3/1/08 Cabin Fever

We got that foot of snow. It started Saturday morning (in the wee hours) and kept coming and coming all day long. By 4:00 it had mostly stopped. MRM and I had backed our cars in the driveway and parked them very near the end of the driveway. Cool trick--less shoveling when they're already at the end of the driveway and with front wheel drive, you don't have to try to shovel under the backside of the tires if you're facing forward (if you have to use reverse to get out, you have to make sure the front tires can get traction on the "reverse" side of the tire). There was a party to go to tonight and I decided to brave the driving conditions and go. I picked up Dalila who is a new professor this year from Portugal. She doesn't have a car and I promised myself I would pay it forward when it came to giving folks rides (in appreciation for everyone who gave me rides in spring 2007 when I didn't have a car). Plus, she's really fun (now that I know her from giving her rides to parties), so it makes for a great trip.

So we went to Games Night. This is the second one. It was started by a faculty group, but anyone can come. Last time we played Apples to Apples (which I first encountered at my Godfamily's house in New York [we played the child's version] on the drive from Texas to Maine) and this time we played Quiddler (made by the makers of Set -- one of my very favorite games) which is a combination card and word game. It was pretty fun. We created our own "team version" where everyone helped everyone else.

I'm really glad I went. And I did okay in the driving conditions. The roads were plowed, so you just had to drive slowly on the packed thin layer of snow. On the way home, at least until we got to Farmington, the roads were "tar" (you could see the black surface). In Farmington, the roads were still covered with a packed white layer. I'm guessing that they've run out of salt for the season (not very common most winters, but very common during this winter which has had an unusually high amount of snow spread out over soooooo many days) and either can't afford to buy more or are waiting for a new shipment. It's happening all over the state. It even happened at UMF where we got an email warning us to be extra careful because they weren't able to clear the sidewalks of ice in their usual manner as they were waiting for a new shipment.