January 29, 2009. Bethesda, Md. Ice, Ice, Ice.

Yesterday morning schools were cancelled. The streets were impassable, all because of ice. On Monday, snow was forecast for Wednesday, so of course, all events were cancelled for Wednesday. Tuesday, light snow was falling at five in the morning, so schools were cancelled, as were all our meetings. It snowed one inch before stopping. Rain started to fall late evening on Tuesday and kept falling all night. No snow at all on Wednesday, but as the temperature dropped overnight, the rain turned to ice so by the morning everything was covered with a thick layer of ice. From the apartment the foliage looked glorious, but down at the ground level not everything was so rosy. My car has not looked so good for years with it's thick covering of ice soating every surface. Just getting to the car was a trick.

It took me thirty minutes to get the ice off my windows and by then my car was warm so I was comfortable on the drive to work, but those thirty minutes of scraping were not easy. Ken's truck is parked in the garage, as the by-laws prohibit parking trucks outside in the parking lot. In truth, Ken's truck is much more valuable than my old car, so until now our system has worked very well. But in the morning, at twenty degrees with a half inch of ice covering my car I decided that our system was not fair. A ladies car should be in the garage!! Schools were cancelled on Wednesday too, as the roads were all ice covered. The sun shone all day and the temperature rose, so by evening, there was not a sight of snow and ice. The school openings were delayed two hours today, due to the cold weather. I just put on my fur coat and stepped into my car, newly washed by the ice, and headed into work, feeling smug that it only took one minute to leave the parking lot, rather than the thirty minutes it took me yesterday.

To top it all off, the cable into the building was broken by the ice, so last evening we had neither Internet or TV connection. Tonight we fly to Texas, where snow and ice will not be in their forecast, but where four little girls will come to greet us. I am not wearing my fur coat!!