My Marine Corps Experience - 12 years of service in the Marine Corps saw me serving on both coasts, deploying to the east and the west

My Life: Snowy Day -- December 9, 2009

The first snowstorm of 2009 blew in, and it was a doozy. Basically the whole state shut down. State offices and colleges were closed, most businesses were, too. We had 16 inches of snow in the center of the driveway. It was also snowman snow, heavy and wet. Our driveway is wide enough at the head that our snowblower can't throw snow all the way across, so we have to throw it halfway, and then throw it again. But that wasn;t happening with this stuff. After the first time through the blower, it packed, and there was no way to punch through it. It was all hand work.

Dane County's desire to use as little salt as possible really screwed things up. The roads were bumpy and pitted like the worst gravel road you've ever driven. It got below zero right after the storm went through, and finally on the weekend is warmed up enough for the plows to lay down some salt and scrape everything.

Here are some early morning pictures. A plow had gone through and made at least one lane. The snow was still coming down at the time. We took a number of other pictures, but the camera settings weren't right for the circumstances. The streetlight gave an eerie glow to everything.

Our crab apple next tot the front of the house was bent over and had branches broken off.

The hedges next to the side of the house had a huge pile of snow on them.

Cindy took this picture. All her pictures came out blue, for some reason. Unfortunately, most of them were blurry.

Here I am making the first pass with the snow blower.

Our ash tree lost three big branches, and many of the lilacs along the driveway were bent over.

Here are the hedges again, in the daylight.

When I heard that this storm was coming, I cleaned up all the work I was doing to the new parking space alongside the workshop, and moved the trailers in. Note the pile of snow on top of the covered trailer.
Back to Main Page

this page was last edited on: 12/13/09