Wednesday, February 2

February 2, 2011

THAT was a snowstorm. It was great. I love when the world shuts down for a day or two. No one could get much of anywhere today, Wednesday. Schools were closed, most businesses were closed – even the banks were closed for the day.

Total snowfall at O’Hare (where the records are kept) with 20.2 inches, so we didn’t break the 1967 storm, though we now rank in the upper ten storms.

My husband, Owen was up early with his big snowblower. He was able to get through the deepest drifts and he was helping everyone on the block. The smaller machines could not get through the deepness of this snowfall.


Flights were all cancelled, something like 1300 flights at O’Hare – and you don’t realize how quiet the skies are until you once again hear a plane after a day or two. It was so quiet in the neighborhood – I took Mitch for a walk early in the morning on Wednesday and he had a ball – he loves to romp in – and eat – snow. We met up with all of the neighbors, everyone was out and Mitch got to play with his dog friends Buddy and Rudy. No cars were on the street – it was wonderful.


John Gleason, one of my neighbors sent me the photo of Lizzie’s car stuck in the parking lot behind Palmer’s. He spotted the photo on AOL so she made the home page – I guess she got a ride home…..


And for the first time ever in history, there was no mail today – Wednesday. The trucks simply could not get in. We heard reports of people that were stuck on Lake Shore Drive for hours and hours – one guy reported he had been sitting in his car from 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday till 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Cars were running out of gas, people were being taken to St. Joseph Hospital on snowmobiles. Lake Shore Drive did look just like the Kennedy Expressway in 1967 – we thought it couldn’t happen again, but it did.

The sun shone brightly in the latter part of the day - truly a beautiful sight!

Let’s see – 1967, 1979, 1999, 2011 – 12 years, 20 years, 12 years- so the next huge storm will be in 2031 – you have to have at least one of these in a lifetime!