We are all hunkered down in our house with two feet of snow outside with drifts of around five feet. My Chicago upbringing however is hardwired. I cannot stay inside the house with a snow covered driveway. I just can’t. So I have cleared my driveway and can now drive to the wall of about three feet of snow on the street. In Virginia, they call snow removal “Spring.” However, I can drive up and down my driveway in a personal triumph against winter.
The kids have igloos and forts galore. Luna loves the snow though her fur hold about 100 pounds of ice when she comes in.
Fortunately, our power is still on so I am now sitting in my Blackhawks jersey awaiting tonight’s game (after watching the Broncos – Patriots game). Clean driveway. Major games. Inability to do outside house chores. What is there to complain about?
By the way, I love the fact that the network was supposed to show the Penguins – Capitals game today but, due to the weather, the game was canceled and replaced by female figure shaking. I can only imagine the hockey parties where hyped up guys turn on NBC only to find female figure shaking.
Having lived in greater NYC metro area all my life, this is what I can tell you:
Tire chains, studded tires, snow plows, and other snow/ice equipment is regulated per state, and might be allowed – or required – under certain weather conditions, or specific months of the year. Motorists are STRONGLY advised to check with your state/county/municipal DOT/Transportation Department for more information before driving with these implements.
[NOTE: This is not, nor is it intended to be, legal nor medical nor financial nor religious advice.]
Well, I live in Woodstock, NY.
Not one inch of snow.
Everything clear here.
Eat your hearts out.
John,
Where are the chains for the tires? Or is that only a Colorado ‘thing’?
No biggie….
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Zemo999/RubiconSnow.jpg
You should put some lawn chairs @ the end of your driveway. Then it would really be Chicago. And, I see Luna has marked a spot or two.
“Watch out where the huskies go and don’t you eat that yellow snow.”
Frank Zappa
I lived in Nazi Jerzey most of my life. I finally moved to the DEEP SOUTH. I traded snow and cold for snakes and tornadoes. I think that was a GREAT trade.
Where I grew up in the mountains of Colorado, we once had 48 in. of snow fall in three days. It piled up on the peaked roof and then slid down against the windows and doors, trapping us inside for a week. My mom had to open a window and push the snow away to crawl out, which she did only because we were running out of groceries. It routinely got down to a minus 10 to minus 30 degrees out at night, with the warmest part of the day being about plus 10 degrees. I don’t miss those days at all.
Now in Phoenix, it snows once every 10 years or so, and then it is just an inch or less which usually melts away by noon. And we never have to shovel the sunshine off the driveway. A virtual paradise to me.
We remember 4 ft in 48 hrs in Montana and plowed out in two days. Also the “pleasure” of New Orleans with 2 inches lasting 2 days…we who knew how to drive stayed in…we knew who was driving and that open containers were lawful.
Do be careful with the melt not draining away from the house and rain on the accumulated roof snow…rapid increase in tonnage. Everything looks pretty until it’s dropped inside.
I live near Seattle; we don’t have any lowland snow but I was up in the mountains hiking today and the snow up there is definitely a challenge. In particular, we had to turn around as the “trail” (what was visible in four foot deep snow) had been recently trashed by an avalanche. No way to navigate through that.
So at least you guys have that going for you – not much avalanche exposure there.
When the snow plows do show up, they will probably see that nice cleared driveway as a good place to pile their snow. That’s when the real digging will begin.
The pictures are beautiful. What is all that white stuff?
JT,
Where’s the kids’ igloos and forts pictures!?!??! I missed the Chicago Winter (1970s and 1980s were the best)! Here in STL, 3-4 inches and people panic.
It’s skating right? Female figure skating?
I’m missing the joke right? I’m pretty sure a hockey fans could watch female figure shaking for days, no probs, so long as the beer didn’t run out.
Bruce:
I know. It’s bad. Did you stock up on water? We might have a teeny bit more rain and the entire Southern part of the state might panic.
I lived in VA when they had a record breaking blizzard in the 1970s. I think we got 3 feet in a day. We kids built the most awesome snow fort in the history of time. Regrettably, we did not realize that half of it was in the street, because we couldn’t really tell where the street was.
A snow plow callously wrecked the entire structure with no regard to historical significance or architectural wonder.
Just got back from a beach run. The sand is cold on bare feet when you hit the shadows. The trick is to do the run when the sun is high. Had a fire in the fireplace these past few days. That’s nice.
It’s hell out here in so Cal too, the temp’s all the way down to 65*