Blame Louise

As living proof that Old Man Winter, Jack Frost, and the Canadian Clipper DO listen to Louise's taunts, we are getting well socked-in by the first REAL storm of the year.  I had shoveled about 2-3 inches before running in for dinner this evening and last I looked, about 3 more inches have fallen since then.  Something like 10 inches are predicted by tomorrow.  If your day is or was affected by this weather, please leave a Comment below to address the proper cause of this calamity (*cough*, Louise...)

You could sorta sense it in the air this morning that people were taking this storm a little more seriously.  Actually, you could sense it in the air the day before, when I was in the Commissary and the checkout line wrapped halfway around the store!  It took about 30 minutes to get to the cashier, where I met some poor kid at what was probably his first day of work.  Unfortunately for him, his manager was standing over his shoulder, barking to him at what to do.  Probably not the best day for a beginner, but I wasn't about to give him or her any more advice.

This morn, I cruised out to the mall to have Louise's computer looked at and get some more gifties.  The mall was pretty full by 10am (are there THAT many other grad students who just finished finals and have time off???) and the roads were packed by noon.   I stopped by Ace Hardware to pick up the last toboggan in the store - if we're going to get snowed-in, we might as well enjoy it on our little backyard hill!!  Yeah!!

Speaking of roads, if you think Christmas is in the air at this time of year, you certainly wouldn't know it behind the wheel.  The only religiously-tainted sounds I heard on the drive home were of the "God-d******!" and "Jesus Christ, MOVE!!!" variety.  ( by other drivers of course, not by me!)  Apparently, many businesses let out early to allow people to avoid the brunt of the storm - but unfortunately, it meant ALL the people who would normally space their commutes out over three hours were now trying to get home at the very same moment.  Very Un-Christmasy out there, my friends.

Once home & back in a zen-like state, we waited for a few inches to accumulate and brought Kai out for his first toboggan ride.  Louise test-rode the toboggan for its first run and nearly plummeted into the river - we now know you DON'T need a running start in our backyard unless you want to clear the river.   Kai seemed to enjoy the toboggan runs, clapping his hands for more and shouting 'Go Go Go!' before & after.  Sadly, it was getting dark and none of us had on good gloves, so we turned in for the night.  Kai told us we'd better be ready to jump the river tomorrow or he'll never look up to us again....