They are the two simple words that are on the lips of every person in the Delaware Valley - and have been now for several days.
How much?
How much snow are we going to get from the great Nor'easter of 2017?
When will it start?
How long will it last?
What will be open and closed.
But as I lay in bed early this morning frantically checking the clock every five minutes, I was seized by two other words that always seem to accompany a big storm.
Dead quiet.
As much as I hate it, there is something calming, settling, as most all normal activity ceases and people hunker down in the wake of a big winter storm.
For some reason, I don't even have to get up and go to the window to learn my fate.
I can feel it. The quiet tells me we are now cloaked in a blanket of white.
But as I gritted my teeth this morning, trying to muster the confidence to crawl out of bed and peer out the window, the tranquility was rather rudely interrupted by a sound I had not anticipated.
It was that pinging on the window and roof.
Sleet.
To be honest, at this point I don't know what to make of this storm, aside from this:
Enough already.
The TV stations seem to be furiously trying to pinpoint the "crossover line," that spot where the snow stops and the sleet starts.
I get the feeling that the line has been creeping farther and farther north, that we may not be getting as much snow as first thought. From what I can see on TV, it appears as if a lot of roads are just wet.
Right now here at Chez Heron, I would say we have a few inches of snow.
If we don't get a whole lot more, that would be fine by me.
Then again, I'm not a meteorologist. I don't even play one on TV. I reserve that for this blog.
Stay warm and safe out there.
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