Snowmageddon

After the whole window ordeal on Friday night, I was up late dealing with some unexpected work issues. At about 2am, I had a look outside the window just to see how much snow we were getting. We were getting tons, and the branches on our 40ft spruce tree were getting heavy with it. There were also very high winds. The tree listed 20 degrees out and swayed all over the place. At that moment I felt like I was in some horror movie and the image left me disturbed. I went to bed fearful of what might happen if the tree fell. As I curled up in bed I prayed. It's not something I normally do because I'm not religious, but lately I've been having a really rough time with a lot of things. Not only did I have work and window issues to deal with that day, I've also been unwell for the last week and a half recovering from minor surgery. Add to that a few other household issues that keep cropping up (e.g. roof falling in, furniture problems, lost wedding ring, second car purchase, yada yada yada). Even our marriage and livelihood is being threatened by the merciless USCIS. The last thing I needed right now was that tree falling and taking out some cars, or maybe even the house across the street. I went to bed thinking, "Please... please... don't let the tree fall...."

My husband was the first to wake up on this day now infamously known as "Snowmageddon". He immediately ended up waking me up because we had a "big problem". I asked him what it was, although I knew in the back of my head it was that darn tree. Yep, the tree had snapped at the root and fell into the street, blocking the entry way into our cul-de-sac and taking out two cars in the process. Great. Just great. I'm going to have a lot of pissed off neighbors now. Well, at least it didn't fall on a house or kill anyone.

First thing I did after seeing the tree was call my insurance company. The second thing I did was call the VDOT and reported the downed tree since we live on state maintained street. The guy on the other end said a crew will come take care of the tree as soon as possible, though I had no idea how any car could get in and out of our neighboorhood. It seems like the plows never make it out here. There was a lot of downed trees in the county that day. On my block alone 2 other trees had fallen, although they were smaller.

Somehow a few phone calls and lunch took us well into the late afternoon. By then I needed to do something enjoyable. I donned my snowboarding pants and waterproof boots and decided to go for a walk with my husband. As much of an inconvenience snow can be, I actually really like snow. It's very pretty. We took a nice stroll down the tree lined paths to our neighborhood shopping center. The shopping center was deserted and looked almost like a scene from the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Very eerie. So much for hoping Safeway was open.

Once back, it was already late in the day but we finally decided to face reality and start shoveling our driveway. Still in recovery mode, I didn't last very long and went in to cook dinner while my husband finished the arduous job. The neighbors had managed to cut up the tree and clear a path in and out of the cul-de-sac, but parts of the tree still blocked our driveway so he had to clear that away too. We both went to bed exhausted that night, but also still fearful of the many trees that still surround our house. We have 2 other coniferous trees in our yard. One which could fall right through to our bedroom and kill us in our sleep. We also have several oak and maple trees, and although they seem sturdy enough, it would flatten our house if any of those fell on top. Suddenly, the idea of living in a dream home on a lake surrounded by the forest wasn't so appealing anymore. Fortunately we woke up this morning with the house in one piece.

The snow stopped by early evening yesterday. I'm guessing we got about 2.5 feet of snow in that one storm. I suppose things could've been a lot worse (e.g. we still had power and food), but this combined with everything else sure made me feel like I was supposed to be having a nervous breakdown of sorts. I could use some happy pills right about now. This whole homeownership thing is cramping my style. I do like my house, but I'm really not a settling down kinda person. I didn't get married to play house and have babies. I got married for love and companionship, and to have a partner in crime for the various adventures I want to partake in. I suppose it's a tough time to be vagabonding right now though with the global economy in the dumps. Then again, with the world ending in 2012, maybe we should just sell up, cash out and enjoy the last two years of our life on this earth.