The "Lost Day, The Snowicane" Story

It was an ordinary day. Yeah, right! This really sucks!! I'm getting too old for this. Retirement communities, where they mow the grass and shovel the snow, really look enticing. We awoke Wednesday morning with heavy snow falling. By noon it was blowing with wind gusts up to at least 200 MPH. Our back deck had drifts up to twenty feet, or at least it seemed that big. The bird feeder was empty and I couldn't get to it. They just stared in the the door at me, wondering when I was getting breakfast for them. Sorry guys, not today. We just huddled by the fireplace most of the day. Every 15 minutes one of us would look out the back door and say, "Holy cow, you should see it now!" Just like all of you do, right? Well the other one would have to jump out of their chair and go see. Then return to watch the progress of the snowicane. This snow was one of the top 5 storms in history in Lancaster County. The other two large storms we had this year also broke the top 5. WOW! And my snow blower was still broke. We now have 34.5 inches for the month and it's only the middle of the second week. More is predicted for next week. I'll tell you, this has to be the #1 overall storm for inconvenience and worry. Yesterday as I stood by the back door, watching the snow build up, the phone rang. It was my Mother. Her back hurt so bad she couldn't stand it. Hadn't slept all night. The nurse got on the phone and told me they were calling for an ambulance. I had huge drifts in my driveway with no blower. I told her I would call the hospital in an hour to see about her progress. After many tests, they determined she had a broken bone in her back. Big doses of pain killer was all they could do until the back healed. The ambulance returned her to her home mid-day. She wasn't a happy camper. Last night at 9:00 PM we looked out the back door and there stood our outdoor feral cat friend. She was hungry. She was standing on the three inch door jam, wedged between the snow and the glass. "How did she get here?" Carolasked. "Beats me," I said. But there she was. I grabbed a shovel to clear a spot, but she wanted nothing to do with that. When I opened the door, in she came. NEVER DID THAT BEFORE! We quickly put our two cats in the bedroom and tried to find where she had gone. We found her huddled under a table in the basement. She ate a bowl of food and headed up the stairs. Scared as can be. Carol opened the back door and I followed her out to the kitchen and out the door she went. She'll be back, I'm sure. Well, I'm sitting here by the computer making this story take as long as I can so I don't have to go out in the cold and see if I can get us out of the driveway. My spellcheck is telling me I have snowicane spelled wrong, but give me no other ways to spell it. I can't think of anything else to add. Oh, yeah! I can add some photos!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - The top photo shows that one of the main storm centers is directly over my house!