Our storm was both more than expected and less. By and large there were very few power outages here in the Northern Neck and so that made for a better set of days than we would have experienced otherwise. Even with our checking our own generator and moving it into place before the storm there are always those misgivings about what it will really feel like when the power goes out and you have to act. Will it be in the middle of the night? Will it really work? How to you totally guard your generator when it is outdoors even if it has a canopy cover? It just isn't simple. So having the power on the whole time was great.
Before the storm came in I checked (or had my husband) on a couple of houses that we have listed that the owners are nowhere near the Northern Neck. Perhaps as a buyer or seller you don't think about the responsibilities that Realtors have, or take on, in order to keep a property in shape to sell. Finding people to cut grass, serving as an intermediary when bills don't get paid and the party who did the work wants your help, going to a house before a snow storm and checking the heat, opening the cabinets beneath sinks and allowing every water source to have a bit of a drip....that's before the storm. Today I've asked my husband to go back to a couple of houses and to again check the heat, see if there are any signs of damage and in the four wheel drive vehicle, drive in and out of the drive enough so that there would be a place for two vehicles. Probably we will soon have the weather to take care of the snow on its own in the next couple of days, but if someone wants to see one of these houses say tomorrow, far better that they can get access with space to park.
I really hadn't expected the snow to be so deep. When all was said and done I think that we got about a foot of snow. And with drifting, in places it was closer to two feet. On our little road which is private, we were fortunate enough to have someone come and plow the road out. That left digging ourselves out and luckily with a little anticipation and the CRV (4-wheel drive) at the end of the driveway, that wasn't too much trouble.
Monday was an interesting day to get out with a fair amount of snow still on the side roads (but really just in patches). It still felt like a serious snow storm. Yesterday with the temperature around 60 degrees we were in place to get rid of quite a bit of this snow. Today it is a bit warm and more melting. So by the weekend we'll probably be without snow. Not as brief a snow period, but still not bad in terms of what most places experience.
The ice flows on the river were beginning to accumulate after the storm and a number of bald eagles enjoyed their trips up and down the river on their very own private flow. A seagull or two would join them from time to time, but it sure is easy to see those eagles out there because they are so large.
Things will be back to normal soon and that hiatus where everyone has been taking care of their own requirements due to the storm will soon shift to planning and moving forward. I know I'll be contacting a lot of buyers and sellers in the next couple of days....to confirm things or to get things going. It's going to be time for real estate real soon!!
