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Digging out

No work today. The public transportation system is completely shut down in my area. The residential streets in my neighborhood are mostly covered with packed snow and ice, though the main streets are clear.

I saw a small city truck with a plow driving along with the blade set so high that it only shoved aside a few loose chunks of snow which had fallen off passing cars. The truck was not big and powerful enough to effectively clear the street, but still. The object of plowing is to remove the snow, not to plane it smooth.

I walked to the little Giant this morning and found apples. The gaps in the produce section are not surprising: lots of cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, no bell peppers or mushrooms. I did find fresh jalapenos for my chili dinner. The egg section was completely empty except for egg substitute products. The dairy section was almost entirely clear of shredded cheese, but there was plenty of block cheese. I'll know when folks are getting desperate: they'll be shredding their own cheese for egg substitute omelettes.

My landlady and I moved the supercan into a better location; now we can take out our trash without plunging through the snow or wrestling with tree branches. I remembered where I last saw her bag of ice melt and dug it out from under the snow. I must remember to place it in a protected spot so I won't have to repeat the operation after the projected additional foot of snow arriving tomorrow and Wednesday.

Still low on Parmesan, I walked over to the cheese boutique and they were closed! (Just like my employer.) The ice cream store was open, the Mexican restaurant was open, the coffee shop was open … What's with the cheesemongers? They expect us to weather the storm without fancy cheese? Which we'll have to shred ourselves?

Tomorrow my employer is closed again, but there will be limited service on my bus line. I may go visit my car in the office parking deck. It won't be coming home any time soon. I would have to shift a car-sized volume of snow to have somewhere to park and there's nowhere to put the snow.

I wish I were snowbound down in Richmond, where I would be snowbound with Oz, the cats, and much less snow.