MA Blizzard of '05

[REPOST from my MySpace blog on Jan. 31, 2005]

Is it any coincidence that just after I move to Boston that the Red Sox win, we get a record blizzard and the Patriots are poised to become an NFL "Dynasty"?? Hmm.... yeah, probably just a coincidence. Here at the house, we had 36 inches (3 feet) of snow...not including the snow drifts....over a matter of a night and a day. Two days later, Mother Nature dropped about 7 inches more on top of that.

Needless to say, the city has been a mess. No where to park!!! Even still, a week or so later, the mountains of snow that the plows have pushed to the curbs of the streets are sitting there on top of good parking spaces. Salem got a ton of snow, too. In one day, they blew through their entire snow budget for the year. And poor Cape Cod... I feel for them. Some might say that 3 feet is a drop in the bucket compared to the snow you might get if you live right by one of the Great Lakes. That lake effect snow is a bitch, I know. 90 inches of snow in one night up at Lake Tahoe is impressive, also, but they aren't at sea level, either. We are, and it's highly unusual to get this kind of snow out here. My mother tells me that we made front page news in the Idaho Statesman newspaper. Now the New England Patriots football team is going back to the Superbowl for the third time in 4 years. Stop the insanity!!!!!

Anyway, I still can't get out of my back door, but at least the driveway was plowed. There is no effing way that even a couple of us using "ergo" snow shovels would've tackled that task without getting broken backs in the process. I think even a snow blower would've gone on strike. It's times like these that makes you really appreciate having a two-car garage... among other things. I will hand it to the people of these bitterly cold and snowy states -- they know how to make good out of a nasty situation. On my way in to Cambridge the other day, two ladies were nordic skiing on the sidewalks around here. In any weather, people will be out hiking, biking, walking their dogs, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, kayaking or jogging. It makes me smile. Smiling is all I'll do right now because I haven't gathered the guts to do these things in this kind of weather yet. For now, we have a home gym in the finished half of the basement to use until the weather gets slightly tolerable in the Spring. Maybe by the time the nasty weather comes back for the next round, I'll be in good enough shape to brave it recreationally.

Cheers from the Great White North!