Digging Out

Did you hear that a major winter storm hit the Midwestern United States yesterday? The metro Kansas City area was smack dab in the middle of that storm’s path. Schools and many businesses closed for the day.

Snow started falling about 6 a.m. and ended a little after noon. Snowfall accumulations of 10″ to 13″ were reported around the metro. Traffic was at a standstill. Snowplows worked through the night to clear roads for Friday morning rush hour.

After the snow quit falling, people started digging out. I have no plans to go anywhere this weekend, but I did shovel a walking path to the street yesterday.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Yesterday, I walked down the street to where BobG was helping the neighbors clear their driveway with his snowblower. I told BobG I’d love for him to bring his snowblower to my house, but not then. I was in no rush and he was cold and tired.

The snowplows came through overnight and cleared a 5 foot wide path on my side of the street, so 2 cars can pass each other now. Of course, that snow wound up in my driveway and yard. The plows were clearing my neighborhood side streets this morning.

At 9 a.m. this morning, I went out with my shovels, cleared the path to the street again and widened it a bit. I was about to head inside for a while when I saw BobG and his snowblower headed my way.

The snowblower made quick work of the sea of snow on my driveway, but the mound from the snowplow was much harder to cut through. I started clearing the top layer off the mound to make it easier to plow.

My across the street neighbor, Richard, saw us shoveling and snowblowing and came over with his shovel. Richard made short work of the mound of snow from the snowplow. Ironically, Richard paid someone to shovel his driveway.

I learned that BobG helped 2 or 3 of our neighbors clear their driveways yesterday, so I’m glad I told him to wait to do mine. Richard grew up in Canada, where they have lots of snow. He doesn’t like shoveling snow, but he’s very good at it.

As we finished up my driveway, we looked down the street to see someone shoveling spray from the snowplows out of BobG’s driveway. BobG and Richard headed that way to help.

A Walk Around the Block

I took a walk around the block this afternoon on the way to the mailbox.

Look how high the snow is piled at this street corner. The snowplow drivers work hard to clear the streets, but there just isn’t very many places to put all that snow.

I’m happy to report that our fire hydrants are sticking their heads out of the snow. With luck, they won’t be needed, but it’s good that they are accessible.

One of the neighbors always digs out our mailboxes so the mail carrier can access the back side to deliver our mail and we can safely get our mail out.

It’s nice to live in a neighborhood where people help each other.