9½ inches

No, get your minds out of the gutter.  That's how much snow we got on Thursday - setting an all time record for the amount of snow in a single day.  It continued snowing after midnight for a total of 12½ inches - setting yet another all time record for the amount of snow during a 24 hour period.  This picture is what I was greeted with from my front porch.

Now, for those of you who live in snow country - that might not seem like a lot.  But, you have to remember that we are not setup for this kind of weather.  I don't own a snow shovel - and I'm not sure I could even purchase one locally if I wanted to.  Our cities do not have adequate equipment to keep streets clear.  All of the area schools shut down on Friday.  Many businesses either shut down completely or ran on skeleton crews.  Over 200,000 homes were without power from downed power lines caused by broken tree branches weighted down by the snow.  I have a large 9 inch diameter tree branch that broke off of an old Oak tree in our back yard - luckily it missed the house when it fell.  But, I haven't quite decided what to do about it yet because it is too big and heavy for me to pull it out to the street for road crews to take - but I don't have the tools to chop it into smaller pieces.

Fortunately, since Friday morning, it's been above freezing; so, the snow has been melting a bit.  Yesterday I got out with a garden rake, shovel, and hoe to move some of the snow off of the driveway so that we could get our car out.  Today the roads are relatively clear; but, there is still several inches of snow all over the ground.

And I find myself feeling angry about it.  On Thursday evening I was planning on going to a photography seminar on composition sponsored by the Fort Worth camera club that I joined last month - and on Friday I was planning on getting together for lunch with a fellow MoHo who found my blog a few weeks ago.  Both of which had to be canceled.  I really don't get out much; if everything was going to get shut down for two days - why did it have to be those two days?  The two days before or after would have been just fine.  Oh well, I guess I should just resign myself to be a hermit.