snowman

while getting together the pictures for the blizzard post, I came across these from a short lived snow fall back in December.  The kids helped me make this snowman.  It was kind of small but lots of fun.  It was gone by the next morning...

Blizzard

So we had a blizzard in Illinois.  Apparently it was the worst one in 25 years.  Everyone was all freaked out about it, but I must say that is was rather nostalgic for me, reminded me of winters in Idaho, only those were "winters" not just solitary storms.  Winter here tends to be icy rains, freezing winds, snow sometimes, but after 2-3 days the snow is washed away by rain or just melts, while the freeze remains...really nasty.  I will take a true Idaho winter any day.  Give me a blizzard, a fireplace and a good book, that's how I loved winter as a teenager.

Anyway, after this blizzard, I took the kids outside early and let them play on the drifts outside our house, while I shoveled our driveway.  Of course the plow came through and left one little path through the cul de sac, but that path was so far away from our drive that I had to shovel twice the normal length  of the drive to reach it.  I shoveled our drive, then helped some of the neighbors with theirs, then I had to  dig out my van from the parking in the center of the cul de sac.  I spent a total of 5 hours shoveling, it was good, hard work, that felt totally awesome while I was doing it and nearly crippled me for a couple of hours afterwards. ;)

 You can see from the pictures how high the drifts were.  One of the neighbors had her entire drive way and front yard drifted right up to the roof, she spent 4 hours just getting out of her front door, then all the neighbors got together after shoveling their own drives and cleared hers in about 30 minutes.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but my camera was already inside by then.  It's funny how no one on one side of the cul de sac knows anyone on the other, most barely even know there next door neighbors here, but during a situation like this, no one even hesitated to pitch in and help a neighbor/stranger.

 "I'm the king of Bunkers Hill!"

 This car belonged to another neighbor, he walks to work, so he didn't bother shoveling it out for a couple of days...

 Isaac kept finding snowballs almost a big as himself, then would carry them up to the top of the drift "mountain" and throw them at someone, usually me.

It was a beautiful morning, very crisp and clean, everyone ended up outside... most of my neighbors I had never even seen before, so it was nice to be able to talk to them and laugh about the blizzard, and see so many people at one time, at least 15 households were out at once, and everyone was cheerful and friendly and helpful.  I actually wish it would happen more often... a blizzard, followed by neighborliness, I mean.  That would be a good winter.  The only thing that would top that would be some "black-ops cookie deliveries" conducted the night after a blizzard!  Good times, good times.