Snowmaggedon 2015

Snowmaggeddon 2015 finally arrived in the deep south. The weather forecasters predicted we would get anywhere from 1-3 or 3-6 inches and to be honest, I thought they were all crazy. We often get predictions of snow to no avail so I wasn't so sure this time around it would actually happen. However, I must admit that every time we have a prediction of a big snow, I get all excited like a a little kid again and the anticipation of the snow is sometimes more than I can handle. 

I went in to work a little earlier than usual on Wednesday in case I needed to leave early. The manufacturing team was sent home at 9:30 a.m., but I was going to stay at the office until the snow came to Huntsville, People continued to leave throughout the day since many of them live an hour or so away from Huntsville and they wanted to be home and not stuck far away from their families. 

Of course, this would be one of the few days I didn't pack a lunch and of course, the cafeteria would close at 9:30 a.m. also leaving me to snack on the various and sundry granola bars in my overhead bin. Alas, we had some customers in house and they had catered lunch and there was some left over so a lot of us devoured the BBQ leftovers which were quite good. 

Late in the afternoon, there were only about 10 of us left at the office, all of whom live in Huntsville. A little before 3:00 p.m. the first snowflakes started coming down and we all started packing away our things and bundling up to go to our cars because we had been told by our coworkers and friends in other areas that the snow would come quickly and cover the ground in a hurry. Not 10 minutes later, the security guard got on the intercom and told us if we wanted to go home we had better leave now. 

By the time I got outside, the cars and parking lot was covered in snow. I got in my car after dusting the snow off and hit the road and a reasonable speed. There was clearly a line where the snow was coming in because not five miles down the road it was barely snowing and the ground wasn't even covered yet. 

I made it home before any roads were closed and soon after it started snowing at my house. I got a text from my cousin Lauren around 4:00 p.m. saying they were going sledding. So, I got bundled up and got Pippa leashed up and we walked the mile and a half or so to meet them at the sledding hill. I went down once, but there still wasn't a whole lot of snow at that point. Mostly I just watched Greer and Jon Mark have a big time. 

Afterwards we walked back to their house and Jon Mark, Greer, and I made a snowman while Lauren got their dinner ready. She invited me to stay, but I declined since I had The Pip with me. The roads weren't icy (just slushy) so Jon Mark was kind enough to drive me and Pippa home. 

Thursday I stayed home from work but had brought my computer with me so I was still able to get a few things done. I made a mini snowman and Pip and I went for a walk in the early morning hours before most people were even awake. I played in the snow a few more times that morning, but by the afternoon, it was mostly gone, which was sad. Snow is so beautiful bit not so much when it's melting away. 

So, that's my tale of Snowmaggedon 2015. I think this is the fourth big snow we've had since I moved into my house in Five Points and I've loved every one!

Rained In

As I mentioned the other day, it snowed on Monday night/Tuesday morning and me and about 15 other people made it in to work. My weight training class was cancelled for the night and I was anxious to get home and let Pip play in the snow. Oh, who am I kidding, I was looking forward to playing in the snow. However, much to my chagrin, all the snow was melted by the time I got home. I also wasn't feeling great, in that I felt like a cold was coming on and so I took my trusted stand-by, Alka-Seltzer cold medicine around 5:30 p.m. and was asleep about an hour later. 

The weather folks were predicting more snow for Wednesday so it was going to be another wait and see situation. I woke up Wednesday morning to a very light rain and listed to what the meteorologists had to say. I watch Channel 19 in the mornings, and when Ben Smith took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, I felt certain it was about to get serious outside. I went ahead and took a shower and then listened to the news some more. After listening to the sheer paranoia of the newscasters and meteorologists, I decided I had better keep myself at home lest I get snowed in at work for the next 24 hours or more. 

I sent a text to Meri and let her know I was staying in. Meri chatted another girl we work with who also decided to stay home and I received a call from another co-worker who also decided to stay home. In short, the four of us girls, and loads of other people from what I understand, were snowed (pun intended) by the news into believing Huntsville was going to soon be a frozen tundra and so we all stayed home. 

Unfortunately, instead of of ice and snow, we received rain, and rain, and oh, did I mention it rained? I have never felt so stupid in my life. I rarely, and I mean rarely believe anything the weatherpeople say when it comes to snow and tornadoes because they love to get everyone in a tizzy and it usually amounts to nothing. So, why, I chose Wednesday to believe them, I will never know. Now, I'll be coming in for a few hours on Saturday to make up missed time for my rainy day at home. 

As it turns out, I ended up sleeping most of the day on Wednesday, and by most of the day, I mean I finally got up for more than 30 minutes around 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. The cold medicine had a firm grip on me and my body apparently needed or wanted an enormous amount of rest. Thankfully, Pippa was rather cooperative and slept most of the time as well. I will make a lazy dog out of her yet!

Finally around 5:00 p.m. the rain became a rain/sleet mix and by 5:30 p.m. it was snowing, but not sticking. It started sticking about 30 minutes later and it piled up rather quickly. By 9:30 p.m. there were a few inches on the ground and it was still coming down. I took Pippa outside and we stopped and chatted with one of the neighbors for a few minutes. We walked out to the front as well because I wanted to see if there was a sheet of ice on the road and was glad to see that there was not. It was strangely quiet outside, which I often find to be the case when it snows at night, there's almost an eeriness about it and it seems as though you can hear the conversations of people down the street as if they were in the same yard as you. Do you all feel this way too? 

Thursday morning I woke up at my usual time and once again listened to the morning news to see how road conditions were before heading out on another snowy adventure. I took a shower, got ready, packed a lunch and then went to deal with the snow covered car. I had to let it warm up for quite a while before the sheet of ice on the windshield would break apart. While the car was warming up, I went outside with Pippa and let her off the leash to run around and enjoy the snow. She had a big time and was running all over the place and it looked like she was hopping like a rabbit at times as well. I finally managed to reign her in after about 10 minutes or so and then loaded up my things and hit the road. 

The roads were actually not terrible at all. In fact, I think they were in better condition on Thursday than they had been on Tuesday. I stopped by Maple Hill to take a photo because it was just too beautiful to pass up. It's one of my favorite spots in Huntsville anyway and it looked so gorgeous in the snow. In fact, the whole city looked so clean and beautiful covered in fresh snow. I was glad I had gotten out so early so I could enjoy all the beauty before it melted away. There were also a lot of snowmen out and about and it made me kind of melancholy that I didn't make one myself. 

I was one of the first people to arrive at work and Meri arrived about 20 minutes after I did. Throughout the day people trickled in. I suppose a lot of them had cabin fever and were ready to get out of the house after one or two days at home. Sadly, the snow will melt away by the end of the weekend and we are expected to have weather in the 60s next week. I, however, wouldn't mind another good snow before the winter passes us by, so long as it's on the weekend, that is. 

The snow was very heavy and caused this shrub to be droopy.
It's usually about as tall as the house.  

The back yard.  

Pippa getting a taste of the snow.  

The house - the snow and moon caused it to be very bright out. 

I think this might be one of my favorite photos of my house in the snow.  

My road

Pippa taking in the snow on Thursday morning.  

Maple Hill -so pretty! 

Snowpocalypse 2014

It snowed Monday night/Tuesday morning. I mentioned it briefly in yesterday's post , but today I'm going to actually tell you about it because that's the kind of person I am. The weather people were forecasting copious amounts of snow; but being the skeptic that I am I wasn't buying it. Sunday night the weatherman had downgraded the possibility of snow and by the time I woke up Monday morning they were saying that there was probably going to be a whole lot of nothing. So, I went to bed Monday night thinking there would be no snow on the ground come Tuesday. 

I woke up around 2:00 a.m. for a bathroom break (just being honest here) and peaked out the bathroom window and didn't think I saw anything; however when my alarm went off three hours later and I turned on the news, I was shocked to discover that there was snow and it was still coming down. I took Pippa outside, as is our routine and then tried to check Twitter to see if there was any news of road conditions, but I couldn't get my feed to refresh and eventually discovered that my internet service at home wasn't working properly. So, I tried to call the ISP, but then my phone started roaming and I couldn't get a good signal. In other words, the snow had put quite a damper on all forms of communication. 

Since I couldn't get online or use my phone I made the decision to just brave the roads and go on in to work. So, I showered and got ready to go, making the executive decision to wear jeans rather than attempt putting on any dress clothes. I took Pip outside again before leaving and this time she ran around like a crazy dog and it was such fun to watch. I wanted to stay home and play with her; but, alas, I need a paycheck more than fun time with the dog. So, I brought her back in and then headed out the door. 

The Parkway was closed so I had to take Andrew Jackson/California/Whitesburg until I got to the portion of the Parkway that was without ramps. I drove about 20 miles per hour the whole way in. The roads weren't terrible, but they also were not great. You could definitely tell that the plows and salt trucks had no been out and it was hard to tell one lane from the other. Thankfully, everyone drove at a snail's pace with the exception of a few fools from Jackson and Marshall counties. It's these people and the ones who take pictures while driving that cause the accidents on days like this. I didn't see any accidents myself really, but there was one car who somehow had slipped on the ice or lost traction and was in a horizontal position on one of the hills on California Street. This particular section of road is often icy so I wasn't too surprised. I managed to make it around the car with no problems. Hopefully the car was able to correct itself and get going before someone plowed into the side of it. 

I stopped to fill up the tank with gas as I got closer to work. I had about half a tank, but wanted to have a full tank in case the conditions on the way home were not good and I ended up being stuck somewhere. I finally made it to work about 7:20, having left home around 6:30-6:40, so it definitely took longer than normal to drive the 12 miles to work. 

Once I arrived at work, it was like a ghost town, as very few people came in. A lot of people who work where I do come from outlying areas such as Guntersville, Boaz, Albertville, Arba, etc. and those areas received much more snow that Huntsville. There was a report of six inches from a co-worker in Guntersville, 3-4 inches in the Arab area, and five inches in Eva. All of the people who came in were residents of Huntsville and therefore didn't have too long of a drive. There were maybe 15 people in the office when there are usually 50-60 of us. Meri made it in as well and not long after she arrived we walked down to the cafeteria to get her something for breakfast only to discover that the cafeteria was closed due to weather. I hope people had money for the vending machine or brought their lunch. I keep a supply of snacks at my desk and offered them up to anyone who needed a snack or something to eat, but only one person took me up on it.  To say it was a quiet day at the office was a bit of an understatement. It was very quiet, but it made for a productive day and a relaxing day at that, which is rather unusual at work these days. 

Another round of snow and ice is expected Wednesday night and it is predicted to be worse than what we got last night. They said this morning maybe 3-5 inches. So, who knows if I'll make it to work after that wave; only time will tell I guess. In the meantime, I just hope I make it home before dark so I can let Pip run around and enjoy some of the snow because it is, in fact, rather entertaining. 

Don't forget to post about your good deed on yesterday's post! 

Today I'm Bringing The Random

I'm stringing together another set of random thoughts for you today because, well, that's how I roll. You can thank me in the comments. So, it's not only raining today, but it's also sleeting, and snowing. In other words, it's still wet outside. As I'm typing this, folks are abandoning ship and heading home from work. I already had plans to leave early to attend a funeral, but at this point I'm not sure I'll be able to make it to the funeral, which makes me very sad. There is, however, hope on the horizon because according to the forecast I saw this morning, after today, there is no more rain in the forecast for the next seven days. It might be a modern day miracle.

Monday is my garbage collection day (I told you this was going to be a series of random thoughts) and when I got home Monday afternoon one of my very sweet neighbors had brought my garbage can up from the street and placed it on the side of my house in its resting place. I thought that was just the nicest thing. I have no idea which neighbor did it, but it really made my day and I was very grateful to not have to drag up the can in the pouring rain.

Jackie told me recently about a scam going on in town where people come door to door selling cleaning supplies and then they scope out your house and come back the next day and burglar you. I had not heard anything about it on the news, but then again, I hardly pay attention to anything in the news that doesn't involve Lance Armstrong or Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend. Anyway, on Tuesday night, the doorbell rang and there was some hoodlum outside the door. I didn't even give him a chance to say anything, I just yelled, "I'm not interested!" and slammed the door. The Tide acted like a ferocious beast so if this guy was part of the scam Jackie told me about, then maybe he won't come back for fear that he will be eaten alive by a dog that walks on three legs. So far, my house has not been broken in to and I hope it stays that way.

I remembered this week that I completely forgot to tell you about the best Christmas card I received this past Christmas. It was from The Tide. She really is talented! She signed it, mailed it and everything!

I have a sneaking suspicion something is about to be very wrong with my car. The last two mornings the power steering hasn't been so great when I first started the car and there have been a couple of high pitched squeals coming from under the hood like a belt was whining. I suspect it might be the alternator. I've had many experiences with a bad alternator and therefore this is my first inclination. I could be wrong. I mean, maybe the car has just been really cold. Whatever the problem is, I hope it won't cost me an arm and a leg to repair.

I think this is all the random bit of news I have for the moment. I'm soon about to brave the world of snow and ice and will report back as to whether or not I make it to the funeral. I sure hope I am able to make it because this gentleman was one of my favorite people and I would like to pay my respects, but it seems the weather may have another plan in store for me.
Stay safe and warm everyone!

The Case of the Missing Donuts

Thanks to my college roommate Melissa for saving the day because I seriously had nothing to write about today and she made a suggestion in the comments on my last post that I write about my delayed Fed Exed donuts. Melissa knew about this from following me on twitter and I guess her curiosity got the best of her and she wondered what ever became of my missing donuts. Well, here’s the story…

A long, long while ago, one of the blogs I frequently read had a giveaway and a discount code for low-fat gourmet donuts from Holey Donuts. Needless to say, I didn’t win, but I did peruse the Holey Donut site and found the pictures of their low-fat donuts to make my mouth water. I never placed an order because I found the prices to be outrageous but I signed up for the emails from the company to see what kind of specials they were having, etc.

For months and months I would occasionally stop by the Holey Donuts site and think about ordering, but my stinginess with my pocketbook always prevented me from taking the splurge… until earlier this month.

As I mentioned, I had signed up to receive the company emails to be alerted about promotions and sales, etc. and the first week of January, Holey Donuts offered each box of their low-fat gourmet donuts for only $5.99 a box, and $7.99 a box for their cinnamon rolls. I had a little extra cash that I was willing to part with in order to see if the donuts were actually as good as they looked in the photos and placed an order for three boxes of the Sampler Favorites B. I chose this particular assortment because the donuts that had been calling out to me the most were the chocolate chip and the vanilla frosted and this particular assortment had one of each. Since I had never had any of the donuts before I wanted to get an assortment so as to see which donuts I liked the best in case there was a chance that I couldn’t live without the donuts and placed another order in the future.

So, on January 5, I placed my order and anxiously sat by waiting for them to ship. For states in the east and south, the donuts can be shipped FedEx Ground because they will still arrive within two days and for states in the west, the donuts have to be shipped via FedEx 2-Day. The donuts are handmade in New York and then frozen, packed in dry ice and then shipped. According to the Holey Donuts site, they must arrive in the two-day time frame so as to still be fresh. My donuts were scheduled for a January 10 shipment date and scheduled to arrive at my home on January 12. This would have been great except for the fact that Snow Storm 2011 hit on January 10 and on January 12, FedEx still wasn’t out delivering – at least not in my neighborhood.

So, January 12 came and went with no Fed Ex delivery; as did January 13. Fed Ex had changed the delivery date on the tracking page to January 13 and on that day the tracking page read that my donuts were “out for delivery” but about 5:15 p.m. or so the status changed to a delivery date of January 14. On January 14, the donuts were once again “out for delivery” and finally around 5:30 p.m. or so the FedEx guy stopped by my house.

I asked him if FedEx had happened to keep the delivery in the freezer since the box clearly stated “Perishable Item Please Keep Frozen.” The answer was just as I suspected “no, it’s just been on the truck or in the warehouse.” Great!

So, I brought the donuts inside and opened them up only to find them completely thawed. I took one out to eat right away and put the others in the freezer because the instructions said that even if they were thawed to go ahead and put them in the freezer. In the meantime, I had contacted Holey Donuts and asked them about my shipment. Would the donuts be okay? Would they be ruined? Etc., etc. Only to receive no response until I finally had to call them on Friday, the 14th, before I received the shipment and spoke with a person who said they should be okay. She was wrong.

Since this story is already way longer than you probably bargained for when clicking over here today, I’ll try to shorten it up a bit. Basically, the donuts were extremely dry and did not live up to my expectations. The overall taste wasn’t bad and as I suspected, the chocolate chip and vanilla frosted were the best and the most edible because the icing made the dryness of the donut bearable. The first assortment I opened, I tried all of the donuts. The powdered sugar was terrible – so dry that even soaking it in milk wouldn't have helped. I think I could have broken a window with it as well it was so dry and hard. The original glazed didn’t hold a candle to Krispy Kreme – not that I expected it would, but I thought it might at least have some taste to it. Wrong. The caramel crumb and sugar and spice were good as far as the top of the donut, but again the bulk of the donut was dry and basically inedible. As for the other two assortments, I thawed them out over the last week or so per the instructions (in the box with the lid closed) and they were just as bad. I basically ate only the chocolate chip and vanilla frosted and threw the others away without even a bite.

I received some sparse communication from the company saying that the donuts were supposed to be soft and moist; but I am here to tell you they were not. I kept thinking the company might at least offer to reimburse me the money I spent or offer to send a new box of donuts so as to at least attempt to keep me as a customer, but to no avail. Needless to say, I will never again order donuts from Holey Donuts. They have a lot of rave reviews on their site, but I am beginning to think they are all made up because I had a dreadful experience with them and found their donuts to be less than desirable and their communication was just as bad. Oh well, we live and learn I guess. I just wish it hadn’t cost me $30.

Rooftop Icicles

It’s still a winter wonderland around these parts. The ground remains covered in snow and sub-freezing temperatures have become the norm. I’m wearing my rain boots, which I guess could also be known as snow boots, in to work every day and changing into my tennis shoes when I get to my desk. Otherwise my feet would be cold and wet all day long and that would be no fun at all.

Yesterday when I got home from work, I noticed all the icicles hanging from the house. Some of them are huge and would definitely do some damage if they fell and hit you in the head. I took some photos of them although I’m not so sure the pictures really do the icicles justice. Also, with my tin roof, the snow slides down and then kind of curves under. It’s really rather bizarre.

I knocked down the icicles that were dangling above the steps on my porch for fear that they would come crashing down on my head and knock me unconscious, which wouldn’t be a good thing, or at least I don’t think so.

If you’re out and about in the winter weather be careful out there and watch out for falling icicles!

The side of the house

Another view

And another

These icicles come halfway down this window.

Please ignore the dirty windowsill.

Front of the house.

See how the snow curves under as it melts off the roof?

Look out below!

Snow Storm 2011

Well, in case you didn’t know it, the reason I’ve been MIA for the past couple of days is because those of us in North Alabama are in the midst of a winter snow storm and who knows when it’s going to go away – it doesn’t appear to be any time soon.

Last week the weather forecasters predicted that we were going to get a lot of snow and for what feels like the first time, they finally got it right. They predicted 6-10 inches and I had a little over eight at my house. Some areas got more, some area got less, but in Huntsville, the general consensus seems to be between eight and nine inches. It’s the third largest snowfall on record for this area!

Eight inches here

Nine inches there

My feet in the snow.

The snow started coming down about 8:45 or so on Sunday night. I kept looking out the windows Sunday evening and told The Tide multiple times that it probably wasn’t even going to snow but once it started it came down in droves and within 15 minutes or so the ground was completely covered. At 10:00 I turned on the news and the weatherman was talking about thundersnow – in a matter of minutes, the thundersnow came. It was unbelieveable. Lightning, thunder and snow – I had never in my life experienced such a thing.

I got up at my normal time on Monday, but didn’t go in to work because the roads were impassable and people were advised to stay home and that’s what I did. I let The Tide out at that time and I had a difficult time getting the back door open. Once she got outside, I think she was a little confused.

The Tide at 5:30 a.m. on Monday.

I'm sure she was wondering what the heck was going on.

Snow piled up at the back door.

It's a grill snow cone!

About 10:00 or so The Tide and I headed outside and played for a couple of hours. I took some photos of the house and the goings on and mostly of The Tide rolling around in the snow as if it were a lush blanket. I built a snowman, (sorry Barner fans, but mine snowman was a Duck fan; although I am glad the National Championship stayed in the SEC) and threw snowballs at The Tide. I tried to get her to go for a walk but she wasn’t too keen on that idea. I asked some people walking down the street to take a photo of me and The Tide but the girl couldn’t figure out how to operate my camera even though I explained it to her. Oh well; should have asked someone else I guess. While I was building my snowman, my neighbor Jeff came over to bring me the latest New York Times which he does from time to time.

This is a lovely self portrait.

My snowman

The Tide is checking out the snowman

The Tide treats the snow as though it were a lush blanket.

Again

And again

This was my attempt at getting a photo of me and The Tide together.

The Tide and I went back inside around noon and I warmed up some gumbo that the same neighbor Jeff had given me the day before. It was quite yummy. The Tide and I spent the rest of the day watching TV and reading. Well, she mostly slept.

Yesterday I finally ventured out of the house on a walk. I didn’t even bother asking The Tide if she wanted to come along. I walked down to the Dollar General to get some sweetened condensed milk to make some snow cream. On my walk I passed a mail truck that was stuck in the snow. I asked the mailman if he was stuck and he said yes that he was trying not to hit the mailbox. He had already called the tow truck. This situation was somewhat funny to me considering the postal service creed of “"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" although I now understand that’s not the official creed even though many people, including myself believe it to be so. I also came across the coolest snowman; well, it was a snow cat I guess.

The snow cat

My road on the way home from my walk to the Dollar General

I got to the Dollar General and grabbed the item I needed and decided to peruse the store a bit since I was there. All their Christmas stuff was 75% off but there was nothing that caught my eye. While I was looking at these items, however, the song “Closing Time” came on the radio. I love this song. It’s an old favorite from college and so I danced around the aisles a little bit and sang the song. When the song was ending, I went up to the counter to pay and the cashier (a man) belted out the last few words of the song and it cracked me up. He then proceeded to tell me how they always played that song at Bar Nashville as it was closing and he would sing it. I told him it was indeed a catchy tune.

I walked back home and went a little bit of a different way for a minute or two because I saw a snow creation that caught my eye and I wanted to check it out. Turns out it wasn’t anything to write about, but at the same time I passed a man building something out of the snow and I wondered what it was. When I passed by there this morning, I discovered it was a large beer bottle made out of snow. Hey, whatever floats your boat I guess. I also passed the stuck mail truck again and I guess he had tried to move the truck a bit because he had indeed hit that mailbox he was so desperately trying to avoid. I gave him a wave and a laugh and he did the same.

After I got home, I made some snow cream and gave some to Jeff. He said his mother made it when he was growing up (in upstate NY) and then came back into the warmth to do some more reading resting and TV watching.

So, that about sums up the past two days or so for me. I’m back at work today and it’s snowing again. I probably will leave early today in order to beat the traffic and try to avoid any accidents. As I’m sure you know, I don’t have the most stellar record these days when it comes to driving.

My car. This was a little before 7:00 a.m. on Monday.

Yes, I've got Blue back - got her back on Sunday afternoon!

View from the front porch about 7:00 a.m. on Monday

My street

The Tide is having some fun!

Candy - please note her ear is up even when in running mode!

The fire hydrant in front of my house.

The steps going up to my front porch.

Better Late Than Never

Since I took some time of from blogging last week, I’m behind on sharing with you my White Christmas photos. Most people probably already posted theirs, but I like to be original and wait until a week or so after Christmas – at least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. Better late than never, right?

After having trouble falling asleep on Christmas Eve, I woke up at about 5:30 on Christmas morning. This is the time I normally get up and so I guess my body thought it was a work day. I let The Tide out and it was only raining, which was really disappointing, but not surprising because we rarely get snow when the weather forecasters predict we will.

After I let The Tide back in, I got back in bed and did some reading and television watching until it was time to get ready for the day. At about 7:00, I got up to take my first shower in three weeks (yay!) and looked outside again and I was amazed to find that not only had it started snowing, but the ground was literally covered in the white stuff! It was amazing and so pretty. I called my mother and she didn’t believe me but finally she was convinced. When I got off the phone, I hurriedly took a shower (did I mention it was the first on in three weeks – felt good, I tell ya!) and then proceeded to run around like a chicken with my head cut off while trying to load up the car with presents, food for Christmas dinner, clothes to spend the night, and a dog. It was madness, people, sheer madness.

The Tide snuck out the door before I was ready for her to and jumped on in the car. She really loves a car ride and I guess she was ready to go see what Santa had brought for her. So, after she was loaded in, I still had some other things to bring out. It was obviously quite cold outside, but I was breaking a sweat as though I had just run a marathon.

My brother and granddad were supposed to have come by about 8:30 to help me carry the food over to my parents’ house but when I called them at 8:30 they still had not left so I told them to bypass me and go on over to Mother and Daddy’s because I wasn’t waiting any longer. I was in quite a panic. Any Northerners reading this may think it odd that folks would be in such a panic about some snow but down here in Alabama people get crazy and the streets are impassable and it’s complete and utter insanity.

Finally after getting off the phone with my granddad, The Tide and I were finally ready to hit the snowy streets; and I do mean snowy! It’s been a sweet forever since snow has covered the streets like it did on Christmas day. My parent’s live across Monte Sano Mountain and I heard on the radio that the roads on the mountain were already closed but when I got to Governor’s Drive to head that way there were no barricades up and we trekked on. I called my mother throughout the drive and gave her updates which were quite funny if I do say so myself. There weren’t many people on the road, thankfully and the few that were, were all driving slowly and cautiously. What normally is about a 15 minute drive took close to 45 minutes.

We finally arrived and the snow was still coming down in buckets. The Tide jumped out of the car and went on in the house and my dad came out and helped me unload all the presents and food, etc.

My brother and granddad arrived about 30 minutes or so after I did and we were finally able to have our Christmas morning festivities. Here are some photos from the whitest Christmas I’ve ever known.

This is my backyard. It almost looks like a white out!

To the right of my porch

In front of my house

Another view from the front

A view from the front of my parents' house

Another one - that was a large snowman but it fell down later.

My parents' house

The cars in the driveway. No accidents on this snowy day.

Thank goodness!

My parents' wanted to have their photo with the snow.

I stayed with my parents over the weekend and came back home on Monday.

This is what the house looked like when I got back home.

There was a lot more snow in the backyard when we got home.

The Tide is checking out the place.

Don't eat the yellow snow!