Snowpocalypse!

And it really, really means it this time.

It's been snowing since New Year's Eve, we got three feet of snow overnight on December 31st alone. And then it just kept snowing. 

We woke up New Year's Day to that dead silence you get when the power is out. Uh oh...

Here's a small sample of my last 4 days, when overnight on NYE we lost our power/Internet/Heat/Phone and were catapulted back to the 1870's. My little green 1970's Panasonic Panapet transistor radio was hauled out of storage, fed a fresh 9V battery and put to work.

 Ahhh...the good ol' days, when you froze your ass off.

But back to Snowpocalypse.

See how deep the tire tracks are, on the extreme left in the first pic below?

To the question, 'Can my husband, driving the family car, make it home for two days when it's this deep?'

The answer is:  'LOL, No.'

We had no way to communicate with each other, we all just had to hope everyone was okay. Since we knew this storm was coming, we'd already agreed ahead of time that if he couldn't get home he'd either hole up at work, or the local casino/lodge if they had rooms available (on NYE. LOL).

So...he had to spend NYE and the next day at the casino/lodge (they had generators, so had power) along with 90 billion drunks and other stuck locals, camped out in a chair in a corner (no rooms to be had, naturally). People slept on the floors all over, and the staff kept the booze flowing to keep everyone happy.

It wasn't until two of our neighbors got out their backhoes and plowed the entire neighborhood for blocks and blocks around us that he made it home...

...two days later. And even then; it took hours, cost us a busted tailight cover, and he just barely got here.

Our town was so snowed under they couldn't even keep the main highway driveable, so I can't fault them, they had their hands full. Our area never sees snow this deep; for so long, with so many heavy storms in quick succession, and with snow that doesn't melt. Everything was frozen to a standstill.

We've been without power/heat/Internet/phone for the last 4 days, finally got it back today. Downed trees/power lines are everywhere, and it's SO COLD. My little woodburning fireplace, a PILE of candles and our body heat is all that kept our pipes from freezing--so even if we could have gotten out, we weren't going to abandon the house.

To the end of our driveway was as far as I could get, the snow was hip-deep on me. Our cars are under there, somewhere...I don't even want to think about the condition of the convertible top on the Plymouth. Suffice to say it's gone.

The chickens had their own personal Ice Fortress. You can see the top of the small run on the right, touching the ground.

The kid had to shovel a path to even get to them first. 

 

The small run, on the right, is now officially, fully toast.

 

I mean...

 

Full-on, irretrievably blackened, fills-your-house-with-that-burnt-toast-stink, toast.

My neighbor up on his roof doing snow removal.

 

But before the snow really arrived, the wind destroyed my front screen door--so Howling Nevada Windstorm got its licks in, too. Can't let Snowpocalypse have all the fun!

 

 

With the power out, we transfer anything perishable to coolers packed with snow. I mean, there's literally tons of the stuff just lying around, it can pull its damned weight.

  

2023 so far can BITE ME.

 

 

A Little Time Lapse Of How Things Went...

So New Year's Eve started off okay. Husband at work, the kid and I at home. We'd prepared for the Pineapple Express by stocking up, securing everything, bringing in firewood...

It had been raining heavily for days, everything was a foot deep in water when it began to snow on NYE around 11AM. Anyone who recalls the Walker River CA flood of 1997 knows the conditions were identical...this is NOT a good thing.

11AM. BIG fat clumps of snow! Small run on right has a bit of a bent top from our last snowstorm, but is intact.

Same view, 3PM...Top of small run bending under heavy snow.

Front yard, 11AM...

Same view,  3PM...

Same view, 6PM... The chairs are disappearing and the fireplug outside the fence is gone, LOL.

Midnight! A foot and a half deep and still snowing heavily.

Requisite snow angel is made, second thoughts halfway through are evident.

At this point, the kid and I had our champagne, which had been properly chilled...

 ...and went to bed.

Things got way worse by dawn.