The BIG Snow, or How I Became "That Lady"

As I sit here at my computer, I can look out my window and see snow on the rooftops and in the woods of our neighborhood. Snow that is EIGHT DAYS OLD!! With little chance of being fully gone for a few more days. Last weekend, a big snow was predicted for our neck of the woods. Many times, predictions of a big snow don't pan out. We Southerners all get excited and buy our bread and milk while the rest of the country laughs at us. We hunker down, watch the weather and hope we actually get some white stuff. If it comes, we enjoy it for about thirty-six hours, and then it leaves, and we get on with life. However, sometimes, we get a lot more than we are hoping for. Like last week.



There was a very good chance we would get snow on Sunday night, so before the crazy hit, I got up early on Saturday morning, and headed out to do a few errands. My last stop was at Publix, where the bread and milk was still plentiful. I grabbed an extra gallon of whole and a gallon of skim along with another loaf of bread. Smiling to myself at how well prepared I was, I drove home, happy to avoid the chaotic rush that was sure to hit the stores over the next few hours.



The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Sunday night we went to bed excited to find out what Monday morning would bring. When we woke up, this was our view out our front door.





It was beautiful! And, as an added bonus, Brent's clinic was closed, so he got to stay home and play with us! As soon as he could get his pants and boots on, he was out on the deck measuring to see how much we actually got. Seven inches and counting! It flurried some more during the day, alternating with freezing rain and sleet.


That afternoon, he took the boys up to Horseshoe Park to do a little sledding. They were pros at it since we had just had snow at Christmas. When they came home, I had the hot chocolate waiting. We had such a great family day being together.

The boys loved having Brent here to play Star Wars, computer games, and just hang out. Brent's regular off day is Tuesday, so we knew we had another whole day with him too. As Monday went on, the ice grew thicker on top of the snow. By evening, there was a really crunchy, thick layer you had to break through and then the snow was packed down underneath. The roads were completely iced over, making travel highly unadvisable. When we went to bed Monday night, we could hear the deer walking in our yard from our bedroom. We didn't lose power, but I had begun to rethink my grocery strategy a bit.

We drink a LOT of milk around here. We usually go through six gallons a week. Sometimes more. What I failed to take into account on Saturday morning was just how long we might be stuck at home. I began to feel woefully unprepared for what was shaping up to be a long week. I normally buy groceries on Tuesday, and in a normal week, my two extra gallons and one extra loaf would have been enough to tide us over. But now, here we were with less than two gallons of milk, one loaf of bread, five people to feed, and no idea when we might be able to restock.

Tuesday the clinic was still closed due to icy roads. The temperature wasn't due to be above freezing until Thursday at the earliest. The sun did peek out for a bit Tuesday afternoon, so Brent headed out in search of supplies. The roads were surprisingly good and he made it safely to the store. But the grocery trucks still had not gotten through. He called me from Kroger and said the bread aisle looked like a ghost town. He grabbed the last two loaves of Pepperidge Farm sourdough. The only lunchmeat left was the Butterball sliced in the deli. And there were only three half-gallons of Smart Balance in the entire milk case. He grabbed everything he could and headed back home.

I felt much easier about the week after his little trip out. It was Thursday before the clinic opened again, and Friday before I ventured out with the boys. I know this was an extremely unusual circumstance that caused the snow and ice to stick around so long. But I will not be caught unprepared again. From now on, when snow is a possiblity, I will be "that lady" at Publix. You know, the one people point to and say, "Look at that lady! She has ten gallons of milk and eighteen loaves of bread in her cart!"