The government offices were announcing an early closing. Cancellations were beginning to be posted on the TV as plans for the evening were being rescheduled.

At least the worst of it would be on Friday night and Saturday morning, when most of us were off work and home anyway.

The grocery stores were doing great business as people will always stock up on milk, bread and donuts as well as bottled water and things that do not need to be cooked. We had to remember batteries for our weather radio and all those flashlights that must be in every room.

Now that we have all the staples we need we must eat the ice cream because of the electricity goes off it might defrost and become a milkshake which is not that bad as you can eat it without a spoon as it liquidities.

Oh no, we forgot to get paper towels and toilet paper! While back at the store we realized that we were almost out of dog and cat food.

After careful consideration we choose the cheapest kinds as we didn't know if they would make it through the storm.

After it started to snow, the dog did not want to go out as usual at 10:30 p.m. It is amazing how animals seem to know when rain or storms are on their way. Spooky, the cat is in for the night and has climbed up on the washer/dryer where her food is safe from the short legged dog, Oscar, who is a Dachshund and can eat all day long if you give him a chance.

The next morning we had at last six inches of snow on everything. The sun was starting to come out and it was a winter wonderland! Columbia Metropolitan Airport reported eight inches and most of the area had at least six!

Thank goodness it was Saturday and people were happy to not have to go in to work. The young people were up early and building snowmen and throwing snowballs. The neighborhoods where there are hills, anything that would work like a sled was used to slide down as fast as they could.

By Sunday, the snow had melted except in the areas in the shade and everything was back to normal and waiting for the "next big snow"!