Saturday, January 23, 2016

Snowed In

It's snowing like mad here today. It doesn't snow in upper east Tennessee all that often--we usually get 4 measurable snows a season, when "measureable" is defined as anything over 1/4". Really I think we've had a storm like this only a handful of times since I've lived here--the most memorable between when my daughter was 2 weeks old, and the power went out, and we were hanging out in the basement because we were really afraid one of the pine trees surrounding our house was going to come down.

That was a really wet snow. Yesterday we had wet snow, though what fell on the farm was mostly ice pellets. The farm didn't get much, but I'm told downtown Bristol, 3 miles away, got several inches. We had several inches already from Thursday.

I live on a hill with a long, curving driveway. I'm good at driving in snow, courtesy of growing up in Indiana, but snow + hills + very little in the way of road salt or snow removal equipment = staying put on the farm. I know from last winter, when I had to rush my husband to the hospital in a storm, that I can unhitch my enormous truck and power through most things--but yikes. Not sure I could manage this.

Normally I really like holing up at the farm like this. It gives me an excuse to cancel all sorts of things, stay in my pajamas, read books, and write. But honestly, this time around I am annoyed. We were meant to drive to Charlotte this weekend, to see my sister and her family. My sister just moved from Wisconsin, and it's exciting having her closer. My husband and brother-in-law were going to play golf, and my sister and I were going to take my daughter to Nordstom's to buy birthday shoes (my daughter has size 11 feet; Nordstrom's stocks that size) and I was going to bury myself in Dewey and Fred, my lovely nephews. And mostly I miss my sister. It's going to be awhile before we can reschedule, because of my crazy schedule, which is entirely my doing. I'm sorry about that.

The only ways to get to Charlotte from Bristol are to go through one of two mountain passes, both of which got a foot of snow yesterday. Mountain passes in Colorado are equipped for snow like this. Mountain passes in North Carolina are not. My sister gets it, and I get it, but I don't have to be happy about it.

But now I'll sit down with my novel--the one I'm writing, not reading--which is not something I usually get to do on a Saturday. The snow is falling, silent and white. It's a beautiful world.


No comments:

Post a Comment

The comments on this blog are now moderated. Yours will appear provided it's not hateful, crass, or annoying--and the definition of those terms is left solely to me.