Blizzard Report from Boston!

 Yesterday a blizzard blew into the Northeast~and we were smack dab in the jackpot zone of heavy snow fall predictions of 24"-30" of snow.  So Justin and his GF Madison and their new pup Sylvia planned to weather the storm at our house and leave their apartment behind.  After they arrived Syl got introduced to the dogs of Maison Decor~the snow had begun falling around noon time.  Syl and Tobey in the front yard~Syl was running around and loving the snow, while Tobey was being his bossy pants self and not sure he wanted any company.

 They all posed nicely for a photo~Syl is still trying to win over Tobey.

Dillon is just his cool collected self.  He is recovering from ACL surgery and is not supposed to do anything extreme like running or walking up or down steps. He feels like his old self so we have to work hard to make sure he doesn't take off into a sudden run~and with Syl asking him to play, I was hoping he would refrain from joining in.  Puppies are so full of energy, you forget how bouncy and quick they can be.  Tobey was not being friendly despite Syl's best efforts.  Syl would paw at him and try to get him to play and Tobey would just growl~

finally they settled down and got used to the situation....it was a blizzard after all!

 Of course with dogs, you need to bring them out, and with puppies, that is even more true.  Syl is pretty much house trained and we were happy to report no accidents.  Justin took her out in the yard and at this point you can see just a couple of inches on the ground.  We built that little ramp for Dillon to use during his rehab, but the only one that uses it is Tobey!

 Sniffing~lots of sniffing and checking each other out.

 The view from the side deck. Our house sits sideways on the lot...we have a sideways house. This is the view over to Marthas house, our elderly neighbor who passed away a year ago. But it will always be called Marthas house because she lived there for 90 years!! Anyway here you can see the snow starting to accumulate.  The prediction called for high winds, higher than we had in Hurricane Sandy.  I think wind can be pretty scary~downed powerlines and old trees falling down, and we have plenty of both in our yard.

 Hubs got called out to work a long 16 hour shift with the onset of the blizzard. He says goodbye and leaves us to take care of the city!   He would be traveling around in a 4 wheel drive vehicle for the first eight hours~then at midnight be manning the desk for the next eight.  There was a state of emergency called and the Governor of Massachusetts called for a driving ban! The first one we have had since 1978!! No cars would be allowed on the roads in the state after 4 pm.

 It called for us to sit tight and stay at home~sounded like the perfect plan to me!  I had made some homemade sauce and big meatballs and while they simmered on the stove I hung out with the dogs in the TV room watching the endless weather reports and updates.

iphone pic~the cutest moment of the day was this!!

 After meatballs and spaghetti, it was time for a little fun!  Justin, Madison and I played some Trivial Pursuit.  We are a competitive bunch and it got down to the wire with all of us having our full pies and one step away from the winning answer!! And the winner was.....ME!!! hahaha! I couldn't believe I won because the newer version of Trivial Pursuit has lots of contemporary questions in music and arts that I have no clue about....but I prevailed!

 That game lasted about two hours, now it was 10 PM~time to check on the snowfall.  It was really adding up now!  Justin shoveled a path out for the dogs to do their thing one last time before bedtime.  The mounds in the front is the snow on top of my iron urns. You can barely see edge of the ramp~and the mound of snow on the roof of the bird feeder was growing.

Ramp gets cleared for the dogs~

Tobey first!  

 After the dogs were done, round two of runner up Trivial Pursuit started!!

Ha! I opted out~and checked out Facebook and texted with Colin and Brandon for updates on what was happening.

 Brandon sent me this pic of him in the streets of Boston.  He lives in Chinatown and clearly was enjoying the snow.  He has always loved the snow from when he was a little tyke.  He was a nut on skis! I got him a bright neon yellow hat to wear so I could track him on the mountain when he would ski. So I really got a kick out of seeing him in bright yellow with a very similar hat!!

 He sent this darling photo of a mini snowman he came across in Chinatown.  Someone had made him on top of a city trash barrel and used Chopsticks for the arms!  The streets were eerily vacant of pedestrians and cars.

I looked out the front door and snapped one last pic 

and headed up to bed wondering what it would all look like in

the morning.  We live on the steepest hill in our city and the city 

plows could not get up the hill.  Thats kind of scary to think about emergencies

and no one can get to you.  Hubs called and said they were sending out a 

Jeep with a plow!! A regular Jeep in 4 wheel drive was able to steadily work side to side and get the first pass done on the street a little after midnight.

 By the morning I looked out for my first view of the street from my third floor window and this was what I saw~snow stuck to the screens and the cars left on the street were entrenched in snow.

I opened my front door and this is the wall of snow that was built up against it.

All the birds were enjoying the feeder.  I would wait for Justin to do the shoveling once again!

The wind pushes the snow around and creates drifting leaving some places 3 feet high and others almost bare. This is our side porch view~

 And looking over to the right towards our driveway you could see the cars just buried under the snow!! We never lost our power and I was so thankful for that.  Hubby came home safe and sound and is tucked in bed to get ready for his next shift. Our two stores are closed all weekend for sure...no one will be going anywhere soon.

So that was the Boston Blizzard of 2013~its still snowing and another 6 inches or so are on their way.  Hoping all my neighbors in the wake of the storm made out OK like we did.