A Weird, Wild, Wonderful and Woeful Week...

It started out innocently enough, with a gentle snowstorm.  The ground was still fairly warm, and the snow didn't stick.

A few subfreezing days later, we had a dusting of snow.  This time it stuck.  I was happy.  I thought it made the house look cozy and inviting.

Then last Thursday we woke up to a world covered in ice.  Treacherous black ice on the interstate.  And a tragic accident during the morning commute into Fort Worth.

Fortunately, we live just south of downtown.  Brian takes city streets to work, and he made it safely.  But freeways all over DFW were a mess.

Valentine's Day weekend started out benignly.  The highways were still a bit icy, but traffic had ground to a halt.  Brian and I planned a Valentine's celebration.  Because of the pandemic, we had already decided to spend V-Day at home.  Good thing, as it turned out.

On Sunday morning, it started to snow.  And snow.  It was pretty, fluffy, dry, powdery snow.  It's a novelty,  it had been years since we'd seen snow in Fort Worth, so we were all charmed by it.

By Monday morning, we had 4 inches.  Even though it was fluffy stuff, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex just stopped.  Everything ground to a halt.  The quiet was amazing.

Outside our living room, close to the chimney, icicles started to form.  I thought they were beautiful.

And I will admit, I still found the snow beautiful.  It always reminds me of my childhood in the Snowbelt. Building snowmen and snow forts, going sledding, wearing those horrible puffy snowsuits and snow boots with buckles, drinking hot chocolate when we came back inside.

Of course, in the Snowbelt, people know how to drive in it.  And how to walk in it.  People have snow shovels.  And snow boots.  And warm coats and gloves.  And knit hats.

Darn it, I couldn't find my knit hat.  And I needed it.  It was really really cold.  For four days our temps were in the single digits.  Pipes burst all over the city, but luckily we were prepared.

The power grid in Texas failed.  Millions of households all over the state were without power.  Some still are.  We were lucky.  We were subjected to rolling blackouts, but never had a prolonged power loss.  The city asked us to conserve power.  We turned the thermostat down, unplugged unused appliances and turned off lights.  And the computer.  

The house is 60 degrees F.  Kippers is not amused.  

We've made sure to keep our bird feeders full.  And have tried to keep the birdbath free of ice.  We've seen flocks of robins and cedar waxwings stripping every berry off the hollies, cedars and junipers.  

And Brian has been working from home (sort of) for over a week now.  He has managed to do a bit of work, but the rolling power blackouts make it difficult.  We haven't had a newspaper or the US Mail all week.  And, amazingly enough, not one Amazon truck has been seen in the neighborhood.

I am getting nothing done.  I'm ready to return to some semblance of normality.

Before I sat down to write this post,  I checked our long range weather forecast.  Hoping to find that the end is near.  And hooray!  It is.  The snow and ice should melt away by Saturday.  Good thing, since we don't plow or shovel here in Texas.

Today (Thursday) is the start of a warming trend.  It is a balmy 29 degrees F with a little weak sunshine.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 39 degrees F.  Hopefully we will be able to see the surface of the roads again by the afternoon.

But the kicker -- the high next Wednesday is predicted to 83 degrees F.  That's winter in Texas for you!