Winter of our discontent

 

While I celebrated the end of 2010, which was an awful year at so many levels, so far, 2011 has been a punishment in the weather department. We've had such unrelenting snowfall that my husband has had to clear our driveway, which is not inconsiderable, more than four or five times in about that number of weeks. It is back-breaking work.

The weather also has been harshly unsympathetic and discouraging for my beloved trail walks with Lizzy, so those have been cut to a bare minimum and only on those days when there is a slight improvement in the weather outlook. Thus, poor Lizzy is stir crazy with cabin fever until she gives up and just mopes, lying on the sofa or the bed with a woeful look.

Then we had an ice storm today and there's more coming tomorrow so, our already difficult driveway that my husband has worked so hard to keep clear, has frozen over like hell will one day and it's a perilous skating rink that now looks like a river of ice.

The driveway was so slippery this morning that we couldn't get my car out so we walked to a neighbor's house, careful to keep to the snow and not the ice so we didn't break our necks or something else in a fall. My neighbor had been able to get his car down his driveway (he lives up the hill, not down like we do) and he was able to drive me to school so that I could teach my classes today. My husband eventually got the car up our small hill and there it is staying overnight so that we have a way to get out of here tomorrow.

 Meanwhile, there's more than 1/4 inch of ice on our deck, which means neither Lizzy nor Hamlet want to brave the great outdoors because all they do is slip and slide on the frosting-thick ice.

Like Shakespeare's Richard III we can say, with conviction: "Now is the winter of our discontent." Spring doesn't even seem possible these days.