Snow Today But Not A Snow Day

We're getting some snow today...  and some rain...  and some ice...  and a lot of slush.  The temperatures are hovering in the 32-34° range and have been like this since yesterday.  This is a terrible temperature range in the winter because it makes for terrible driving conditions.  Sometimes the roads are wet, sometimes the roads are icy, sometimes the roads are clear but any of these conditions can change in a matter of seconds.  

Naturally this would be a day to stay home like almost all of the school districts have already decided.  Most of the schools are closed but, ironically (or perhaps moronically) although Sheila has been working from home consistently everyday since Montpelier was flooded about five months ago, she was told that she must go to Montpelier today of all days.  

Why must she dig out the car?  Why must we rush to clear the driveway and the end of the driveway of heavy, wet snow?  Why must she risk driving on roads that could be dangerous and which promise to worsen for her drive home?  Because some knucklehead thinks it is a wise idea for everyone in state Human Resources to drive to a Christmas party and drive home again later in the day after another few hours of mixed precipitation and heavy snow.  

Although we live fairly close to Montpelier being only about 20 minutes away, others aren't so lucky and will need to drive for an hour or two in this crappy weather with more dangerous driving conditions than most other days.  So, although Sheila's drive is relatively short, we needed to dig out in order for Sheila to leave the house because the car was buried and the end of our driveway was also buried in about 18 inches of wet, heavy snow left by the plow who didn't completely clear the road.   

Anyway (and not "anyways" which is probably what the knucklehead who decided to make everyone drive today would say)...  I spent the morning digging out so Sheila could head to Montpelier for something that could easily have been canceled or rescheduled.  

At around midnight last night, we had snowball sized snowflakes falling from the sky.  With snowflakes that large, you know it is going to be a heavy, wet snow requiring a lot of work to dig out.  By this morning when I got out of bed, the snow gauge on our roof was showing between 2-1/2 to 3 inches of snow...  

I made this snow gauge a few weeks ago.  That bottom point on the right is the 2 inch mark.  The bottom point on the left is the 4 inch mark.  Then, moving up the gauge and alternating sides, there is 4 inches, 6 inches, 8 inches, etc.  I made this gauge so that I could easily tell when it was time to clear off the roof.  The gauge is visible from our living room window.  I don't know why I didn't make one of these things years ago!

By the time I got outside about an hour later, the gauge was showing 4 inches of compacted snow.  Being that the snow was so compacted and so wet, it definitely needed to be removed from the roof.  I'm sure I'll need to do the same this evening once again.  

On the positive side, the snow hides the dirty, stark foliage-less landscape.  I definitely could not live in an area that does not have four distinct seasons.  I've done that and it just does not feel right.  It is rather boring too.  

On a side note that is a bit amusing...  I lived in Biloxi, Mississippi for a while (twice during my career, actually) and one December and January we awoke to snow every morning.  We'd be out there first thing in the morning doing our physical training in shorts and t-shirts.  To do sit-ups and push-ups, we'd be down on the snow covered ground getting soaked.  For our morning run, we'd be running in our jump boots.  So, even though I was on the Gulf coast, we still got snow while I was down there!

Considering my health and my age, I think I'm close to being at the point in life where I must hire someone to move snow for us.  This takes a lot out of me and my health.  Inflaming my spinal injuries only compounds the problems with my illness.  When the inflammation in my spine flares, my mast cells flare as well and respond by degranulating which is a very bad thing...  at times a deadly thing.  

And, since I haven't mentioned it recently, I'll mention it again here...  my extensive spinal injuries include:

- 2 herniated disks 

- 4 bulging disks

- 6 compressed disks

- a broken up disk and vertebra in my neck

- osteophytosis over the compressed disks

- spinal stenosis in two areas of my spine

Two surgeons have said it is a miracle that I am still standing and advised, "whatever you are doing, keep doing it!"  

They made it clear that I am not a candidate for surgery.  They could fix one or two things if all goes well in the surgery (which would be questionable itself) but then I would still have all the other problems so it makes no sense to do any surgery.  Instead, I do daily physical therapy and I've been doing that for the past 25 years.  And, most importantly, due to this daily physical therapy, I'm still standing most of the time.  

Every day is a delicate management of pain and strength training.  As you might expect, having to move snow throughout the winter doesn't help my pain level at all and the resulting inflammation negatively impacts my rare illness.  Pun intended here...  this causes a bit of a snowball effect.  

Now it is time to do some of my daily physical therapy...