More snow

So we got another big snowstorm Sunday night. This storm was different from the other storms that we've had this winter because it was heavy, wet snow. The kind to take down trees and power lines..which it did. Fortunately the power stayed on at my house (yipee for being close to the substation and the electricity producing dam. I've decided that when I sell my house, I am going to feature proximity to the electric substation and the El Weir dam prominently in the sales ad. Around here, it's a BIG SELL.). I got up at 4:30 am to shovel, managed to get to work, and at 4:45 PM when we got home, I was working on finishing shoveling. When my Great Snowblowing Neighbor came home from work and fired up his snowblower to finish removing the Great Wall of Snow from the end of the driveway. Just before that, Jupiter pointed out to me the half a maple tree laying on the garage roof. It's still there, at the moment. It's hard to get to at the moment considering the mountains of snow out back. Since there isn't an actual hole in the roof, I'll let it go for awhile.

We have some new neighbors who are moving in up the street. I haven't met them yet, other than a quick wave last night when we were driving by on the way home. I'll have to go introduce myself, because while I was driving by, I happened to notice the license plate on the car was from Iowa.

I lived in Iowa from 1990 to 1995. I went to college in Iowa. And it kind of works like this. Anytime I see a car from Iowa all the way out here in Maine, I assume that somehow I know them. I think this stems from my first fall in Iowa. Iowa car license plates all have their county of registration on the bottom. BTW, in case you're interested, Iowa has 99 counties. I always tried to memorize all 99. I could get up to about 75 or 80. That's the kind of stuff I used to entertain myself with when I was working allnighters at the Super 8.

Anyway, back to the memoir...my first fall in Iowa, my friend and I went from our college town to Des Moines, and while we were walking around I saw a license plate from the county where my friend was from. (She was from a very rural area. And part of the actual Mormon Trail was on her family's farm.) So jokingly, I said, "There's a car from Decatur County..Do you know them?" And of course she did know them. And so I determined that everyone in Iowa knows everyone else.

When I was flying back and forth between the two states, I could count on seeing somebody I knew at the airport in Chicago during the layover. It got so I came close, a couple of times, to not bothering to have someone pick me up at the airport in Des Moines, because the odds were so good that SOMEONE I knew was going to be on the plane. ( I went to the college in my town and worked at the gas station on the town square. I knew just about everyone.).

I've moved back to Maine, but I still assume that if I see a car from Iowa, I will know who is in the car. So driving down my street last night I saw an Iowa license plate, did a double take, and promptly stopped in the middle of the street so I could see what county they were from. Polk County. Which generally means Des Moines. There are a few towns in Polk County that are not Des Moines..but Des Moines is by far the largest. So anyway, if it turns out I actually DO know them, I'll let you know.

BTW, Maine has 16 counties. We even have a song to the tune of Yankee Doodle to memorize all 16 counties which is part of the fourth grade curriculum. I never could make 99 counties fit to the tune of Yankee Doodle. I only ever got as far as "99 counties in our state..Marion, Mahaska."

Today was blood drive day at work; I may be a little punchy from lower blood volume.

Jupiter finally went back to school today...she missed the last Friday before February vacation because she was sick, had all the next week off, and then missed Monday because of the snow. I was afraid she would balk at the seperation for the first time in two weeks, but she did fine. She got some of the Valentines she missed because she was sick, and it was her show and tell day. But tonight she was very tired and the ATTITUDE started to come to the surface. So she rocked to sleep with her music tonight..

She's added a series of hugs and kisses to our morning goodbye routine...I LIKE this routine!!! I hope it lasts!! AND she's been sleeping better at night since the viral crud went away, so I've been sleeping more as well. And it's gotten warm enough she can have some outdoor time. Every bit of that pays off. Tomorrow she goes to the pottery paint shop with B for four hours...better clear off another shelf for a ceramic something that she'll come home with. Gotta love the Free Shelf!!