Aftermath - Saturday

As of this morning at 11:54 am, this is what the house still looks like. You can see that the driveway is pretty clean (as is Jane's black car - whereas mine is still snow covered). No path has been attempted to try and get to the front door. This is because the snow is as hard as concrete and no one uses their front door in West Laurel anyway. So, 4 to 5 ft. snow wall surrounds the driveway on all sides.
This is the mailbox. The postman is actually pleased with this solution because at least he can get up to the box.
This is really a photo just for my mom. She asked how road clearing was going. This, mom, is snowcrete. It is an icy, hard, frozen mass that snow plows don't/won't scoop. It is going to be there until it melts because we won't be seeing any more snow plows (that is until the next storm on Tuesday or the proposed biggie next weekend).
This is the shot down the other way from our driveway. As you can see, there is barely a one car width path plowed to get a car through. And heaven help you if you get out of that path. You can't see anything coming at intersections. It is probably best not to be on the roads still. However, so far, we have managed to need to go out three times in the last two days and I have "an appointment" tomorrow at 11 - so we'll go out again.
This is a close up shot of the neighbor's house to our right. This is a rather large icicle that starts at their roof, goes down, at some point bent towards the fence about 4 to 6 inches from the original icicle, is running frozen down the front of the fence AND straight down from the original icicle. I love this!!!
Here is a better "far away" shot of the icicle. Try to ignore the white blotch in the middle of the photo. The camera is getting foggy at this point and I was ready to come in.

And, last but not least, a sad note. The Laurel "unofficial" Christmas Tree had major damage. The official post says that the tree lost 2/3rds of its branches. Regardless of its fate, it is a treasured Laurel icon and its previous grand dame status will be missed.

The Clean Up

Big O' Snow Ball. Stephen found this chunk in front of his car. He went to shovel and couldn't lift the shovel. This is what was stopping him. Snowcrete!

Yet Another Snow Posting - Yes, I know... Stop with the photos already!

No hopes of getting to the front door ANYTIME soon!
Even if we could reach the door, those icicles would keep me away! I do like the Williamsburg Blue door color, though. Jane made an excellent choice when I refinished the door last winter.
Where the street go? Where the street at?
7 INCHES at the carport where drifting is blowing the snow down.
10 INCHES! Non-drifted section of the driveway. Guess what? Still snowing a pretty clip. I bet we get another 2 inches before it is done.

Uhhh OH! And Three Very Nice Bird Photos!

Dripping from the window molding in the kitchen. Dripping at the rate of a drip a second. Darn ice dam.

Early Afternoon Photos - Wednesday

The trees and the power lines are starting to get full and droop.
One killer icicle! Too bad I actually had to go outside to get a photo of it. Gusts of wind knocked me into the brick to my right and I got cut on the brick.
Jane pointed out to me that you know you have a serious wind when the icicles start to bend to the side.
Cars still have snow!
SNOW! Gotta love it!

Jane's Request... Post My Photo!!!

Even kittens love watching snow!

9:08 am - It has started AGAIN.

The news crew is now saying our heaviest snow is about to start. When I look out the window, the snow is blowing heavily. Stephen suggested I take his photo with him standing behind our drift next to the mailbox. You can't even see the box any more. Stephen is 6 ft. 1/4 inch tall. Once again, car shot and icicles.

Interlude - Ode to a backyard tree

I hope I shall never see
A tree quite as loaded with snow as thee.
You bend and tear under thou weight.
Hope that breakage is not in your fate.

7:15 am and 8:00 - Ummm... Where's the Snow???

This is the snow shot of the cars at 7:15 am. Slightly disappointing for the build up from last evening.
Jane went out to measure the snow. I tagged along. Please ignore the "rear end shot". I wanted to get a good photo of the car and she got in the shot.
Ruler in the snow! Ruler in the snow! Gettin' little snow with the ruler in the snow. No, really. This is our driveway. It says at 8:00 am that we currently have an additional 4 inches.
Is the icicle getting bigger? Scary!
Photo from the window of the cars. Have to keep giving the same comparison shot.

Snowpocalypse Now? (Part 2 of the Snowmageddon Part 2 series)

I know these photos are somewhat dark. However, snow is starting to show signs of really piling up. These are from 9:27 pm. The cars look a little less clear than they did, don't they?

First photo is a shot out our front door at the snow on the front steps and porch which is almost even with the drifts from the past snow. I wouldn't want to go out that front door... would you???

The next two are our icicles. They look pretty. But, they are also kinda scary. They are suggestive of the fact we probably have some snow damming. Needs to be taken care of at some point, but not today.

SNOWMAGEDDON 2010 Part Two - Not the Snowpocalypse

These are the cars on Tuesday afternoon at 4:21 pm. The snow is just starting to begin again and we are hearing that the snow total is going to be at least another 10 inches. I want to make sure I get photos of this!!!At 5:45 pm, I am seeing a little dusting on the cars. This is not proving to be the "Snowpocalypse".

SNOWMAGEDDON 2010 - Part 1 of 7

It is official. Snowmageddon 2010 has reached the Wenzel household. I guess when the President of the United States sticks a moniker to a storm, it sticks. The local media calls it nothing but Snowmageddon now. I personally liked Snowtorious BIG. Or *DEEP VOICE* THE BLIZZARD OF TWENTY-TEN! I personally think it is going to be remembered as The Great Blizzard of 2010. Depending on which local snow count you listen to, we have anywhere from a little over two feet (27 inches) to well past 30 (Our neighbors to the North, Columbia, claim to have recorded 34 inches). Our snow has measured deeper than 30 in spots. But, it is tough to know what is snow and what is drift. We have some 4 ft. drifts in the back yard, though.

As many people know, we were suffering from LACK of power yesterday, like many in the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia areas. Our power went off a little before 10 am. I personally think it was closer to 9:30, but we have a slight family disagreement over that. It did not return until a little after midnight last night (once again, disagreement on time of return from anywhere from 11:50 to 12:15). We had noodle soup on the grill yesterday for lunch and hamburgers, baked beans, and rice on the grill for dinner. We ate by candlelight and, as the temperature plummeted in the house (as it did outside), we enjoyed an evening of reading by candlelight, doing crossword puzzles by candlelight, doing madlibs on Stephen's IPOD touch, and playing board games. When we went to bed last night (9:00), radio stated it was 20 degrees outside. In the house, it was 59.

I was asked how the pets of the house faired during this cold evening. Well, the cats were smart. They got into bed with Stephen and I (and our flannel sheets, 2 layers of Biederlack blankets, velux king sized blanket, and 2 quilts) and sat under the sheets. I personally was wearing a pair of flannel sleep pants under a pair of sweatpants, under a pair of blue jeans with a long sleeved t-shirt, under a hoodie, under a more baggy hoodie AND wearing three pairs of socks. I was still cold!

The snake, who is remarkably still alive despite the fact he was colder than life is supposed to allow snakes to do, had his own biederlack blanket and quilt on top his aquarium. He is quite happy to have his habitat back to normal temp and still have a blanket.

And, Sunshine, our resident Cockatiel. Jane put him in bed with her and covered him with a blanket and kinda kept him close to her body. Needless to say, when Bill tried to come to bed, there was no room for him. So, he slept on the sofa in the living room with just a blanket. Silly man thinking he'd be able to share a nice warm bed with his wife and his pet bird. :)

All five animals are fine and show no signs of being traumatized by sleeping with us last evening.

The pictures were taken by various family members over the last 36 hours. I apologize that some are on their sides. The photo sharing software was glitchy today and didn't want to turn the photos around. So, please be patient with the photos.

May wherever you are be warm and the snow be under control. At least until the next snow on Tuesday/Wednesday (predicted to be another 6 to 10 inches here!). :)

SNOWMAGEDDON 2010 - Part 2 of 7