Very early Tuesday morning the sounds of winter woke me. Whistling wind, pounding hail, and more wind. One look outside after the 5 am alarm informed me I wasn't going anywhere. Freezing rain had turned into snow and the wind was blowing anything that didn't weigh more than 100 lbs. Gusts of ice crystals and snow created abstract landscapes and the streets were sheets of ice. 

Anticipating bad weather, I had driven to Ed's house in the city after work on Monday. I would have a better chance of traveling to the train station for morning commute. As we drank our morning coffee and watched the weather report on the local news, I learned that nothing was moving except state sand trucks. And a few crazy drivers that probably regretted getting in their vehicles. Even the city mass transportation was not running. 

Expected temperature lows were predicted to be single digits; I had to get to my place in the country to prevent my pipes from freezing. We chanced the roads later that afternoon. It took us two hours to drive 40 miles, and another 15 minutes to make four attempts to drive the 150 feet of ice getting in my driveway. We've been stranded at my home ever since. 

As you can see in the photo above, my road is a skating rink. A few vehicles have braved it, some end up in the ditch, other have to back down and try several times. Those with tire chains make it. One car slid onto its side into the ditch; the driver had to crawl out through the door window. A neighbor's truck is half on the driveway and halfway nearly in the creek. My pond is frozen solid. Buck was quite surprised at that. Most of my pipes have thawed except for in the back bathroom. And the heater is running nearly all the time.