It snowed here in the DC area today.
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Snow in DC, well, is where:
(1) Everybody is from somewhere else;
(2) Everybody has forgotten how to drive in it;
(3) They drive in it anyway; and
(4) They are in front of me going up a hill.
Trust me. A four hour commute tends to take a bit of the frosting off one’s appreciation of a snowfall.
Still, not everybody cares.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here is Washington DC’s favorite son. Bao Bao, our baby panda.
Nothing less would have gotten most folks in the DC area to stop swearing over the fact that they didn’t plow 4 inches of snow off the roads.
Now that I think of it, next time it snows, I’m heading to the National Zoo!
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FiftyFourandAHalf 
Your panda was so cute in the snow! They even showed him/her playing on our local news it was so sweet!
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Ugh, that driving in the snow thing. We get one inch here in NC and people don’t know what to do. It’s not that hard. Didn’t they pay attention in driver’s ed? It is pretty though. I always want just ONE snow every year. Just one.
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It is pretty, and I’m comfortable driving in it (I’m from New England) But really, if you don’t know how to drive in it, stay home! Everybody will be happier (except maybe your boss …)
So nice to see you in the sphere again, Karen!
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Happy New Year, Elyse!! And it is so good to see you still blogging!!! xoxo
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Happy New Year to you, too! Still blogging, butt not as often. No time.
I hope life is treating you well!
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thanks!
lol time is scarce these days, yes.
life is good, can’t complain…onward and upward always!
here’s to an amazing 2015 🙂
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And let’s hope for the world too. Things are already screwed up and it’s still the beginning of January.
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Ugh, seriously. I can barely bring myself to turn on the news anymore!!
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I lived in the DC area for 6 years and remember the infrequent but paralyzing snow storms quite well. Then, in a day, it was often gone. But it sure caused a kerfuffle when it snowed.
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Yes, just the thought of snow paralizes the city. And when it really comes … Oh my.
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The pandas are here again? Obviously I need to get out more. Flippin’ babies and needing 50 layers to go outside ruin leaving the house.
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They’re always hre; just usually napping when i stop by!
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baby snow panda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!
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we have pandas but no snow…
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I didn’t realize that was allowed — where do you keep your pandas????
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uh… in the world famous San Diego zoo
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I’m so disappointed — I thought you had your own personal pandas.
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shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… that would be illegal… but they are so tasty with A-1 sauce… HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Does it taste like chicken? (I can’t believe I said that.
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no… it does not… what is wrong with you… ha!!!!!!!!!
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Same here. First real snowfall of the year this week and all of sudden everybody around here was born and raised in the tropics – no clue about how to drive. Grumble, grumble. Thanks for the panda cuteness to lighten the mood this morning.
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That makes me feel so much better, actually Peg. Because before your fellow midwesterners failed to drive logically in the first snowfall of the year here, they did the same at home. It gives me hope that the amnesia they and the other snow country transplants had yesterday will fade by next week when it will snow again!
Glad you liked the pandas, too. Gotta love a panda!
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Cute, cuddly, furry, big eyes- what’s not to love?
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I’m afraid to jinx it, but in Connecticut we’ve had a really mild winter…so far. We haven’t had one in years. Praying for it to continue.
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Good luck! Seriously. [ I grew up in CT (Westport) and lived there for 6 years later (Simsbury). I still have a lot of relatives there.]
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i haven’t seen this panda video, which delivers many smiles!!!! In terms of the 4-hour commute … be thankful for two things … 1) It didn’t end like Gilligan’s Island … and 2) it wasn’t 6 hours. 😉
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Gilligan’d island seems lovely about now!
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… and lower temps are on the way!
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Yes i was walking Duncan and it was 20 Brrrrr
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Single digits in a few hours for us. … and a knifing wind, too.
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It snowed here in NYC, too, which turned out to be a lucky thing for me. I called in sick and went to the Met art museum to see an exhibit that’s about to close. Afterwards, I went for a walk in Central Park. There was a fresh blanket of snow and not many people around. It made me happy to be alive. I’ve got a couple of pics to post. The city is so photogenic right after a snowfall (but before it turns into black slush).
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That sounds wonderful.
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It’s how I’d live my life if I had the means.
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Lottery is the only option
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That’s depressing. I like to fancy myself a student of the odds. It’s hopeless.
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A dollar a dream …
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I’m from New England, too, and when I moved to Philadelphia I was just amazed at how the snow (or even the forecast of it) would paralyze the city.
I sat in traffic for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday commuting to work, so I can commiserate. Did it even make sense to go to work after that? It did cross my mind to turn around and go home, but traffic was backed up in the other direction as well.
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You’d think they would figure it out, wouldn’t you. Instead they’re all “It’s snowing in January! Who could have anticipated it!
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No plows here yesterday either, just tons of salt that doesn’t work in 23 degree weather. It was a joy driving home! See you at the zoo during the next snow fall.
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We canhave a party!
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Haha great video!
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Almost as cute as your two!
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I can say nothing.
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Didn’t it get icy near you this week, too?
But it is hard to say anything about the pandas except Awwwwww!
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Yes, awwww sweet.
It has been cold yes. But so far with no rain falling we haven’t had ice. What we have had is small earthquakes thanks to fracking.
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Great.
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The panda is totally worth 4/4.5 inches of snow. I will think of him tomorrow morning as I warm up my vehicle in that -30 Trent mentioned.
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I just hope you didn’t need to roll around on the ground to warm up!
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When I lived in PG County, I laughed at the DC area snow crawlers, Elyse. Of course, you have no snow plows down there, so …
Now that I’ve been back in New York and living in Syracuse for the last 31 years I just laugh at myself for having to drive in the snow too much. I hate it, snow plows and all.
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Actually, they DO have them now! They just don’t flippin’ USE THEM. GRRR.
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Four inches? Four whole inches? Wow. I mean, just wow. I guess it’s a matter of perspective, but four inches for us is just an excuse to go outside for a nice stroll, or pack the family in the car for a winter drive. We get perplexed around the one foot mark. By the way, we have no baby panda… this country is beautiful but a little poor in the panda department. For what it’s worth, it’s going to be -30 Celsius with the wind chill tomorrow morning. I strongly suspect that the salt on the road may freeze… you know it’s cool when the salt freezes and turns into another form of ice.
Well, hopefully no more four-hour commutes in your future… that sounds awful.
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It may have actually been 4-1/2, so that explains the paralysis.
I’m from New England, so I learned to drive in snow. Everybody else in the greater DC area grew up on the Equator, I’m pretty sure, at least based on their blood pressure when there is anything white in the ski.
But actually, it isn’t entirely the drivers; a lot of it is the fact that the local governments don’t accept the fact that it snows here. So they don’t budget for snow removal. As I was sanctimoniously thinking how stupid everybody else was as I drove to work, I did fishtail once or twice! Which only proves that sanctimony is much more dangerous than snowy roads.
I really don’t understand why everybody laughs at the folks in DC. Can’t figure it out. Scratching my head …
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Dunno… I like you DC’ers. Although I’m still sore about you guys stealing my baseball team… that’s a hard one to swallow. So up here, we don’t do snow removal. It’s impossible. You can’t do it. There’s no where to put the stuff, at least in an economical way that doesn’t involve driving long distances. We just plough. Lots and lots of ploughing. We fill up very dead end and spare stretch of empty we can find, make the largest snowbanks and piles imaginable, and sort of cross our fingers. It’s pretty dumb.
The other thing that’s almost always true is that we use snow tires. As soon as the temperature dips below 10, there’s a rush on the garages to swap out tires. But it’s worth it, snow tires make all the difference.
To be honest, even with all that, the first snowfall also produces a lot of feckless drivers up here, like they forgot that they endured several months of the white stuff just a few months ago.
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When I lived in Switzerland, they used these wonderful machines that were essentially industrial snowblowers. They could shoot the snow up higher than the Geneva fountain, the Jet d’eau. Jacob dubbed them “Jets d’snow”. But I am glad to know that you guys at least start out the snowy season as morons, too.
Sorry about the baseball team. Especially since my husband loves them and I don’t see him all of baseball season.
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I got an uncle in Switzerland, will have to see if he has one of those.
Tell your hubbie that I’m the single biggest Montreal Expos fan that ever lived, and them moving broke my heart into little pieces. But I’ve mostly recovered.
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But wait a minute. Did any of you Cannuks go to the games? (I cheated. I asked my husband because I thought that the Nats were the Expos were the Washington Senators. When it comes to baseball, I know very little. BUT I was a damn good player in my day! Met my husband at a softball game. Well, the second time, anyway.
Say goodnight Gracie.
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You should go visit your uncle. Switzerland is spectacular. Especially if you get free hotel accommodations
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Well, holy cuteness, Batman! Even I like seeing the snow with those two rolling in it! Even though all day I cursed it (internally) as my fifth graders yelped every four seconds “Its snowing!”, “Is it snowing?”, “Was it supposed to snow?”, “Is that snow?” and “Do we have outdoor recess?”
Not a good day for teaching long division, but definitely a good day to be a panda!
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Oh but your kids are seriously cute, too. And you know it. They just don’t get to roll in the white stuff until they bust open those doors!
And it was a great day to be a panda; not so much to be a driver here!
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I saw all that snow you folks got. I want some to. Here, they shut down the whole city. I like that. I don’t have to get out in the cold. A true southerner. Stay safe but It makes all the sense in the world you wouldn’t try to do anything else.
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Funny that you should mention that, Totsy. Because normally, they DO shut the whole city down. Today they didn’t. So there was gridlock everywhere because nobody (except yours truly) knows how to drive in the white slippery stuff
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Looks just like Harry and Mitch. 🙂 You are not alone; I remember those traffic days in D.C. And it still happens here in NM. Where are they all from? Heading to the zoo next time — perfect!
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It does look like the fun boys, doesn’t it?
It seems everybody has done a stint here! And I’ve often wondered just like you, where do these folks come from? The Equator??? It snows most other places on earth.
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Probably Texas. There’s not a whole lot of edgumacated there.
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Yes. And that’s where all our textbooks are published. I fear for the future.
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Give it time. If trends continue they’ll all be published in another language and Wendy Davis will have ridden a brown wave into the Lone Star’s Governor mansion. 🙂
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I wish Wendy had won the governor’s mansion this time around. Alas …
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I love the pandas. I understand that they are not actually bears, but large members of the racoon family.
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I love them too, preferably from a safe distance, though. I mean, I just don’t want to be cuddled to death!
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Funny, I was just telling someone today about when I lived in DC and there was something like 3 inches of snow, and the city was basically shut down. People from Buffalo (like me) and people from other northern climes were laughing our asses off, and many of us had to take over the driving for those who were unfamiliar with snow.
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Last year, they treated the roads before hand, plowed them regularly as the snow fell, and there weren’t any huge problems. This year they’ve gone back to normal. This snowfall fell beginning at 5:30 a.m., Rush hour. They didn’t plow even the Beltway! WTF????
(Two years ago, someone from my office told me that she had gotten stuck during the previous day’s snow. “I approached a hill, STOPPED AND PRAYED that I would make it to the top.”
“Bet your prayers went unanswered,” I responded. OY!
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When cars were rear drive, we used to have to go up some icy hills backwards. Thank heavens for all-wheel drive, traction control and antilock brakes.
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YES! Although around here, folks drive $50K SUVs stupidly too. So there is still the intelligence factors.
I was going up a hill and a woman in a top of the line Mercedes SUV was coming down in the hill — smack in the center of the road. I figured she was going slowly enough that if she hit me, I’d not get hurt and get a new car … she didn’t hit me though and I’m stuck with my old one!
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Send the complainers up where I live, they will no longer complain about Washington!
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I’d love to. What’s the postage?
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Well complainers are expensive to send because well..complainers.
(Northern Alberta)
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Damn.
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I know! Although up here the complainers would fit in well.
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Ha! ha was hilarious Elyse (like watching Washington drivers in the snow). You know, Bao Bao seemed to accept the snow easily. I’ve always believed in genetic memory – seems like another example. That was a super fun video.
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Isn’t he adorable??? He is named after a friend of mine — Bao. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that there is something to genetic memory. As a displaced New Englander, I love the snow. I just hate the drivers… the OTHER drivers.
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The same thing happens here when it rains. We have no idea how to drive in it.
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What IS it with people????? They get into a car and they lose their brains.
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We finally got snow here a few days ago and my kids were thrilled because they could go sledding. Even I went sledding, it was glorious! (I kinda resembled the panda tumbling around though….)
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Now that you mention it, I look like Bao Bao’s mama. Large and round.
I’m not liking what I read about Le Jerk, Darla …
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I’m not much into pandas, but there’s no way to watch that video without smiling. How cute! Okay. Now back to our regularly scheduled cynicism…
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Well, yeah. But wait until tomorrow!
I never really liked them much, either. Every time I went to the zoo, they were asleep. Until the last couple of years, when I lucked out and they have been out and active. There is nothing like seeing a large stuffed animal climb a tree…
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Especially if that large stuffed animal is Rush Limbaugh.
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