first snowfall

Well, it's not actually the first snow fall, but we're having the first major snow storm of the year today. Even the worst drivers are showing it some respect. At least on my route home -- which took 70 minutes for a 25-minutes-in-no-traffic jaunt -- there were no spinouts, no one landed in the median strip, and no one went tearing by (only to be seen down the road in an adjacent ditch). Then again, I averaged 20 mph all the way, despite being able to go 45 for a good stretch of it. And the radio did report plenty of accidents and stalled traffic on other roadways.

This storm is serious enough that before I left for work, before a flake of snow fell, I was listening to early-school-closing announcements on the radio. MEMA (the state equivalent of FEMA) actually urged businesses to release workers early. I've never heard that one before. And at my job, not just one, but three managers sent email saying "We want you to get home safely. Please leave early and be careful." In fact, my manager said that we could leave at any time but no later than 2.

Robert seems to have waited a little longer to leave and he reported that it took over an hour to get from Burlington to Lexington. That's the short part of the trip and that was an hour ago. I'll probably call him again in a bit to track his progress.

It is nice to be home. I brought in some wood and shoveled a small portion of the driveway. Now I'm back inside, luxuriating in the indoor light (it's already quite dark outside) and enjoying watching the snow from behind glass windows.