Prepping for Snow

Before I start talking about the weather, I'll share a nice sunset picture from Friday evening. You can see the contrails left by the jet planes. We are under a major flight path from Dulles Airport.

The forecast for a snow storm this weekend started well in advance. I went to two supermarkets on Thursday and both were crowded, with some items already sold out. There was talk about two feet of snow, but the forecast kept changing, as it usually does in the mountain-valley region. With a mountain range separating us from West Virginia, that state often gets snow that doesn’t cross the mountains to Virginia. 

As it turned out, our snow was only slightly more than ankle deep today, but covered with layers of sleet. Temperatures have been very cold and are not expected to go above freezing for a week.

I made efforts to prepare. On Saturday, I searched for the hose bib covers that I used a couple of years ago, but did not find them. I improvised, loosely following instructions seen on a plumbing advice page. I used a fleece neck gaiter that I never wore, banding it around the spigot, then doubling it back and securing it with duct tape. I had an insulated foil bag that I had saved, so I cut that and wrapped it around the fleece, securing it with duct tape also. This should do the job, and it’s on the back of the house so the lack of beauty doesn’t matter.

 

I moved the snow shovel to a convenient spot, likewise the pet-safe ice melt crystals. I had extra food and water. There was a chance that our electricity would go out, and likelihood that we would not be able to drive to a store, so everyone shopped ahead of time. Oh, and I filled the car with gas.  

The snow started last night before I went to bed. The sound of heavy equipment plowing snow on the street woke me up a couple of times. This morning, I put on boots and warm clothing to try to clear a path for Charlie to walk, but the ice was hard to shovel so I only cleared the steps and doormats. One of the mats is heated to stay above freezing. I noticed that about a third of it was not working well enough to melt the snow, but at least there was a nice clear section. 

Neighbors across the street were clearing their cars and driveway. My lawn care guy is supposed to come to clear my driveway, but I think he decided to wait until the snow and sleet stopped falling, so I hope he comes tomorrow morning.

Oh, my ice melt product had caked up into a hard block like a rock, so I couldn’t use it. I banged it around a little bit and put a desiccant packet into the container. I might be able to salvage some of it.

Charlie refused to walk in the snow and sleet. We went outside three or four times, but he never got farther than three feet off the heated mat. Then he looked around at me as if horrified, and came running back in the house.

He has walked in snow before, but it wasn’t this cold, Last winter, we only had a light snow that melted off the driveway within a few hours. 

I’ll close with a picture of a bird in a tree.