In exile, thanks to the snow...when does the South get THAT much snow anyway?

When I last left you, we were facing a monster snow storm.  And, boy, did we get hammered.  It started early, early Sunday morning and snowed steadily all day; by the time it stopped we had about 12 inches!!!

It was enough that my company, which has NEVER closed in its entire history, closed the office on Monday.

I have lived here in Somewhere, North Carolina for over twenty years - I have NEVER seen anything like this.  The Husband even commented that he hasn't seen anything like this since he moved out of New York state.

Yesterday, I spent the day listening to my husband hack and cough and moan while praying that a plow would come through.  Even if one did, we still couldn't have gotten out because The Husband was too sick to shovel the driveway.

Late yesterday afternoon, Man-Child slid down the street (how he made it through in that low car, I'll never know) and came to our rescue, shoveling most of the driveway and cleaning off the SUV - in the dark no less - which The Husband had planned to take to work this morning when his office opened at 11:00 am.  I begged The Husband to stop at Urgent Care because he sounded so awful.  He finally agreed before he left.  Both he and Man-Child left this morning and I continued to be stranded because the other car was still covered in snow.

During a text exchange with my friend two doors down, I learned that EVERY OTHER STREET in this neighborhood was plowed yesterday!  And? To add insult to injury those streets were plowed TWICE!

I posted on Nextdoor asking why and who should I call to get this street dealt with - utter silence.  In frustration, I used the "Contact Us" option on the NC DOT website - utter silence.  So I called the DOT; sat on hold for about 15 minutes and was finally dumped into their voicemail - which I did not want.  Mainly, because at this point I figured they wouldn't bother to call me back.  It's now been about 4 hours since I used the "Contact Us" option and still haven't heard a word.  I think that pretty much tells me that no, they wouldn't have called me back.

In other news, Habit for Humanity was supposed to show up today to pick up all that stuff in the garage.  Did they show up?  No and I was not surprised, nor upset.  Did they call to re-schedule?  No, they did not and that rankled.  At this point, I'm pretty fed up with any and all agencies.

My lonely exile wasn't long though - after The Husband went to Urgent Care he was sent home with a diagnosis of bronchitis.  They told him he was lucky it wasn't pneumonia; which is what I was worried about.  I told him that if he'd held off going he probably would have ended up with it.

Unbeknownst to me, The Husband had also posted on Nextdoor trying to find someone to clear his car and side of the driveway.  But he posted using my account; so imagine my surprise when I received a direct message from some random guy.  I was hesitant to open it because why would some random guy be sending me a direct message?!  Yes, I AM suspicious.  In this day and age, sadly, you kind of have to be.

This random guy turns out be a nice person, I assume, who offered to come finish the driveway and car - and when asked his price?  He responded with, "Whatever you think is fair." And just like that, he restored my faith in humanity...just in time for Christmas.

And yes, I wrote him a very generous check, am planning to bake some Christmas cookies for his family and am probably going to ask him (he owns his own construction company) about getting me a front door.