The Blizzard of '06 is HERE.

Oh my, is it AMAZING.

This picture I took about 20 minutes ago -- Brian headed out to work tonight -- he has a night shift at UPS, and there's probably 18 inches of snow on the ground.

He went to leave tonight, and was literally stopped by the snow blocking the front porch's screen door. If you look at where the door is, there should be stairs and a 2-foot drop with a couple of steps that aren't there anymore. As you can see, it's even!

Today has been SUCH an adventure!

I went to work this morning just as the snow started, and I stayed until about 4, when most of the office had cleared out.

My boss told me to go, and off I went, thankful that I'd brought my gators with me so I could wade through the snow.

I also brought my camera, which has serious trouble focusing in snow, but I got this nice picture of the newspaper boxes on my trek towards REI where I told my husband I would be by 4:30.



I walked from my office near the capitol all the way down 15th street, and by 4 p.m. it was vacant except for a sorry few waiting for buses. I passed TWO of my 52 buses stranded on 15th Street, so I was VERY glad my husband was meeting me.

It was a long trek through foot-high snow, so I got my exercise in for the day. I smiled and talked with a few people along the way as we all shared the adventure that comes with a nice blizzard in Colorado.

I walked down 15th towards REI at 15th & Little Raven St., and when I arrived I didn't find Brian. I told him to meet me at the Starbucks there if it was still open, but it was all closed, along with the REI store.

Since it was 21 degrees and blizzard conditions, I couldn't just stand there and wait or face freezing in the snow, so I kept walking, and up to "My Brother's Bar" I headed. As I arrived, My Brother's Bar has a public address system that even beams out onto the street -- which is sort of odd -- but the voice said "Due to the fact that the governor has declared a State of Emergency, this bar will have last call in 15 minutes, and we will close in one hour. We suggest that you choose an alternate form of transportation other than driving yourself, or make arrangements to stay close by."

I walked into the foyer of My Brother's Bar, which faces the direction Brian should come in, and stood there, encased in the ice and snow from my journey, and waited. About 10 minutes later, I saw my trusty Subaru with Brian driving turn the corner, and I hollered for him and he quickly turned around.

I waded through what felt like 2 feet of drifting snow to get to the car, and then AHHHHHHHH, I was in a warm car.

Upon arrival at home, I discovered my screened-in porch had 2 inches of snow...One of the screens had been blown in by the storm, and deposited a bunch of snow in my otherwise "indoor/outdoor living room".



I worked ahead enough so I shouldn't have to try and go to work tomorrow. The only real bummer is that my brother and Mom were supposed to fly in tomorrow for Christmas, and DIA is completely shut down for at least the next 24 hours. I hope and pray that this storm clears up so they can make it, even if it's a day late.

Tomorrow, comes the fun part. Feeling like an ant after someone flooded their farm, I'm going to have to help Brian dig out and clear the sidewalk.

Tomorrow is the day I'm going to wish I had bought him a snowblower for Christmas.