Hunkered Ruin

I’m not sure I’ll be able to post this as the internet is coming and going this morning. At least I’ve got power and the cable as well is in and out but mostly in. As I wrote yesterday this was going to be an impressive storm and it’s certainly lived up to its pre-billing. This is one of the rare occasions where the meteorologists may have underestimated the impact.

Front Yard Last Night When I got Home

The governor made a great decision yesterday by banning travel in Massachusetts after midnight last night. As a native New Hampsherite this stuck in my craw a little but there are so many flatlanders living around here it was a good decision. There is no way I could have gotten out of the house today anyways. He also made the decision early enough to be effective.

I came home last evening just as the snow started to fall. By midnight we had a couple inches but nothing impressive. The winds absolutely howled all night which will be what I remember most about this storm. I forgot to bring in those damned rocking chairs off the front porch and they entertained (woke me up) me all night long. At least until around 4a.m. when they blew over and shut up.

Front Yard This Morning at First Light

When I woke up this morning I was genuinely shocked at the impact achieved overnight.

We received twenty additional inches of snow and the wind was having a very entertaining time moving it around. There were sections of the driveway that were scoured clean by the wind and other sections with drifts five feet high. When I opened the garage door to take a picture I had to shovel some snow out of the way to close the door. As soon as I threw it the wind took the shovel full of snow which never landed. The door out to the back deck is half covered by a drift. Buddy loves the snow and was in full gambol mode last night. I got a snow shovel so I could carve out a path for him this morning however when I turned to get the shovel he hurtled past me out onto the porch and promptly disappeared completely. I couldn’t help but laugh when his surprised head poked up out of the drift he landed in.

Back Deck at Midnight Last Night

Back Deck This Morning
As I Write This the Snow Has Reached the Handle

I briefly considered getting a head start on clearing the driveway but whatever I moved would just blow back. Since I didn’t want to have Mother Nature laughing so uproariously at such a feeble effort I’m going to wait until this afternoon when the winds are supposed to die down some. At least the snow is of the very light and easily moved variety. The family room is a veritable snow globe with the sideways snow.

Buddy's Passage

My Snow Swimming Dog

I took some pictures last night and some more this morning so you can gauge the changes. Since we still have at least ten more hours of this storm it’s only going to get worse. I asked both my fellow movie nuts (son and daughter) what movie marathon I should pursue today and the consensus was Star Wars since the new one is due late this year.

Driveway This Morning

My daughter also strongly recommended I see the movie Blue Ruin which was available on Netflix. I watched it last night. This was a real treat, a simple movie that builds tension subtly and then slaps you. It’s a simple movie about a homeless man who finds out the murderer of his parents is being released from prison and sets out for revenge. It’s an object lesson that a great movie doesn’t require millions of dollars in special effects to be remarkable. A movie nut would also note the bit parts played by Eve Plumb (Jan Brady herself) and Devin Ratray (Buzz McCallister from Home Alone). It really helped pass the stormy night.