It's pretty, sort of, kinda

But I am glad that I am home and snuggled up in my nice warm house. And that I'm just seeing this snow in the photos my daughter sent. I got off the phone with my her a little while ago. She's in Hartford, Connecticut watching the snow come down. She can't really do a lot else as they've got 30 inches right now and it's still coming down. I grew up with snow, lots of snow, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.

Sarah is not going to work today. At least not in her own car. This is her parking lot at 20 inches of snow this morning. The hospital has sent out 4 wheel drive vehicles to pick up nurses for their shifts. Sarah's been waiting 6 hours. She's pretty sure that she won't be going in at all. In fact as I was talking to her, she heard that a state of emergency has been declared.

There are technical difficulties you might never even have thought of when there is this much snow. This is Chester. He's about 15" tall. His bathroom is out in the snow and he's had a little difficulty balancing. Poor little guy fell face first and is embarrased.

Kramer, who is 10" tall and has the same bathroom arrangements as Chester, refuses to go out. But really, can you blame him? The snow is 3 times deeper than he is tall. Just in case you're wondering, they've cleared a little space on the balcony for him.

I hope all of you who are living out there in this terrible weather are snuggled up warm and toasty with a nice cup of hot chocolate. I'm thinking nice warm no snow thoughts for you.

Where is Hartford?

I've spent a bit of time this week trying to answer this question. I admit my sense of place 'out east' is a little weak on the geography side. I know where New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and even Albany are. But that's really about it. When we travel we generally go west. So I just don't know a whole lot about the east.

I know that Hartford is the capitol of the state of Connecticut, has a metropolitan population of around 1,200,000, is about 400 years old, and so on. It's long, long way from W TX. But why my sudden interest in Hartford? Well, my daughter and her fiance are in a car driving there right now as I type.

They are not on holiday. They are moving. Sort of. This autumn my daughter's fiance was told that his department was being out sourced and to plan on being unemployed in February. Two weeks ago they were told that their jobs would be finished in a week's time. Derek was a graphic designer for the Wichita Eagle  for 6 years and like so much of the newspaper industry, whatever jobs can be outsourced have been. There are no graphic design jobs in Wichita. He knows. He was laid off for a while last year.

Sarah has taken a 3 month traveling nurse job in Hartford. They'll decide later if they will stay. It's a big decision. But Wichita, where they live and own a house, has been hit pretty hard by the recession. When the recession first hit, the aerospace industry alone lost just under 7000 jobs literally over night. That's a lot of people to absorb back into the work force in a city of 350,000. So up sticks it is and off they go. I'm a little sad because they will be so far away. On the other hand I am so excited that they will get this new experience, a fresh start. They are young and now is the time for them. Oh, and Sarah and I are planning a little mummy and daughter trip to New York. I love New York.

Have a great weekend everyone!