more snowfall. maybe b/c technology was so much better it didn't seem as bad? i think i was in Spain during that one. def post pics of Tucker!

    Madelyn: i suspect making snowmen is infinitely more fun when you are around. when do you get here?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh shucks, I didn't know it was this bad [or good, depending on one's point of view]. I bet it's the school-children who are praying for heavy snow, hahaha.

    The way fathers brag / exaggerate is universal, it seems.

    ReplyDelete