Day 2 Of The 2016 Virginia `Jonas' Snowstorm: Under Siege

These are not surfing conditions

Here is the weather pattern we endured over the course of the past two days: Rain, sleet, snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow. Now add bone-chilling cold and winds gusting to the 40-50 mph range and you have the makings for a long weekend indoors. Although here in Gloucester we only got several inches of snow, the weather was absolutely nasty over the past 12 hours.

I read where the area near Harper's Ferry, W. Va., which is around three hours northwest of here, got somewhere around 40 inches of snow. That's got Jim Cantore written all over it. We can't compete with that. So on the Winter Blizzardness scale, with 1 being a mild dusting and 10 being a Jim Cantore Live Standup Special, we are about a 3.7.

The thing about snow in Virginia is that for some reason, despite this happening every year, the state is wholly unprepared to deal with it. Which means the roads don't get plowed and motorists are not good in the snow here so schools get shut down and government offices close. Plus at the first mention of snow there's a run on milk, bread and toilet paper at the stores. Seriously.

We had an emergency situation here at the Sabo house -- no jam for peanut butter and jam sandwiches -- so I ventured down to the nearby Food Lion grocery store for jam. And pickles and a few other necessities. They had no milk. The bread was almost gone as well. I made it back home safely after a stop at the gas station to fill up -- enticed by the $1.49 per gallon gas, for sure -- and the clerk told me they had been cleaned out of bread and milk as well. I'm telling you, that's the business you want to be in when the snow flies in Virginia.

I made it back from that trip across the frozen tundra of Gloucester roads only to receive some devastating news: The peanut butter -- both crunchy and creamy -- in the Sabo house was nearly kaput. So it was back down to the store. You can't function during a weekend blizzard siege without peanut butter and jam.

This time on my return trip I ventured down to the Gloucester Point beach. You can see from the photo above the conditions were rough. I lasted approximately 1 minutes and 37 seconds in those conditions -- enough for a 5-second video and a few photos before my fingers turned blue. I managed to sled home safely and spent the rest of the afternoon making my world-famous butternut squash, kielbasa sausage and wild rice soup.

Our security cameras caught someone nipping at the pre-soup butternut squash

The final result

The rest of the family was much smarter. They didn't leave the house, save for Gabe and Abram making heroic treks through the `Jonas' blizzard to make sure Flopsy is still in her hutch, er rather to take her food and provide some company in these Arctic conditions. Everyone else hunkered down with the video games, puzzles, movies and cupcakes that Claire and Gabe made. Oh, and we had some impromptu concerts from some of the ladies.

The ol' puzzle serenade

So to recap, I've got to hand it to Jonas. Thanks to him we're having a great weekend. Quality family time, good memories, good food, we're warm ... nothing to complain about here. Just as long as we don't lose power ...