Wow!  I just realized that I haven’t posted since the 21st of December.  I have a post started about our Christmas trip to Aruba, but my current thoughts take precedence.   My current thoughts revolve around the end of 2016 and the first 6 days of 2017.  Eventful.

With high hopes of a National Championship, the ‘Ole Buckeye and I were off to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl where Ohio State was expected to beat Clemson.  In fact we already had our hotel reservations in Tampa and game tickets reserved for the National Championship game on January 9.  Well, if you haven’t heard, OSU was shut out at the Fiesta Bowl!  Although we had a great weekend in Phoenix, the game sucked.

We returned home Monday evening (the usual run around way when your final destination is Norfolk….Phoenix to St Louis to Orlando to Norfolk.)  It was good to be home.  We had a light dinner, enjoyed the Rose Bowl and went to bed.  We didn’t even unpack, totally out of character for me.

Then IT hit.  A stomach virus.  I am not talking about the 24 hour bug.  I am talking about a debilitating virus from which we still have not completely recovered.  Yes, I said “we”.  The “Ole Buckeye at midnight, and me at 3 AM.  Four days later we are still eating bananas, rice, applesauce and  toast, you know the good old BRAT diet.  And…we are exhausted.  We slept for the first 2 days and are sluggish now.  In fact I have not had coffee or wine since Monday.

Today is the first day that I have had any energy, and “any” is not much.   Finally unpacking was accomplished and laundry done.  The refrigerator was barren.  After all, we have essentially been gone since the 19th of December.  It was menu planning time.  Have you ever done menu planning after 4 days of stomach flu?  There was yet another reason for the grocery trip…Snow.  Yes, we were scheduled to get 2-8 inches of snow by midnight Saturday.  A grocery run with some kind of planning was on order.   At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the movers arrived and my daughter in law supervised the removal of their remaining furniture to their newest home.  Once the movers were finished I got ready for my grocery trip.

Before leaving, after being fixated on Fort Lauderdale news alerts, the weather was updated…8-12 inches.  Our son also texted us that the Navy had rescheduled a training weekend.  He went on to inform us that the city of Norfolk is very concerned about this weather system especially after so many trees were weakened after hurricane Matthew.  They are concerned about power lines coming down.  Well that got our attention.  Off the ‘Ole Buckeye and I went, me to the grocery and he to fill up with gas.  Our experience…Long gas lines and empty grocery shelves.

I must admit, I have been in the Norfolk and Virginia Beach area for a several inch snow storm in the past.  EVERYTHING stops.  However, it was when I was in the checkout line at Kroger, that the cashier alerted me that the snow “warning” had been changed to “Blizzard”.  Whoa is me.  This area cannot handle a few inches…Blizzard seemed unreal…here.

Blizzard Warning in Eastern Virginia

A Blizzard Warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely. This will lead to Whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you.

So, here we are this evening after a lovely dinner of chicken rice soup and saltines.  Our cars are filled with gas, there is a gas supply in the garage for the generator, we have gallons of drinking water, and enough food to get by.  We are parked in front of tv watching the weather channel which now predicts up to 16 inches with high winds…the worst of it hitting the coast, our coast!  Snow on the dunes.  My current thoughts…I’d rather be in Chicago.  At least there the snow gets removed and people know how to drive!

So there you have it…my first 6 days of 2017.  I think I am ready to give a glass of wine a try.  Happy New Year!  It has to get better, right?