Now This is a Snow Storm

I often make snippy remarks about what I consider the myth of the hardy, can-do New Englander — at least in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut, where schools are closed at the merest hint of snow and people act as if they'd never seen the stuff before.

I blame proximity to New York City for this degenerate attitude.

But this here's a storm! I went outside at about 3 a.m. for a look. It was coming down heavier than horseshit out of Paul Krugman but I figured we were looking at a foot, tops.

Should have taken the over. I cleaned off the car in the photo, which at 7:30 a.m. is well and truly covered.

Yessir, this here's a storm. I got my case of condensed milk (Desert Storm surplus), my water purification tablets, extra batteries, a miniature Bible, and plenty of extra .22 cartridges in case I am forced to go on the possum diet.

(Later)

Last winter those big storms that pummeled the mid-Atlantic seaboard pretty much conked out at the Hudson River. We'd get five inches in NW Connecticut, and Kingston, N.Y., only 40-odd miles away, would be digging out from a couple of feet.

Not this year. My ballpark guess is 20 inches (ruler on top of car).

Today the well-dressed man is wearing LL Bean snow boots, insulated, with a sort of mini-gaiter up top. Fabulous boots, now discontinued. Plus a Bean sweater, flannel shirt and long johns, Orvis moleskins, and my dorky red hunting cap.