Goodbye, Polar Vortex

Well, the lake effect snow machine did indeed switch back on this week, and with gusto. On Monday, a widespread snow dump began. Then a polar vortex dropped down and made temps plummet well below zero. While snow tapered off over most of the region, a bubble of lake effect ramped up in the western chunk of the Mitten where we live.

Literally 4 days straight of constant snow, wind, and bitter cold wreaked havoc on traveling conditions. Snow melting agents weren't effective. Plows couldn't keep up. Most schools were closed for the entire week. Flights were grounded. Tons of businesses shut down for several days. Mail delivery stopped. But did the place where Mom works shut down? Ha, dream on.

Mom's drive home on Tuesday afternoon was like something out of a movie. Much of the time it was snowing and blowing so hard that it was hard to tell where the road was, and sometimes she couldn't even see the cars around her. She was forced to drive so slowly that snow continually built up and froze on her wipers and windshield. Non-main turn-offs were unplowed, which meant pulling off to de-ice wasn't really an option in Mom's little front-wheel drive car. So, she just kept going, peering out a little strip of non-iced windshield. She was so relieved to make it home safely that she spent several minutes sprawled and shaking on the couch.

So, yeah, when the news was saying Wednesday was going to be worse yet, Mom took the day off. Here's the view out her window when she got up:

It wasn't a very fun day off for her though, because it snowed all day long, and she was already dreading Thursday's drives. She spent most of the day snuggled in a blanket on the couch watching tv and movies with Grandma and Nala.

Nala also was not thrilled with sub-zero temps and snow deeper than her belly. (Grandma shoveled trenches for her in the backyard.) She probably liked having people around and being out of the crate 3 out of 5 workdays this week, though. 

She also enjoyed playing keep away with gloves... and de-pompoming Grandma's hat.

On Thursday evening, the snow finally tapered off. The sun even came out on Friday! Roads remained snow-packed and icy though, as it was still bitterly cold.

I wonder how much of this will melt when it gets up near 50 degrees and rains tomorrow?

Is all this drama really necessary, Michigan?

Nothing very dramatic has happened on HI2. We've been working on some of the Angled Isle quests and fluting the occasional wild, and that's about it.

Here is our most recent wild, a handsome black Lipizzan:

<3 What a bummer about that endurance stat!

Let's end on a happier note. Enjoy these cool horses I saw in the livery this afternoon!

My personal favorite is the smoky black manchado. =)