Thank God Friday is coming soon and the Big Dog.

I'm sitting in my living room looking out the balcony windows, watching the winds blow. It is a lot of wind, between 40-60 mph. Lots and lots of wind. They are saying on TV to expect this to peak at 4AM, wind enough to wake people up and cause problems.
OK!
It is NOT snowing here. They could be a TRACE of snow in the morning, but I'm not sure.

I have a podiatrist appointment tomorrow afternoon, I hope I can get there, as my foot hurts. I would like to be able to walk without pain again.

This morning when I got in the elevator, I was reminded that I chose to live in a "pet friendly" building. There was a woman in the elevator with her dog. Her dog was absolutely the largest dog I think I've ever seen. He was a beautiful glossy black Newfoundlander of some kind. That dog weighed 135 lbs. He looked like a big horse or cow. Can you imagine living in a small condo with that animal? Her jacket pockets were stuffed with plastic bags, I guess pooper clean up bags. That would sure be a job.

He looked like a really nice gentle dog. I wonder if he could smell my cats? He didn't attack me or anything.... I would have liked to pet him, but that isn't good practice for strange dogs.

I like people having pets though, it is enjoyable to see the different dogs people have.

Gearing up for Tomorrow's commute

I took these photos from my balcony. They show the sidewalk right across the street. This is part of my walk to Metro, for tomorrow morning. Note the patches of clear sidewalk, then the huge snow piles the snow plow or "loader" with a bucket left. Several of these piles are 20 feet high.
The worker man with a big loader was out there working last night. He ran the bucket of his loader into this street light. (That car wasn't there.) Now the street light no longer works. That was the last working street light on this part of our block, as the other one was completely knocked down to the ground by the snow plow during the December storm. The orange cones shown in the last photo indicate where that street light was.

I miss my human contact and I'm waiting for the additional couple inches of snow we're supposed to get today. Wish me luck!! I feel uncomfortable driving in this crap. I saw a pot hole yesterday that would swallow my car! The door to my parking garage is frozen to the ground and hasn't worked since Friday. There is another door I can use, but it has a very steep drive up out of the building, which I do not like either.....picky picky picky.

There is a car wash about a block from my condo, I had the car cleaned up yesterday and drove to the condo and parked it. I guess I'm hanging up my keys and don't want to drive in this.
I may be forced to drive to the Metro tomorrow morning though, I don't know how crowded the Metro parking garage will be though. Walking doesn't look too promising.

What a Difference a Day Makes

From this a few days ago...















To this today.....

Friday Commute

Just thought I would post a couple shots of the nasty commute....
You really need to double click on this first photo to see that line of cars ahead of me trying to get down Wisconsin Ave. toward NIH.



This is the actual walkway into my building.


This one is on the way to my building. Now, this is about 3 feet of sidewalk you can see.
Where would these 3 feed of clean sidewalk take you?
I walked in the street, dodging cars and getting splashed. Dedication!

The View from the Balcony

Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010

The storm is over, the sun is out, the street is showing pavement. The snow is already dirty, and there is not a break in that snow bank for me to reach the sidewalk, which isn't completely passable either.
I read "Eat,Pray, Love" on my Kindle.
I watched "The Secret Life of Bees" and "Temple Grande" on HBO.
I'm all caught up on the soaps.
I washed every fork and dish, washed every piece of dirty clothes, ran the sweeper too.
Changed cat litter. Washed my hair. Shaved my legs.

I've over this whole "snow-cation" thing.


Here is one of my companions on this journey, Hera. She is a real hairball.

Blizzard and White Out Conditions

Let's see, what day is it again?

We're advised to shelter in place. I don't know who would want to venture out in this mess, I can't see the Harris Teeter anymore, and its only a half city block. I can still see Rockville Pike, but not much traffic, lots and lots of blowing snow.

I started to post photos again from my condo, but that's boring, they look just like the last ones I posted.

I feel sorry for the folks working in my building. They are having to stay here, in the building, away from their own homes. They have gone to 12 hours on and 12 off. I'm thankful I went back to college and earned better working conditions. The years I spent teaching full time and driving to San Jose at night...it wasn't for nothing. I was fortunate to have a supportive spouse and family, and lucky I took advantage of the time to do it. Some decisions were great ones, in the midst of some incredibly stupid ones.

Our main desk attendant told me she is 60 years old, with no retirement plan. She is thankful to have a good job here, and she is really good at it.

While I've typed, the wind has picked up...the snow is coming down hard again and I can no longer see Rockville Pike.

Recovery from a Blizzard

This above picture is taken from the passenger seat of the Chrysler, coming out of Giant Super Market. As you can see, the sidewalk is next to the street we are on is completely obliterated. The snow pile is well over the top of our car. Visibility is impossible for checking oncoming traffic prior to pulling out.


This is the street coming up to our condo, which is on the right side here. (The 2nd tall brick building.)

Wow, this is one heck of a lot of snow. There is nowhere for all that snow to be piled up now. There are scary snow piles that are like 20 feet high.
Its crazy.

We explored a bit this morning in our immediate 2 block area. We were able to stop at a nearby ATM machine for a bit of cash. We stopped at the grocery store and restocked a bit. There were several people out, but the streets are awful. Usually only one lane open, parking lots barely passable, huge snow bumpers and tunnels in the parking lots.

Walking looks pretty bad, I saw one young man fall flat on his back. Most sidewalks are complete impassible, although some are plowed but icy.

I am not sure what I will be able to do about work tomorrow. Ed is determined to fly back to CA today, and he found himself a ride to the airport, if they can make it.

I am grateful to be safe, warm and well fed. I can see from our local news, not everyone is so lucky. So, we'll just move forward, one foot in front of the other and see what tomorrow brings. Hope everyone stays safe too, I'll keep you guys posted. Yay for Social Media!!