We finally got our snow day! You have probably already heard all about it. We got slammed by a massive blizzard. It was at it's finest in the furthest southeast corner of Wisconsin. If we lived any further south we would be in Illinois, and any further east we would be in Lake Michigan, which means that our little corner of Wisconsin gets to claim bragging rights as the bullseye of the storm. We got 2 feet of snow (added to what was already on the ground). We have seen two feet of snow in a short period of time before, both here, and in Utah, and in NY for that matter, but this was no ordinary two feet of snow. This stuff was made of wet cement and with 30-60 mph winds, it was creating snow drifts up to 10 feet high. We woke up to an awesome sight! The pictures don't even do it justice. My kids ran to every single window. Each view was like opening a new gift. You never knew where the highest drifts would be found.
Since this stuff was not easy to remove from the streets or driveways, school was canceled. Actually, everything was canceled, so even Seth was home. They couldn't even get police cars out to respond to emergencies, so they were sending them on snowmobiles. Imagine you got stranded on the side of the road and had to be rescued by a snowmobiling cop. Now that would be a story to tell.
We got out pretty early this morning to try to clear the snow since the temperatures were dropping fast. Seth shoveled the sidewalk, where the snow was at least up to his waist, and even higher in some places. Luckily the neighbors came to his aid before he got to the driveway. One neighbor offered to let Seth use his snowblower, and another neighbor came with a second snowblower to help clear the mess. The snow was so tall that they had to keep backing up and going over the driveway again. Thank goodness for great neighbors!
While we were outside, the kids were peering longingly out the window at the snow. I let them out for a minute to take a picture and then sent them back in. They resumed their watchful post at the window. As I looked into their faces, I realized that this storm would one day be one of those "when I was a kid" stories for them. There were no other neighborhood kids out, but I decided that I had to get them out in that snow. It was cold and windy, but they were delighted to be a part of the occasion. I stayed out with them for about an hour, until their puffy pink cheeks were making me a little nervous. We spent the rest of our snow day taking warm baths, working on a 1000 piece puzzle, watching a movie, and making cookies for our life saver neighbors.
We had a great snow day, and the best part is, we get to do it all over again tomorrow. I can't believe they canceled school for tomorrow too, but they did. Good thing, because we still have a lot of work to do on that puzzle.
And now, welcome to the eye of the storm.
Our porch is covered, so we have never had snow on our porch before. Imagine our surprise when we opened our door and found this. Do you like the snow wave that is threatening to crash onto the porch?
Since this stuff was not easy to remove from the streets or driveways, school was canceled. Actually, everything was canceled, so even Seth was home. They couldn't even get police cars out to respond to emergencies, so they were sending them on snowmobiles. Imagine you got stranded on the side of the road and had to be rescued by a snowmobiling cop. Now that would be a story to tell.
We got out pretty early this morning to try to clear the snow since the temperatures were dropping fast. Seth shoveled the sidewalk, where the snow was at least up to his waist, and even higher in some places. Luckily the neighbors came to his aid before he got to the driveway. One neighbor offered to let Seth use his snowblower, and another neighbor came with a second snowblower to help clear the mess. The snow was so tall that they had to keep backing up and going over the driveway again. Thank goodness for great neighbors!
While we were outside, the kids were peering longingly out the window at the snow. I let them out for a minute to take a picture and then sent them back in. They resumed their watchful post at the window. As I looked into their faces, I realized that this storm would one day be one of those "when I was a kid" stories for them. There were no other neighborhood kids out, but I decided that I had to get them out in that snow. It was cold and windy, but they were delighted to be a part of the occasion. I stayed out with them for about an hour, until their puffy pink cheeks were making me a little nervous. We spent the rest of our snow day taking warm baths, working on a 1000 piece puzzle, watching a movie, and making cookies for our life saver neighbors.
We had a great snow day, and the best part is, we get to do it all over again tomorrow. I can't believe they canceled school for tomorrow too, but they did. Good thing, because we still have a lot of work to do on that puzzle.
And now, welcome to the eye of the storm.
Our porch is covered, so we have never had snow on our porch before. Imagine our surprise when we opened our door and found this. Do you like the snow wave that is threatening to crash onto the porch?
Our side yard. See the drift up to the top of the fence? That fence is taller then Seth.
The back door, which was the easiest one to get out of.
Magically delicious snow day faces peeking out my window.
Magically delicious snow day faces peeking out my window.
We cleared a spot on the porch so that we could get to the garage. Keep in mind that this is the porch (up two steps), so that snow is actually a few feet higher from ground level.
The sidewalk half shoveled
.
Looking good.
Seth, waist deep, shoveling the sidewalk.
All cleared off.
Barreling out the back door into the madness.
This picture is to show you our poor porch swing, completely covered in snow.
A little backyard snow drift. We wanted to jump out Alex's window into the snow, but it was frozen shut.
Luckily the kids were too light to sink to the bottom. I was plenty heavy, and was trudging around in snow up to my waist all morning.
So there it is. Our long awaited day off. As great as it was, I must say that I feel for all the workers who had to be out there cleaning it up all day. I know it is not fun and games for everyone, and I hope that anyone who got stranded is now home safe and warm. I have never been more grateful for a roof over my head, and a working heater than I was today.
15 comments:
oh my, I'll have to remind Mike what it's like in good ol' WI next time he complains about our 14" snow storm. And wind and snow playing, what a fun day (if you can stay home and play that is:)
Wow Julie! That's pretty crazy! The only time I have seen any snow even semi-comparable was last year in February when we took a trip to our friend's cabin in Brian Head. I love the pictures of the kids through the windows. :)
You got great pics! It was an awesome day at our place and today is looking to be another wonderful day at home.
Yea!!! I am so excited that you finally got a few snow days. I kept wondering if you would. Aspen even checked the weather for your town. Those pictures are amazing! I can't believe how high they are. My favorite is the snow wave trying to get on the porch and the kids with walls of snow on either side of them. Enjoy another day off today. I hope that Seth either doesn't have to go to work or that the roads are ok for him.
i think we live in the wrong neighborhood. I keep reading about all of our friends out shoveling that had neighbors come help with snowblowers.....
Doug and I took shifts. He did the driveway and part of the front sidewalk and I did the rest of the front sidewalk and the side one. I didn't think it was that bad until I was out in snow up to my thighs soaking through my jeans. The best part was when Doug was out shoveling through the mountain of snow the plow pushed up at the end of the driveway when they finally came through and all our neighbors were out doing theirs too with their snowblowers. I was certain somebody would say 'hey let me help you with that' but no one did.
I really think we have to finally give in and get a snowblower.
Makinzee, Utah gets some big snow too, so you are free to gripe. We actually get about the same amount of snowfall here as we did in SLC, but one thing I miss about Utah, is that the snow melts sometimes and it is not as wet or windy there. Cold is so much colder here, but Utah still gets big bragging rights on snow. Utah is famous for snow.
Sarah, Seth is back at work, but he said the roads weren't to bad.
Cheryl, Seriously, nobody helped you? We don't usually expect help, but in a storm like that, someone should have helped you. If my neighbor two doors down sees me shovel, he will come clear it for me (I don't even know his name), and if Seth is out of town, the neighbor across the street told me not to touch the driveway and he will clear it. I can't imagine watching someone shovel that snow and not at least offering to lend a snowblower. That stuff was so heavy. I tried to take a turn on the sidewalk and could not believe it. The picture of the snow coming off Seth's shovel shows how thick and heavy the stuff was. No powder anywhere. You just had to chip a chunk off and fling it, still in the form of the shovel. Gruesome! Did you hear about the 66 year old man who died after shoveling? It broke my heart that none of his neighbors stepped in and took his shovel, and now it breaks my heart that no one took your shovel. I am thinking it is time for a snowblower, too.
Sarah, too bad, not to bad. Me and my sister were just talking about how that is our pet peeve when people use the wrong homophone. I assure you it was just laziness that led to the error. I know the difference.
Bahaha...you made same spelling error we were just talking about. Remember, it's okay because you know the difference.
That snow and cold weather is CRAZY! I was thinking of you guys last night because I was dreading walking up to the car after church in 41 degree weather. I know that would be warm for you guys, but it is still freakin cold for me so I was holding Luke and running just to get to the car heater, haha! I also thought of all the poor people who don't have homes and heaters to keep them safe...I wish everyone could be as blessd as we are!
You like how I forgot to put "the" in my first sentence?? Looks like we both needed a dose of humility after bagging on poor grammar...
All I can say is "WOW!"
We wondered how you were doing with the snow.
I'm so glad you posted pictures so my kids can see.
I loved the picture of Chloe laughing on the porch.
It is incredible how much snow you've had and I can't believe how cold it looks. It feels like summer here, and it's making all of us tired of school. I'm so glad you finally got your snow day. It sounded wonderful.
I loved that you were putting a 1,000 piece puzzle together and making cookies. Julie, I think we could have been sisters instead of cousins. Puzzles, legos, reading, writing, cookies. You have so many of the same interests as all of us.
I'm glad you're enjoying yourself and think it looks beautiful. I think it looks hard, too and I'm sure there is a lot of shoveling involved, but it is beautiful.
Wow, thanks for sharing. We've got the cold today, but thankfully not the snow. And have you ever noticed how what you type is not what shows up on the screen? I could swear I type "too" all the time and it comes out "to." Love the pictures, by the way. That is definitely a big blizzard! The nice part about Utah snow is that usually when it stacks up like that, it's still powder, our snow is so dry. That makes it a lot lighter to shove. Usually.
Yikes! You guys got way more than we did. Our kids still got one snow day out of our 7 inches though. And don't know love nice neighbors. Our neighbor did our driveway for us and I was so glad to not have to go outside at all.
Ok, ok, I'll admit we definitely can consider this THE blizzard of 2011. I don't think in all my life have I seen so much snow. I didn't realize our little corner of the state was the one that got the brunt of the storm either. Cool for us!! Thank goodness the weather was decent yesterday so that the kids could enjoy the many mountains of snow.
Julie- our neighbor behind us ended up doing about 3 feet past our yard line so they did help a little. :) I don't expect it either but it is strange... we're just used to the way the neighborhoods we lived in Utah react to these kinds of things. We share our mailbox with the neighbor across the street and they have a snowblower and I actually ended up digging that out today too. It was behind about 5 feet of snow thigh high. It was fun.
I don't know why our neighborhood is like that...but a couple years ago a neighbor got stuck in his driveway while Doug was out shoveling so Doug ran over with the shovel to help dig him out and the guy told him to go away..
Fun stuff.
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