Friday, February 11, 2011

The Blizzard of 2011


It had been predicted for several days, lots of snow coming with high winds followed by artic temperatures. The morning of Feb 1 Chad and I talked - it had started snowing in Tiskilwa but had not yet started in Chicago. He was prepared - all the animals were inside, the tractor was facing the door ready to begin the cleanup, he was planning to stay at the farm for the duration. As we were hanging up, I said my biggest concern was that he should lose power..... a few hours later he texted that the farm, and most of western Bureau county had, indeed, lost power. With winds already at 40 mph, this wasn't going to be good. Fortunately, within 3-4 hours, the crews had restored power and he didn't have to break ice in the animals water. He made it to the barn about 11pm wading through drifts to his waist.


The snow didn't stop until mid-day the next day, with 20" as the official count, but a 6-8 foot drift between the house and barn. It took a few hours just to get the barn doors open to check on and feed the animals. It was very late in the day when a plow finally made it down 1100 North Avenue - remember, we are the only house on the road. By that night, freezer burned corn dogs left over from summer were no longer enticing him and he made home to see his kids. The cold came the next several days, as did more snow... but the worst was behind us.
Things weren't much better in Chicago. I was on Lake Shore Drive inching along and realized the other cars weren't all wheel drive like mine and decided to get off the Drive and take surface streets - one of my best decisions of the year!! We were buried in - even our heated driveway couldn't keep up - and were running out of space to put snow. A front end loader finally made it to open the street 2 days later, yes, Chicago.... the City that Works! Go Rahm!!

So when is spring????? We need some good weather so we can install a generator!!

No comments:

Post a Comment