Snow!!!

Now, THAT'S what I'm talking about!  The snow that's hitting Howard County here in Maryland is exactly what the doctor ordered.  If you read my post yesterday, you know I love the snow, and this is what I meant.  It started falling while I was at work, and I watched it fall outside of my window for a few minutes, and it just looked awesome!  Then I realized I would have to drive home in it.  Since it had just started, close to when I was planning to leave anyway, it wasn't bad at all.  I drove all of the way home at speed.

Our plan for the evening was to get some groceries.  We hadn't been food shopping for a few weeks, just before Christmas, so we were out of just about everything.  Since my daughter had minimal homework for her first day back to school, we decided to stop for dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger in Columbia, then get our groceries at Wegman's.

We left the house at around 5:15 p.m., just as the snow was really coming down.  We already had a nice dusting on the grass, but it was starting to stick to the roads now.  We headed out, and I flipped our Jeep into 4-wheel drive for the first time.  It handled great.  The roads were slowly getting worse, though, so I was careful driving down Gorman Road.  Coming up Oakland Mills towards Snowden River, we saw the first really bad accident, a collision at the intersection of those roads.  We continued north on Snowden, avoiding the traffic, and went on to Cheeburger Cheeburger, which is across from Wegman's on McGaw Road.

We had a couple of really great burgers, and enjoyed the floor show:  4 toddlers from two different families who couldn't help but dance around the dining room.  It was fun to watch.  The burgers really were good tonight.  I love that they allow you to pretty much build a burger with any toppings you like, and I'm not sure I've ever had one the same way twice.  Tonight I had mine with pepper jack cheese, mushrooms, pickles, black olives, and salsa.  It turned out to be a great combination.  My daughter, as usual, had just a plain burger.  I continue to be disappointed that this Cheeburger Cheeburger, unlike the one in Olney, doesn't have sugar-free ice cream to make their shakes.  I love shakes, and the black and white sugar-free shake with skim milk that I got in Olney was almost perfect.  My daughter got her usual M&M's/Oreo/cookie dough shake, but I, alas, was not able to have one.

We tried to rush through our grocery shopping, and we actually got everything we needed in under an hour, though the store seemed to have already been picked through, no doubt from snow-panicked shoppers.  The produce was very thin, and we didn't have much luck in the meat department.  Luckily, there was plenty of milk, which is a necessity every trip to the grocery store.  I've complained about Wegman's being too big for its' own good, and my difficulties finding things (and finding out that even employees don't always know where everything is), and today was no exception.  I did finally find canned mushrooms.

While we were in the store, the roads continued to get worse.  Cars were driving in the 20 to 30 mph range, so we weren't able to get anywhere very quickly.  It was a beautiful snow.  The way it hit the trees and every other vertical object was cool by itself.  We saw deer in several places as we got away from Columbia, their bodies showing up clearly against the white backdrop of the snow.  I took our new Jeep through the motions and was very impressed with the way it was handling the snow, much better, in fact, than our old Liberty.  I was feeling very secure.

We arrived home safely, and I unloaded the groceries while Melody and Faithful Pup Scout went for a short walk in the snow.  Then we battened down the hatches, closing up the front door and getting comfortable for the evening.

While I've already heard that the Federal Government will be open (with unscheduled leave) for tomorrow, Howard County hasn't made a decision regarding their plans for tomorrow regarding schools.  If they cancel, then I'll likely have to stay home, since I don't think my sister is going to want to drive in this stuff, especially as it starts freezing over through the night.  We'll reassess in the morning.

Stay safe out there if you have to drive.

Have a great evening, everyone.  Enjoy the snow!