Snow Day

"What?  I'm tryna sleep here."

3 February 2014

Text to Dale, 7:01 a.m.:  "It's fucking snowing."

As of 7:00 a.m., I didn't have to show up to work, but Jack did.  I convinced him that we should shovel the driveway so that the tire tracks wouldn't freeze and make our work that much more difficult later.  There were only a few inches on the ground, but the snow was heavy.  So heavy that, when I piled it up in the street next to the driveway, it looked blue.  By the time we'd cleared the driveway, another half inch had fallen onto the front walk.

If I was going to be on the road I might as well go to the lab.  This would be the third time Princeton had closed or delayed opening because of snow.  Both times before I'd gone to work anyway.  I grabbed my backpack and followed Jack to the garage.  I had the front door open and was throwing my pack in the back seat when Jack, his eyes on his phone, said, "Wait.  Rutgers just canceled classes."

Good thing we shoveled, or Jack would have received the news somewhere north of New Brunswick.

"I'm gonna take a walk up to Princeton Pike," I said, once we were inside again.  The snow in the road was deep; I walked in half-covered tire tracks.  The Pike wasn't plowed.  Three cars made their way north, slowly.  I turned back and decided to swing past Dale's house.  She and I have the same back injury, we both do stupid things that we shouldn't do, and sometimes we pay the price. Today she was paying.  I figured Sean was already at work, and since I wasn't yet paying for shoveling wet snow, there might be something I could help her with.

"I'm the abominable snow slug!"  I called out as Sean opened the door.  He'd wisely stayed home after all.  So we hung out and talked bikes.  Macy Ruth, their yappy miniature pinscher, decided that I was dog people after all.  She jumped onto my lap and promptly dozed off, burying her long snout into my elbow the way my cats do.  This was a big deal; Macy is not a calm dog when visitors are in the house.  I credit the wool sweater.

Later she decamped to the sofa.

I guess it was almost two hours later when I finally left.  I took pictures of neighborhood trees on my way home:

Then I got some photos of our yard:

This one is from the bedroom window.  The bamboo is doubled over on top of the pitch pine.  More than likely they'll all bounce back.

I shoveled twice more, and Jack once more.  Now I'm paying for heaving plowed chunks out of the driveway.  A dose of NSAIDs and some extra PT and I'll be ready for the gym tomorrow.  Dale has convinced me that today's snow is good after all.