This week was all about the ice and snow. We get serious winter weather here in North Texas only once a year, and it usually lasts one day. Usually, it’s, “Oh, look. Snow. Pretty! Oh, look. It’s melting.” Not this year.
Remember last weekend, when I was bragging that it was so hot, I was walking around in shorts? By Tuesday, the temperatures had fallen into the teens, and there was an ice storm. For those who don’t have the pleasure, an ice storm is like a rain storm, but what falls is slushy—and when it hits a surface, it freezes. Everything gets coated in ice: windows, walkways, streets, plants, and if he holds still too long, the dog. It’s nasty.
Now, here’s the tricky part: we usually get one of these storms, and it’s icy for a day, but the next day, it warms back up, the ice melts, and all is well with the world. Not this year. It stayed cold Wednesday and Thursday, so the ice stayed. In the wee hours Friday morning, we got six inches of snow on top of the ice, which was pretty, but deceptive, because that ice was still under there, waiting for you to drive on it or walk on it. The basic message all week has been stay home. Don’t go out there. That’s how people who don’t get more than one day of inclement winter weather a year deal with snow and ice—and having lived in places where snow is a regular thing and no big deal, I find it frustrating. There are no snow plows patrolling every street. There is no shovel the snow off your sidewalk within 24 hours law. The stuff just sits there, waiting for the sun to melt it off.
So, what’s a girl to do when snowed in for four days? I wish I could say I was productive, but I honestly got no work done this week. I just cooked, and sat on my butt watching movies. Oh, and I did one lone journal page, which you see here, documenting the winter blight—but I didn’t finish it until yesterday, when the ice and snow finally melted, and the whole world went to Walmart. Seriously. The parking lot was packed.
Oh, did I mention that the Super Bowl is playing today right up the street from me? Yep, it’s right across the road from my local Whole Foods, where I cannot shop today, because roads between here and there are all closed. In face, the whole south end of my city is closed, because one of the streets that leads right to the stadium runs through Euless. I will be happy when things return to normal tomorrow. Fingers crossed that the rain forecast for this afternoon doesn’t turn into snow…