Not The Way I Wanted To Spend A Personal Day.

I was somewhat looking forward to today. A day with no hearings means I can finally attend to the mountain of files in my office. Assuming nothing weird occurred, a big assumption, I could easily get over 20 files out of my office. If I were truly focused perhaps over 30 files.

General Winter had a different idea. The snow in the morning was a bit of a problem, but only delayed my arrival by 15-20 minutes. The snow we had overnight on the other hand was a knockout punch. Big City had 10 inches of snow as of early this morning and it was still coming down.

I brushed enough snow off of my door to get inside. It was above 20 degrees so the engine fired up without a hitch. I spent the next 20 minutes brushing a good 8 inch layer of snow off my hood, roof, trunk, and windows along with a thin layer of ice. The snow was well above the bottom of my bumper. That isn't a good sign at all. When your bumper becomes a plow you tend not to have enough power to get through it. I also had no idea how much traction my tires would have. A neighbor came out and wondered if she should even bother to try to get to work today. I told her wait 2 minutes and see if I was stuck, then make her decision.

I made it about four feet.

I left the car running and went back to my place to find a snow shovel. I wasn't worried about my car being stolen. I dug around my car for 30 minutes to clear the snow away from my tires and undercarriage. I tried to rock the car out of the snow and made it a foot back towards the parking spot. I shoveled for another 20 minutes or so and decided to try again. I noticed another half inch of snow was on my roof again. After shifting into first or second and then shifting into reverse I managed to rock myself back into the parking spot.

Around 8:30 I called work to see if anyone was even there. One clerk answered. She lives in Small Town and normally has a 5 minute drive to work. Even with her Jeep it took her nearly a half hour. Another clerk managed to pick up a third clerk. There was no word on the Boss or others. I told the Clerk we had no hearings today and while I wasn't giving up it wasn't looking good that I would make it in.

I walked up to the street. It wasn't clear, but it was plowed and passable. An old Geo Metro drove by me. I figured if a Metro could drive on the snow I could too. If I could make it 300 feet I could get to the street. A neighbor had a big Ford Bronco similar to what O.J. Simpson had in that infamous slow chase in L.A. I saw him get stuck in the snow for about 10 minutes. If that thing has 4 wheel drive and if he was smart enough to engage it and he was still having problems I knew I didn't have a chance!

I think I'll just stay home and put on a comfy sweatshirt.

EDIT: By noon the sky was sunny and a truck with a plow had come through. I only needed to shovel the snow wall the plow created. I'm amazed at the difference just a few hours can make. 12 inches of snow is not a problem right now. Go figure.