Blizzard the sequel: The return of the snowflakes

Colorado barely recovered from its last snowstorm. The lines at Denver International Airport were just about back to normal. The roads were almost clear. The mail was back on track...

That was until the second blizzard began moving through yesterday morning.

Technically, I'm not sure this storm should be called a "blizzard" since one of the criteria for a blizzard is steady wind at a certain speed. But, based on snowfall alone, this winter weather has earned its name in my book.

Some places in Colorado accumulated 1-2 inches per hour, and others had a fresh foot by the end of the day yesterday. It's been snowing pretty steadily since yesterday morning and there's no sign of it stopping until mid-day Sunday.

At least we didn't put the shovels away.

They say that once every eight years or so, we get a big storm like this in the metro area. Overwhelming snow totals are not too uncommon in the mountains, but in the suburbs we get excited over a couple of inches with hopes that it might delay school. In almost ten years of living here in Colorado, school was completely cancelled once (or maybe twice).

My brother is still in high school and he's actually thankful that the snow is happening over his break. If more than a certain amount of school days are cancelled due to the snow, they will have to make up those days at the end of the year, and no body wants to be in school over summer vacation.

A lot of my non-Colorado friends are surprised I still love the snow and think I should be sick of it by now. How could I be sick of something that is so pretty? And for the first time in years we had a white Christmas. Last Christmas it was almost 70 degrees and sunny. Which was amazing, but I shouldn't be able to walk outside in jeans and a t-shirt on Christmas Day... that's just not natural.

The snow, obviously, does cause some problems, though. Again, Denver International Airport has cancelled flights leaving travelers stranded in the airport, the Meals on Wheels people cannot make their rounds, Christmas cards have stopped trickling in since the mail trucks cannot go out, and grocery stores were practically looted by people stocking up for food since it is likely nobody will be leaving their house for a good three or four days.

What do you DO when you're stuck inside for so long? Well, hang on a sec.... we're not stuck inside ALL day... we'll be going out for an hour or so so we can shovel our driveway just so we can do it again a couple of hours later. But, other than that, we're sitting around the house.

When you're stuck in the house during a blizzard, I do not recommend watching television. Unless, of course, you want 24/7 coverage on the snow. I just don't understand these people with the news. "Hi! I'm John Doe. Sorry to interrupt your programming, but there is some breaking news... IT'S SNOWING!" We know it's snowing, we know the roads are closed and furthermore, unless there is news that the sun is coming out soon, we don't want to hear about it anymore. It's pathetic because the snow even stops any real news stories. I guess I'm not complaining because I hate hearing story after story about this murder, that kidnapping and new rape suspects, but honestly... do we need to hear that it's snowing all day long?

I do suggest getting some housework done while you're just stuck in the house. Yeah, the whole "I'm going to be completely idle and load up my five-disk DVD player and sit around in my pajamas with a blanket, some popcorn and some cocoa all day," mentality kind of wears off after your third movie. Just to get the blood pumping we've done quite a lot of chores around the house -- some vacuuming, rearranging, you get the picture.

I guess all I can do is make the most of being inside and all of us being together.

Alright, friends...
Until the snow ends...