SnOMG: Calm between the storms?

"Parking lot". See also: "car burial mound"

Well, we’ve begun to dig out finally. But yesterday, we decided to first brave the outdoors for the sake of a walk. My friend Niki lives just down the street from us, so we decided to hike over. And hike really was the applicable word.

Once out in the parking lot, we were able to figure out which one was Ben’s car. It seems that there was a bit of color showing on the side of the cars opposite our window. Also, it appears that he was parked right next to me. So much for guessing.

Too beautiful to disturb...

On our way, we passed the playground. It was absolutely covered in snow, and looked like a fantastic romp. But when we got closer, it was just… too pristine to mess up. So instead of sliding down a snow covered slide and romping across a bridge that looked like it couldn’t bear the weight of another flake, we sat briefly on a bench and admired the view. If you’ve ever sat on a snow covered bench, you’ll understand why I emphasize briefly. Thus, on we moved.

We followed our street (decently plowed down to about 2″ of snow, slush, and ice) out to the side road, where the plows had made some progress. We could walk on the one-car width lane along with the few other people who were out and about (all on foot). You could even begin to see cars along the side of the road!

Look! I see a sideview mirror!

So along we went, making our way over to Niki’s house. We crossed an absolutely deserted All Saint’s Road which, despite being closer to categorized as the “main road” was less well plowed than our street. Hell, it was less well plowed than our little court!

Once at the intersection, we came to a conundrum: Niki’s house is around the back of her court, so we could either continue down the semi-plowed road and then double back across the possibly-yet-not-probably plowed court, or we could jump down the hill and blaze a new trail.

We jumped.

I think you can see where this is going. We followed a set of footprints till we got down the hill (finding the snow to be brushing over the tops of my knees). At the bottom of the hill, we had the choice of going around the backs of the building or hoping the front sidewalks were dug out. They were not. And the footsteps ran out. I had the lead, which meant I was the one who had the shock and horror of suddenly discovering that 33″ of snow and my 31″ inseam are really not an appropriate match. I mean, I had two layers of pants plus a heavy knee-length coat, but it just reaches a point where it doesn’t matter anymore. Especially when we turned the corner up to Niki’s sidewalk and I fell in. Perhaps “fell” is the wrong word. I really sort of just sat down accidentally. But it’s very difficult to stand up when you have nothing to push up against. Ben dragged me back up and we trudged the last painstaking feet to her shoveled walkway.

After a particularly warm and pleasant visit, we trudged back home (simpler and more populated than the way over). Once again on Gold Dust, we met our across-the-hall-and-downstairs neighbor and had a great chat with him. Ben decided to go back out and start digging out his car just in case his artistic director decided to make the poor choice of having a superbowl-sunday-snowpocolypse matinee, and I went inside and made cookies for the guys.

Dinner was a very hearty bean soup, courtesy Meg’s recipe. We substituted garlic powder for dehydrated onion (having none of the latter and much of the former), smoked paprika for cayenne (same problem), and added some sausage we had in the fridge. Because we like to stretch our proteins farther, we served it over rice, and ended up with a VERY filling and satisfying meal. Thank you, Meg!

So now we’re going to hunker down again and watch the superbowl, which is the second game that we’ve been able to watch together since we decided to start following football last winter (oops). Maybe baseball season will go more smoothly.

Oh, and if you’re interested in snowfall totals, please see NOAA’s official numbers here. We are in N. Laurel, and Elkridge — which got pounded the hardest with a disgusting 38.3 inches!! — is where my folks are.

SnOMG 2010: The beginning

So here’s what we’re beginning to see. It’s about 1:30am (oh hush, I’m usually up now anyways) and this is the view from our living room window. Well, the half that isn’t covered by snow.

And our balcony? Well, we’re hoping it’ll still be there in the morning…