Snow doesn’t usually accumulate in Wichita.
A snowstorm means snow flies, people get in accidents, and the streets are clear within an hour.
At least, that’s the way it usually is.
This week, though, Wichita experienced a Nebraska-quality snowstorm.
We got several inches Wednesday afternoon–which meant most of our appointments were no-shows. I e-mailed my family telling them of the snowstorm around four–and then kicked myself when I walked out of the office at five to find the streets clear.
I left my boots at Daniel’s house that evening. After all, the streets and the skies were clear as of two Thursday morning.
When I walked up the stairs Thursday morning, ready for work, the woman I live with asked me if I was sure I still had to work.
I was a bit confused until I looked out the door. In the six hours since I’d last looked, we’d gotten six inches.
Nena was kind enough to help me clear my car (meaning that I only soaked my stockings up to my knees, but left my clothes themselves relatively dry). I slipped and slid and spun my tires a bit on the way out the driveway.
I got to my training a half-hour late–but I did make it, as did one other participant. I couldn’t tell whether my eye doctor was still open based on the message on their phone, so I geared up to go at the appropriate time, only to find that I was STUCK.
It took about 20 minutes to get myself free–digging out my tires, placing a carpet underneath them, rocking forward and then back before finally getting enough traction to move a couple of feet. Digging myself out again, repositioning the carpet, etc.
Once free, I drove across town to find the eye doctor closed. Big surprise there.
It turned out no one could get into our clinic. Since it’s attached to a school and the schools had a snow day, we had no one to unlock the door.
Rather than returning to the Main clinic for the second half of the day, I went to Daniel’s and took a nap (and then made supper, did laundry, helped Daniel with some data entry for a project, organized cleaning supplies, and cleaned the toilet.)
Over the afternoon, we got a third snowfall–another three or four inches maybe. Daniel cleared my car before I went home–and thankfully, we haven’t gotten anymore.
Nevertheless, it is cold and wet today. We actually have accumulation. The streets are piled with snow that is only just beginning to be packed down by slowly emerging drivers.
And, a curious young client looked carefully at my pantyhose this morning before proclaiming, “You can’t wear THAT! It’s SNOWY outside.”
