The news this weekend compared our weekend winter wonderland to the Blizzard of 1993. I remember that blizzard. I was working at Giant Eagle in Cranberry when the snow began to fall and the public panic was initiated. The store was CRAZY busy. My friend, Dan, was to give me a ride home that night. He was driving a little orange car, affectionately called “The Pumpkin.” Aside from the memorable frenzy at work, the ride home was exciting. We did a donut in The Pumpkin in the middle of route 8 south, near Porky’s if you are from around here. I wasn’t expecting it. I’m sure he did it on purpose. The road was completely snow covered and there was little to no traffic… so conditions were prime for such fun. It WAS fun! Needless to say we made it home just fine and my friend became stranded at what was then my parent’s home. We stoked the fire, played board games, ate pizza bread. The next day we had to dig The Pumpkin out. It was buried in snow! We also built a snowman. Somewhere I have pictures, but I don’t have a working scanner at the moment. Sorry.
But what about the Blizzard of February 2010? Why not write my remembrances now?
We woke up Saturday morning, Feb 6, 2010 early. Keith was scheduled to work and to pick up one of his employees on the way. Guess what? He couldn’t get out. Yes we have 4x4, but when the snow is as high as the tires and heavy and untouched… ya, he wasn’t going anywhere. So he called work and said he’d be late or not in at all. A couple hours later he started shoveling. (pictures posted already) Thankful for his old Carhardt bib overalls from years gone by, he shoveled his heart out while I chipped away at laundry. He worked for about 30 minutes at a time, breaking for hot coffee every now and then. The truck was a little bit stuck from his attempt to get out. As he was turning it around one of the front tires dropped over the hump into the yard, which is a hillside, and that was all she wrote. After a couple hours of his shoveling, I joined the effort even though I’m still recovering from a shoulder injury. I’ve lived in Western Pennsylvania pretty much all my life and I am pretty good at figuring out how to get un-stuck. I admit, it’s way easier if you have a tractor nearby. Oh well. First, I insisted that we shovel around the truck VERY well. Next, put some gravel behind the tires. Finally, we cracked open one of the bags of sand that are in my car and lay it behind the tires for traction. I figured it would be a good idea to have one person just push a wee bit on the front end to give it that umph up over the hump. Guess what? It worked like a dream. I popped it into 4x4 low and at the same time I gave her a lil’ gas and Keith gave her a lil’ push and she backed right up. Piece of cake? Well… unless you consider all the shoveling.
Proud of ourselves we returned to the house to warm up. We realized that the neighbor was not going to shovel her portion of the driveway and the next house beside her is vacant… so we figured at best we would have to shovel from our house at least two houses down. This seemed like a monumental task that we were not in a hurry to tackle. Keith called his work again and reported that he was not going to make it at all. About and hour later there was a knock at our door. The neighbor several houses down was asking if we’d help shovel the driveway. Of course we will! Glad to have additional assistance, we both donned our winter attire and headed out to join the efforts. This is a 50 year old man and one teenager that were already tackling the job. The four of us shoveled the entire driveway. There was one other lady that came out and helped as much as she could, but she didn’t look like she should be doing that kind of work. We helped her shovel around her car and when she was done she let me borrow her ergonomically correct shovel. Note to self: buy at least 2 of those shovels for ourselves!
So after we were all shoveled out, we had lunch. I made a delicious hot ham & cheese on a bun for each of us. Then we took a much needed winter nap. The evening was enjoyed together… nothing extra special. Just a little tv, computer, some fresh baked cookies, and snuggling. It doesn’t get much better than that. It was definitely a memorable blizzard. I know my Handy-hubby does not so much enjoy the snow. I don’t mind it so much. I actually enjoy the idea of being snowed in at least once a year.
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