Ma and the Big Bad Blizzard

 
Morning dawned as well as a nasty forecast. Unfortunately, son numero duos needed his pro-time. Ma knew what she had to do and steeled herself for the trial.

Warm sweater, gloves and coat were donned. The Green Lincoln of Unremitting Heat was removed from it's docking station and with engine humming and door locked, Captain Ma was heard to forcefully command, "En-gage!"

The trip commenced with cloudy skies and a brisk wind. As the 4th mile of gravel road was traversed, small snow pellets were heard to click against the windshield. The son glanced up briefly from his school book and then bent to renewed study. With a cool but wary eye Ma scanned the horizon and noticed a faint but perceptible haze in the distance.

Strange forebodings shivered through her chunky frame.

A perfect 90 degree turn brought their substantial vehicle to the small rural highway. Traffic was sparse and the haze deepened. Bits of frozen whiteness could be glimpsed at times upon the stark, unfeeling pavement.

There was a barely discernible moan to the car's heater, as though it feared to continue into the teeth of the wind. Something...was out there.

With the clinic destination near at hand, twisty lines of snow could now be seen snaking across the roadway. Whirling...writhing....shifting in tortured swirls before an unrelenting wind.

With a calm expertise Ma maneuvered the vehicle into the last available parking space. Then, heads bent against the cold onslaught, mother and son fought their way into the building, temporarily delayed by the need to manually open the automatic door.

Within minutes of checking in and sitting down, the large glass windows of the clinic display a disquieting sight...snow is falling, nay, spewing in earnest from the heavens. Increasing winds gust and heave great clouds of frozen ice crystals, forming malevolent shapes, ever changing, ever churning.

It is starting to look wicked out there.

As time passes, patients cancel. The waiting room slowly empties yet still no word from the lab technicians. Ma looks nervously at the windows and wonders if they have been forgotten...

Oh will no one stop this mad and torturous waiting?

Apparently not. Ma wanders ever so humbly up to the desk whereupon the wonderful lady looks and sensing Ma's telepathic message of desperation, ("I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE!") places a call to the lab.

Within minutes all is accomplished.

Now it is time for the dangerous trip home. Ma and her finger-pricked son make their hunched-over way to the car where entry is procured and then, blessed respite from the wind. The engine starts and seat belts are buckled...but, what is this? An unmanned SUV...with its lights on?

Ma knows what she must do. Releasing the seat belt she once again braves the wind and snow to turn off the hapless vehicle's lights. The vehicle is LOCKED! Inside a small child's woolen hat lies helpless on the front seat, a mute appeal to spare the owners from some startless fate.

In an attempt to gain the license plate number, our heroine takes labored steps to the front of the vehicle, only to slip on the ice, falling flat on her back! Is she hurt? Is she unconscious? NO! Vowing greater vigilance Ma scrambles to her feet and with her ever facile mind commits the license plate, make and color of the roadster to memory.

After reporting this vital information, she is back in her own car, blissfully shielded from the increasing storm's winds. And now to home!

Ma glances carefully both ways before pulling out onto the road. Visibility is poor..no wait, it is non-existent! Can't see...can't see....whew, the barest edge of white line reappears. The white-out lasted only 2 seconds, but it seemed more like four. Ma proceeds with flashers for the next five miles.

At last the fog of wind-driven snow relents allowing for near normal driving speed. Our brave middle-ager permits herself the luxury of relief.

Upon arriving safely home Ma hops onto the treadmill where she burns calories while watching the noon news. She is not surprised to learn the roads she has traversed so recently are no longer recommended for travel. Ma concurs...oh yes, Ma concurs.
_____________________

So, that was my morning.

Soon after arriving home the weather looked like this...



An hour after the above picture was taken, this is what it looked like outside...

Not an exact comparison since the first photo underwent additional editing, but you get the idea.

The temperature is now 0 with sustained winds at 35 mph. They say the wind chill is -27 but somehow that seems high.

Technically our county resides in a small 'blowing snow advisory' notch located between two blizzard warnings. But since the county just west of us is under the blizzard warning, and since we live one mile from the county line, AND since I remember what it was like to drive this morning, I'm callin' it a blizzard.

Especially after I looked out the front window a little while ago and saw this...you can no longer see the road in front of our house.
Excuse the dirt spots on the window, but ain't no way I am going outside!

The local school system hardly ever calls off classes, but I noticed they let out "4 hours and 30 minutes early," today.

It seems to be dying back a tad at the moment. Oh look...we're up to 1 degree F.
 

Tweet