Day 3 of The Storm That Ate Virginia

Final snow measurement on Sunday using the extra-accurate method of holding up the snow shovel to a pile of snow, marking the measured length against my arm, and then measuring my arm with a tape measure inside the house several hours later: 26 inches.


In sum: it's deep. The snow comes up over Miriam's knees, almost to Katie's waist, and up to Joseph's chest. Miriam had to figure out a very creative way of getting around, since it was nearly impossible for her to trek through.





On Sunday we actually made it to Mass. Mr. Pickles scouted out the roads early in the morning and found them ugly, but manageable. We actually made it to church in record time. I think there were MAYBE 6 other cars in the parking lot. Fortunately two of the women who were there could cantor and play the organ, so we had our own personal angel choir! It was lovely.

Getting home from Mass took us an hour. The street that the church was on was never plowed, so we followed a bumpy, rutted, one-lane track (apologizing to our car's alignment the whole way) to the much-better-plowed church parking lot. Coming out, however, we couldn't take a left turn (because the bumpy rutted one-lane track didn't go that way) so we had to go the other way along a godawful slushy barely-plowed road. The road was just barely wide enough for two cars, and at one point the inevitable happened: trying to make room for an oncoming car, we slid over to the side of the road, where the plow driver had helpfully plowed out part of the ditch. Whee.

Most thankfully, we weren't stuck in the ditch very badly, or for very long. A couple guys driving 4wds stopped to offer assistance (they tried to push the van which was totally fruitless, since the snow was soooo slippery), and a man using his tractor to plow his driveway offered us the use of his shovel. (The smell of the exhaust from the tractor reminded me so strongly of Maywood and Grampa B!) Then an angel disguised as a nice man with a very powerful pickup and a tow rope came by, and he pulled us out back into the road. Even his truck was slipping & sliding while he was hauling us out. He said we were the 4th or 5th car to get stuck on the road that morning, while the plow driver was sleeping in his truck at the end of the street. Nice. Thank you for an eventful Sunday, VDOT. We took a much longer way to get home, choosing roads that we assumed would be plowed better, ha ha, silly us. Everywhere was AWFUL. We even saw TWO SNOWPLOWS stuck in the snow.

However, it could have been SO much worse for us. While we were dealing with our own snowbank, we watched as a much larger SUV plowed into a much larger snowbank 100 ft in front of us. I didn't believe Mr. Angel would be able to do anything about that poor truck -- the snow came up to the dashboard. I hope they weren't stuck for long.

Well, we managed to make a donut stop on the way home, so all was not lost. :) After brunch, we all went outside. I finally braved the snow. My snow boots went kaput last year, and I haven't found a suitable replacement yet (nor am I likely to until next fall. serves me right for being picky. fashion before comfort!) Mr. Pickles fashioned a snow cave for the kids while everyone else on the street was busy shoveling out their cars.

Look, look! See Miriam in the snow cave.

See Katie in the snow cave.


See Joseph eye the snow cave suspiciously and refuse to go in.

Finally Mr. Pickles took the kids to this monster hill at the back of the neighborhood to go sledding. Katie is turning out to be a little daredevil! I would have been intimidated by that slope, but she just shrieked with glee the whole way down. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures -- I think I was starting to lose feeling in my fingers and toes at that point. :) Joseph wasn't so hot about sledding -- he was perfectly content watching from the sidelines and making comments.

While Mr. Pickles was taking the kids sledding, I had the bright idea that I would clear this path to the back gate. As I was huffing and puffing my way through, I realized as I was about a foot from the gate that our gate opens outward... and there were over 2 feet of snow on the other side. Sigh. Pregnant women should not be allowed to think without adult supervision.

There's nothing like frizzy snow hat hair to end the day.