Lotsa Snow

Last night we watched the news to see if Shakopee was listed anywhere with accumulation totals.  We all hooted over the news when Shakopee's total was at the top of the list: 21.5 inches!

Then we heard the snowblowers this morning and knew we probably had a lot of work ahead of us.

We stepped outside and viewed what was left behind by this morning's early visit from the snowplow.  Mike said, "Holy....."  [you can fill in the rest....your best guess is most likely correct.]

Really, this picture doesn't do justice.  There was probably about 2 - 3 inches of snow actually on our driveway.  This was what blew/fell on there after three rounds of shoveling all day yesterday.  At the bottom was this giant pile you see above.  To make things more fun, it was solidly packed.  Mike and I could walk over it and not sink at all.

Here's a better picture of our next door neighbor trying to break his pile down...he's at least as tall as Mike and the driveway pile was up to his hips.

Our neighbors across the street were busy trying to get their furnace working so they offered their snowblower to us.  We discovered the only way to get through the snow was for me to break off chunks with the shovel and Mike to push the snowblower over the chunks.  We chipped away at it - literally - until we had it down to a very manageable size.  By then our neighbor was outside and Mike brought his snowblower back and tried to help him with his driveway pile.

When he finished, our neighbor walked onto his driveway and said, "That's it.  I have had my fill of snow for this winter."

Maddie and Jake were very excited to see the end of the driveway with these huge piles.  They envisioned the most glorious snowforts ever.  They were disappointed when we told them there was not going to be any digging down there because we weren't sure when the snowplows were going to come for Round 2 and it was really unsafe for them to be down there.

Disappointment faded fast when we suggested they use the piles at the top of the driveway.

This is Maddie's side.  She currently has a giant hole (with peek holes) shoveled out.  It can fit her and a friend...

This is Jake's side.  I'm not sure what he has dug out at this point but Mike and I were looking out our window and watching him burrow inside and pull out endless amounts of snow.

They only worked on their forts in shifts.  The snow is gone but the cold temps are in.  I believe today it was up to 3 degrees; not counting any windchill there might have been.

Mike and I left and finished our Christmas shopping during one of the rounds of them warming up.  We have two shovels, but only one that we both really like.  We found a duplicate of it today and bought it.  We now own two good shovels.  The weatherman said that as of yesterday we had received 2/3 of the amount of annual snowfall we typically receive.  I've heard it reported that this is going to be a bad winter.

Bring it.

{omigosh...I'm just kidding...I can't talk smack to snow.  I hereby renounce any and all responsibility should we get more snow in the future.}