Winter came and
stayed...that pretty much sums up the past 3 months. We expected harsh temperatures, chilling winds, and snow...and boy did the infamous New England winter deliver. We have had a record amount of snow this season, and even after a few weeks without snow fall and several above freezing days they are still hauling snow away in giant dump trucks. Snow in Boston is interesting. Or, rather, the way the city deals with the snow is interesting. First, there are the 'snow emergency' alerts. If, before and during a storm, you go to weather.com or other weather information sources there are GIANT, RED ALERTS for a weather EMERGENCY. Then these alerts start flashing on the television, radio and through list serves on email. School closures begin to be announced on a ticker tape on all local channels the night before the storm, performances get canceled, and everyone is strongly encouraged to stay home. Not clear exactly what I mean? Imagine Chicken-Little and THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING. Second, things do actually SHUT DOWN. But only for the day. Then, as if the sky didn't break into a trillion tiny pieces that accumulated into 2 feet of snow over 6 short hours, the city returns to normal the second day. Boston citizens wake up to clear, albeit salted, streets, buses and trains return to their normal schedules, commuters get gritty and bear the icy sidewalks and blistering cold, and the city returns to its usual, bustling self. It all happens in the blink of an eye. The infrastructure is really quite remarkable. But, after so many massive storms and weeks and weeks of below freezing temps (and often sub zero), the streets are clear, but their are 6-9 foot towering drifts of snow all over the city. These are the target of the bulldozers and dump trucks as we sleep at night. Now we wake up, after weeks of looking at these beasts of snow, with magically cleared bike lanes and parking lots. Where is the snow being taken? Good question. No idea. The great snow-drift graveyard?
But, you might wonder, how are WE doing with the snow? We. Are. Ccccold. I'm kidding, we are GREAT! Macy has her coats (yes plural), and little orange booties (orange is the color for spring 2011 you know). We wear giant parkas, faux-fur lined boots, hats--with ear flaps, and gloves, EVERY time we venture outside.
We take shifts shoveling, we do 'rock-paper-scissors' to decide who will walk Macy, we salt our sidewalks, 
we guard our parking spot with buckets (one of many interesting New England idiosyncrasies). We have thoroughly enjoyed our initiation to New England winters...despite the terrifying cost of heating (you don't want to know, it would stop your heart cold). And today, with sun shining and promised temperatures in the 40's, we are looking forward to spring in 33 days, but whose counting?
