The Stewart Blog

We have the power! It came back on just in time for the Super Bowl. And just before we left to watch it with the Pooles. While we had a bigger TV they had heat and chili. It was nice to come back to a warm house.

Most neighborhood streets have a single lane plowed and packed snow with a few patches of pavement. Fort Hunt and Route 1 were mainly slush - driving was slow but manageable. Even so, I think the federal government was correct in shutting down for today.

Sunday, 2:45 – Still no power. Even though Caitlin says, “Let there be light!”

We have fled the house to Panera for lunch, the internet, and an outlet to charge our phones. I’ve been writing posts that haven’t gone out so I’ll post them all now.

Sunday, 9:40 am – Still no power. Thankfully we have large southern facing windows so our living is relatively warm. It makes for a good spot for us all to sit and read. Unfortunately we have no newspapers, but Scotty has the Economist, Caitlin the second of the Percy Jackson books that John and I read last summer, John is reading from and quoting “A Wrinkle in Time,” and I’ve got yet another Anne Perry mystery.

Sleeping was fine – cold doesn’t stand a chance against two down comforters and a husband. The house was at 49 degrees when I came downstairs, but our living room is a toasty 64 degrees now.

Uncle Bobby called. Since he has power he can looked online at the Dominion website and informed us that the map said we should have power by noon.

Saturday, 7:30 pm – We miss electricity! The house is down to 61 degrees although by boiling water on the our gas stove I’ve warmed the kitchen up to a toasty 64 degrees. We’ve got lots of candles lit, Caitlin’s ipod playing on speaker, and books and sudoko.

Earlier we played John’s game of Dominion that Uncle Bobby gave him for Christmas. He just killed us. We finally fled outside to shovel the snow. There were times I felt like Sisyphus as there always seemed to be more to shovel, but we got his car completely cleared and the driveway open. The snow had actually stopped by the time we were done. The plow came by an hour or so later, but it shouldn’t be too bad to shovel out what it threw into our driveway and we’ll head out tomorrow.

Final total – 22 inches!

Saturday, 11:20 pm - Okay, I’m ready for this to be over. The power has just gone out. Again. Foolishly we didn’t crank up the heat this morning so the house is currently at 66 degrees and now dropping.

When I started shoveling about 9:30 we were up to 13 inches. I think we’ve had two since then because there was a lot on the sidewalk before Scotty cleared it for the second time.

This tree may not make it. Scotty cleared much of the snow from it, but it still is pretty bent.

Lucky LOVES the snow, but hates the camera which is why she isn’t looking too happy here. She romped around with John and her almost 15 year old bones will probably be sore for the rest of the day.

Lots to shovel out. We’ve got some guys going by with snow blowers so at least our sidewalks are in pretty good shape. A contractor came through with a snow plow sometime last night so at least a single lane has been plowed. That may be all we see for a long time.

The storm got decidedly less fun when the power went out about 9:30 last night. So we rounded up the flashlights, handed out one per person, and went to bed. About 4:30 this morning I realized Socks had come to sleep with us which is unusual these days. Then I heard the heat going and realized the power was back on and Socks wasn’t sleeping with us to be social, but rather thought it was time to eat because he hadn’t gotten his late night feeding.

Lucky, Coo, and I went outside. The temperature is still at 32 degrees and I could hear water dripping. It is still snowing very hard, but in very fine flakes that don’t accumulate quickly. The cars are buried and the holly tree by the house is so bent over it may not survive the storm. But according to the radar we are at the tail end of it.

Saturday, 5:00 am snow totals – lawn 9 inches, car 11. Scotty shoveled last night so I didn’t measure the driveway.

The snow is much more exciting in the news than in real life. Except for the walk John and I took around 4:00, we are inside and the snow is outside.

At that point it had been snowing consistently for about six hours and there was only an eighth of an inch of snow on the street. But by the time we arrived home it was up to quarter inch on the street so things were picking up.

Friday, 7:30 pm snow totals: driveway – 3 inches, top of the car – 5 inches, lawn – 4 inches.

NOAA predicts 16 to 22 inches overnight so there will be plenty of shoveling to do in the morning.

I think there are two ways of looking at the DC area’s reaction to this storm. Either we are in a total state of panic or we are just really good planners. The radio is full of stories about grocery stores being sold out of the basics and what to do in preparation for the chance that the power might go out.

I was surprised that the baking section at my Safeway was pretty well ravaged – including all the chocolate chips being completely gone except for one broken bag. People obviously were buying not just the milk, bread, and toilet paper required by law in this area, but are stocking up to stay inside for several days.

My own little panic was over not having enough butter for baking (I wasn’t getting out of my six deep line to run back and get it yesterday), but I found some at both 7-11 and Target today. Buying it at 7-11 – planning; buying a second box at Target – panicking.

I also think that charging all our laptops is considered good planning. If our power and consequently our internet goes out our Verizon provided battery backup will keep us online for at least 8 hours. Then I’m counting on our neighbor’s wireless network to keep us going. He has a generator and believes just as strongly as we do in an internet connection so I’m sure his wireless will be up. Otherwise, I will panic.

Current conditions: snow falling steadily, but too wet to stick to the roads.

Another “Snowmaggedon” is supposed to be approaching. We in Washington are so afraid of the weather that the federal government has declared an “unscheduled leave policy” in affect for tomorrow and Fairfax County has already cancelled schools.

So the question is: Do children still have to wear their pajamas inside-out tonight in order for it to snow?

John and I took advantage of our unwanted snow day (unwanted because now we have to go to school on Presidents’ Day) to visit the zoo. We went to see four year old panda Tai Shan’s last day in DC. Known as Butterstick to those who really love him (i.e. Uncle Bobby) he will be shipped off to China tomorrow.

Although we were turned away from the first two parking lots we tried, the zoo was practically empty. At least until we got to the panda enclosure. There the panda lovers were clustered around taking pictures and reminiscing about him and worrying about his future. We went by three times and saw him sleeping, eating, and walking around and got pictures of all three activities.

Many of the animals were inside, but we did have a great visit at the bird house, both inside and out. Our new favorite bird is the Kori Bustard which at 33 pounds it is the heaviest bird that flies. There was just something about the thick legs, the soft, loose neck feathers, and the way it looked at us that made it very appealing. The flock of flamingos was worth a visit, too.