A Package From Mommy

Getting home isn't easy these days. Many of the roads still haven't been plowed curb to curb. So the commute is taking twice as long as it did before the snow.

Tonight, it took Merrilee and daddy about an hour to get home from Merrilee's school. But once we were home, and walking up the sidewalk, Merrilee spotted a box on the porch.

"It's a present for me!" she shouted. And she was right. It was a box from mommy! Inside was a bear dressed like Uncle Sam, some chocolates, a sweet card, and of course some ring pops.

Needless to say, everything was a hit...especially the ring pops...

Mountains of Snow

We have mountains of snow and are digging out following the latest 20-plus inch snowstorm in Baltimore. These were taken today...two days after our blizzard and after two days of shoveling!

Merrilee is dwarfed by the mountains of snow. But, she loves the snow!

History!

History was made this week.

This is now officially the snowiest winter in the history of Baltimore.

We've had more than 79 inches of snow this season. We've had three 20-inch-plus snowfalls in less than a month. We had a mess over the weekend, and then an honest-to-God blizzard on Wednesday.

Everyone is very sore from digging out cars and shoveling snow.

Merrilee's school has been closed most of this week. Daddy had to work, so on Monday, our next door neighbor, Emma Sue, took care of Merrilee. Then on Tuesday, Merrilee went to stay with our friends Steve and Bea and their daughter, Jessica. She'll be coming back home later today.

This was the first time Merrilee spent a night away from home without mommy or daddy. She's been a good little trooper. She packed toys, food and clothes for her multi-day sleepover.

And Steve, Bea and Jessica have been so kind to help out. It would be hard to get through all of this without good friends and neighbors.

Blizzard!

Well, Baltimore got hammered, and it's still snowing. This will go down in the books as an historic, record snowfall for Baltimore. Easily two feet. It's been snowing since about noon on Friday and it won't stop until 7 tonight.

This is a back-breaking heavy, wet snow to shovel. And one problem is where do you put it all when you shovel? Even four-wheel drives are having problems getting around. Here's a little video from shoveling the front sidewalk. It took a half-hour just to do this!

Valentine's Card

Merrilee got a sweet Valentine's card from her mother.

She really loves it and she carries it everywhere!

Snowmagedden!

Merrilee's school closed at 1pm today because of the big blizzard moving in.

On the way home, daddy's Blackberry rang. It was Merrilee's mommy calling from Iraq.

Merrilee got to talk for a few minutes.

We had no sooner hung up though, when daddy looked into the backseat to find Merrilee was sound asleep and snoring. Seems 1pm is her naptime, and the ride home was interfering!

By the way, the National Weather Service says this could be the worst snowfall ever for Baltimore:

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RECORD SNOWFALL FOR THE BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON DC METROPOLITAN AREAS.

TRAVEL CONDITIONS TONIGHT ACROSS THE REGION WILL BE EXTREMELYHAZARDOUS AND LIFE-THREATENING. HELP YOUR LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT FIRST RESPONDERS AND TRANSPORTATION AGENCIES BY STAYING OFF THE ROADS.

Killing Time On A Snow Day

We've been very, very busy these last two weeks, so we are sorry we haven't posted much. We had several inches of snow over the weekend, and about five inches more last night.

Because of the snow, Merrilee's school opened three hours late. That meant she had to go to work with daddy for a while.

Some of daddy's co-workers, especially Mr. Scott (who Merrilee calls "the funny man") took their time to entertain her. Mr. Scott did his animal impressions. First he was a cow, then a snake, and finally a rooster!

And lest you think we're done with snow, this Baltimore forecast is leading the news here tonight:

A Winter Storm Watch is in effect from Friday morning through Saturday evening.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch, which is in effect from Friday morning through Saturday evening.

Precipitation type, snow.

Accumulations, this storm is likely to produce 12 or more inches of snow in the watch area, with a good chance for localized amounts over 20 inches.

Timing, snow is expected to begin late morning Friday, continuing through Saturday evening.
Temperatures, highs in the lower to mid 30s Friday. Friday night and Saturday, temperatures will be 25 to 30 degrees.

Winds, east 5 to 10 mph Friday and Friday night, becoming north 10 to 20 mph Saturday.

Precautionary/preparedness actions,

This storm has the potential to be similar to the December 19th storm. Plan for substantial disruptions to travel Friday afternoon through the weekend.

Yikes!