Chilly willly

Ya'll, we are snowed in.

I know you folks from the hinterlands are laughing, but you don't understand what it's like in the South.

For one thing, we don't have salt trucks or snow plows.  I think there is one snow plow in all of metro Atlanta.  No kidding.  They use road grading equipment instead.

The big problem is not snow - it's ice.  Because it's warmer here, when it snows and the temperature drops, the snow turns to ice on the roads.  Everywhere.  And it's nasty.

Here's my front yard and my street as of this morning.  Not much snow.  But look - the road is glazed with ice.  Please notice that at 8:15 am, my neighbors have not ventured down their steep driveway.  Atlanta is hilly.  And the part of town I live in is almost mountainous.  The only neighbor I can see that has tried to get out of his driveway is a recent transplant from New Jersey.  And he failed.

Curly think we are silly for not wanting to venture out.  "I can drive in this, Mom!"  Foolish child.  (He was actually outside barefoot in the snow yesterday.  And then he had the nerve to complain that he was cold.)  He's wandering around in a t-shirt and jeans at the moment.

There was a 29 car pileup on the interstate this morning.  Officials are pleading with folks to stay home.  I want to see you folks from the North try driving on this ice.  I'm working from home, all schools are closed.

And here's something you don't see often in the deep South:

A frozen lake. 

This was taken yesterday before most of the snow.  It's a pond I pass on the way to work, not far from my house.

Yes, I can hear you guys from up north chortling.  (Wow, I spelled that right on the first try.)  No, nothing freezes over in Atlanta, so this is amazing to us.  We don't have winter sports, because we don't have much in the way of winter.  Even when I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina (where it's -2° F on my mom's front porch right now), we didn't have frozen lakes.  I went ice skating exactly one time as a kid - when the pond down the street froze in about 1971. 

(In Atlanta, it's Summer about 9 months of the year.  We have about 3 weeks of Spring, 3 weeks of Fall, and the balance of the time it's usually Not Summer.)

I want to see you folks from the North try driving on this stuff.  And for us, it's cold.  16° F this morning, fells like -1°.  Not supposed to get above freezing until Monday.  Brrr.

Changing subjects - Moe and I took the last of the puppies to her new home yesterday.

Here is Buttercup in Moe's lap.  She was good as gold on the drive.  The new owner called back later to say that Buttercup was frolicking with his young dog and having a good time.  She'll make a good pet.

So in between things, I'm going to try Jane's TIAS.  I've never done a TIAS, didn't have the time.  I've got a few other projects to do in between keeping up with work emails.  It will keep me from murdering the Stooges.  Which will keep me out of jail, a good thing.

toodles