September 17: The Big Snow

Before the storm, the snow on the north side of our house had finally melted, the grass was beginning to green up, and the perennials were just beginning to show themselves again.  

During the storm there were grey skies and wind, then rain and snow that fell for more than twenty-four hours, occasional power flickers, and futile attempts to keep up with the shoveling required by the eighteen inches that fell in our neighborhood.   The snow totals varied greatly depending on the locale, with nearby Longmont getting only about five inches and Nederland, also nearby by at a much higher elevation, getting three feet. 

After the storm serious shoveling began, the snow plows did their work, and both dogs and people got out for their walks. 

And yesterday the sun was out in full force and the temperatures had warmed up a bit, so it was a very pleasant day.

When Ben dug out a space for my car so I could park it in its usual spot near our front walk, we declared the shoveling done! There's still plenty of snow out there but we'll let the sun take care of it!

We continued our "big snow" tradition of making cinnamon rolls to share with our nearby neighbors. In fact, I ended up making two batches since we just kept giving them away.  My mother used to make them for her neighbors, and so do I.  

Ben was no slouch in the "good eating" department during the snowstorm, making us not only Coq Au Vin, but Overnight French Toast, which was really good.

Another fun thing was that I was interviewed by NBC Nightly News. While Ben was shoveling I came out to brush the heavy snow off our cherry and red bud trees before I walked Turbo.  I spotted some folks with a big camera and made some small talk with them.  They told me they were filming for a segment on NBC Now about the snow storm and saving trees from heavy snow.  That didn't mean very much to me since we don't get cable anymore so we don't know much about what's airing on national or local stations. 

I walked Turbo down the block and as I returned one of the crew approached me and asked if I'd be willing to be interviewed while brushing off our trees.  Well, why not?  So we did it and it was fun and I didn't think any more about it until my friend Margi in Pennsylvania told me that she had seen me on the NBC Nightly News.  Well, that was a surprise!  When I do want to watch TV news, that's the one I look for on YouTube, where it shows about a day after it's run on mainstream TV.  After a bit of searching I found that another splice of the short interview aired on NBC Now with Hallie Jackson.  

It was all fun and added a bit of excitement to the day!

And now we've moved ahead to St. Patrick's day.  I'm making Irish Soda Bread to have with corned beef and cabbage over at Ray and Paula's tonight.  Looks like some nice warmer and sunny weather is on tap for this week.