It's Snowing!

In the ultimate Trick or Treat gesture, it's snowing in October.

Anti-White Christmas

My son commented that Irving Berlin was crazy. "He's in Beverly Hills for Christmas, and he is complaining?"
"I know, I'd give serious money to be bored by the pool in Beverly Hills right now."
"And all these songs about winter being the most wonderful time of the year are just pro-winter propaganda."
Question: why does no one sing of the pleasures of being in California at Christmas? I grew up there, and believe me, it is a pleasure. It is usually warm, people can barbecue, ride bikes and walk by the beach.
It was snowing on Thursday when I was at the doctor's office. I mentioned that the snow was a shock still to a warm weather California girl like me. The doctor laughed. "This is nothing!", she said. "I'm from Chicago."
And people can stop with the weather one-upmanship too.
If I whine about the ice and freezing rain here in Virginia, I can guarantee that some wiseacre will inform me in a smug tone that they are from New Hampshire/Vermont/ Wisconsin/North Dakota/Canada/North Pole and there "We'd be walking around in shorts in weather like this."

At Last, Understanding

My mom always used to tell us this story when we were kids, but we didn't really understand the story until recently.
My father is color blind. (This is not normally a problem for him; he buys all of his socks the same color, so that they always match.)
When I was a baby, we lived in Buffalo. As you know, Buffalo is a very snowy place. The winter that I was one, and my brother just a little baby, it was very snowy. My father went out to dig out his car to go to work. He was a grocery store manager, and he had to get to work to open the store. They don't close stores in Buffalo because of snow. (When I was a child in California, my father would enthrall us with tales of walking to school barefoot, backwards, in blizzards and icy winds...but I digress.)
He went out to dig out the car, which was buried in snow. He tried to open the door, only to discover that he had dug out someone else's car.
Family legend has it that he turned on his heel, walked back into the apartment and instructed my Mother, "Pack up the kids, Martha, we're moving to California."
After the last week of weather, now I totally understand why.

Cargo Cult

Like the islanders on some remote Pacific atoll, we villagers lurk around the cul de sac, trying to think of ways to lure in a snow plow.
We trade rumors. "I hear the plow was seen on Maryland Ave by Mt. Vernon High school." "No, that was just a neighbor's F150."
We trade grocery store horror stories, "They were out of flour! Eggs! There is no butter in Alexandria!" Which makes me wonder...is everyone baking Toll House cookies? Which then makes me want Toll House Cookies.
Wait! I hear the rumble! yes! The PLOW IS HERE!

Storm Map

Here's a storm map my sister sent to me this morning.
We are in the "hit the liquor store" zone. No wait, the totally *&^%#@* zone.
My daughter reports that people were fighting over onions at the Gallery Place Safeway in DC last night.
They have pulled the snowplows off the streets because of unsafe conditions.
And if I hear one more smug person from Upstate New York speak condescendingly about our regional snow coping skills they will be sent back to Upstate New York. On foot. Today.

Keep Digging

What? More snow? Shoveling more snow makes me feel like Devil Dog!

Chilly Wind and Downy Flake

Feel like a picnic?



Snow is deeper than our dogs are high



They have to walk in Mr. Hunting Creek's wheel marks


The plows have not been to our neighborhood, so Mr. Hunting Creek shouldered his shovel (worth its weight in gold hereabouts) and dug out the cars. Then he dug out our driveway. Then he worked on our end of the cul de sac. Then he drove to the highway to see how bad it was. It was bad. He drove to get some milk. He reported back that some neighborhoods had been plowed. He suspected that since our governor was now a Republican, that the Republican neighborhoods had been plowed first. Since he worked on the campaign last year, he knows which are which. I suggested that this must be a coincidence, that maybe those neighborhoods were closer to the highway, or just lucky. He remained suspicious.
The plows still have not been here. More snow is expected tomorrow. If you don't have 4WD, you aren't going anywhere. (Unless you live on a Republican street?
Just sayin'...)

A Division of Labor

Mr. Hunting Creek today: get up at 630am, let the dogs out, make coffee, bring caffe latte to grateful spouse (me), let dogs back in, go out to the grocery store to get dog food (because yesterday Trader Joe had no dog food), call grateful spouse from grocery store to advise what he was buying (but really he wanted to say - hey I found standing rib roasts on sale - SNOW DAY SCORE!), go to hardware store to fill up propane tank in case power goes out, get Snow melt stuff for sidewalks, come back, unpack groceries, sit down read paper, drink coffee, (this is all before 8AM)work remotely all day, then call daughter at work, tell her she better spend the weekend here instead of snowed in her apartment alone on Capitol Hill. Drive to train station at 5p to pick up daughter. In Blizzard (what dads do). Make standing rib roast (If you were stuck anywhere in the snow, you'd want to be stuck with Mr. Hunting Creek. His motto is Be Prepared. He told me today that this runs in his family: his ancestor had advised the Donner Party not to cross the Sierra Nevada when and where they did. His ancestor crossed into Oregon with all of his oxen and family members uneaten. They are a practical bunch, his people.)
Mrs. Hunting Creek today: Drink caffe latte, work, tell Mr. Hunting Creek he is a Snow Day Genius to get Standing Rib Roast for dinner. Bake oatmeal bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (it's fabulous, and yes, actual work was under 5 minutes). Set table. Eat dinner made by Mr. Hunting Creek. (Mr. Hunting Creek is a great cook.) Make dough for sticky buns for breakfast. (It's a Snow Emergency, People!) Watch Trashy Westerns with family.
I think I like snow days.

Snow Emergency

Here is Northern Virginia, panicking before a snowstorm is our major winter sport.
The grocery stores are cleared out.
Mr. Hunting Creek stopped at Trader Joe's yesterday afternoon and reported that the meat aisle was picked clean (except for filet mignon and prime ribs) and there was no bread! None! or onions, or dog food. Plenty of vegetables though. But no low fat milk. Jack Shafer of Slate posted a picture showing that vegetables were cleaned out at his Safeway.Except for mushrooms. I guess those don't go in Super Bowl Chili.
All of the snow shovels are sold out. (I always wonder - don't these people already have snow shovels? It does snow every year. We've had ours since 1990. They last a long time.)
It hasn't started yet, but we are ready. Bring on the hot chocolate!

White Christmas

It started snowing last night and shows no signs of stopping. Bob Ryan says we might get two feet. For the Washington DC area, that might as well be ten feet - people are seriously snow averse here. The stores are sold out of sliced bread, sandwich meat, potato chips and toilet paper. Do people here only eat cold sandwiches during snow storms? Being a California girl, I sometimes still do not understand the East Coast Mind. What's with the potato chips and cold cuts?
Chez Hunting Creek, we'll make soup and homemade rolls and salad, and watch football while we wrap presents. I might even sew some last minute gifties.
I feel sorry for the stores though. This is a big shopping weekend for them and now no one can get out on the East Coast to go shopping!
Is all of your shopping done? Mine sure isn't.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah to all!

Snowed In

The schools are closed, the roads are slippery, but the snow is awfully pretty from in here.
And the dogs love to play in it.


My son is happy because school is closed.

Where ever you are, I hope you are cozy and warm and enjoying your hot chocolate!