The Blizzard of 2010

On Sunday afternoon Dec 26 heavy snow started to fall with strong winds as well. that combination can be called a blizzard if the winds are strong enough. In some areas the winds probably were that strong. We ended up with about 18 inches of snow at our house. New York City got about 20 inches. This year we are paying someone to plow our driveway instead of Jim doing it. The plow guy came through once during the night and then again in late morning on the 27th after the snow stopped falling. We have a snowblower, so that allowed Jim to clear our sidewalks and front of the garage in a bit more than an hour along with some old fashioned shoveling. It was cold, but not too bad. It was difficult to tell how much snow we had because the wind blew so much around. In some large areas we had 3.5 feet piled in drifts while other areas were around 8 inches. However the neighboring town reported 17 inches and we usually get a little bit more. Our electricity stayed on the entire storm, but our cable connection was out for about 16 hours.
On Tuesday the 28th the roads were pretty clear and Jim drove to Cape Cod with Ziggy and Zoe going along. They are never too happy about making such trips, but after the trip from Bangalore to NY, they are seasoned travelers now!
The Eastern parts of Cape Cod did not get much snow- because it stands further out into the warmer ocean water, that area often gets rain instead of snow.
This was the first time Jim, Ziggy and Zoe have been to the cape since early Oct. 2008!
Just like our main home the one on the Cape needs some attention as well.

Zoe and snowy

Zoe is behaving more like her old self each day, so we think she'll be ok.
The temperatures in New York have been colder than what we think of as normal and certainly much colder than Bangalore! The low temperatures here have been around 15F at night while Bangalore has been about 58F. We had between 3 and 4 inches of snow earlier this week and it looks like it will stay around awhile since the temperatures have been low. We may get a little more in the next day or so.
We are expecting our sea shipment from India to arrive this week, which is unfortunate in one way because the snow on the ground may make it impossible to safely put some items in our basement. However, it should be a lot like Christmas to receive all the things we lived with in Bangalore again.

Thyroids and flurries

Zoe was released from her prison on Friday and came back home. Generally she seems OK, but is a little subdued compared to her usual self. This could be a natural result of the thyroid function reduction plus the stress she has endured. We will learn more about her situation over coming weeks.
On Saturday, Dec. 4 the Town of Rhinebeck, NY had it annual "Sinterklaus" parade and celebration. For a small town this drew quite a large crowd of onlookers who generally enjoyed to show. The parade was led by "Santa Claus" riding on a horse and followed by many puppets and people in costume. It was a fun thing to see for the half hour or so, but it was pretty cold out there too! Rhinebeck was settled by people from northern Europe in what is now Germany or The Netherlands and this celebration is supposed to resemble those from northern Europe.
Tonight (the 5th) we have had a slight accumulation of snow flurries- the first accumulation of the season though it is slight.