Snow

I'm stressed.  It's been a nightmare since Tuesday, when I got hit with about 8 inches of snow, mostly overnight.  The snow was really heavy.  One of the more disturbing experiences was standing in my front doorway watching the snow coming down in the darkness, with the only sound - and literally the only sound - being the breaking of tree limbs under the weight of the snow.  Indeed, a big tree limb came down and blocked my driveway.  The only tool I had to deal with this was a little hacksaw, which was entirely inadequate.  My landlord is currently in Hawaii, but fortunately one of his sons was around and was able to bring out the chainsaw.  Perhaps I need to get one!  In many ways, I was lucky to only have my driveway blocked - there were thousands of people in the area affected by power outages (indeed, I briefly lost power overnight), and the only way this could have been worse was if I had lost power and was trapped in a freezing house.  The amount of snow was way more than forecast, and the temperature hasn't warmed up enough for the snow to melt away yet.  And indeed the overnight lows are going to be well before freezing, so the roads and my driveway are going to freeze up.  I could be trapped for a while if the daytime temperatures don't get high enough to melt the ice and snow - I had an opportunity to get out to do some shopping this afternoon, but I didn't take it and I hope I don't come to regret that.  It's already started affecting my plans - if it doesn't get better next week (and the forecasts seem to suggest there will be more snow events) then I might have to pass on a team-building event and a holiday party.  And I am very nervous about what the weather will be like when I'm due to drive to the airport and fly back to the UK.  Lots of flights out of Seattle have been canceled over the last few days, so this is somewhat troubling.  And to top it all, I've also hurt my back from all the snow I shoveled.  And I've been so preoccupied with the weather, that I haven't been able to get any work done.  Next week could be even more stressful...