Winter Blues

Dear, weather diary-

Day 20: I'm feeling buried inside the apartment once again. More snow is falling as I type this... if you read it in time, come rescue me! We had a good week last week, weather wise. Temperatures were in the 60s and the large snow drifts we had piled on the sidewalks melted down to dirty puddles and for the most part drained away. Then over the weekend temperatures started dropping and rain started falling. Again, the rain was good in aiding the melting of the snow, but the dropping temps were only a sign of what I was to wake up to this morning.

Large snow flakes are coming down and accumulating on the ground, grass, roofs, and cars. Probably about 1/4 inch at this point - but snowing steadily. I expect probably another inch or so before it's all over - all before nightfall. I'm stuck inside because I have no desire to go back out and deal with this weather again, after we were seemingly over it last week. Should have known it was too good to be true, but it feels like two winters!

Not to mention this is the 2nd snowiest February on record for the City of Chicago - this is in large part due to the 21" we received in the Blizzard of 2011 at the beginning of the month. I think I heard on the news that we were only about 2 more inches away from being THE snowiest February ever recorded in Chicago - so I hope I'm right about only another inch - I don't want to be a part of that statistic, because 2nd place is fine with me! I'll tell you what, I'm pretty damn ready for March to get here! 4 more weeks and we will be in "spring". I know 4 weeks is a ways away and the weather can change dramatically by then, but we've done that dance this year and it's looking ominous for when it's not going to be nasty outside - making me feel dreary. I feel like reading Edgar Allen Poe poems because this weather has me in such a funk.

Baseball season and softball season start in about a month. That is the light at the end of the tunnel for me. We are supposed to have temperatures in the low 40s by the end of this week, so hopefully this snow doesn't stick around long (no pun intended... well, maybe kind of intended). We all know how ridiculous people get when snow is covering the earth - driving like assholes, not picking up dog shit, sticking furniture out in the street to reserve non-private parking spaces. Yep, I'm over it all and ready for Spring.

To be concluded.

Blizzaster!

Unless you live under a rock or in the tropics, desert, etc - you're familiar with the awful winter weather we've experienced across the entire Midwest over the course of the past week or so. For my Chicago people, we have been buried under 20" of snow for almost a week now. If you want to know how my parking situation is, I wouldn't know because I have tried not to move my car since the first flakes began to fall last Tuesday. I did have to venture out for one short trip (one to two hours) each day Thursday-Saturday, but I was able to recapture my shoveled out parking space each time without any altercations with my neighbors. If you're wondering what I'm talking about or curious about how my neighbors are handling the parking conundrum, please look back to last year's blog archives and read my post about the topic.... or visit the Chair-Free-Chicago website. This should paint the picture. These people are idiots. If you're one of these people, I'm not sorry for saying that and may god have mercy on your soul.... and pick your shit up out of the street! Anyway, we should have a better, more productive week, although I feel like this snow is going to be sitting around for awhile, getting dirty, so we'll have to deal with puddles, snowdrifts, short dog walks, and "street furniture" for probably another month... ugh.

For my St. Louis friends and family, seems like you've been dealing with a different kind of weather torture... ICE! Having lived in St. Louis for the majority of my life, I get it.... it sucks. Truth be told, I'm glad we don't get that crap and I'm happy to deal with mostly snow - it should be noted that our blizzard of 2011 was the 3rd worst storm in recorded history in Chicago. Back to the ice. You guys got hammered with sheets of ice and not much snow, after preparing for the blizzard conditions that we experienced. Then I heard when a dusting of snow was being forecast, you got several inches. If it wasn't for facebook, I probably wouldn't know any of this... Thank you, facebook. A lot of what I was reading on there seemed like a little bit of freaking out and preparing for the worst - then astonishing disappointment when there was no snow. This seems kind of weird to me, but I can remember hearing similar freak-out moments when I lived there (not by me of course), so I guess it's just the nature of the beast. I suppose being right in the middle of two climate systems and experiencing a mixture of their respective effects can do that to a region of people.

Back to the snow. I don't think I have to tell you how much Jake loves playing in the snow. He enjoys running and jumping in it, smearing it on his face, and digging to try to find the grass underneath. He's just lucky he doesn't have to drive or get to work in it! I guess while I'm working at home and not having too many meetings out of the "office", I get to reap the benefits of that "luxury" as well. So I suppose until this stuff clears and business gets back to bustling and hustling, I'll just continue to sit here in my shamrock pajama pants and tell you all about my week...