[Sigh...] Enough!

A few glimpses of sunshine, a little respite from bone-chilling cold, some dry roads amidst others which sport hard lumps of ice which do their best to throw one over into the oncoming lane if one doesn't keep hands firmly on the steering wheel, the near-forgotten memory of what green grass looks like, melting icicles dripping from every eaves, uncollected garbage lining most streets in town, the hope that the next predicted snowfall will not materialize. This has been my week. Throw in a head cold that makes me feel a little bit lightheaded, as well as an advanced case of cabin fever. I've had better weeks.

I've been out and about, but even behind the wheel of my car I feel closed in by snow. It never felt like this back in Connecticut, for some reason. Here in Oklahoma, it just doesn't feel right. I miss Afton Station, and I still have no idea if the roads are decent between here and there, or if the Station parking lot is even negotiable. It makes me feel negligent, until I tell myself that it's doubtful that there are very many Route 66 travelers out there anyway. Schools around here have been closed for a week, and there's no end in sight. My goal is "Afton by Saturday". The jury is still out on that, but I'm hoping.

Emerging from Hibernation With a Smile

Being snowbound isn't all bad. Isolation can lead to creativity -- in my case, creativity about which I've been procrastinating for months and months. Yesterday, I put the finishing touches on a big project promised to the Route 66 Interpretive Center in Chandler for way too long. The feeling of completion is wonderful!

I am very fortunate to have a large collection of Route 66 postcards (about 5000 at last count). A subcategory of collectible postcards, called "real photo cards", is just what it sounds like -- real photos! These are the black-and-white images from the early to mid-20th century which are printed directly on photographic paper. They were often the product of itinerant photographers who would come into a town, take photos of landmarks and businesses, then sell them to the people of the town. They are quite rare and reasonably valuable. I have quite a few real photo cards, and it's with these that I created my display. The display consists of four big frames which, when hung together, show all of Route 66 as depicted on these real photo cards. It consists of images of filling stations, motels, and cafes. I hope everyone will come to the Interpretive Center this summer to see the display. Meanwhile, here are a few of the cards I used in the display, so you can see what I'm talking about. Carter & Lawson's Underpass Cafe and Service Station, U.S. Hwy 66, Phillipsburg, MO

Coronado Court, Kingman AZ Rare view from North Terrace of Oklahoma State Capitol, showing gas station across the street and many oil well derricks in the background. Route 66 at one time ran directly in front of the Capitol in Oklahoma City.

Here's a bad photo of part of one of the frames, complete with glare. :-(

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For those who have been following my winter saga, I'm happy to announce that I had my driveway shoveled last night, and this morning I had no trouble driving to and from the dialysis center. So I'm back to being my normal, calm self and can stop exhibiting the annoying traits of the highly stressed. But don't get me wrong. I still hate snow! My driveway, or as much as you can see from my front door

Just an update. . .

The snowstorm is finally over. The sun is out. Tulsa, OK racked up over 14 inches of snow, breaking all records for a continuous snowfall here. I have stayed warm and dry (and hungry), and have made many calls to folks to see about getting shoveled out. The problem is that the snowplow people can't get out of their own driveways! Many main roads are closed. I have drifts of at least 4-5 ft. in my driveway, so I'll have to skip dialysis tomorrow morning. I do have a nice person telling me that he can probably come late tomorrow to do the plowing.

Oh, we also may break records for cold temperatures! This is quite the bummer! I'm watching my young, fit neighbor try to get up the steps to his house. He's struggling. Ah Spring, where art thou?

I Am Not Amused!

It's no secret that I HATE snow! I don't consider it pretty or fun or even interesting. In fact, I consider it a pain in the ass, period! Today, here in beautiful downtown Tulsa, we are having a good old-fashioned blizzard! Tulsa isn't famous for big snowfalls, so they're predicting this one will break records. I grew up in lake-effect snow country (Cleveland, OH), and then spent most of my adulthood in snow country (Connecticut), but I never got used to it. I really hoped this would never happen here in Oklahoma, but here it is. The photo below was taken 5 minutes ago from my front porch. If it looks familiar to you, the second photo was taken almost exactly a year ago, Jan 29, 2010 to be exact. But this year, there's a lot more snow!!

Feb. 1, 2011Jan. 29, 2010

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I'm sure this looks like nothing to my friends on the East Coast after the mess they've gone through this winter, but please forgive my grumbling. Part of my bad mood comes from the fact that I have to semi-fast today since there's a chance I might not get to dialysis tomorrow. Nothing like being stuck in the house during a snowstorm and unable to eat or drink. If you don't hear from me again, it's because I've chewed my fingers off.

Here's my brown car. Maybe when the snow stops, I'll be able to test Subaru's claims of building the #1 best car for handling in the snow. I'll be back with a report tomorrow.

SNOWklahoma!

This was sent to me by a friend who lives in Mesa, Arizona -- along with a taunt and a description of their lovely weather there today. Thanks a bunch, Mike! (LOL!)

SNOW....klahoma!
Where the cold front's sweepin' down the plain
And the piles of sleet,
Beneath your feet
Follow right behind the freezing rain.
We know we belong to the land
But it could use some more salt and sand
That's why we say.....
WHOA! We're sliding the other way.....
YIKES! We're ...only sayin'
You're slick as snot SNOWklahoma
SNOWklahoma
SNOW-K-L-A-H-O-M-A
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I'm sorry to say that it's a perfect description of Oklahoma today. Right now we're having a virtual blizzard, which is doing a fine job of covering up the 1/2 inch of ice and the 1/2 inch of sleet beneath it. Everything is at a standstill, including me. I spent an hour this morning first melting then scraping that 1/2 inch off the windows of my car. I couldn't go anywhere, I just wanted to get ahead of things.

There will be no Afton Station tomorrow, and unless a miracle occurs, no Afton Station on Sunday either. So instead, here's a photo of what I'm seeing out my front door in Tulsa right now. Just lovely.... NOT!
From what I can tell by reading their Facebook page, apparently the Extreme Makeover project I told you about yesterday is going ahead today despite the inclimate weather. I'm sure they have a schedule they have to stick to as closely as possible. It will be interesting to see today's report.

We got about a third of the way to Afton when.....

... we turned back! It started out as rain, but not a heavy downpour. Within minutes, it turned to "slush balls" which made great huge "splats" on the windshield. And then, the snow! All of this in the course of about 20 minutes. Hey, you Weather Gurus..... you told us it wouldn't start until about noon, and that it would be moderate. Wrong! I'm not blaming you, WGs, I'm just saying... I know it's unprecidented for this area, because that's what you're telling us now. No matter. I hate snow, so I'm choosing this day to be grumpy. Afton Station is closed, and if this doesn't stop soon, it might be closed tomorrow as well. Driving home from Claremore, when we decided to turn around, was not fun. My car isn't great in the slippery stuff. The ABS brakes are just fine, but forward momentum after a stop is always dicey. Creeping along works the best in this case. We (and when I say "we", I'm referring to myself and Ron M., who was with me) saw one car spin completely out and another SUV in a ditch. Visibility was basically zero, too.

I guess the snow was worse in Western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, and of course my heart goes out to the folks in the Upper Midwest who are experiencing devastating flooding that makes this little snowstorm seem like a walk in the park, but this is Tulsa OK, and snow is a rarity. Coming from New England, I'm a pretty good driver in this stuff, but that's not true of everyone around here. Not by a long shot.

We got to Catoosa before the precipitation started and managed to snap this picture of the mural on the side of the Correll Museum. If you will recall, I blogged about the charming little auto/rock/bottle museum I visited a couple of weeks ago. Here's the recently-painted mural. I really love it because it converted an easily-overlooked tourist stop into a place that really stands out.

It's now about 11:30 a.m., and it's still coming down very hard. Here are some pictures I took when I first got home about 45 minutes ago. Note that they're taken from my covered front porch. No way I'm going out again in this stuff!

Note my neighbor's weeping cherry, in bloom, with the snow