Whoa! Snow!!

This time last week, Mother Nature dumped a load of snow on us. We ended up with approximately 13 inches here in Bloomington/Normal. It all started late morning on Monday and snowed an inch or two by 3 and quit. We did get a little freezing rain in the evening. Tuesday's snow was to start about 6am, but it was more like 11. When it came, it came hard and for the rest of the day! It finally quit snowing by noon on Wednesday. The wind also created a mess when it started blowing the fluffy snow around. Was I thankful I didn't have to get out in that stuff. Many people got stuck at work on Tuesday night if they didn't get out of their offices by 3. So in about 4 hours the streets & roads were not passable. It was taking folks with snow blowers about 2 hours to get their driveways cleared. It took us about 3 with 2 shovels! Nate and the next door neighbor thought they'd be smart and try to get to the store. They made it about 2 houses down the street before they got stuck. Luckily, several others were out shoveling so they came and helped them make it the rest of the way down the street. Plows were focusing on the main streets but they did make it down ours by early evening on Wednesday. School was cancelled on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday because they didn't get all of the plowing done at the schools until Thursday sometime. The worst part is it has been so cold, we have no hope of any of it melting any time soon. But when it does, I'm guessing we will just have another mess. How thankful I am that we got our basement floor fixed last year. So as long as the sump pump doesn't fail us, no water down there this year! The girls bundled up and got out to play while we did the shoveling.

the sun on the snow was so very blinding!

view of our house from the street

the drift on the south side of our house

as high as the air conditioner

Shelby & Elise taking advantage of playing in the street

Morgan & Sophie

pic of the front yard taken from the garage

looking out the window on our front porch

view out my kitchen window

snow piled on the window ledge

To say we are done with winter is an understatement. In 1 month I will be in Florida and I am convinced I have so earned a sunny, hot spring break! When I was shoveling I remembered the first snowfall Nate & I experienced in this house. We bought it in December of 1998. With the holidays, we hadn't gotten out to buy a snow shovel. In January, Nate was gone to his annual baseball clinic in Atlanta, GA and my college roommate Traci and I had made a trip to Wisconsin. While we were gone, 14 inches fell. When Traci and I got back to town, we pulled up to the house and stopped in the street. There was no way we were getting in the garage where Traci's car was parked. And she needed to get out and get home to go to work. We went straight to Farm & Fleet which of course was closed. I remember a sign on the door saying they were out of shovels as I think the entire town was! A group of Normal West baseball players came to our rescue and shoveled us out. It does pay to know a bunch of strong, young men who in a sense owes you for all the time your husband spends with them!

Like any situation, you can always figure it is worse some where for someone else. Many people lost power and others got ice instead of snow. My parents had snow up to the knobs on the doors on their deck. They live in the country with a driveway about 1/4 of a mile long. My mom made it home but my dad stayed in town so he could get out to work. On Wednesday he headed to work in a town about 20 minutes away. A county truck stopped him when he was 1/2 way and asked him where he was going. He told him and the guy said there was no way he was going to make it. He turned around and headed towards home and finally got the call from work that they were not working. Seriously?? Considering he works for a delivery company with trucks with no traction on the tires or heat, they could have made that call Tuesday night. He stopped by the house on the way back to town and tried to walk in. The drifts in the driveway were as high as his chest! They had such high drifts on some of the roads the snow plows couldn't get through. So, we aren't the only ones saying, "HURRY SPRING"!