When Dave and I tried to leave the house this morning, we got a fun little surprise: our Honda was under a foot of snow, and our parking lot wasn't much better, as it hadn't been plowed yet.
We tried our best to dig it out, and we did manage to dislodge it from the parking spot, but the poor Honda is so light, it couldn't move through the sea of snow.
I was especially worried because today is my last day of class, and my 10-page memorandum is due today. I think because of that, we were two of the more determined people in our parking lot.
Dave did manage to dig the van out, which is actually much better for inclement weather. We made it to the train station and saw some interesting sights on the way.
No one seems to know what to do with all the snow. After the streets are plowed, people snow-blow the stuff right back into the street. When we were trying to dislodge the Honda, the windows would be covered again before we'd moved two feet.
There, like today, the snow is so heavy and voluminous that people just don't know what to do with it. We helped the frau shovel her driveway, but after a certain point, we had nowhere else to put the snow. We asked her what to do with it, and she told us just to chuck it in the neighbor's yard.
Actually, now that I think of it, the Austrians had a very unusual way of dealing with the snow. They'd load it all onto trucks and just haul it away. I asked people where they take the truckloads of snow, and no one seemed to know.
You have to admit that the snow is beautiful, and you have to appreciate the tricks that Mother Nature can play, just when we humans think we've mastered the Earth.
And more than anything else, it's weather like this that makes you realize just how hardy we Chicagoans are.
A few tons of snow can't stop the city of big shoulders. (But it might slow us down a bit.)
4 comments:
Lol, that reminds me, Alex sent me this chain letter about Chicago:
Forget Rednecks .....here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about ... Chicago
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you live in Chicago
If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in Chicago
If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Chicago.
If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in Chicago
If "Vacation" means going anywhere south of I - 80 for the weekend, you live in Chicago.
If you measure distance in hours, you live in Chicago.
If you have switched from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back
again, you live in Chicago
If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Chicago.
If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you live in Chicago
If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Chicago
If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and
everybody is passing you, you live in Chicago
If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in Chicago
If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and
road construction, you live in Chicago.
If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in Chicago
If you find 10 degrees "a little chilly", you live in Chicago.
Oh my god, Julie, those are great.
My favorite ones are the Home Depot ones and the one about driving 80 in a 55 zone.
Those were great, Julie, I hadn't seen them before.
Valerie, unfortunately the north side usually gets more than us in New Lenox. But, you and Dave are strong, young people and should be able to handle it. Hopefully the car Dave's going to get will be good in the snow.
Mom
at least you guys didnt get the ridiculus ice storm we got- my car was under a nice two-inch blanket of ice, and i still havent been able to move it from the spot. im worried i wont be able to move it by the end of the semester.... :\
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