Wow, who'dathunkit... I remember the Blizzard of 1979 pretty well. I was in my teens, therefore able bodied to shovel out the three car wide driveway my dad had thought was a really good idea (we lived in a neighborhood of one-car garages therefore one-car driveways...). Thank God we had a snow-blower, but that only worked in snow about 2" deep.
This morning, I woke up to the aftermath of our first serious snowfall since moving to Chicago...
On Feb 1, we woke up to a dusting. Knowing the forecast, I'd decided that working from home might be a good idea, given the unpredictable nature of commuting home during weather events on Metra...
During the day, we'd been receiving "some" snow. About 4" by lunchtime, and it was pretty to look at... fresh powder. But then the winds started...
By the time 3pm rolled around, we had a nice 8", and were in pretty much whiteout conditions while I was picking up the kids from school... The boys and I shoveled out the driveway (mostly they shoveled, and I watched. That's what seniority is, right?).
Exhausted from shoveling, the kids went to bed early (here's something to file away for future reference if we stay in the snow belt...) but I had some work to catch up on. Around 8pm, we started getting thunder-snow. Great flashes of lightning and some thunder. Cool! and then the lights started flickering. Not cool!... We have generators, but I don't think we had more than a couple hours of gas. And the extension cords? Safely stored in the motorhome... 5 miles away.
Fortunate for us the lights stayed on. A few years ago, my parents and brother lost power for days at a time, which is one reason we keep the portable generator at the house vs. with the motorhome. But they don't work too well without gas, so that becomes the new goal.
Around midnight (yes midnight..), I went out to survey the damage so far. I'd guess 14", and still blowing like crazy. There was a snowdrift over 2' tall between our two cars, and another drift had formed around the corner by the front door, totally blocking it from opening. I shoveled out the walkway and front door, but the wind was cutting thru my parka like crazy, and I had to give up on the driveway after getting just 10' from the back of the Jeep. It wouldn't have mattered -- the city hadn't plowed out street since 4pm, and even if I could have gotten out, navigating the streets at midnight would have been a really dumb idea.
This morning, I woke up to my expectations....
Both the front door and back door were snowed shut. Fortunately, we have a sliding door that leads to the back door, but I literally had to shovel a path out for the dogs to exit and do their morning routine. The night before, I'd opened it up for the dogs, and had a fun time trying to get it to close again... Snow had fallen into the opening and track, making it impossible to close & latch. I literally had to get a trowel and screw driver to clear out the track of compressed snow (a.k.a. ice) before it would finally latch.
This time I was prepared... blanket laid at the door to catch whatever fell in, and the big snow shovel. Dug out a short path and cleared out the track with the trowel & screwdriver: door closed on first attempt.
Maggie was not amused. She had been out the night before, and it was chest deep even for her. When I opened the door, she turned to me with a look that said "Uh, no. Seriously?" and I had to literally push her out the door. Coogee thought it was fun, and proceeded to bound thru the drifting snow like a raindeer on acid... But there was no argument from either one as I called them back inside.
And now we have to dig out. It's gonna be a fun one. Someone please remind me why we don't live in the desert anymore. ;)
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