2.05.2011

Blizzard of 2011

We've survived the Blizzard of 2011! While winter is not quite over, and we're looking at some more snow and single digit temperatures this week, the end seems to be in sight and the worst is over. Actually, it was enjoyable in a way. Since moving to Missouri almost nine years ago we missed that Illinois snow. I really didn't mind shoveling the driveway (good exercise) and the kids have enjoyed the snow days from school and playing in the snow. The university even closed down for three days straight, a record from at least anyone on campus can remember. I've lost count but I think the kids are around 10 days off from school. In all we got 23 inches of snow, breaking the 20 inch record from 1938.

We were lucky that the power never went out, the Internet never went out, and we had plenty of food and water the whole time. We were completely stuck at home during the blizzard. At one point we were shoveling the driveway and by the time we got to the end the beginning had a couple inches of new snow on it. We took a couple passes over a couple days with the shovels. You can't just drive over 23 inches of snow, at least not with our vehicles.

During the days Deanna and the kids baked a lot: muffins, pancakes, banana bread, homemade pizza, a ham,...We had so much to eat and drink that meal times and the time of day and the days themselves blended together.

With the new fallen snow, before any of it could be dirtied or contaminated, Deanna scooped up a big bowl of the fluffy white stuff and then made it into a dessert with milk and sugar. The kids said it was better than snow cones.

It was the aftermath of the blizzard that the kids enjoyed the most, when they could really go out and have fun. Byron started tunneling into a snow pile at the end of the driveway. The snow was so deep that Valen couldn't get around to it so I took a shovel and created a narrow path as wide as the shovel. It looked pretty neat too. Then the other kids wanted to tunnel and I created more paths and in the end I think we ended up with four snow igloos. Byron wanted his to go all the way through, so Valen started at the opposite side of that one and eventually they met somewhere in the middle. A very impressive looking yard.

Who knows, with global warming perhaps we'll have more snow like this in the years to come.

0 comments: