Winter In Georgia

Forget the Los Angeles wildfires and the Iranian earthquake.  Puerto Rico's recovering just fine, at least according to our so-called President.  But in a real catastrophe of near Biblical proportions, it snowed yesterday in Georgia.

Many parts of Atlanta received at least 6 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.  Some parts of Atlanta’s western and northern suburbs had up to a foot of snow Friday and Saturday.

Atlanta famously shuts down when even a half-inch of snow falls.  Six inches of snow nearly equals the total accumulation of the last decade.

I left work at noon yesterday in the middle of the storm.  The commute, which should take only about 20 minutes, actually takes 30 to 45 minutes with Atlanta's rush-hour traffic, and as many as 60 minutes on a really bad day.  Yesterday, the drive took me about 75 minutes, so I was actually relieved that I didn't wind up in one of those infamous six- to eight-hour debacles of snowstorms past.

I couldn't make it any further up my driveway than shown in the picture above.  The storm hit right at the peak of the autumn leaf fall (it occurs late in the year here in Georgia), and my driveway was due to get leaf blown that day.  The crew didn't make it due to the inclement weather, so I had about an inch of wet leaves on my driveway beneath the six inches of wet, slushy snow.  Traction was impossible.

The car's still there.  I can't drive it further up the hill, and I'm too close to the side retaining wall to let it slide back down and park on the street.  Today, I raked the wet leaves and loose show away from the car (have you ever raked snow before?  first time for me), so that tomorrow's sun will warm the blacktop drive and melt away the remaining ice and snow.  Perhaps that will be enough to gain the traction needed to free up the car and move it out of the driveway, one way or the other.  

 Thousands are still without power, some poor guy got electrocuted by a fallen power line, and I'm sure there were many, many accidents on Atlanta's streets and highways, so I don't have it too bad.  I have power, food, a meditation pillow, internet access, and alcohol, so I have every excuse to just stay shut in and play video games on my computer all day, at least while I'm not out raking snow.