Snowpocalypse, Part 7

The charm of One of the Biggest Snowstorms in D.C. History is definitely wearing off, quickly. This morning I woke at 10 with Rachel, thinking that Drew was in D.C. -- only to find him sitting in the office, in a tie and his usual work duds, because he had been all set to go in until Metro announced a crack in one of the Orange Line's rails. So, he was stuck at home. He went upstairs to change and began working, and I fed Rachel and myself breakfast before we both got into our snow duds to go outside and try to sled.

The kids had set up a "sled depot" at the top of the hill, and everyone was borrowing each others' sleds. The conditions still weren't that great, although Rachel and I did get a couple of good slides in. Then, around mid afternoon, I started thinking about our cars. They're at the top of the hill, and the street perpendicular to ours is clear, as are the other major streets that can get us to where we want to go, so, I thought, why not try to shovel out our cars and that part of the hill -- a few feet -- that can get us to the cleared part of the road? I was discussing this with a neighbor on the other side of the hill, who usually clears the street with his truck -- except that his 4X4 had given out on Friday. As we were talking, a woman out with a dog came to join us and we all traded stories of the icy Wednesday night; it took her 2 1/2 hours to get the four miles home from work. It made me very glad that I had followed Drew's advice and left my car in The Post's garage.

Rachel was very unhappy at the idea of me shoveling, because, she said, "It would waste two hours of your life," and she was right. So, instead, I fed her lunch, and then I did a previously scheduled 3 p.m. interview by phone -- and then, after snapping at poor Drew, Rachel and I hiked to the Westover library, about a 45-minute walk away. She had insisted on wearing her dress boots because her snow boots make her feet hot, and I foolishly gave in, which meant we had to spend a lot of our time walking in the street. I was so mad that I told her as long as there is snow on the ground, she MUST wear her snow boots -- she can't argue on that point. She agreed, meekly.

We finally got to the library, and while Rachel looked for books (and I said hello to Paula, a work colleague, who was off tonight and who happened to be there), I lay my head down on a table and fell asleep, briefly. I was much refreshed when I woke up and more cheerful toward Rachel, who impressed me by deciding, after seeing a poster of Newbery Award winners that she wanted to check out the book that had won in the year she was born, 2008. It's a charming book that's sort of reminiscent of the Canterbury Tales, and the author lives in Baltimore. It looked so intriguing that I may read it after Rachel's done!

Then we went to the local overpriced market, Westover Market, to buy some eggs for tonight's dinner, and hiked back home a different way -- mostly walking in the street because some idiots had not yet paved the sidewalks in front of their homes, which is illegal -- and, lo and behold, when we got home ("NSN" Rachel said, '' Neighborhood Sweet Neighborhood, and "SSS" -- Street Sweet Street), we saw that OUR STREET HAD BEEN PARTIALLY PLOWED. YAY!! I say "partially" because one of the snowplow's tires blew, and work crews brought in a backhoe to deposit it near the side as another plow took over. Drew was busy shoveling out our driveway (he had done the cars already), and refused to come inside until he had finished it all. So, I got to work making cornbread and pork cutlets, which he and Rachel loved, and he rightly felt a huge sense of accomplishment -- and got a bunch of exercise in.

So, bottom line: We can drive out of our neighborhood, the Orange Line is up and running, and tomorrow I plan to take Rachel to the National Archives and meet Drew at 4 to do the handoff for me to work a late shift from 4:30 p.m. to midnight. He strongly urged me to drive in, but I said that would be way too expensive to park so early (it's $7 from 2 p.m. to midnight), so Rachel and I announced that we will try to park at the East Falls Church station, and if that doesn't work (too much snow or no spaces available), we will drive the car back home and walk the mile to it. It's good exercise, and it gets us out of the area!