Sssnnooooowwwwww!!!

The weekend before Christmas, this region was hit with the biggest snowstorm we've had in several years. News outlets called it "the storm of the century". How do they know? We're only nine years into this century, for Pete's sake! Anyway, Roanoke got about 2 feet of snow and nearly totally shut down. I had to go to work because hospitals never close. I really didn't have much trouble getting to work, and not just because my Jeep has 4WD. If people would drive slower and in a lower gear, they shouldn't have too many problems. If you drive like a moron, you'll land in a ditch!
The Call ins for Saturday morning started at 1130 pm. "There's.....snow......on the road!". No kidding. Snow is not selective, it falls where it wants to! "I can't see the road." See above. I wasn't very sympathetic. After all, I drove to Roanoke from the West Virginia mountains and I made it! Our monitor tech, Kerry, sat on I-81 for forever because a couple of trucks wrecked and blocked traffic. It took her 11 hours, but she showed up for work! She should get a raise for that! The roads were a little better on Saturday. All of the night shift staff came to work. Sunday call outs started at 1030pm, again. We scrounged together enough people to cover the unit. We survived the "big storm" and maintained the quality of care that I would want for anyone in my family.
At home, we got three feet of snow. Snow is a part of winter and the DOH crews do a fabulous job keeping the roads cleared. This snow fell so fast that they just couldn't keep up. A 6pm curfew was called by the Sheriff's department to keep people off of the road. There were a bunch of cars stranded in ditches already! By the time I got home Monday morning, the main roads were cleared and secondary roads were passable.
Last night, the snow started falling when I got to Covington, VA. It fell sporadically until I got to the highway leading to my home. Then, it came down heavily. The wind was strong enough to knock my car crazy! At times, the wind gusts and snow made for white out conditions. Slow down, be careful, keep both hands on the steering wheel, pray without ceasing. I got home safely. This morning, the snow that had fallen was gone (the snow from the weekend before is still here and probably will be till August!).
Snow makes the fields and mountains take on a different character. It smells fresh. The flakes fall like little feathers and float on the wind. Snow is one of my favorite things about winter . I love snow...........until April!