WINDY!

Ok. So, we are from the South. We are from hurricane country. We now live in the far North. We now live in snow country. Which one would I rather have?...at this point, with the snow: you still get high, high winds, but you get an added blustering cold snowfall as well. With a hurricane: you get high, high winds with some rain and a chance of a tree fall or two (aside for those big ones, and we all know what they can do!)......I will be perfectly honest with you...At this point, the jury is still out...I don't know which one I would rather have, but let me just say I am leaning toward the hurricane option...

Last night was extremely windy! I am not sure the mph, but I know that it was shaking the windows and involved that sound of wind that you only really hear in movies...which is when I realized that the sound they get in the movies of windy snow had to actually come from somewhere...I think they got it from Brockport, NY!! Anyway, it was windy!

Yet again, when we went to bed, there was nothing on the ground, but when we woke, the ground was covered in snow! Oh, and the wind...it was still windy...

I hoping we will get used to this, but at this point, I don't know. Today, I will head to Walmart to purchase a "Winter Storm Driving Kit." This kit is comprised of a blanket, first aid, ice scrapper and brush, de-icer spray, food, and whatever else I feel I would want if I was stuck in my car in an snow storm....you never can be too careful!

Now, I am sure that I am exaggerating a bit, but come on....I am a Southern in the Snow!

(keep watching for video to come in the next few days)

It has begun!

So, the snow has begun!

We had our first snowfall just two days ago. We had somewhere around 4 inches, which is nothing for up here. But as for Becca and me, we could not believe it! I had to get up early that morning to get ready for work. I had gotten ready upstairs and headed downstairs to get my coffee and cereal. As I walked past the front door, something caught my eye and made me look outside. When I looked outside, my stomach turned into an anxious knot. I quickly ran upstairs to wake Becca. This is kind of how our dialogue went:

Chris: "Becca, you need to get up...you have to look outside!"

Becca: (in sleepy voice) "What? Oh no!?"

(Becca gets out of bed, and I pull back the curtains of our bedroom window)

Becca: "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

She let out the longest sound of astonishment that I have ever heard!

When she looked out, she saw what I saw - Snow falling fast, our car covered in snow, no sign of even blacktop in our parking lot, and more and more snow falling. Meanwhile, my stomach is still in knots.

After Becca put some warmer clothes on, she and I step outside in it. She was the first to actually step onto the snow...my stomach was still in knots and I did not feel up to it. Our car was covered in snow, and I was going to have to leave very soon. Can someone say NERVOUS!

Becca, the one that has been regretting the snow ever since we knew we were coming here, was the one very eager to go outside and play around in the snow and get the snow off the car. She came running inside with a mission to get all the snow off the car. We have not bought a scrapper yet, so she came in and grabbed the next best thing: a dust pan! She shoveled off every bit of snow that was on our car, while I took pictures and had my stomach in knots.

I will be honest, it was very beautiful, but I had to drive in the stuff. I had never driven in anything like that! It was one of things you are constantly warned about, so much so that when it finally comes, people have talked so much about it, you don't know what to think. The only thing you know to think is, "oh crap!" It wasn't even daylight. The first snowfall, and I have to drive in it before daylight and not have fun with my wife. Let just say, my stomach was still in knots.

Eventually, after Becca had dustpanned the entire car, I grabbed my coffee and headed out the door. I looked very funny with my dress pants tucked into my big winter, rubber boots and my big jacket. I had gloves on that were so thick, I had to take them off just to unlock the car. I was not going to freeze, but I wasn't so much worried about that as I was that I could not even see blacktop behind the car. But, I got in, backed up, and went on my way.

As my grandpa would say, "my butt was bitting a hole in the seat the whole way!" In other words, I was on edge, hands at 10 and 2, and focused. Thankfully, however, these people up here know how to deal with stuff like that. As soon as I got out of our apartment complex, the roads were clear. They had everything plowed and out of the way. My drive to work was fine, other than just being very nervous.

I was just very bummed that I couldn't play in our first snowfall.

It has all melted away now, but it should be returning at the very latest this Saturday (also when I have to work).

Beginning of Cold

Here we are the beginning of what we would call winter. The temperature outside is less than 40. I'm sitting next to the heater as I write this. Layers have added several pounds to my weight, and my feet are freezing. Did I mention it is only the 12th of October?!?

So, yes, here I sit cold and it is only Fall.

I am coming from South Mississippi, where below 40 is Winter and if it snows at all, everything shuts down. South Mississippi doesn't do cold. South Mississippi doesn't know what it really means to be cold. Needless to say, I, a Southerner my whole life, does not know what it really means to be cold, and neither does Becca. But let me tell you this for sure. We may not know what it means to be cold, but we do know that of what we know, we ARE cold!

It has not snowed here just yet, but there is talk of some flurries at the end of this week. I plan to chronicle what it is like for a true Southerner, who doesn't really know anything about snow, to live in the Northeast's grueling snow.

I live one hour from Buffalo, one hour from Canada, and 15 minutes south of Lake Ontario. I live in an area that had over 100 inches of snow last year. I live in a place that has crossing signs posted for snowmobiles. I live in a place where it begins snowing at the end of October and doesn't stop until sometime in May. It will be cold, and I will no doubt have some great stories.

Snowy season...here we come...we are Southerners in the Snow!