Greetings on a very cold Sunday morning. It’s currently 2° outside. Don’t worry. It will warm up to a toasty 36º later today.

We survived Nemo rather nicely. (And by the way, why are we naming storms now? Does everything have to have a name?) On Friday, during the beginnings of the storm, I shoveled a couple of times, thinking that there would be less to deal with on Saturday. Friday evening, around 9:30, I shoveled a path for Scout one more time and I remember thinking that maybe the snow was winding down.

Saturday morning I woke up to at least 8 more inches of snow on top of what was already on the ground. Shoveling a long path for Scout without the benefit of any morning coffee is not my preferred way of starting the day.

I looked at the end of the driveway and saw that the plow had been by – creating a 2 foot high pile of wet snow that I knew was Trouble with a capital T. When I heard my neighbor firing up his snow blower around 8:30 am, I called over there and asked if he could snow blow that area of the driveway, that I could do everything else. Of course, his daugher said. I went outside and tackled the paths and top of the driveway. I dug the car out. I shoveled and shoveled and shoveled. Then, along came my neighbor and his sweet daughter (who has helped take care of our dogs in the past) and darned if they didn’t snow blow (is that a verb?) the whole driveway. I cannot tell you how thrilled and grateful I was. I hugged them both and thanked them profusely. And I smiled.

The shoveling that I did, and there was a lot of it, was exhausting. I simply can’t imagine how long it would have taken me to dig out the driveway and that pile of plowed snow. Or how hard it would have been on my back. As it is, I’m sore today. So thanks and gratitude for good neighbors is the order of the day.

I live in the Hudson Valley of New York. We got a lot of snow but our neighbors to the north and east, especially those in Connecticut and Massachusetts and the rest of New England, really got walloped. This was one huge storm. Our power stayed on. We were safe and warm. I know many others were less fortunate and they are in my thoughts.

Some more views of the snow:

Scout loves it, of course.

I cannot watch the Weather Channel during a snow storm anymore. It gives me a headache. “Just bring it down a notch or two” I scream at the television. They are simply too hyped up. I found myself watching my local channel, where the weather is reported in a sane, calm manner.

And I stayed sane and calm.

Don sure is getting out of a lot of shoveling. He comes home a week from tomorrow. He’s in for a shock.

I will try to get around to the links from yesterday’s party, but I’m pretty wiped out. It may take a while or it may not happen for this week. But only this week.

Forgot to add: Dad has been moved to the Rehab facility that is near the hospital (also houses the nursing home my mom is in.) On Friday, he told my sister and me that he was going home – this alarmed us as we didn’t think he was ready to be on his own yet. Turns out the hospital was recommending rehab. I tracked him down at the hospital and spoke to a nurse who told me he had been having a ‘rather hard time’ and had refused to go to rehab. The doctor spoke to him. The social worker spoke to him. Both advised him that if he didn’t go into rehab he might end up right back in the hospital. And then the nurse said, very sweetly, ‘He’s calmed down now and has agreed to go. He was threatening to sue the hospital. Would you like to speak to him?’ Ummm. Yes.  Whereupon I firmly told Dad that rehab was the best thing for him and that he was to do what the doctor ordered. Oy.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Linking to Elaine’s Sunny Simple Sundays.

It’s already snowing here. Very lightly. The heaviest snowfall is supposed to come tonight as it increases to a couple of inches an hour. I haven’t checked the forecast yet today but as of last night, we were due for 10 -16 inches. I’ve decided that I can either worry about the whole thing or sit back, enjoy the day, make sure Scout has a path shoveled to the corral and then, when it’s all over, shovel a bit at a time. I’m going with the second option.

I don’t have to be anywhere. I have enough food. I have lots of projects to work on.

It is what it is.

So, I’m sipping coffee in my blogging chair, waking up slowly. Scout is having some sort of dream as she sleeps on the sofa. My dad has already called 3  7 times this morning. They’ve given him new medication. He’s groggy but sounds better than he did at this time yesterday morning. I’m not sure when he’ll be able to go home, but it doesn’t look as if it will be today.  He’s on an IV for pain, is getting oxygen and is taking blood thinners. Meredith and her husband are flying up to see their son Dave at Ohio State this weekend, so I will be checking in on Dad frequently.

Schools are closed. There’s very little traffic outside on our normally busy road. I hope that means that everyone is heeding the warning to stay home and stay off the roads.

By the way, I subscribe to my own blog to check on potential Feedburner issues – I didn’t get my email delivery today. Is anyone else having trouble with this?

I hope your Friday is less eventful than ours promises to be!