White Christmas...Bah Humbug
by Scott Dalen
Hello again from the frozen tundra that is the midwest.
I realize that Christmas was 3 days ago, but this is really the first oppurtunity that I've had to sit down and write anything. The past few days have had some high points and at the same time there have been some low points (LIKE TONS OF SNOW).
I'll back track to last Wednesday, the 23rd and the first high point. Everything was coming together nicely workwise for the little bit of stuff occurring on the 24th, and with bad weather pending, they were nice enough to give us the day off on Christmas Eve. Score 1!!!
So I went into my first 4 day weekend in a long time. Granted, I did have work stuff going on, and I did spend quite a bit of time fielding phone calls on the cell, but not having to go into the office was a plus. We spent most of the day down the street at the in laws house. As it turned out...the snow did start in, but it started pretty slow. Nothing too major.
We did get to go to Christmas Eve service, heading out to the church at about 3:30 in the afternoon. The snow was starting to get thicker at this point, but it was still drivable. The 4pm service (1 of 4 throughout the day) turned out to be the big one, with nearly 375 people attending. My son gets so excited about the candlelight portion of the service. So that's always fun to watch him. The low point of the service was the congregation giving the "O Holy Night" soloist a standing ovation. Granted, he's really good. I'm not disputing that, but its a worship service, not a concert. But I digress.
After church, we headed home. It was getting dark and for the first time the weather was starting to get pretty lousy. Blowing and drifting. I was glad that we didn't have to go far. After changing our clothes at home we heading back down the street for homemade pizza with the in-laws and then headed for home.
Christmas morning dawned with more snow than you can imagine. I don't have any pictures for reference, but let's just say that "Winter wonderland" doesn't come anywhere near describing what it looked like. The snow fell all day and it blew and blew and blew. There was no chance of getting out to go anywhere. I did dig a single path out to the road and went down to do the same at the in-laws. They walked up the street and that was the extent of our family gathering. But it was a good Christmas none the less.
The big hit, a Wii which sent my son into orbit. He's obsessed.
The weather kept in all the way through Friday and into Saturday, when it finally stopped. High drifts, snow plow drifts...all kinds of stuff across my driveway. I went out with my shovel and started digging...very slowly. After awhile, mom in law came walking down the street with their snow blower. Its small, not really made for a big Iowa winter storm, but it beat shoveling...kinda. So I went to work with that. We still needed the shovel though, to knock down and spread out the drifts so the snowblower could get through it. After fighting that for awhile my neighbor came walking over and said to grab his big snowblower. So I finished the driveway that way.
I want one. To bad all the stores are currently sold out.
We got more snow overnight Saturday night...but luckily it was light fluffy snow and only a couple inches. So I went out early and dug out again. Then I went down to do the in law's driveway for them as they are both currently laid up. Fun times.
Today the road crews are out cleaning up all the piles. Its a mess...but we're getting dug out. That's winter in Iowa...we always get dug out.
I realize that Christmas was 3 days ago, but this is really the first oppurtunity that I've had to sit down and write anything. The past few days have had some high points and at the same time there have been some low points (LIKE TONS OF SNOW).
I'll back track to last Wednesday, the 23rd and the first high point. Everything was coming together nicely workwise for the little bit of stuff occurring on the 24th, and with bad weather pending, they were nice enough to give us the day off on Christmas Eve. Score 1!!!
So I went into my first 4 day weekend in a long time. Granted, I did have work stuff going on, and I did spend quite a bit of time fielding phone calls on the cell, but not having to go into the office was a plus. We spent most of the day down the street at the in laws house. As it turned out...the snow did start in, but it started pretty slow. Nothing too major.
We did get to go to Christmas Eve service, heading out to the church at about 3:30 in the afternoon. The snow was starting to get thicker at this point, but it was still drivable. The 4pm service (1 of 4 throughout the day) turned out to be the big one, with nearly 375 people attending. My son gets so excited about the candlelight portion of the service. So that's always fun to watch him. The low point of the service was the congregation giving the "O Holy Night" soloist a standing ovation. Granted, he's really good. I'm not disputing that, but its a worship service, not a concert. But I digress.
After church, we headed home. It was getting dark and for the first time the weather was starting to get pretty lousy. Blowing and drifting. I was glad that we didn't have to go far. After changing our clothes at home we heading back down the street for homemade pizza with the in-laws and then headed for home.
Christmas morning dawned with more snow than you can imagine. I don't have any pictures for reference, but let's just say that "Winter wonderland" doesn't come anywhere near describing what it looked like. The snow fell all day and it blew and blew and blew. There was no chance of getting out to go anywhere. I did dig a single path out to the road and went down to do the same at the in-laws. They walked up the street and that was the extent of our family gathering. But it was a good Christmas none the less.
The big hit, a Wii which sent my son into orbit. He's obsessed.
The weather kept in all the way through Friday and into Saturday, when it finally stopped. High drifts, snow plow drifts...all kinds of stuff across my driveway. I went out with my shovel and started digging...very slowly. After awhile, mom in law came walking down the street with their snow blower. Its small, not really made for a big Iowa winter storm, but it beat shoveling...kinda. So I went to work with that. We still needed the shovel though, to knock down and spread out the drifts so the snowblower could get through it. After fighting that for awhile my neighbor came walking over and said to grab his big snowblower. So I finished the driveway that way.
I want one. To bad all the stores are currently sold out.
We got more snow overnight Saturday night...but luckily it was light fluffy snow and only a couple inches. So I went out early and dug out again. Then I went down to do the in law's driveway for them as they are both currently laid up. Fun times.
Today the road crews are out cleaning up all the piles. Its a mess...but we're getting dug out. That's winter in Iowa...we always get dug out.
posted by Scott Dalen at 9:36 AM
2 Comments:
A standing ovation? Oh C'mon! I've never seen that in my life. Was Josh Groban your soloist or something?!? :)
NO, but he is a big wig opera singer in New York...local boy makes it big and all that jazz
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