Impending Blizzard

Simply speaking for myself, its been too long without an actual blizzard.  I am a big fan of snow in any amount from a dusting to the mega amounts we had two years ago where snow was piled 9' tall along the sides of my driveway and in my back yard.  Not only could I sit for hours in front of a window watching it snow, if possible I love going driving in it.  Obviously when it comes to driving I play it as safe as possible, but there is nothing like getting in my 4 wheel drive Jeep Wrangler and heading out into the deep white abyss.  I love it.  What I don't get is the trend we are seeing in the media where every storm must be named.  The approaching mess, actual two storms, fittingly has two names as I've seen it, Nemo and Charlotte (I think).  Why is it that everything these days needs a label or a name.  Why can't we just call it a "blizzard" or a "heavy duty snow event"?  The most likely reason that I can think of is that if this storm ends up wreaking a lot of havoc, we will need someone to blame and it might as well be a storm called Nemo.  I can see the headlines already, "Damn you Nemo!"  "Nemo Dumped its Load!".  OK, so maybe those won't be the headlines, but there sure will be some good ones regardless of what happens.  But back to the snow.  This past week we have seen a lot of light snow, flurries that sporadically pop up throughout the day, dusting the ground lightly, and making you feel like its actually winter.  Some people probably complained that it was a very cloudy week, depressing, cold, snowy...  I couldn't be happier.  After all, it is supposed to snow in the winter, right?  And if you live in New England, you better be ready for snow and lots of it; that is, depending on the year.  The last couple of winters have been complete anomalies.  Two winters ago we had perhaps the most snow over the season in a very long time with almost every weekend packing a new snow storm.  Last year was the complete opposite with temperatures regularly in the 40's and 50's making it one of the mildest winter's ever.  This year has been more the average with no enormous snow storms (before today's) and temperatures nice and low where they should be. 

Whatever the case may be, I am looking forward to this blizzard.  You can pretty much compare me to any guy advertising a ski resort, happy when the snow starts falling, giddy when the snow shovel comes out, and sad when its time to go back inside.  That about sums up my feelings about snow.  Ever since I was little I used to love going out and playing in the snow, sledding down my parents front hill, and building forts out of the massive snow piles the plows left behind.  Yet that was when we actually got a lot of snow during the winter.  Despite the winter 2 years ago now where the snow pack even in Connecticut was immense, the snow has been lacking of late.  I attribute it to global warming, but the reason's vary depending on who you talk to.  I personally can't wait to go shovel.  I know, its odd that I am looking forward to partaking in physical activity to move snow, but that's me.  And before I leave off for today and venture out to get some work done before Nemo comes knocking, let me just share what I have done to prepare for the storm.  (Don't worry, it won't take too long).  I moved my snow shovel and broom into my mudroom, I secured any loose items in the yard, and I filled up my Jeep with gas.  Yup, that's it.  We have enough food and water and if we should lose power, we will figure something out.  In a nutshell, I am New Englander who thinks all this hyped up media coverage about "Crazy Nemo" is a little overboard.  Its a blizzard people, a one day event, hunker down, get some blankets, and watch the snow fall outside.  Have fun out there and be safe.