02.16.10
Snowstorms!
Wow. I have never experienced so much snow. There are two camps here in DC–those that hate the snow and those who make fun of them. I loved the snow the first time (in December) and liked the snow the second time early February and was pretty tired of it by round three last week.
If you are a DCer, then you have seen these events. We have had many friends and family ask how we are doing, so I thought I would share some of our experiences.
The storms in a way simplifies life: you either stay in or go out. For the most part we stayed in for about three days. Jonathan spent hours shoveling two foot snow so that we could get to our car. DC law also states that residents have eight hours after the snow storm ends to shovel the sidewalks surrounding their property. Many times sidewalks where cleared after the second storm just to have trucks pile more snow on them! Even this week there are tractors and frontloaders working 24 hours a day to clear roads around the city. I never thought I would see so much snow piled up. Some of the snow banks are 8 – 9 feet tall!
Many of you wrote and called us to see if we had enough food. Yes, I did my time waiting an hour to check out at the supermarket during the prestorm rush several times. Then Jonathan thought of getting Chinese food feast so that we didn’t have to cook: Brilliant. So, yes, we had plenty of food and haven’t gone to the grocery store for about 10 days!
Today we got our second mail delivery today in eleven days. I don’t know what happened to the mail delivery in all weather idea. They would have had to have snowshoes!
Our trash hasn’t been picked up in three weeks because the trucks can’t get through the alleys. It’s piling up on our porch. It’s piling up on every street corner all over the city. Public works instructed DCers to put their trash on the front curb. You can imagine what a whole city’s trash on the curb looks like. They also suggested “holding onto recyclables” since recycling pickup is also suspended (almost 4 weeks). Where shall I “hold” my recyclables?? Against the few green bones in my body we have had to throw everything in the trash for the porch.
We (and our city) are finally starting to recover, however there are lingering problems that the city is going to be plagued with for months. One of which are the terrible road conditions after the snow, melting and refreezing in the asphalt. There are potholes as large as three feet wide and deep enough to swallow tires. Another issue is ice! Sidewalks have been shoveled with varying degrees of attention. Walking two toddlers 1.5 blocks from school was pretty tedious. Caed did fall at one point, but he is so close to the ground it didn’t even phase him! (I am sure that it helped that we were moving slowly) Parking anywhere in the metro area is complicated. Huge snowpiles take up the majority of the lot. Drivers are creating places to park that are barely legal. Parking in residential areas or downtown is hard too. After folks clear out their spot they want to keep them! Everybody is using funny things to save their parking spot–chairs, workhorses, brooms, tables. I even saw a bookcase.
We have had so much fun during this time too. I thought that being cooped up with together would make us go absolutely mad. We may have had a bit of cabin fever, but for the most part it was nice to do crafts, watch movies, eat good food and go sledding. We also did “snow cream” for the first time! We took clean snow and added soy milk, vanilla and sugar over the top. Think Hawaiian Shaved Ice Cake batter! It was a welcome treat after we got hot and sweaty from playing outside.
If any DCers are still reading and have other funny experiences, I would love you to post a comment.
More photos are posted here and I will also post some videos later on. Love to all
