Minne"snow"ta

We've lived in Minnesota for almost 7 years now. In all that time, we've not seen a "blizzard" event or seriously heavy snow - the stuff that lives in legends of local conversation. Until this last week, the winter of 2006-2007 would have better been known as the warmest, driest winter in decades. That all changed with two major storms in the last couple of weeks.

Now, we're not taking about a blizzard, but there was a lot of snow in each storm! The first storm deposited about 12 inches of snow over two days, then left cold weather that didn't allow any melting. Less than a week later another storm dropped an additional 18 inches! Now we have a lot of nice snow. The parking lots are rimmed by large piles of plowed snow and many retail lots are bringing in dump trucks and heavy loaders to haul the snow away. It's fun to watch! I'm including a few pictures here so you can see some of what it was like...

Here is the entrance to our neighborhood. It's been plowed from the first storm and the second storm is just beginning. The piles of snow really are high enough to prevent you from seeing the road in either direction!

Here is our open garage. Yes, the snow is piled THAT high! Our neighborhood pays to have the snow plowed, but you'll notice that I've already shoveled some snow off the driveway. This is about 2 hours into the storm. The pile of snow on the left side of the driveway is already as tall as my car!


Here I am in front of a plowed snow pile. Imagine the unfortunate neighbor who's driveway and front entrance are almost completely hidden behind! The pile itself is about 8 feet high. Remember, 16 more inches are coming!

The next morning, we went out to view the overnight snow deposit. One of the MOST plowed areas in our neighborhood is the front of the mailboxes. Despite that, you can see that the snow is still almost to the bottom of the boxes. Note that the drift is as high as DeAnna's hips!



We walked around through the woods near our house. The snow was over my knees and it was difficult to walk. Some branches had 4 inches of snow still stuck to them. This area is along a railroad track and there was no drifting. Needless to say, we didn't stay out in this stuff for long. It was a real workout just to walk! Believe me, it is an ironic feeling to have your feet and fingers numb from cold, but sweat dripping from your forehead!


Here I am shoveling (I've just thrown a shovel of snow and it's flying to the right) for the 4th time in this storm even though the neighborhood pays to have it done. Notice that the snow is higher than the front door step. The Valentine's day flag no longer blows in the breeze because it lays on top of the snow!

So that's a brief review of the biggest snowfall we've had in several years. Like most snow events here, it only slowed things down, but didn't bring anything to a stop - not even the schools. If all this snow had fallen at one time (instead of two separate storms) we might have started talking about "The Big One of 2007". It's nice to experience the snow this way. As the snow has begun to melt, I can look out of my window (finally) and see the beauty. It's a wonderful blessing!