Mother Nature Paybacks

When you are angry with Mother Nature - be sure to keep your angst to yourself!

Last night we had a snow storm, but it left a big heavy foot print on our area. It was a fast moving storm, with alot of moisture in it, and it left behind a very heavy snow - about 6-8 inches. It was alot like wet cement.

I enjoy snow storms, but I usually don't need to go out. I can sit by my window and enjoy the beauty of the natural event. But last night the storm hit its stride around rush hour. Each report on the news seemed to get more dire. Snow, ice, freezing rain - all building up quickly and falling between the hours of 5 and 11.

Under normal conditions, both my kids had an hour trip ahead of them when they left their jobs at 4:30 pm. My daughter arrived at our house at 7:30 pm - 3 hours later. My son made it to his house at 8:30 pm - fours hours later. Terrible terrible trips. They reported problems with folks stranded in their cars along side the highway, four-wheel drive vehicles spun out off the road, buses pulled over because they couldn't make it up a gentle hill, near white-out conditions on route 95 hiding the road bed. Very dangerous.

Thankfully they made it to their destinations safely. My daughter says it was the most stupid thing she had ever done. If she had known what she was driving into, she would have gone home (four miles from her job) rather than trying to drive to my house. My son also had his periods of unease. Each reported their vehicles handled the conditions well, but each were concerned about sharing the road with those who did not have the right kind of car or were traveling too fast for the conditions.

This morning we awoke to a beautiful view. Snow clung to all trees, bushes, roads, yards, sidewalks. It was a very "white" scene. Watching its beauty was eye candy. But lifting the shovel filled with snow ... heavy with water ... was not so great. And as we shoveled, the trees were dropping their load of snow on our heads. We are very tired tonight. Tomorrow we will be very sore.

Last week I had a winter tantrum - angry at Mother Nature for sending a nuisance snow - freezing spit - I think I called it.
http://mynext20yearsofliving.blogspot.com/2011/01/winter-tantrum.html

Guess she took me seriously! She sent me a decent storm - but I see it as "pay backs" for giving her the finger for sending frozen spit last week.

My apologies to Mother Nature - and to everyone else who struggled through this storm last night. The next time I am annoyed and requesting substantial weather - I will carefully word my angry response - making sure to describe EXACTLY what kind of storm I expect.