Monday Morning

Terry called this morning to tell me that they had close to two (2) feet of snow on the ground and, while it has stopped falling, it's blowing sideways in the strong winds (gusts to 40-50 mph). ;UPDATE: It has been officially reported that Elizabeth, NJ had 31.8 inches of snow on the ground. That's the town next door to Linden.] New Jersey's acting Governor (Christie was going to Florida on a planned Disney World vacation--he's probably still sitting in an airport somewhere) declared a state of emergency which should mean that Jess doesn't have to go to work at The Mall. (She couldn't see the street when she got up this morning so called to say she wasn't going to make it. Can't see Bob--the name of her little Yaris--making the trip anywho.)

Here at the Aerie, the winds are also howling and the temperature dropped to 9.6 degrees this morning at 7 AM. I've got around 4 inches of snow on the ground but it has drifted in spots to nearly nothing or over 6 inches. There's not enough to use the blower--and I'd get it blown back in my face if I tried--so it will be shovel work for an hour or two. I've already done the deck so I could get to the bird feeder and there was no problem at all. Very cold, light, powdery snow on a very cold plastic surface of the shovel and very cold freshly stained/oiled deck makes for easy pushing. The stones in the drive might make it a different story since this is the first shoveling of the year and those stones that are protruding above the ground will create snags. At least the shovel won't toss the loose stones about the way the snow thrower would.

I can't imagine the problems being created by the blowing about of two (2) FEET of light, powdery snow. I imagine sections of roadway will have to be plowed again and again and again...even if the snow is no longer falling.

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What a horrible year for the Minnesota Vikings!

First Brett Favre forgets how to play football. Then the story comes out that Favre may/may not have a bit of a perv in him. next the roof on your home stadium collapses under the weight of snow forcing a swift relocation of your "home" game to Detroit of all places. And Favre's consecutive start streak comes to an end. Then you get to play in the U of Minnesota's outdoor stadium a couple of days after a huge blizzard--at night--in single digit temperatures. And Favre suffers a concussion in the first quarter. Next, your Sunday night game in Philadelphia gets postponed because of another blizzard that dumps two feet of snow on the City of Brotherly Love.

Good news though, after they play Tuesday night, their Sunday game is in Detroit where it can't get snowed out...unless they get stuck in Minneapolis or there's another blizzard in Detroit that shuts down the city or the dome on that stadium fails or.... Well it'll be their final game of the season and, allegedly, Favre's final game in uniform.

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Despite losing to Chicago yesterday, the Jets are in the playoffs thanks to a Jacksonville loss. The Giant's lost in a big way to Chicago and now have to hope for a miracle to get into the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the NFC West teams might have trouble if they played the PAC-10. (Forget about the SEC, that would be an over match!) The Rams will play Seattle next Sunday night to determine the winner of the conference and which will be playoff bound. The Rams are currently 7-8 while the Seahawks are 6-9. Should Seattle win, both teams will be 7-9 but the Seahawks would hold the tiebreaker based on conference record. But you're supposed to love parity. Right?