Blizzard December 2012 & Snow-shoeing

We got our first real blizzard last week after nearly a year without much snow.  The weather folks say we got more than 10 inches in my neighborhood.  It was an extremely odd storm. On the first night, the blizzard delivered "thunder snow," with lightning and thunder.  My husband loves thunderstorms, so he kept taking photos of the heavy snow from our porches.  At midnight, we noticed that one of our trees had lost quite a few large branches, so my husband had to move his truck from the driveway.

We spent the next day shoveling all the snow from our driveway, porches and sidewalks.  My husband did most to the work, because we only have one shovel that works at lifting heavy snow.  And it was heavy!

Our neighbors' cat Levi, trying to take a nap in the cold.

Two days later, the road to work was still blocked by a stranded vehicle, so I took the day off and tried out my new snow-shoes on the nearby trail.  It looked like the snowmobiles had got there first, even though they aren't supposed to drive on the trail.

Breaking in my snow-shoes.  I got them for a 50 percent discount from Active Endeavors in West Des Moines.

I wish my legs were this long. Ha!

Very unflattering photo, but wanted to show off my rainbow colored balaclava.

I snow-shoed for about a mile. I wanted to go farther, though, because the snow was so beautiful. 

Did you get hit by the blizzard last week?  What did you do to keep you and your family entertained while you were snowed in?

Snowed in

Is this the Arctic Circle? No. It's Iowa.

I took these photos while waiting for my work colleague to pick me at a Park & Ride for Central Iowa commuters. It was -14 degrees outside when I took these photos from the comfort of my pickup truck.

Today, I'm stuck at home again. Another snowstorm moved through last night, dumping 5 inches on top of the almost 2 feet of snow already on the ground. Today, the winds are so strong, the snow is drifting over the roads and creating "white-out" driving conditions.

Here's the lovely view from my front porch.

Brrr! And the view from my back porch.

My husband was in the middle of a home improvement project and didn't clean off the back deck before the snow arrived last month. The snow has really piled up on the deck.



At least I have my new AeroGarden to brighten up my house! The first sprouts appeared this week.





The Twinkle Phlox are a little slow, but I see a few sprouts poking up.

My husband has also taken his hobbies indoors. He's been spending a lot of time on his 75-gallon aquarium. He loves to grow plants in his aquarium.

There are a few tetra fish swimming around his tank, although he needs to restock it with some more plant-friendly fish.

Boy, it's hard to take a picture of a moving fish!

Snowed in

When I heard that there was a snow storm in the forecast, I asked a good friend if I could spend the night at her home in Des Moines, instead of commuting 35 miles in the snow. I thought if I were closer to work, I'd be able to drive to the office the next morning. Boy, was I wrong!

The heavy snow started on my after-work drive to my friend's house and didn't let up until noon the next day. Then the winds came through. It wasn't so bad in the city, but the newscasters were reporting wind gusts as high as 50 miles per hour in the country, with reports of 7 foot snow drifts. Unbelieveable!

I'm thankful I have a work truck with 4-wheel drive. But even 4-wheel drive vehicles were getting stuck in the snow outside my friend's house. The street was covered with at least 6 inches of snow.

Here's what we were greeted with when we opened the door the next morning.

Every vehicle that drove past the house got stuck in the snowy street.

Many cars couldn't make it up the steep hill outside my friend's house.

I really needed to get to crank out a couple articles before my end-of-the week deadline. But my husband, who thankfully was safe inside our home, warned me that if I got stuck in the street, there wouldn't be anybody to pull me out. The weather was so bad, snow plows were pulled off the roads, and towing services were prohibited.

So these cars, and my friend and I, were stranded for two days. That's right. Two days.

The blizzard started on Tuesday morning. We couldn't get out of the driveway until Thursday afternoon. These cars were blocking our only way out.

The irony is that I decided to stay overnight in Des Moines so I wouldn't have to miss work. Turns out, the roads back home were clear, but the Des Moines city crews had a tough time moving 10 inches of snow from the 400 miles of city streets.

Finally, at almost exactly 1 p.m. on Thursday, a snow plow came to "save" us.

I was so excited, I went outside to wave at the plow, like it was a fire truck in a fourth of July parade. I yelled "Thank You!" The driver waved back.

But he had a tough time manuevering around the stalled cars.

The sight of a plowed street almost brought tears to my eyes. Isn't it one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen?

After the snow plow moved through, I saw that there were even more cars stuck in the road than I had noticed before. Those poor drivers!

I was thrilled to finally have a clear road so I could drive home and see my husband after two days stuck in a house with nothing to do. I wasted no time in shoveling the ice chunks from the driveway.

The snow was a lot deeper than I expected, however, and I took a wrong step in a drift and sank to the bottom. I had to roll myself up. My friend encouraged me to make a snow angel while I was lying there.

After a slow drive on snowy roads, I'm happy to report I'm in my kitchen now, baking blueberry quick bread. I missed my oven so much! Oh, and my husband, too :)

Hope all of my Iowa friends stayed safe and warm during the blizzard of 2009. It goes down in the records books as the snowiest Iowa blizzard in 38 years, with a statewide average of more than 10 inches.

Never thought that in this modern day, in the middle of a city, I'd get snowed in for two days. I saw a list in the Des Moines Register of Iowa's other record-making blizzards, some that dated back to the late 1800s. Could you imagine what it would be like being trapped in your home, without snow plows or de-icer or furnaces and running water? We take so much for granted.