First Snow of the Season

This past weekend was the first significant snowfall of the season -- the prediction was 5 inches, although I'm not clear on whether we got that much. The kids woke up and saw the flakes flying and were super excited. Me, not so much. I've never really cared for snow. Am I the only one who notices that it's cold???

After lunch, I layered them up -- pants below jeans, two pairs of socks, snow pants, big bulky coats, scarves and hats. Edith's old boots were too tight, so those went to Atticus. (Luckily I had a larger pair in reserve for her.) Layer after layer after layer. By the end, they resembled onions more than kids.

I grumbled as I got them ready, but in truth I was ready for them to head out the door. Mostly because I didn't plan to step one foot outside. Paul took them out for two glorious hours while I basked in the silence and finished a book. I didn't even peek outside to see what they were doing (thus, no photos).

My other snow responsibilities? Making the cocoa when they returned inside and a bowl of snow ice cream for both kids the next day. If this is what snow means in the future for this family, maybe I could get used to it.

Photo Friday: Snowballs vs. The Tree

Paul and Edith had fun on a snowy Monday afternoon.

Feb. 15, 2016

Snowmageddon: Ohio vs. New York

The extreme amounts of snow and plunging temperatures that both Columbus and New York City have seen in the last few days-- and will continue to experience this week -- made Paul and me wonder: in which city is it better to experience snowmageddon?

My conclusion: It depends on your daily schedule and the risks you are willing to take. I'm better off in Ohio. Paul, I think, would be better off in New York.

You see, when a giant snowstorm comes to New York, cars can stay put. Alternate side parking regulations are suspended. Paul wouldn't be expected to drive to work; he could just take the subway to the office.

Of course, simply getting to the subway required trudging through several blocks of piled-high snow: a treacherous task indeed. But at least the worst-case scenario from that commute was a slip on the ice or a step into an ankle-deep puddle of slush. In Ohio, there's always the real chance of getting into a snow-day accident or slipping into the ditch.

For me, who generally stays close to home, Ohio is better on the worst of the winter days. I can stay inside without getting too stir-crazy. After all, Edith and I have an entire house to roam and not just a tiny apartment. And if we do have to venture out, we don't have to deal with the snowy, slippery sidewalks. A quick walk to the garage, followed by a short drive (probably not even on a highway!), and we're done.

Another Ohio bonus: We now control our heat! No more being at our landlord's mercy when the mercury plummets.

Finding "Nemo" in Brooklyn

In the last two years, New York has seen two hurricanes and even a small earthquake, so it's only natural that a blizzard was to be next on the list.

Worries about winter storm Nemo began Thursday, when drivers hoarded gas, remembering the shortages and rationing after Hurricane Sandy. Our car already had half of a tank, so Paul didn't have to bother filling up. Still, he took the subway into work instead of driving. I was glad he did. The snow, rain and then snow again began just in time for Friday's morning commute, was even worse for the evening commute and didn't let up until early Saturday morning.

But when all was said and done, the storm wasn't bad at all, at least in our area of Brooklyn. News reports say that Central Park got 11 inches of snow, but I'd be surprised if Bay Ridge got half that. There were certainly enough flakes to cover the sidewalks and streets, but not so much that the plows hadn't cleared the roadways here pretty quickly.

Of course, we were lucky. Parts of Long Island got two feet of snow, and accumulation in Connecticut reached upwards of three feet. In Bay Ridge, however, it was just a normal snowfall.

NYC's First Snow of Winter 2011-2012

New York City got its first real snowfall of the season on Saturday, but as far as I was concerned we could have kept on waiting.

I was beginning to think (read: hope) that we just might escape winter without the sounds of shovels scraping the sidewalk. It's been an odd season. After all, the first Saturday of January was so warm that some people were walking around Bay Ridge without even wearing a coat. The only real winter-like weather was way back in October, when a freak snowstorm dropped big, wet flakes that made a slushy mess on the sidewalks and roads.

But when I awoke Saturday morning, there was a thick layer of white on the cars and streets. When all was said and done, about 4 inches had fallen. But I won't complain too loudly -- today we're supposed to return to unseasonably warm weather in the 50s.

January is typically my least favorite month -- the holidays are over, the decorations come down and the weather is frigid. If every January were like this, however ... well, I could get used to that.

A New York Blizzard ... Again

This is my fourth winter in New York City, and it has been the worst by far.

Paul and I missed the mother of all snowstorms on December 26, but the remnants remained on the ground when we returned from Ohio in January. They haven't left; they've only been added to.

The latest blizzard (and yes, it seems like we've gotten only blizzards and never just regular old snow) arrived Wednesday morning and continued off and on until early Thursday. When I walked home from the subway Wednesday evening, I even got pummeled with kosher salt-sized hail. By the time I woke up Thursday morning, the accumulation equaled 19 inches.

Someone got up early to clear off this sidewalk by 9 a.m.!

Paul didn't drive to work, of course -- not only were the roads in terrible condition, but a lot of the automobiles in the neighborhood were so completely covered that it looked as if the streets were lined with snowcars instead of snowmen. Only about half of the sidewalks were clear, and I frequently had to step into piles of snow just as high as my tall rubber boots.

The "fun" isn't over. More snow is predicted for today and Saturday. In addition, several inches of snow are piled atop the tree branches, and Paul has already been smacked in the head once by a cold, wet fluff of snow.

Spring is much too far away.

Paul draws a happy face on the front of a car.

Snowpocalypse 2.0: Winter in New York

I missed the big post-Christmas blizzard that slammed New York with about 20 inches last month, so I was surprisingly eager for the sequel Tuesday night.

The snow started in the early evening, and we watched the snow quickly cover the cars across the street, the sidewalks and the sky. It was still going strong when we went to bed about midnight. Everyone was prepared for an onslaught.

Paul had a pre-scheduled conference call Wednesday morning to determine whether he and his co-workers would be expected to come into work. They were. I logged onto the MTA website on my phone from bed, saw that my subway line was running normally and realized this snowmageddon was anything but.

I shimmied into my calf-high plastic rain boots that do double-duty as snow boots -- a must-have for New York winters and springs. The neighborhood roads had been plowed, and most of the sidewalks were clear, too. My boots came in handiest at the sloppy intersections.

Only a few sections of the sidewalk hadn't yet been cleared, but the commuters who had come before me had already pounded down a narrow path through the snow. The worst part of my trek to the subway was the slick and slushy steps leading down into the station.

We received eight or nine inches of snow, but my commute was exactly the same, but slipperier. The only indication that this winter hasn't been normal are the gigantic piles of snow -- some almost as tall as me -- that surround the cars, a leftover from blizzards past.

All in all, Wednesday's "blizzard" ended up being more of an annoyance than a snowpocalypse.

A Trashy Start to the New Year

As if returning to the real world after a week of vacation and holidays wasn't bad enough, we got to New York City only to find that it looked like an even bigger city had taken a giant dump on it.

We missed the brunt of the blizzard that covered the city in 20 inches of snow just after Christmas. Instead, we came home to piles of trash.

Garbage was collected on Monday for the first time since the storm -- but it wasn't picked up everywhere. I counted 65 bulging bags on one block near our apartment; about 40 on another. There's a good 35 bags just at our 6-unit building alone.

In fact, an Associated Press brief notes that a man who jumped from his ninth-floor apartment was saved  when he landed in a pile of garbage bags.

Most of the snow was gone when we got into Brooklyn late Sunday night. The curbs had just enough snow to make parking annoying but not impossible. The sidewalks, unfortunately, are still lined with snow and ice. I'm a long way from the 62-degree weather I was blessed with in Columbus on New Year's Eve.

If the return to New York was trashy, my week in Ohio was just the opposite. More on that Friday.

February Snow

I hate February, or at least February weather.

This month was no exception, as the snow came down in piles. Sure, the snow is pristine ... for about two hours. You have to enjoy it while you can. Quickly.

But We Still Have a Shovel Anyway

"I don't have a shovel; I have a landlord," I overheard a co-worker say on Friday. The Eastern seaboard was to be hit with a big snowstorm, and conversations inevitably turned to the weather.

The comment made me smile, and it also made me think. I haven't shoveled snow in almost three years. (And yes, I did shovel snow in Columbus. My wonderful husband would always be the one to shovel early in the morning before we left for work, but I would dig out his cozy Carhartt, two sizes too big for me, and shovel when I got home from work.)

The snow hadn't started when I went to bed Friday night, but there was an inch or two and counting when I awoke on Saturday. Even still, when I looked out our living room window, it appeared that our building's superintendent had already cleared the sidewalks. Sometimes apartment living isn't so bad at all.

And yet, we still do own a shovel. We store it in the car trunk, just in case we need to dig ourselves out. We haven't used it in -- you guessed it -- almost three years.

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Brooklyn and all of New York saw its first major snowfall of the year yesterday-- and by far the biggest snowstorm I've seen since we moved here more than two years ago.

The flakes started falling about noon Saturday, just before Paul embarked on his 12-hour drive to Ohio (I'll meet him there on Christmas Eve). But the snow didn't keep me home-bound, although perhaps it should have. A friend planned an outing to a bowling alley in Williamsburg long before the storm was predicted, so out I went.

Brooklyn Bowl: The biggest indoor space I've ever seen in the borough.

The snow was simply annoying when I left the apartment- a dusting on the sidewalks, but nothing to get worked up about. But by the wee hours of Sunday morning, the snowfall and drifts meant it was impossible to walk outside without looking like an enthusiastic member of the marching band, knees up to your chest with every step.

Luckily, a friend with a Jeep gave me a ride home before dropping off two others. And even better, they waited to make sure I could get into my apartment before taking off. I couldn't. The downstairs door was frozen shut. With a well-placed kicked, Alex opened the door.

I haven't left the apartment today, and I don't plan to. From our living room window, I can tell the sidewalks and streets are clear, but there's still some nasty drifts, and I can hear the cars kick up the slush. I doesn't take long for snow to get ugly.