Life in Our Snow Globe and Some Lessons

It's no news flash, but we got more snow overnight.  How much?  Around a foot.  We lost power for most of the night too.  No school again today.  But Mary wasn't going anyway, so it all worked out.  She is at a Model United Nations conference in Boston for the next four days.  So today's snow day was another one that cooperated with her schedule!  Even though she didn't have school, in the spirit of education, I decided that in this post I would share with you some of the things we learned today.

Today's first lesson:  don't believe everything you read.  The internet said Mary's train from New Haven to Boston would be running 36 minutes late.  I called Amtrak and their automated system confirmed this.  But here is Mary on her way OUT of the station.  After we arrived we were told that all trains were cancelled and there wouldn't be a train to Boston for an untold number of hours.  So instead, we took to the open highway.

It was a pretty messy highway.  The snow stopped before dawn, but there was so much of it still on the road and with the sun shining brightly and temperatures in the 30s, there was a nonstop shower/spray from other vehicles on the road for our first 100 miles.  It was nasty.  At one of the service stations on the Massachusetts Turnpike, I decided it was time for the today's second lesson:  teach Mary how to refill the wiper fluid.  She is laughing because I got out my camera to record the moment.

Today's third lesson:  the girl can be taught!

John gets credit for the brilliant idea that I drop Mary off on the side of the road.  Yes, you read that right.  You see, while the freeways were pretty clear, we weren't so sure how things would be in downtown Boston.  With so many narrow streets, many of them one-way, probably not perfectly plowed (yet), and with a fairly wimpy winter car, John (on his way to class) called us with the idea that I drop Mary off at a subway stop that's right off the highway (and not too far from Tufts, which is how I know where it is).  Today's fourth lesson:  listen to John.  His plan was brilliant.  Here is Mary at Alewife Station, ready to hop on the T and head over to the conference in downtown Boston.  (She got there just fine, by the way.)  She is at the conference until Sunday, when she will (fingers crossed) take the train home.  She's meeting up with the Shorewood delegation, whose flight was delayed due to our weather, so they're arriving early this evening.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, this is the stairs and railing that go from our driveway up to the path that leads to our front door.  Needless to say, they're not being used at this time.

Our mailbox, now completely snowed in.  (By the way, for the safety conscious among you, right after I took this picture I carved some of the snow away so our house number on the mailbox shows again.)

I don't know if this picture gives you the perspective to see how much snow is in our front yard.  We rarely use our front door to begin with, but choosing not to shovel the front walk for just one of our many snowfalls led to this "there's no turning back now" scenario.  We won't see our front walkway again until spring.  Today's fifth lesson:  snow accumulates.

Again trying to give some perspective.  This is the sliding door from our bedroom to the deck.  (In case you're wondering, no, we don't normally keep the door open in winter.)  I think you can see how high the snow is.  That path is Allie's.  Brad shoveled her a path after the last snowfall, but as you can see it is no longer.  I'm sure he'll dig her another one over the weekend.