Preparation

Well, spent the day so far preparing for the Great Nor’Easter To Be of 2015.  An annual event, we here in northern NJ usually get two feet of snow dumped on us at least once a season.  Grim weathermen have consulted the orbs and issued the warnings last night; carrier pigeons have been sent out; klaxons have blared and fiery pyres have been ignited:  Be Ware, Mortal Man of the Tri-State Area!  Get your loaves of bread and your half-gallons of hormone-free milk from the grocery stores, for a Storme is coming your way, and the roads may be out of service for a day.

They’re predicting 12-20 inches of snow in the next 24 hours.

Got the text alert that schools would be closing today at 12:45, a full five hours before the first snowflakes were forecasted to fall.  Being a trooper, and needing the dough, I went in to work at 6:30 this morning since I would be the parent picking up our little ones.  Which I did, then, after feeding them some piping hot soup coupled with rolls and cups of orange juice, I began to secure the homestead from Mother Nature.

I parked both cars as close together as possible, as close to the garage in our one-lane driveway.  The wife has her new (used) company car, and we haven’t sold the Impala yet, so we’re a three-car two-driver family.  Unfortunately, the police don’t like that, as the young cop woke me early Saturday to move the newest car off the street after our latest snowfall so the DPW trucks could motor by.  So, I’m going to have her park the SUV straddling the sidewalk – one set of wheels on our yard, the other set between the sidewalk and the curb.  We’ll see how that goes, and if it’ll be marooned there until sometime the end of March when the thaw moves out.

Then I climbed up on the garage and shoveled all four icy inches of Saturday snow off it.  The surface area is about 450 square feet, and all that ice and snow gets pretty heavy.  Wouldn’t want that collapsing on me, would we?  I’ll be up there again tomorrow morning, scooping off that 12-20 inches of snow, and, incidentally, trying not to fall the twenty feet off it myself.

Widened the previously shoveled walkways, driveways, and sideways, paying attention to get up any loose chunks of ice.  Salted the whole thing.  Then trudged into the backyard to clean off the deck furniture.  Again, all this will be repeated tomorrow morning, with the possible addition of later tonight and tomorrow afternoon.

So – the Hopper household is ready!  Bring it, O Great Nor’Easter To Be of 2015!