[snip all of Howard's post about lots of rain]

Your rain is our ice and snow. The same
storm system that brought "enough rain to
choke a frog" down on Tennessee brought
more snow than I've seen in years down onto
southwestern Ohio.

It started snowing at about noon on Friday,
while I was out on my lunch break running
errands. Friday evening's commute home
wasn't too difficult, because the snow hadn't
picked up a whole lot yet and it wasn't
accumulating on the roads very badly. We had
to go out again; Jonathan and I had haircut
appointments at our barbershop, but again it
wasn't too terrible getting there.

By the time we got out, though, the snow was
starting to stick. We stopped for a pizza on the
way home, and hit the house around 8:00. I
didn't leave our neighborhood again until 9:40
this morning.

On Saturday we a had a respite that started
around noon, so I went out and shoveled
about six inches off the front walkway,
driveway, sidewalk, and back porch. My son
came out and "helped," which meant he
picked up small amounts of the white stuff
with his toy shovel and dumped it back onto
the driveway and inside the garage. I didn't
mind cleaning up after him too much though,
because he was having a good time. Until he
slipped on a patch of ice and fell on his butt,
that is. He didn't want to help daddy anymore
after that.

It really didn't snow very much overnight
Saturday, but we didn't leave the house at all
on Sunday. We go to church 20 miles north
from where we live, and didn't want to risk the
trip with the roads being so bad. So I didn't
bother shoveling again until this morning.

Got up at 6AM this morning and started by
6:20. There was as much if not more snow on
the front walk, driveway, sidewalk, and back
porch as there was on Saturday. I took several
breaks to go inside, drink coffee, and get
warm while watching the news. I finished
around 9:10.

Our street wasn't plowed, but we only live
three blocks off a main road so I didn't have
too much trouble getting to work. I did have to
run a couple errands on the way (no way I was
going to go out again once I got here!) so it
took over an hour to get here.

It's pretty desolate here today. Almost half of
the people didn't make it in. The snow is
supposed to let up today, so maybe by
tomorrow the road crews will be able to get
it mostly off the roads. I hope it doesn't snow
again anytime soon, though. I'm exhausted
from all that shoveling.

Gri"pooped"shny