To all of you that prayed for snow, thank you, but seriously you should have stopped
way before it got this bad. The expression less is more, and everything in moderation should always apply when dealing with snowfall.
I was prepared. I bought extra milk and groceries. Planned for a nice big pot of comfort chili that Whynot and I could graze on should we be stuck at home during a serious storm. I even insisted that Durwood take a look at our trusty Toro snow thrower and make sure it would start. Surely
that would insure that we'd only get a light dusting of snow.
All day Tuesday I taunted Mother Nature on Facebook. Does Mother Nature do Facebook? It's possible she read my status updates and was very pissed off, because she sure as H-E double hockey sticks unleashed her wrath on the Chicago area.
Flurries started outside my window here on The Avenue at about 11 AM and I was still an unbeliever. By 1 PM, Augie Dawgs had left work early and was on her way home. By 1:24 PM, closings and cancellations were popping up on the local news radio station's website, including
two Bingo halls. Shortly after nicknames for the monster storm were popping up on Twitter. The best one I'd heard so far was Hype-ageddon. I was still convinced we wouldn't get nearly as much snow as they were forecasting.
By 6 PM all my loved ones were accounted for and safely home, it could snow 18 feet for all I cared. The wind was howling, but still no impressive snowfall. Aye yi yi yi yi, I need to learn to be careful what I wish for because now Mother Nature turned all crazy psycho. Snow, sleet, 40 MPH winds, thunder, lightening. I couldn't even see the neighbor's house across the street.
By 5 AM, Wednesday morning, so much snow had fallen that there was only a narrow path outside my kitchen slider that hadn't been covered with a ridiculous amount of snow. Just wide enough for Bella and Gracy to take care of business and it was
still coming down. The front yard looked like a scene straight out of Dr Zhivago, complete with snow cascades hanging down from the eaves and high drifts that prevented opening the front door. The drifts in the back yard were over three feet high in places and the first storm casualty was recorded here on The Avenue, my grill cover had succumbed to the high winds. I hold out a glimmer of hope that in July, when all this snow melts we'll find it somewhere in the yard.
At 10 AM, Whynot and I joined the neighbors in a clean up attempt. Thanks to two snow throwers, several adults with shovels and kids passing out hot chocolate, our work was quick and
almost enjoyable. Being the inquisitive type that I am, I then walked through the drifts on our unplowed streets to get to the main road to check things out. It was a ghost town! All the businesses in the strip mall were closed, the lot was plowed and one lone man was shoveling the walkways. The main street appeared to be plowed and maybe 3 cars went by, no one was leaving or entering our subdivision. It was eerie.
The snow plows didn't reach our subdivision until 7PM and then Whynot and I had to go out to break up the mountain it left behind in front of our driveway.
Today is a new day. The sun is shining, it's a bitterly cold -8 degrees outside, another snow day for the kiddos but back to work for the adults. Looks like we survived Snowmageddon '11.
