xerinmichellex

Worst. Snowstorm. Ever.*

Nobody is throwing out an exact number probably because all the rulers in the world could not measure the snow. O'Hare got 22 inches, Midway (the airport closest to Chicago) is reporting 20.9 inches. I think we got about two feet in the neighborhood--but a lot of the snow drifted, so it's piled up more than if it just fell from the sky. The snow--where it didn't drift--comes up to the front bumper of our car. The drifted parts are as high as the windshields. But it has stopped snowing. *thumbs up*

We have power--my uncle and aunt in the next county over don't. The snow is piled up to the front and back door. Going out through the garage is not an option, so we're trying to figure out where to start in our shoveling. Everyone in the neighborhood is out shoveling, or if they're kids, they're racing up and down the street with sleds. I...sorta wish I was eight right now. Maybe I would be enjoying this.

Everything is shut down. Schools are closed. (How come we never got a snow day? I swear, my last snow day was in middle school.) The malls are closed. (Sorry, crazy-ass shoppers, no winter deals for you.) The Pace buses are not running. O'Hare is completely empty. (SNOWPOCALYPSE 2011 took out O'Hare. It is not messing around.) I'm watching WGN news show a live broadcast of the tow trucks towing the abandoned cars off of Lake Shore Drive. (Reports say there's 700-900 cars abandoned all over Chicago.)

All in all, it could be worse. It could be better. Like I said, I'd enjoy it more if I was prepubescent. Older, all I'm thinking about is how the hell are we going to dig out the cars? Oh, and I'm stuck at home with my mom and brother...for three days straight. It'll be a miracle if we don't kill each other by the end of Day Two. (No, seriously. Last weekend we were in the car for an hour. Within twenty minutes we were all yelling at each other. We do not do well when cooped up together for long periods of time.)

*That is to say, of my entire life. We had a worse blizzard (apparently) in '67.

ETA: It took us 5 hours to shovel the driveway because the snow was so high, our snow blower couldn't move through it. So we had to shovel some of it, then break up the snow so the blower could attack it. And the plows haven't plowed the neighborhood yet. And one of our cars is leaking antifreeze. Awesome.