The Great Blizzard of 2024

Well, there was a lot of hype and build-up for this, our first BIG snow of 2024--or really of the winter season so far. ALL the schools canceled, work at homers planned on working at home, those who had far drives (like Buck) took a vacation day. We battened down the hatches and hunkered low in our space heater-ed spaces.

On Snowpocalypse Day 1, I pulled back the curtain expecting to view a dazzling winter wonderland. Uhhh, same dead grass that was there yesterday . . . what gives? I'm sure the educational powers that be were thinking, "Oh man, those meteorologist guys tricked us AGAIN! There's NO snow" . . . "But there WILL be," the meteorologist guys promised--and so we wait. Well, either way, Buck had the day off and we decided to pretend we were snowed in, anyway :)

First, we made hot, cheesy omelets with the leftover ingredients from pizza night--Canadian bacon, yummm! Then we decided to make an inventory of all our board games and the number of players suggested for each: here's what we discovered--we have many! Some I don't remember having, some we still have never played . . .

Of course, after we'd written out the game list, it only made sense to play one! We chose Pandemic, which was the perfect game for the two of us, because the whole thing is about strategizing together how to save the world. We make a pretty stellar team, and we cured all the epidemics before they took over the world. This seemed extra important because we've been watching the second season of Sweet Tooth on our Netflix free-ish trial. You definitely want to nip those pandemic things in the bud before kids start turning into critters, and purple flowers start taking over yards, and bad guys make bad choices. The resurgence of buffalo herds is a cool idea, though :) I digress . . .

As we were finishing up saving the world, while sipping on our hot drinks (fancy coffee for Buck, fancy cinnamon tea for me), it did start and stop and start and stop snowing outside several times. Caelan called and said that the roads didn't seem too bad, and they were wondering if they could bring Daisy Baby (a.k.a. Fern) over for a visit. Of course!

Olive was ecstatic to have someone to play with, especially when it turned out to be her kid (who still peed on my floor and splashed in the water dish :) But, Caelan suggested we bust out Settlers of Catan again, so she could re-teach Buck and whoop us all. She did both, lol! 

We made a rich venison chili for dinner, and as the snow actually started to stick some, the trio headed home to re-hunker for the next day's snow events. Buck started another free TV trial, so he could watch the national championship football game, and I brought a tray of puzzle pieces downstairs to work on. We are pretty exciting on our snow day evenings!

Here's the end result of Snow #1 . . .

Buck already had Snowpocalypse Day Two off of work, so we were all set here . . . except for a doctor's appointment (which we rescheduled) and an empty prescription (which the previous day's telehealth call and a local pharmacy took care of refilling). The biggest issue of the day--all that heavy snow ACTUALLY arrived! And just look what it did to our chicken coop!

Oh snap, indeed! We took turns looking for the stapler in the garage, Buck loaded his jeans pocket with his Glitter Goat Gift Grab zip ties, and we got to work. After he knocked off the heavy snow, we were able to stretch the chicken wire back across the top of the run. I think all the chickens are fine, because there is so much snow that they don't like to come out of the coops. I did clear the snow away, as close to dirt level as I could, and then Buck brought some armloads of hay in to make a straw brown path (although they prefer grassy green :) We refilled their water and grabbed a couple of eggs, then headed to the house to warm up. 

I really need to go up there and get them set for the next round of snow plus -40 degree windchills that are coming, but I'm doing this instead. I am really good at distracting myself from things I don't want to do by doing other things I'd rather do . . . but only sometimes. Mostly I'm responsible, hee hee :)

Olive sure liked the snow, though! She was hopping and skipping and dancing through it! She also left Hot Dog Water on my boot . . . I'm sure this means something very important in dog language--if anyone out there knows the answer, please let me know! ;)

Buck and I braved the outdoors again to do some snow scooping on the sidewalk and driveway and to clear off the truck. Then we waited for that neighborhood unicorn--a snowplow--to appear. Buck took a nap and I pushed myself into preparing for back to school . . . feels like there is a lot to do. Then I put some lunch in the oven, while he went to grab his meds (in the salted tracks of the snowplow, yay!) When he returned, we spent most of the afternoon talking through a huge list of questions I found online that helped us refocus and reconnect on so many things we've just been running in every direction on--like those air-flappy guys at car dealerships, waving at each other across the lot, but not really in sync. That was a good, helpful time--which we incorporated into working on a jigsaw puzzle. Colorful sheepies!

For dinner, we decided to eat fancy--broiled salmon, oven-crisped broccoli, and creamy risotto (which was more watery than creamy, but still tasted alright :) Olive got bored during our evening television watching and stacked toys up around, in front of, and even on us, hoping we'd either play with her or make Daisy appear again. Lol! Sorry, pup . . . nothing but snow day three on the agenda . . . 

Currently, there is a sunny break in the weather--blue skies and sunshine making the world sparkle. I really should go take care of the chickens before the snow returns in an hour or two. 

Update: I did it! I took care of the chickens, and then I found two sleds and rode one down the hill while toting the egg bucket and a few other supplies on the other sled (don't worry, the eggs, didn't break--well, they were probably already frozen :) Don't you like the Christmas chickens' chef hat look? 

After I reached the bottom of the hill, I dug out Brennen's car and moved it, so that I was one closer to being able to reach my unsnowy garaged van (still one more car to unbury). But then, it snowed more!  So that was Snowpocalypse Day 3--and there's five to eight more inches coming tomorrow, wowza!

Stay tuned for Snowpocalypse Day Four! Wheeee!!