The "B" Word

Remember that post about my weekend winter walk, where things were so peaceful, still and beautiful? That was when we thought the storm had already passed, that the snow that was on the ground was all we were going to get as soon as it tapered off.

And then it began to snow. And blow. And turn downright nasty. Finally, about 3 o'clock I heard an announcer finally call our "winter storm" the "B" word: blizzard.

This was the kind of storm when you cancel your plans to go anywhere, hunker down where you're at and watch the world go by. For us, this meant watching car after car get stuck in the intersection in front of our house. I helped a couple of people get out but since I didn't care to spend my entire day outside, I mostly watched people from the window toil to release their cars from the 17+ inches of snow that was still coming down.


Steps partially shoveled.

  We shoveled out the steps, then watched them blow back in, then shoveled them out again and the next day did it once more.
 

Cleared, but already snowing in.

 

Four hours later - shovel, anyone?

We ventured out once to get ourselves a Christmas tree, then spent the rest of Saturday playing games, making cut out sugar cookies and watching Christmas specials on TV.

Abandoned car near 50th & France, where it sat overnight.

By Sunday afternoon I was ready to venture out, and took a walk to my local grocery store for a few needed supplies. The world was slowly moving, cars hesitantly getting around, people faltering their way through unshoveled sidewalks, bundled up to their eyeballs in hats and scarves.

Our patio light has its own igloo. 

School was called off Monday due to the heavy snow and deepfreeze temps (-7 when we awoke this morning), so I got to spend Day 3 indoors with the girls once again. Apparently I missed one heckuva commute, too, with the City of St. Paul literally coming to a standstill in the evening.

I hear we're expecting more snow on Wednesday. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Can I have another snow day?

P.S. Just heard that Minneapolis public schools are closed again tomorrow. I think Wayne can take this one...