Saturday, March 08, 2008

Snowed In

And I do mean that literally!
This is the view from my dining room window - it's looked like this since noon on Friday.
Paul played basketball at the church early this morning, like he does every saturday and the roads were horrible.  He took the van, because his car, which was parked out on the street, was buried and iced over.  He and his friends made it safely to and from the church but coming home the van got stuck in our driveway - too much snow.  So he spent over 1 hour shoveling it this morning.
We needed a few things from the store today (we were completely out of baby wipes) and Paul decided to brave the elements - he'd made it out ok that morning and now the driveway was shoveled, so he didn't think it would be too bad.  Wrong.  Paul only made it to the end of the street until he was completely stuck - in the middle of the road.  Within 30 seconds a teenage kid comes running up to the van, waving his arms like crazy.  His car was on fire about 30 feet in front of Paul!  Paul called 911.  Our stuck-in-the-snow van was in the way of the fire truck...so they pushed it into someone's plowed driveway.  Paul watched the car burn with some new neighbors, who invited Paul to join them on their covered porch.  After the fire was out Paul knocked on the door of the house whose driveway our van was now sitting in.  It was a nice older couple who donned their snowgear and attempted to help Paul get the van back down the street to our house.  No way was it gonna happen...but they managed, after much back-breaking labor, to get it off to the side of the road.  This nice couple, who have grandchildren, then sent Paul walking home with some baby wipes (thank goodness)  On his way down the street Paul stopped to help another stuck car.  Here is the view from our frontyard. 
And here's our backyard - notice the almost completely buried garbage can.
And here is Paul, the exhausted, frozen (almost) conquering hero.  He may not have made it to the store, but he did get the much needed baby wipes and met a few nice neighbors in the process : )  His ordeal took him several hours.
The pictures just don't do it justice.  I got Noah bundled up in his boots and coat and tried to get him out there for a picture, to give the white blur a little perspective...but the minute he stepped out into the single digit temperatures and blowing snow he refused to go any further.  Our neighborhood is a disaster and we are completely snowed in.  Who knows for how long because the snow hasn't stopped and our street RARELY gets plowed.  I'm not exaggerating.  We already knew it would be impossible for us to make it to church tomorrow (we found out later it's been cancelled) and Paul is worried about making it to the hospital on Monday.  THIS IS CRAZY!!! 

13 comments:

Lanette - Never Give Up! said...

Come back to California - we pulled weeds in short sleeves today 70+ degrees. You were not meant for snow (I'll have your mom pay me later for this advice...)

D and C said...

OH MY GOSH SUMMER!!! Come home!!!! loL! Christian grew up in VA, so when I showed him these pictures...he said he was home sick!!!! lol!

Unknown said...

Wow, insane amounts of snow and a burning car? What a day! I hope it stops soon. I'm sure it's not fun to be stuck indoors like that. At least Paul might get a snow day :) Is that allowed?

Tiffany said...

Ok. That is insane. Seriously. I saw on the news yesterday that they said Cleveland was getting a blizzard this weekend...and meanwhile it is 75 degrees outside here in Phoenix : ) Crazy.

Anonymous said...

I how I remember those winters! They are the worst!! I remember hearing huge branches breaking off trees in the middle of the night because the snow got to heavy. Oh, I am so sorry, and I hope you see spring before June!!!

Faye said...

While this was all going on - it was so beautiful here I went for a run/walk around the park. It was 70 and beautiful blue skies. It's hard to beleive you are still having weather like this. I am remembering how much I love the spring and sunshine. Too bad it seems like you will have to wait awhile.

Elise said...

Wow, what a crazy snow story! I know what you mean about your street...it's the worst after it snows, always so icey and never plowed! It's funny, because we needed baby wipes yesterday too, and I sent Bren out to brave the unshoveled driveway to run to Daves, he made it, after he shoveled for an hour! It was kind of fun missing church though huh? (Don't tell anyone I said that.) We were wishing all this snow came during the week when school would have been cancelled! At least you made it on a run earlier in the week, way to go! You'll have to run extra miles for me! I'm praying for spring!

John said...

Gee, I feel so bad........while Paul was knee deep in snow, I was in Mexico playing golf where it was 80 degrees. You guys need snowmobiles. The weather here is so nice, they say it's especially nice over at Stanford.....it never snows there.

Carrie Anne said...

Holy cow! That's Cleveland for you!:) James was supposed to fly to Cleveland over the weekend, but all flights were canceled, so he's staying in St. Louis with my parents...all because of that weather! Wowwy!

Sarah said...

Aaaaaaa! That weather looks awful! And what an ordeal for Paul! That is amazing that he ended up with baby wipes after everything. I won't even rub in what we were doing and enjoying this weekend or what the weather's like... especially since your mom already did :) I hope it warms up soon!!

ashley said...

Oh my goodness what an ordeal!! That snow storm was a little depressing for me BUT the sun came out the very next day! You guys match in a few days right?

Dustin said...

That is a lot of snow! :)

Nice site by the way. I found it by accident while doing a search for gun rights blogs, must have come up due to the gunnsmoke name. Drive safe :)

Lexie said...

When we heard about the storm, I told Todd, I wonder how many days it will take until Summer & Paul's street gets plowed! I love that they NEVER plow your street, but who would have thought that Paul would get to watch a burning car, at least it's not yours, and at least yours won't be stolen again for a few days. I have to say that I love the first part of a big storm where you stay inside, cuddle up and just enjoy the white, but after about a day you start thinking, "Why do I live in Cleveland again?" Just think, a week and a half until the match! Though, I don't know if your first choice will be much warmer.