A Winter Respite, A Taste Of Spring In Virginia

Our beach

A week ago we were snowbound here in Virginia, the kids sledding down our homemade toboggan hill in the back yard. Today it hit 66 degrees and we trekked a few blocks down to the beach. We didn't exactly work on our tans -- it was windy and the water is cold, cold, cold -- but we had a blast and were joined by our friends from Harrisonburg, Matt and Karmen Basinger and their 8-month-old son Mason who spent a couple of days with us.

One of the things that's always been remarkable about our time here in Virginia over the past almost 12 years is how winter can have these lovely spells of pleasant weather. I remember years when we've had a week of 70s and even 80s in January, the kids playing outside in their t-shirts and shorts and even the occasional winter mosquito bite. The warm days -- not the mosquito bites -- are a nice break from the onslaught of cold. I'm not a fan of cold. Actually, I hate being cold. Every year about this time I dream about relocating to Aruba. Today, no so much.

The weather here can definitely be schizophrenic. Or maybe it's bi-polar, like what looms ahead. The forecast calls for 70 degrees and even thunderstorms on Wednesday. Thunderstorms in early February is plain crazy. Then Friday just might put the polar in the bi-polar weather forecast when the North Pole might pay a visit and there's a chance of snow.

Julie said it best today when she was talking to Matt and Karmen about Virginia winter weather. You never put away all the summer clothes -- the kids broke out shorts today, for example. But you also never put away the snowsuits too early. Late this afternoon I took another jaunt down to the beach at sunset. Here's what I found.

Captivated by winter in Virginia

Day 1 Of Snowmageddon 2016 In Virginia

The long, white walk home

We have good news at the Sabo house. We've survived Day 1 of Snowmageddon, the biggest snowstorm in the history of the world, if you believe the media. Which I don't. I remember bigger snowstorms here in Gloucester but don't want to get in the way of a concerted media hype effort. And any way you slice it, the several inches we got today doesn't compare to the 30-inch dump that socked Bend, Ore., one day when I was a kid. That was the winter of '73, I believe, or thereabouts. That humdinger of a snowstorm is best remembered in the Sabo house for causing my disappearance. We had a front porch and when I went outside after the snowfall I took a wrong turn and disappeared into the abyss of white stuff. Fortunately I was found before I froze to death and so I lived to tell about it. I guess that's kind of obvious, eh?

We got several inches of snow today in a storm that those TV weather guys are calling "Jonas." It strikes me as bizarre to name winter storms and I think it's purely to goose ratings and draw viewers but whatever. You go TV weather channel guys. It's supposed to rain tonight so tomorrow could be a royal disaster on the roads and disrupt any and all transportation plans.

Brenton has already received word that Starbucks isn't opening tomorrow so he has the day off. Let's not let the Starbucks stores in places like Maine, Minnesota, Montana, the Dakotas, the Midwest, Sibera, Northern Europe, the Yukon Territory and most everywhere else that gets snow know that they shut things down here in Gloucester after several inches "piled up." That's pretty embarrassing. I wonder if Howard Schultz knows about the store closing practices of his Starbucks stores in Tidewater Virginia. I imagine he wouldn't be overly impressed. Whatever you do don't let Donald Trump know about it. He would probably try and deport the Starbucks employees here for being sissies at best and un-American at worst.

We plan on hunkering down in the Sabo house tomorrow -- rain, snow, shine, or all of the above -- and doing puzzles, playing board games, watching movies and eating. Julie managed to clean out the local Food Lion last night ahead of Snowmageddon so we're in good shape here. If things get real bad we'll deck the lads out in snowsuits and point them toward the 7-Eleven a mile away for provisions. I think that would be a good parenting move.

One benefit of living in my neighborhood is that my boss' house is about a mile away. I had a conference call with them today and so I walked to work, as is my usual practice. By the time I headed home early this afternoon the snow was coming down at a right brisk clip. I shot some video of my trip: Down the dirt road past the cemetery, through the woods and then took a quick detour a couple of blocks down to the beach on the York River. I put together a video of my trip. Jim Cantore's got nothing on me, as you'll see.

I'm signing off for the night. I can already hear the wind blowing and rain pounding against the windows. It's about to get real weather-wise around here. Adios. Here's the link: Snowmageddon 2016

Go Fourth And Blow

In celebration of Independence Day, all eyes along the Atlantic seaboard are on Hurricane Arthur. It appears at the moment that Arthur is going to stay well offshore, which means things will be fairly normal for the holiday. If you count thunderstorms and horizontal rain as normal. The forecast still calls for plenty of wind and rain on the Fourth, making the prospect for enjoying the holiday less than tantalizing. Grilling some dogs and burgers may be a bit dicey and we're also in the market for rainproof fireworks. Maybe we'll just light them off indoors so the kids don't miss out. Just kidding!

Life out here on the East Coast the past decade is so different from Oregon. I remember out there in Corvallis getting a handle on the weather by looking to the west. If I saw clouds, it's probably going to rain. If I didn't see clouds, it might rain. If I saw a mix of clouds and blue sky, it might rain. Now when I lived in Bend or Prineville on the dry side of the mountains, I still looked to the west. But didn't figure it would rain no matter how many clouds I saw.

Here in Gloucester, though, I never know where the weather will come from. It could be a Nor'Easter, a hurricane or tropical storm sweeping up from the south, or a tornado or derecho bearing down on us from the west. I had never even heard of a derecho until we moved out here. Nor did I pay much mind to hurricane season. That's all changed. We've had storms drop up to 10 inches of rain in one day -- that's a year's worth in Bend and Prineville -- on us and a violent thunderstorm with 2-3 inches of rain in short order isn't unusual. We've had tree limbs go through our bedroom window at midnight in a storm, a tree fall on our neighbor's house in a tornado, a run-of-the-mill thunderstorm send our last grill cartwheeling through the yard and for good measure we've had an earthquake, an EF-3 tornado and thundersnow.

We had one hurricane blow through a few years ago at a time when we had two visitors from Oregon. Two friends also opted to bunk over at our house, for some reason they thought it was safer in a house where people are packed in like a jar of pickles, and so we had somewhere around 19, maybe 20 people in the house. I had them all stay toward the front side of the house away from the trees in the back yard. No one got hurt, everyone was safe and what I remember most is hustling over to our neighbor's house to help him out when a tree went through his roof.

I don't remember that type of stuff in Oregon. Nor do I recall any runs on groceries when bad weather was on the horizon. Out here, the mere mention of a hurricane, or snow, or any related natural disaster  sends people in droves to the store to stock up on water, bread, milk and eggs. It can get a little crazy and I hesitate to take to the kids to the store for those trips. It might get kind of dangerous. I guess it's all part of the adventure. As Ezra used to say, "That's just the way it be's."