Snow

The past two days have been great! I'm really thankful for the snow. It reminds me of when we lived in Minot, ND.

Here are some memories from North Dakota and Germany:

1. We had to buy a snow blower.
2. We never got to stay home from school for a snow day. I would watch the TV in the morning hoping for at least a 2 hour delay but that never happened. Man, they were efficient there...
3. My first car (1998 Dodge Neon) had a block heater instead of AC, which proved to not be useful at all when I moved to North Carolina!
4. At the Frankfurt International Airport in Germany you didn't shut down the airport when it showed... they de-iced the plane and you were maybe 30 minutes late for take off, and it was snowing outside while you were taxing out on the runway.
5. I took my driver's test while it was snowing and they had a warning for a blizzard in effect.
6. I have seen the Northern Lights... they were beautiful. I was traveling home very late one night from Minot to our home on the base and it was so black outside but not snowing. I was the only one on the road. They were not as colorful as you might see in Alaska but if you're away from enough light, they look more silver and gray in the night sky.

At first I found it odd and irritating when I moved here and the world seemed to shut down for snow... but now I understand. People here are just not used to it here. RDU probably does not have the equipment to de-ice planes and most people do not have winter tires. But I still think it's funny how CRAZY the grocery stores get. Trader Joe's was PACKED when I went on Friday afternoon after work.

But while it's here I'm going to enjoy it :-)

dmj