good riddance August in DC! Don’t let the September door hit you in the ass on the way out. According to the Capital Weather Gang, Summer of ‘10 goes down as the hottest on record in DC (as well as many other cities, like NYC )… The best DC stat: “The 2010 average summer high temperature was 90.2 degrees, the first time we’ve ever averaged above 90 through the period.” Burn…. So, what say you, skeptics?
ohhhh rainy days, much better spent in bed under covers, listening to the pitter-patter of the drops and crossing your fingers that the basement doesn’t flood.
It was a helluva storm that woke us this morning and led to one of the crazier commutes I’ve had in the past five years… There are flash floods and trees down throughout the whole area, as well as metro issues and gridlock caused by fallen trees. Emergency and rescue vehicles were having a tough time getting to their destinations on 16th Street northbound due to all of the chaos. And people!!! If a traffic light is out, it becomes a 4-way stop, not your own personal, perpetual green light to whiz on through… Looks like more storms on the way this afternoon. May as well wait on all that branch cleanup.
Well, it’s hot as hell today in DC, and I think that the photo above (taken with the Vivitar) is a pretty accurate portrayal of how it feels like the sun is basically exploding heat upon us. This topic, of course, makes this blog pretty lame for discussing the weather… isn’t there anything else to talk about?
Here, enjoy this gross-out video of a giant spider crab molting that I just watched at geekologie.com
Annnnd it’s March in DC, I think I can safely speak for everyone when I say I’m ready to skip ahead to the part where we go out like a lamb… Ready to stop bundling up and walking past tall piles of stinky black snow, ready to take Bowser to play in the park, and ready to justify trips to eat Fro-Yo. I’m talking to you, lions. Go away.
What a crazy week it’s been already and it just keeps coming. More snow, more blizzard, more cabin fever. I was off Monday, made it into the office via bus (barely) yesterday, and back off again today, riding out this latest storm. The Federal Gov’t is closed for the third day in a row now, no above-ground metro service, no buses running. I’m not even sure what time it is or what meal it is that I’m supposed to be craving next, and every fantasy I’ve ever had about never having to work a job is completely gone. Not having a thing to do – fun for awhile and then it turns into a slight bit of insanity. For now, we’re just hitting the refresh button on Amtrak’s service page, waiting to see if our train to Poughkeepsie for Jill’s graduation ceremony is still on…. Otherwise, increased and extended cabin fever is in our future.
Count us in as part of the 2,000 or so people who took part in the Dupont Circle snowball fight this past Saturday. It was quite the free-for-all for the most part, interspersed with moments of strategy when one side would organize a simultaneous launch. For my part, I threw a few snowballs into the middle of the melee, but quickly found the greater enjoyment in launching them into the trees around the periphery, causing a large plume of snow to fall out of the tree branches and onto the unsuspecting victims below. muhahahaha!!
Matt graciously volunteered to dig out our car this morning from more than 2 feet of snow, even though I’m the one that usually drives it. Awww what a sweetheart!! His offer was music to my ears after the digging out of the sidewalk we’d all been doing for the past two days already. He was gone for a good amount of time and came back later pretty proud of clearing out the Honda. Then tonight, on the way back from watching (Saints win!!!!) the Super Bowl at a friends house, he insisted we walk slightly out of our way to see his handiwork. Ok, sure!
The car on approach… uhhh…
And from the reverse:
heheheee… Will I be able to rip away from the snow wall whenever I attempt to get out on the roads??
DANGEROUS SNOWSTORM IMMINENT!!! DC is looking at a possible 20 to 28 inches of snow and blizzard-like conditions over the next 48 hours. Holymoley! let’s all freak out and run to the grocery store and deplete supplies of milk, TP, and other essentials like cookie dough and Bud Light. Admittedly, I was one of them this morning, at the local Safeway, about 15 people deep in line, waiting to get what I *need* for the next few days. Many people were given the day off work in order to avoid a nasty evening commute.
Anyways, I wish that people would relax a little, stop listening to the non-stop media hype (do we really need to name everything??), and look at this as an opportunity to spend some time indoors with your family and friends, catch up on some reading, learn a new recipe, and just be thankful that, perhaps, your crazy plans for running all over town are probably cancelled this weekend. It’s almost like Mother Nature is encouraging us to slow down and hunker down, and eventually enjoy the beauty of the snow and the peace and quiet once it all piles up. Either that, or buy as much wine as you can, get out your sleds, and follow the best storm advice out there from http://snowpocalypsedc.com. Remember, it’ll never get this bad…
While waiting for the bus this morning, I spotted this little guy on the side of the curb, maybe waiting for the same bus as me… Or maybe just straight-up chillin’. (hah!) I think we got about 4 inches of snow in DC overnight, but it’s hard to say, because it’s one of those really wet, heavy snows that piles up a lot higher than it may actually be because the flakes are so huge. That’s my completely made-up weather-girl take on it, anyways. The only thing I can say for sure is that all the commuters looked like sad little kids that ran to the window this morning to see a completely blanketed yard, but then turned on the news and found no cancellations. No eating breakfast in their PJs, or sledding all morning followed by grilled cheese and hot cocoa for lunch. Nope, just sludging to work with big ol’ boots on. Myself included.