55.9 inches so far

A banner year for snow here in DC. That is the official snow fall for DC, but that is at one of the airports, and I always have more snow than they have so I think it is safe to say we have had over 5 flippin feet of snow this year. We have broken 100+ year old records.

Everyone has a story to tell. Where can I begin with mine? Here is what comes to mind right off the bat.

1. Note to self, husband does not like to shovel, now I know. He would rather walk through the snow than shovel. BUT he has an amazing truck that has gotten me to work in weather that even the snow plows were called off the road!!!!!!!! And he will drive 6 miles to his sisters house to borrow her snow blower (they lived in Fargo North Dakota for a while and HAD to have one. I am sure after this winter the Kuchta's will have one too AND a mini generator) But again I digress.

Our steet sidewalk after the first snow....done with a borrowed snow blower!





2. For about 4 hours, was that yesterday or Tuesday?, we were told to "shelter in place". Translation: you cannot go out on the roads, even the snow plows are getting stuck. They have been called back to the depot. Meanwhile I had just arrived at work and Rambo the Ram 1500 had delivered me in warm safety! We had to come in to do......wait for it.....breast implants. The patient said she had an important event she was going to on Saturday and she HAD to have her breasts done. She and the hospital need a shrink, not surgery. She risked the lives of at least 5 people to MAKE HER BREASTS BIGGER FOR A PARTY. What is wrong with tomorrow (Friday, or today). We did do an appendectomy, a breast cancer case, a sigmoid colon resection and a prostate resection. But give me a break. I breast augmentation. I should stop before I get in trouble. The "shelter in place" ban was lifted and I wanted OUT and to get home to Tim to be sure we still had power and did not need to Rambo out to the Hilton again. (See #3 story below) Wednesday afternoon I took 3 nurses home safe and sound. The worst part of the trip was again my own neighborhood. It has been 2 storms and still no plow has seen our street. The Dodge has made tracks, but that is about it. This morning Tim and I retraced my trip from last night and picked them up 3 nurses this morning. So the 5 of us arrived safe and sound back at Sibley for more surgery. Here is what we dug out to leave in the no electricity afternoon.




3. Tim is an amazing driver in the snow. Saturday morning our power went completely off. It has flickered off and on all night during the storm (at this point I've forgotten which storm that was, but the weekend one). We got up and were cheerful as the sun was rising and it was still snowing, but we had a warm house and were optimistic the power would return. I called PEPCO and they seemed optimistic as well. By noon the house was "cooling to 60" we lit the 5 gas burners and got up to a heat wave of 65! Another call to PEPCO, not so optimistic. "could be days", there are over 100,000 without power. Time for the wind up radio Tim has in our emergency preparedness area. Very helpful (I highly recommend one to everyone, you think you'll never need one until you are without power and WISH YOU HAD ONE), as it had more bad news about the storm not stooping, and the likelihood of those without power not having it anytime soon. By this point we are both back in bed, fully clothed and cold. The snow is about 2 feet deep and not one plow to be seen nor heard in or near the neighborhood. We live on a "tertiary" street, so the hopes of a plow would be Monday at the earliest. We had tucked out cars in off the street as best we could. My Buick was backed in and kissing the wall. Tim's truck was perpendicular across the apron of the driveway to be off the street for "plowing" whenever and IF that ever happened AND to cover more square footage to avoid the dreaded shoveling (remember #1 above). Well, Tim decided it was time to go to a hotel. We started calling on the land line phone we have with a cord, it pays to be old fashioned sometimes. (Also part of Tim's emergency preparedness). We started in Silver Spring (one mile away) and the laughed, all hotels were ALREADY full. They transferred us to the sister hotel in Rockville. Same story. We wound up in Gaithersburg, about 11 miles away at the Hilton.


more to tell, but the new survivor is on...and I have photos.....the hotel was an experience in and of itself..........

AND we are expecting more snow on Monday.

stay tuned, so much more to tell......I need a DVR!