Fluffy Little White Stuff

I wonder if it will ever stop snowing?
Well, I mean, of course it stops snowing for small periods of time. Whole days sometimes. Even so, it has snowed more than anyone in this city considered humanly possible outside of the frozen north, or maybe Antarctica. :p
I don't really mind the snow itself. It doesn't bother me to drive in it, as long as I can get up the hill. However, it does bring a lot of other little stresses. To leave chains on or to take chains off, for one. I have already gone through one set of cable chains though, so for now that question has been answered. Chains off.
Horrible ruts and caverns and all things meant to ruin your motor vehicle have also taken shape on our roads. We had three feet in the very beginning. I nearly hunted down and shot those aquaintances of mine on Facebook crying out for rain! Something different! Yes, those of us with brains were EVER so thankful for that couple days of warm up, in which it rained, drizzled, dripped, melted, puddled, and generally created a slushy havoc of life. That is, until it all promptly froze again, and then we got another six inches. That was fun to walk through! A nice peaceful layering of snow, hiding it's icy boobytraps underneath. Of course, if you didn't break a leg, you at least found yourself glad it was frozen, so that you didn't have to WADE through it. We must have lost at least a good six to eight inches due to melt.

The ice didn't really help those already weakening roofs either, not to mention making what was already down that much harder to shovel through, AND while it was melting, huge chunks of snow from some high places, crashed down onto the ground. At least one old woman in an outlying town was buried and suffocated on her very own patio as the snow from her roof fell down on top of her.
...Okay, I admit it, I still want to kick those rain people. Fools!
Unfortunately, their undercarriage AND mine are also learning the lesson.
I am not at all exxaggerating when I say that noone should be allowed to drive in our parking lot, who does not have an all terrain vehicle.

Speaking of parking, that is another big issue. Eastern Washington University, which was set to reopen its doors tomorrow, cancelled classes because of snow. Not because it was going to snow, but because they had been plowing all of the unwanted snow into their parking lots during the break. Cheney, Washington is not such a big place. They were looking for a quick fix since it was coming down with a fury. They loaded those parking lots right on up, and now they don't have anywhere to put their returning students! There is NOWHERE to park! I suppose they will spend their first Monday hauling that snow away in trucks...to an unknown location.
I feel the pain of those with nowhere to park. Although my car is safe and sound at the moment, in a parking lot belonging in part to the people that I rent from, I have spent many more nights parked in the lot of the healthy food store kitty corner from our building. I say my prayers every night that I will not be towed. I even went in and talked to them about getting my name put on their list, so that they will call to warn me if the tow truck is on the way. It frays my nerves.

People are getting used to it. They are out and about a lot more than at first, braving the snowy roads. Most mornings it only snows three or four inches, and then the roads are clear by mid day. I don't think tomorrow is going to be one of those days. It's One in the morning and it looks to me as I peer out my window, that there is already a good three inches on the cars in the parking area next to us, and it is supposed to continue falling throughout the night. It certainly shows no signs of stopping.
Last week alone over 100 roofs collapsed in the city. I have no idea how many were residences, but I know there were at least a couple of grocery stores, a church, a gym (over the pool while people were swimming in it! - noone was hurt), and a couple different plants. One of the latter, burned to the ground shortly afterwards when the collapse sparked a fire, in some roundabout way. The firemen of course, spent a whole lot of time just trying to dig out the hydrants!
On the news they keep telling us to make sure any hydrants in our neighborhoods are dug out, as that could mean saving someones home. Precious minutes saved, not having to dig.
Of course, the neighbors are probably so bone weary from shoveling themselves out that some of them have just given up and decided to pray for no fires!

On a main arterial near where I live, the berms are so high that noone can see to get out of their driveway. Of course most of the people driving down the road are totally unaware of that fact, because who, once driving, ever really pays attention to the needs of anyone else? Okay, okay, that is uncharitable. I have seen many acts of kindness in the form of digging people out, shoveling neighbors driveways, pushing cars out of the snow, etc. etc. Still, there are quite a few idiots out there who I would like to give a good talking to (though I am sure it would do little good). People are in such a hurry to get where they are going, they don't look out for others on the road the way that they should. Blessedly, we have not had too many accidents. All things considered, that is a pretty big deal.

I keep joking around that we will be utterly buried in snow...a lost city. At some future date perhaps we will thaw out, or others of our kind will come and dig until they find us. Last year there was a ton of snow too, although not nearly as much as this at once, and it just kept on coming until well into the spring.
So, for my part, Al Gore can keep his Prius. Environmentally savvy or not, I would certainly prefer a vehicle with a foot or more of clearance, and all wheel drive. Of course, if this keeps up, I might as well just buy myself a bobcat. That way I can just plow the snow out of my way as I head to work. =)