Snow Snow and More Snow!

Blizzard 2011

It was quite a scene to wake up to yesterday. More snow than I have seen in years. We got an official total of 19" in my neck of the woods. Hubby's employer annouced the day before that they would be shut down for the day of the storm. Of coarse hubby volunteered to go in along with one other fella to work on some projects while the plant was idol. The half hour drive into work took him an hour. And then, a block from work, he got his 4wd stuck in a 2 foot drift. When he called hioome to tell me he made it in I asked why he was so out of breath. He had quite a walk through the knee deep+ snow and drifts. It didn't help that he had knee surgery just a month before and was still feeling some pain. Men!!!! He just had to go in to prove he was tougher than old man winter. When volunteer #2 finally arrived he was able to plow a path into the plant and get hubbies vehicle unstuck. I'm sure the testoterone was flying along with the snow out there, LOL!

Being home alone, I decided to go out and give the shovel (and my back) a workout. First I needed to shovel out a patch for the dogs in the back. Then I tackkled the drive way. Oh My! I opened the walk in garage door first. My pom went to run out the door and plowed right into the drift that was piled up against the door. he looked dazed and confused, LOL. Then I opened the over-head door. Yikes! An even higher drift. I began chipping away at the mountain where hubbies tire tracks were barely showing. I shoveled for an hour and only cleared about 1/8th of the driveway. It was daunting for sure. I ended up going inside, defeated. Took me a little break and an hour later went back for more. Hubby finally arrived home and got out the snowblower. He blew the deeper stuff and I shoveled up the packed down stuff behind him. Ahhhhh, team work!

As much snow as there was out there, I have seen worse. Much much worse! My junior year of high school was the year of the blizzard of '78. Of coarse the snow removal equipment was not as powerful 33 years ago and there were'nt the de-icing sprays we have now. We actually had about the same amount of snow fall then but it came down faster and the winds were much stronger, creating wave after wave of enormous drifts. It didn't help that we had had a snow storm just the week before and nearly double the snow already on the ground before the blizzard. We were completely snowed in then, our streets had to be cleared by front end loaders and the piles of snow along the roadsides completely obscured the houses along the street. Backing out of the driveway was a terror because you were completely blind to any traffic on the road. And the roads were so narrow it was frightening to try and pass another car. Schools and many businesses were closed for a week.

Blizzard 1978

Dad standing in the middle of the unplowed road amoung the snow mobile tracks.

After the plows came through leaving us with a one lane road. You prayed you didn't meet up with another car.

 

After the front end loaders came in and widened the road creating mountains of snow.

Blizzard 2011

The sorry little patch I shoveled out.

This one was sorry she insisted on coming out to help.

The drifts hanging off the roof

Hubby firing up his enormous snowblower. Too big and heavy for me to even move. Notice he is not wearing a jacket? CraZy!!!!! It was cold out there! Somehow he never gets cold while I am always cold.

All cleaned up!

Hoping no one has trouble with their cable or phone because the box is buried to the right of this ornamental grass under the higher peak of snow.

Hubby blew out the sidewalk to the front door but we were both too pooped to shovel out the porch, LOL. No matter. No one really comes to that door but salesmen. This could be a good thing! We call it the path to no where. 

We finished up just in time for the sun to for the sun set.