Good Morning Baltimore

My sister Annie moved from Worcester to Baltimore last fall. Now I have to say "My sistah lives in Baltimore" which doesn't sound nearly as cool as "My sistah lives in Woostah". Worcester usually gets the worst weather in Massachusetts. When it snows, it usually dumps in Worcester, moves east, and starts raining/sleeting/icing at Rt. 128 as the storms move into the greater Boston area. When thunderstorms come across the state, they are most violent around Worcester, sometimes spawning tornadoes. Worcester people are hardy, and don't let a little storm get in their way.

So when she moved to Baltimore, Annie wasn't too worried about the weather. Baltimore is south. It should be warmer there. It must be less snowy, stormy and nasty. Right? If you live in New England, anything south of New York seems like it should be, well, THE SOUTH. The first storm of the season hit, Annie realized they might have made a mistake leaving all the snow shovels back in Worcester. Ah, but Annie is a very creative and resourceful person, so she crafted her own tool out of...a cereal box? I am impressed. I'll bet the cereal and the box had lots of fiber...

Alas, the cereal box wasn't up for heavy duty snow removal, so she took that as a warning, and before the big storm hit, Annie and Don made their way to Lowe's and got the very LAST snow shovel. The cereal box was officially retired to the recycle bin. Good thing. Because major snow was on the way, with more right behind it. Lots more. So much that there is no place to shovel it to. The neighbors were all out helping each other dig out. Nothing like a little weather crisis to bring out the best in humanity.

Annie and Don finally dug their way out. This was most important to Amigo. Amigo is a rescue greyhound. No one else can get out to do business, but for Amigo, it's a necessity. He's pretty tall and narrow, so a one-shovel-width path works for him. I'm guessing there's a privy area dug out at the end of that path.

These pictures are from the storm last Fri-Sat. There were no busses for about 5 days during and immediately after that one. They got another foot and a half this week. Their car is dug out but they can't drive anywhere yet. One step at a time. They were able to walk to the store and get some provisions today.

The plows had to stop plowing for a while this week because of white out conditions. The streets are still not ready for traffic. I don't think the garbage trucks will be coming through for a while, but that's OK. Everyone's garbage cans are buried.

Amigo, you're not in Worcester anymore!