THE INTERRUPTION CALLED "SNOW"

Maryland is under a full-out weather assault. This would have been my heaven fifteen years ago, when "snow-joy" eradicated any January-post-Christmas let-down, with hopes of days off from school, winter fun, and the pleasure of hot cocoa, freshly-baked cookies and popcorn-and-blanket-snuggling movie days spent with hyper kids. But alas, those kids are either far away now, or hunkered down in their own bunkers making plans to go Mano-a-Mano with Puxatawny Phil next year if he decides to lay another little winter-extension on us.

They were our shovelers too.

These first two pics are of the magnificent aftermath of the first storm . . . when we were basking in the beauty of nature. . . Now we're on day two of the second blizzard in a week. and our basking is considerably less effulgent this go-round.

Now, Tom and I are two Empty-Nesters, (one in an air cast), who need to rely on the kindness of others to help us dig out. We've got a tractor with a bucket, a snow blower, a plethora of shovels, a generator and enough winter food storage to keep Yogi and the entire Jelly Stone clan well-served until April. But still. . .

Have you seen these photos? We've had to seek help to clear the roof and decking because collapses are occurring in our area from the sheer weight of all this white stuff.

Yesterday, after a short, rabid spurt of shovelling the deck off, I began to feel a twinge in my neck and shoulder, and immediately I recalled my medically-trained son-in-law's litany of women's heart-attack symptoms. It was just my whip-lash acting up, but seriously. . . it makes you think.

And it's still coming down. In fact, the brief 2:00 a.m. lull in the snow is set to ramp up to white-out conditions within the next hour, and the snowfall is expected to remain heavy all day. And a new storm is crossing the nation towards us as we speak. . .

Here is the 2:00 a.m. shot. That walk was shovelled down to the concrete a few hours ago. And why am I up at 2:00 a.m. you ask? Just trying a vertical breathing position since horizontal wasn't working.

So, in lieu of catering a kiddie snow-party, one would think I'm sitting here getting tons of editing done on the new book that's set to go to print in thirty days, right? Not really. We're in full-survival mode here, with shovels constantly at the ready. And that deadline? Wow. . . hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.