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100 inches and counting, plus bathing suits

The lake effect storm machine is slowing down… a little. We were able to get down to Syracuse yesterday for the swimming sectionals competition. It felt like driving from the Arctic to Virginia. Mexico, Parish: mountains of snow. Central Square: hills of snow. Cicero, Liverpool: some snow. Syracuse….. not so much.

The weather wizards are saying that my town has more than 100 inches of snow from this “snow event”. (What a dumb phrase that is.) Some said 108 inches. Some said 110. Really, people, once it’s over your head, it doesn’t matter. The Weather Channel has posted pics.

But it was wonderful to get in the pool area of Nottingham High School, strip off the winter clothes, and lounge around as if it were 75 degrees… because it was 75 degrees!

pool photos & more snow, if you dare or care

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Australia teaches us how to laugh, and yes, more snow

Does anyone know how to ship a snowball to Australia so that it won’t melt before it arrives?

theapplicant has posted a hysterical Aussie version of my maple snow photos. Seriously, you must see this. We howled.

To give equal time to our friends Down Under, I present the weather in Sydney, Australia today. (For the record, I am a total weenie about heat. I hate, hate, hate it and would probably crack and break into a million pieces if I lived in a place that was hot and dusty for more than two days.)

Here in Mexico, NY, we now have eight feet of snow from this week’s storm. Day 7.

Swimming sectionals are finally going to start today, so we’re loading up the truck and preparing to head out for that. (Number One Son is competing in two events.) It will be snowing while we’re away, but not enough to prevent us from getting back up the driveway when we get home. The meet will be packed with people and very hot and humid, so I have to dress as if it were 80 degrees out. Then I have to cover all of those clothes with wool socks, boots, snow pants, sweaters, jackets, scarves, etc. We’ll drive across the tundra to the meet, go inside, and try not to melt before we strip off the winter gear. At least it will give us plenty of soft stuff to sit upon.

If you live around here and you are bored today, do me a favor. Take a shovel and find a fire hydrant. (Especially if you live in Oswego, and I am waving at all youse guys at SUNY when I say that.) Firefighters in the area are exhausted from trying to fight fires in houses that are surrounded by mountains of snow. Finding the hydrants under the snow wastes time and could mean the death of someone or the loss of a house. Grab your friends, grab a shovel, and dig out a hydrant. It will give you bragging rights. (Thanks, Biggest Q, for the tip.)

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Day 5, no – wait, I counted wrong… this is Storm Day 6

When I moved up here, everyone said “Where is Mexico, NY?”

Everyone knows now. CNN knows. CBS knows. And everyone is talking about lake effect. The governor declared an emergency for the county yesterday. Swim sectionals have been postponed another day.

It snowed more overnight and it is snowing now and they think it will snow for at least five more days. But we’re only getting a foot or so a day, instead of five inches an hour. We were able to get out of the driveway this morning and went into town. Pictures of today’s excellent adventure.

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It keeps snowing

Lake effect storm, Day 4.

I can’t tell you how much snow we have now because I can’t see anything out the window. As of yesterday, we had acquired 64 inches of snow in this storm. Right now it is falling at the rate of three inches an hour. The weather folks are saying that this “snow event” could last a couple more days. And no, our driveway is not clear yet. We’re officially snowbound.

This is a lot of snow, even for us. We are approaching the records set in the infamous Blizzard of 1966. If it does, I’ll tell you my favorite story about that storm.

Today’s goal, if the snow stops, is to get down to the mailbox and dig it out. I ‘ll post photos later if I make it back. I don’t know if they’ve been delivering mail this week, but it has to start sometime. Rumor has it that the Today Show was supposed to be in town this morning, but I don’t know if they made it in. Did anyone see them?

Schools around here are still closed. Today the government has asked everyone to stay off the roads (not a problem for us!). Only heroic people – cops, firefighters, nurses, docs, plowtruck drivers, and the amazing people who work in nursing homes – have to go to work. I feel really bad for the area swim teams. Sectionals were supposed to hold the preliminary heats today and finals on Saturday. The officials decided to push prelims until tomorrow, but I am pretty sure a lot of the swimmers up here have not gotten into a pool all week. Fingers crossed for them.

My taxes are almost done. My noon today I should have everything near wrapped up – I’m just waiting on a couple of extra pieces of paper to come in the mail. Last night I started digging out from the snowbank of email that is crushing my inbox. And today I have to make a ton of plane reservations. This is the “business side” of writing. I would much, much rather be making up a new story, trust me.

Valentine’s Day approaches…. use this for a writing prompt. Bonus points is you can write something that is romantic without being mushy.

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