In the midst of the storm

Nor’easter

I had to go up to the North East recently and they were calling for snow.  I have lived in Florida since the early 1970’s and haven’t been in a snow storm in forty plus years. Needless to say, this ol’ boy was cold. The snow started to fall on the drive home from the airport and by the time I reached my brother’s house, it started to stick. The snow was heavy and wet. The next morning, I made the first snowman I’ve made in decades and the snow kept falling.

Now don’t get me wrong it was an absolutely beautiful sight to see; the way the trees cradled the snow in their branches, the white fields and the snow covered stone bridges. That is until we felt the full force of the nor’easter. The winds picked up, the snow was blowing sideways and the temperature was dropping.

A snow covered Spruce

After about a foot of this heavy wet snow accumulated Mark, my brother said, “Looks like I’m going to have to go plow tonight. Want to go?” Now I’m always up for a challenge so I said, “Sounds good to me.” What was I thinking? His crew arrived a little after ten-thirty and we set out about an hour later. I learned a few things very fast. First, just because a snowplow driver heads out to take care of his customers, doesn’t mean that the town or county plows are out yet. Second, we had to dodge downed power lines, downed trees and people with a death wish in small out of control cars that have no business on the roads. I learned that to drive a snowplow when the power is out, with the only the glow of your headlights, you’ll need cat like reflexes and eyesight to match. It was definitely an experience.

Upon waking the next morning, I looked out my window, the snow finally stopped and for the first time in my adult life I was able to see the beauty after the storm. Although it will be a long time before I go to Connecticut in the winter again, we are planning a trip for the summer of 2019.

I flew out a few days later. It was 33 degrees and just three hours later, I landed in Fort Myers with an outside temperature of 77 degrees. I was home.

After the storm