Thursday, January 28, 2016

snowzilla!

snowzilla 2016
We were promised a big snowstorm over the weekend, and for once, the meteorologists nailed it. Snowzilla dumped over two feet of snow here in the DC area. The news channels started warning us about this storm almost a week ahead of time, so there was almost too much time to prepare. I went a little crazy stocking up at the grocery store and library. Eat all the things, read all the books!
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
By the artist formerly known as Winter Storm Jonas.

snowzilla 2016
Larry was enraged when he spotted his nemesis, cucumber, in the grocery haul.

As much as I hate winter, I love being snowed in. If only I could spend all winter curled up by the fire with a book, a drink, Netflix, Larry next to me on the sofa and the dogs at my feet, and a house full of delicious food as snowflakes fall outside. Nowhere to go, no responsibilities. (Ok, I always have responsibilities, I just choose to ignore them during a snowstorm! Healthy eating habits are also given the boot when snowbound.)

Larry and I had six days at home together (he worked from home for some of those days) and being shut-off from the real world was glorious! I didn't get amazing pictures like I did during Snowpocalypse 2009 and Snowmaggedon 2010 (still some of the best pics I've ever taken), but we still had a fun weekend. Here's what we did:

+ Finished watching Making a Murderer.
+ Read four books: Snapper, Roller Girl, Relish, H is for Hawk. (Most boring book ever! But I highly recommend both graphic novels.)
+ Cooked up a storm: French Toast, Huevos Rancheros, Carrot Cake Pancakes, Mushroom Lasagna, Banh Mi Pizza, Nachos, Buttermilk Brownies, Banana Bread. Trashed the kitchen in the process.
+ Ate dinner on the sofa every night and stuffed our faces while watching Netflix and OnDemand. (Are there any good movies out there right now? We've watched so many movies lately that have been horrendous. Recommendations needed!)
+ Packed up all the Christmas ornaments and other holiday detritus that had been hanging out on the coffee table.
+ Wasted hours researching airfares and looking at travel websites. We still haven't decided where we'll go to satisfy our wanderlust, but it looks like the Caribbean and South America are out for now due to the CDC warning concerning the Zika virus. No worries though, there are lots of other places we want to go! (I generally don't freak out about these things, but I'm crazy allergic to mosquitos, so why not just go somewhere less mosquito-y and not risk bringing a disease back to the U.S.?)
+ Attempted to play in the snow with the dogs. They love snow, but when Larry and I bundled up to play with them they were over it. Both of them stood on the porch and looked at us like we were fools.
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
I got so sick of people knocking on our door trying to get us to pay them to shovel our driveway. 
Happens constantly where we live, even while it's still blizzarding outside. No thanks!

After a couple days, we went outside and excavated the car from its frozen tomb. I've never understood why people are so obsessed with shoveling snow immediately? It's the weekend, the government/most businesses are closed, there are two feet of snow on the roads...WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO? I prefer to hang out inside and enjoy the time off. (And let the sun do a little melting.)

But we did eventually dig out. That was when I realized that my favorite tool for digging out the car (my SnoBrum that I bought in Syracuse when I was a college student) was in the trunk of the car. Under a six food snow drift. So I dug out with a kickboard instead! Worked perfectly!
snowzilla 2016
snowzilla 2016
Two thumbs up for Snowzilla!*

* We were very fortunate not to lose power, have damage, or have any injuries. Many people along the east coast were not so lucky.

9 comments:

veeveephoto said...

I always miss the really good snow storms. 2010 was just before we moved to DC and now this one. I do not miss driving in it though which I had to do many a time for my bs job that never closed the office (or let people work remotely) even when everything else was closed. Grrrr. Ragey.

It snowed here again today but nothing like snowzilla. I'll take what I can get.

Movies hmmmm... Brooklyn was pretty good as was The Martian (on par with the book). Oh! Have you seen the Amy documentary yet? I didn't know much about her (except the druggie part). I thought it was really good and really disturbingly sad. Even Sly liked it.

You're finished with H is for Hawk? Damn you. I read 1 page in 2 days. I'd rather bitch about it on goodreads instead of actually reading the dumb book.

Anonymous said...

I so wish I was up there for the snowstorm! Of course the one winter trip I have booked to come home from FL is this coming week, when I'm sure all the snow will be gray and yucky.

We've been going to the movies a lot... and staying in the theater to see a second movie :) ... in an effort to see a bunch of Oscar films. I loved Brooklyn too, as well as The Danish Girl, Spotlight, and Room (my favorite- so good). I have no interest in seeing Leonardo in the The Revenant (such annoying hype), EXCEPT for the fact that I read it was shot entirely with natural light, which is very intriguing!

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Veronika - Yes, it seems that we have the mega snowstorms about every 5 years here. And it is a mess if you have to go somewhere. I appreciate snow storms a lot more now that I work from home! Hated it when I had to commute!

Don't worry, I haven't quite finished H is for H...but I've read enough to make my final judgment! Ha!

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Jillian - True, the week after the snowstorm is the worst! Our backyard has been transformed from wonderland to cesspool, thanks to the dogs...

Yes, my goal for February is to watch the Oscar nominees! Hoping to get to the theater soon - I've really been wanting to see Spotlight and The Big Short. And I read Room a few years ago and really liked it...though seems like it will be a bit freaky as a movie. Will have to check it out, especially since we've been striking out on Netflix offerings lately!

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Veronika -Larry really wants to watch The Martian, but I keep putting him off until I read the book!

Karen Travels said...

Oh nooooooo, I'm sorry H is for Hawk was so bad, I don't remember what page I was on, but I couldn't get too far in it. I swear I heard it won all these awards, AND the guy at the book store said it was awesome. I know, he was probably just trying to sell it, but he honestly seemed to think it was the best book of 2015. It even had its own special set up at the store. Grr.

Rachel - I LOVE your pics. We received maybe 3 inches tops, but that was enough to shut down Charlotte!

I am just going to mail you When Breath Becomes Air in regular mail, it is small and light. I would have read it in one sitting, but I kept falling asleep - because of chemo, not because the book was boring.

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Thanks, Karen! Honestly, do not bother with reading H is for Hawk. Nobody has time for boring books! I usually think people should read and come up with their own opinions, but both Veronika and I agree that this book is soooooooo bad. You should definitely join our Goodreads discussion though - you don't need to have read the book to participate, and trust me, this book is so boring, it can't be spoiled. I am completely baffled as to why it won so many awards!

veeveephoto said...

Jillian - I just watched a trailer for Revenant to see what all the hype was about. Story looks like it's trying waaayyy too hard but cinematography looked beautiful. I didn't realize it was shot in natural light! Now my interest is piqued.

Karen - I had heard good things about this book but omg I do not understand the praise. It's so damn boring and I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that. I love nature-y books, memoirs, and stories on loss. This book is basically none of that. You should definitely hop on our goodreads discussion. You dont need to have read more than 10 pages to get the gist of the book.

Rachel - are you ready to discuss MaM yet in our documentaries discussion?

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Veronika - Yes! I want to hear your MaM theories!

Veronika & Jillian - I'm intrigued by the cinematography, too. Did either of you ever see 'Control'? (Biopic about Ian Curtis of Joy Division) I saw it years ago in the theater and the cinematography still sticks out in my mind as being incredible - probably because I saw it on the big screen and it was around the time I was getting interested in photography. Larry and I saw it on one of our best dates - we went to a fancy meal after the movie (I had ostrich sausage and he had elk steak and the waiter asked us if we bungee jumped since we had adventurous palates! Ha! Times have changed!) Anyway, I thought it was a powerful and artistic movie if you can get your hands on it.

Veronika & Karen - Still so confused as to how H is for H can be so terrible. Agree, that nature/memoir/loss books are my favorite genres. This should have been the trifecta...but no.

Also, maybe I should figure out how to enable threaded comments!