Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago." ~ Christina Rossetti
I am snowed in today, and unable to go to work. I don't know how deep it is out there, but the street has not yet been plowed, and is not passable.
Front Yard (That's George Washington's tree on the left)
Back YardThis is about the fourth significant snowfall we've had here in Virgina this winter, and I understand more is coming in a few days.
I hate snow. I can't remember ever liking snow. Even as a child, my first memory of snow was walking home from school in snow up to my hips. When I got home, my feet itched from near frostbite. I was miserable.
I'd like to have Al Gore right here in front of me to re-explain Global Warming to me. And maybe shovel my driveway.
If we get much more of this Global Warming, we're all going to freeze to death.
Every year I make this vow:
"I'm moving to Arizona."
But, of course I won't. But every time I say it, I really mean it.
This year my vow is somewhat different:
I'm going to throw a snow shovel over my shoulder, and start heading south until someone stops me and says, "What the heck is that there thang there?"
And then I'll settle down.
12 comments:
I grew up in North Dakota, so this is old hat to me. Difference is, I don't have to walk two miles to school in snow that came up to my hips. When I got there, my pants were so frozen, it was like wearing to stove pipes -- I couldn't bend my knees. I'll be taking my second night off from work.
TRY to stay warm. I feel your pain as we were in the middle of the ice storm last year that shut down Western Kentucky. We were stuck at our house listening to large limbs and trees fall praying none would hit the house.
Did I mention we were three weeks without electricity or running water? After two weeks when the roads were cleared and safe, we headed to Florida to visit family ... and the beach. :)
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S TREE? Come tell me what that is!! Are you serious!? ??????
Oh, Mark..hang in there, my friend. It looks dismal to me and a bit 'close' for my taste when the sky matches the ground but it does have a beauty to it.
That's a song lyric, isn't it, by the way? I think I know the melody...very pretty.
Be warm and see my Sunday Faith Blog tomorrow....maybe it'll help! :-)
I have the same question as Z:
That's George Washington's tree on the left
Of course, as a native Virginian, I know that George Washington might well have planted many a tree in the Fredericksburg area.
This snow will keep us in for several days, IMO. I can barely see my cars! Getting them dug out is going to be a Herculean task.
Z and AOW:
Our house sits on land that was once owned by George Washington's parents. Their farm was called Ferry Farm. The original site of their house is less than a mile from where I now sit. I live in Ferry Farm sub-division.
The tree in front of our house is a very old tree, and may very well have been climbed by little George himself. When the sub-division was built, the street our house sits on was built around the tree. It is in the middle of the street.
So, I call it George Washington's tree.
I think that's pretty cool, don't you?
Two years ago an Indiana Ice storm brought down tons of lumber on my yard. I vowed then and there to MOVE BACK TO FLORIDA.
LAST NIGHT, i SAT IN SHORTS AND A t-SHIRT DRINKING BEER UNDER THE STARS ON THE sandy PATIO OF MY FAVORITE BURGER SHACK..
To each his own!!
Go Gatuh!
This 30 inches of snow is brought to you by Algore's Global Warming Snake Oil and Climate Control.
If we'd just all start driving SUVs again, this stuff will go away.
Prediction: In the near future, Algore and friends will start saying, "See! We brought attention to it and it's working! Global Warming is being defeated because of our wonderful efforts."
Mark, that is so cool that you're living on American history!!
We're expecting more snow today and tomorrow. But nothing close to what you have!
"pretty cool?" You BET!
(don't look now, but EVERYTHING looks "pretty COOOOL" where you are now :-) (heh heh!)
But, seriously, I can't imagine living near SUCH HISTORY! VERY VERY neat, Mark..I hope you do a story on that neighborhood some day...give us more details, things you've heard. I LOVE that stuff! Thanks for telling us about that...xxx
There isn't really much of a remnant of the history surrounding this neighborhood. Last year (or the year before that), the foundation of the family home was discovered about a hundred yards or so from the presumed location of the original home. That is, they knew approximately where the house sat, but only recently found the actual outline of the foundation. The original house has been gone for a couple of hundred years.
I understand that this tree that stands exactly in the middle of the street directly in front of the house I now reside in, is about the oldest tree in the neighborhood and most likely existed when Washington was running and playing on his family's land when he was a boy.
Ferry Farm, billed as "George Washington's boyhood home" is on the national registry of historical places. I haven't visited there yet, because they charge a fee, and as a Scotsman, I am notoriously cheap.
However, there are several locations within 20 miles or so where Civil war battles took place, including "bloody angle", and the battle of Fredericksburg, and they are free to visit, so I've been to them.
Amazing! I have never seen snow like that in real life EVER! I am a California Sissy. Keep the pictures coming. I am so interested in seeing how it seems the whole 2/3 of the US is covered in snow right now!
But I wanted to know - it's not like they portray it in Little House on the Priarie episodes or Campbell Soup commercials - is it? No one is stoking the fire, playing board games, while the crock pot is going and cookies in the oven for weeks on end...and everyone happy sitting around telling their favorite snow story?
I always think I am missing out because I don't get seasons...but seeing this...maybe not.
First time I saw the movie "Fargo" and I see those two lane roads of feet and feet of snow I seriously thought - Now that is what hell looks like to me...not Fire but miles and miles of feet of snow!
Now no one HIT ME but it is 75 degrees here in Orange County, California today. But I know even the weather couldn't make you move here!
Tonto, I guess great minds think alike. the opening scene in Fargo was exactly what my neighborhood looked like during the peak of the storm. I almost couldn't see anything but white.
Don't kid yourself. I would be ecstatic if I could move to someplace always warm like Orange County. I've been there before.
I don't know if I could though, Does Anaheim have a statute of Limitations on hitchhiking on the freeway? I never paid the ticket I got in 1970 in the shadow of the Matterhorn.
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