We just had this message from Nate Drown in Herndon, VA:

I spent 9 hours and 45 minutes trapped in traffic last Wednesday. Left home at 3:15 p.m. to do a 4:00 p.m. job at the hospital 15 miles away - normally a 25-minute trip - the snow had just begun. 10-miles in, I hit a wall of traffic. At 12 miles...and 3 1/2 hours...I had to give up and try to get home. Got home at 1:08 a.m. ! Intersections were gridlocked and the interstate was still a parking lot. Untreated roads, impassible slopes, abandoned cars, buses sideways, tractor-trailers off the road, no space to maneuver....it was an unreal nightmare! All that and more than 500,000 people without power! Could have made the trip to Vermont in about the same time.

Aren't you glad you're where winter is sane?









I took these pictures out back this morning.

All the best,
Nate

That is really awful. How frustrating and scary. I'm glad Nate made it back home all in one piece - probably tired and hungry, but okay. I expect those deer are finding this a difficult winter, too. They aren't used to that much snow any more than humans are. However, I expect they adapt better!

Thanks for sending this, Nate. Perhaps you should think seriously of moving back to Vermont permanently . . . ?!

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Diane Rossi sent this picture a few minutes ago of the fishing shanties on the lake. She mentioned there are more than usual out there this year. We'd noticed that, too. She said she'd snowshoe out soon and find out for us how thick the ice is. Maybe she can also find out why the big attraction for fishing this year as opposed to other years.