Monday, Dec. 8
20 degrees
5.5 inches of snow on the ground

Supposed to get between six and ten inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow. First though, a medley of rain and ice to keep it interesting. Karen has to drive to Chicago and back today for a big meeting. We have a plan to check in and me to leave work early if she can't make it back in time to meet Birk off the bus.

More and more happy with the decision to hire Curt to plow our driveway! He's already had to come out three times. Our driveway is long, and climbs steadily uphill. It's possible that at some point in the future we may address a way to do it ourselves, but whether we wind up buying a snow thrower for the Cub Cadet, or a plow for our future pickup, it will involve enough of a cash outlay that having Curt do it at $25 a pop is still cost effective (and time effective).

Our total of 5 and a half inches so far - and we haven't even hit the second week of December - is close to double our normal for this time of year. Uh-oh.

Last year was the Winter from Hell. And I mean that with a capital letter. No, wait, that's not bad enough: HELL. We had totals of over 100 inches of snow. The snow started soon after Thanksgiving last year and there were snowfalls of several inches about every. other. day.
After many years of complaining about winters not being like they used to be when we were kids, we got our royal kick in the pants. It's true, for years winters were a bit warmer and we had lots less snow than we were used to 20 or 30 years ago. And then, last year someone called La Nina came along and laughed at us and shut us up.

But that was an anomoly, right? I mean, last years' winter weather left a sour taste in a lot of locals' mouths. Very high numbers of us were involved in car accidents, or stranded on gridlocked interstates for hours in frigid temperatures. Used car dealerships and auto body shops were not able to keep up with the demand. Snowmobilers were happy, of course, and in fact, they literally rode up onto the interstate more than once to aid stranded drivers.

Once the sun returned and all the snow melted, I personally breathed a sigh of relief. No more long commutes in icy conditions. No more not stopping when you press on the brakes. No more shoveling snow staright up because there is no where else to put it. Done! And no two years can be exactly alike, right? In fact, I subscribe to a saying I've heard old farmers say, "One extreme follows another", especially when it comes to weather. So I'm betting that last year was one for the books, and we should have a much more normal winter this year. There's no WAY this year could be as bad as last year.

But all the locals have been talking about the Farmers' Almanac. "Did you know it says more snow even than last year?"

"It's calling for 150 inches!"

I just smiled and shook my head. This was when the sun was shining on my shoulders and I was weeding my garden. No way. Let everyone else run around worried about that. It ain't gonna happen.

Well, here we are, about two weeks into our winter weather pattern, and like I said - almost double our normal, and we are even ahead of last years' amounts at this time.

Don't know what else to say, except good thing Curt has a big truck.