A Chilly 12º And Partly Cloudy

7:36

7:48

8:15

It's 8:15, and I've been up for an hour, marveling at the 12° morning and the lake, frozen once again into scattered floes. The shoreline in front of us is iced over for about 20 feet, then open water — and it's like that across the entire lake. Today looks like it will stay cold, but no snow is predicted. Thank the weather gods.

Woodlawn Road

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday could have been a nightmare, but we both made it to our destinations despite falling snow and snow-covered roads. I'd gone to bed worried, having shoveled about five inches the night before — so when I looked outside in the morning and saw we'd gotten another 8–10 inches since Monday evening, my heart sank a little. After coffee and writing the blog, I headed outside and spent half an hour clearing the parking area and the car. It was heavy, wet snow, so my battery-powered snow shovel was useless; I ended up pushing the snow around by hand and eventually got the area cleared — though by the time I finished, another inch had already fallen.

I left for yoga at 9:05. It was snowing fairly hard for the first ten minutes, then it began to clear as I approached Lakewood. The roads had been plowed but were covered again by the relentless snowfall, so I took my time and kept a good distance from other vehicles. I texted Evie to do the same. Yoga was hard, but my five hardy practitioners made it through. After class, the sun was out, so I stopped for a coffee, then drove to Jamestown to drop off my taxes at my accountant's office. It began to snow again briefly as I headed back to Lakewood for a stop at Wegmans. It was Senior Tuesday — 5% off — and because of the snow, the store was refreshingly uncrowded, so I got in and out quickly and was home by noon.

When I pulled into our parking area, another four or five inches had fallen, so I got out the shovels again. This time, my battery-powered shovel managed a rough first pass, and I followed up with the push shovel to finish the job.

I was exhausted by the time I came inside. I rested for 20 minutes before heating up some chicken soup and a chicken pot pie for lunch, then watched Blood Coast, a series set in Marseille, France. I was desperate for a nap, so I went upstairs and fell asleep reading, waking after about an hour. By then, Evie was home, having lunch and watching TV. I lounged on the couch until 4:30, when I went back outside for the third time and shoveled another three or four inches — hoping, finally, that would be it.

Evie had her Zoom call with her sisters at 5:00, and I watched the first half of Caitlin Clark and the U.S. Women's basketball team play Spain. We had our happy hour after her call, and around 6:15, Evie made us BLTs for dinner. We watched another episode of Colbert and Landman. Evie went to bed, and I finished out Blood Coast, then caught some more basketball before heading up myself.