The Snow My Gosh Blizzard in Olympia

Snow, snow and more snow....fun and beautiful....until the ice storm follow up! Life is looking much sunnier today with our power back on and temperatures up enough that the mountain of snow is melting. Slowly but melting. What did I learn? Once power is off for long enough that the inside of the house is barely above 50 degrees and there's also no water since we 're on a well....I start to get a little whiny. But also grateful to wake up yesterday to see that none of the beautiful (and BIG) trees around our house had fallen and squished us in our sleep. We did sleep downstairs, but kept waking up to those gunshot like CRACKS that meant another branch had lost the battle with the ice weighing it down. I've never seen almost a half inch of ice encasing every branch - and beautiful as it was...I'm ok with not seeing it again - I got pictures. Our local Starbucks is a happening place once text messages and Facebook spread the word that it's open! Hot coffee - aaaaaahhhhhh. And it was an instant community of people commiserating, sharing any news of possible timing for power restoration - and every outlet busily charging cell phones, laptops, and iPads - our lifeline to friends and neighbors and power company updates. The realization that Facebook is now the fastest way to get news of what's open, who has power, where to get help if the cold is driving you crazy. Also the realization that we are sadly unprepared to weather Mother Nature's little reminders of where our control runs smack into it's limits. And the realization that we are certainly not alone. Laughing at the look on our son's little dog's face when he realized the snow was deeper than he is tall. And lots of thankfulness for the caring expressed by friends and strangers. And for power - did I mention how very much I appreciate having power?