SnOMG...

I thought it would be fun to (now that we're mostly dug out!) To show you what we got hit with last week during the third biggest snowstorm in Chicago's recorded history.


O'Hare airport recorded 20.2" of snow, and we had wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour, making visibility practically nothing, and creating massive snowdrifts like I have never seen.


Streets were closed, trains were stopped, the city practically stood still for two days. Cars were abandoned on Lake Shore Drive. It was absolutely unbelievable. Have you seen Thundersnow? A thunder/lightning storm within a snowstorm. Scary, yet incredible.


I will admit, as crippling as the storm was, it was exciting to finally be a part of Chicago's history. I can now say that I was in the Blizzard of 2011, which is in Chicago's record books. I feel a little more like a true Chicagoan now!


We got up Wednesday morning at our normal time (5 am - ugh!) just to make sure things were not blown out of proportion and to check if it was really possible to get to work or not. After looking out the bedroom window, we decided it would be best just to stay home, and the hubby and I went back to sleep. I was still feeling a little guilty, thinking that it really didn't look that bad from the window, and maybe I could have made it to work.


My guilt quickly passed, though. When I woke up around 730-8am, I decided to finally take a look outside and really see what we were dealing with. I opened my front door, and was greeted with snow, inside the house!

Our storm door apparently blew open sometime during the night courtesy of our wind gusts and snow drifted inside our house, making opening our door impossible.


Our back door and deck were in even worse shape, so our only choice was to exit our house through the garage. The hubby and I stood inside the garage and pressed the button to open the door, not knowing what we'd find.


We both gasped when we saw the gigantic snow drift that had amassed in front of our garage.

We finally got outside the house, and I couldn't help running around and snapping pictures. I must have said 'This is absolutely insane' about half a dozen times. I couldn't believe it. You can barely see the cars in our garage!

At least now I can see why we couldn't get out the door. The snow had drifted nearly half of the way up the outside of the door - not to mention our little 'snow present' inside the house!

And, like a little kid, I couldn't help myself, I had to run around and see just how deep it was. My legs are totally gone. (And then my boot got stuck, making it nearly impossible to get out of the pile!)

Our poor dog had to wait for us to shovel at least a small path for him to get outside, and even that didn't help. It was snowing and blowing so hard, he could barely see, much less stand up to do his business.

Mommy - get me out of here!

He had quite enough of the snow - granted we were pretty much throwing him in the snow drifts and saying 'have fun!' we knew better than to go in there! But once I got in there with him, he had a good old time. He followed me around, and ran through my boot tracks.

I think he really enjoyed having someone to play with in the snow, he even posed like a champ for a couple of pictures, but I'm sure he had to have been freezing.

And he found some of the shallower areas of snow that he could see over! But as soon as he found one of those, he'd disappear into a huge snowdrift we didn't see!

And used me as a 'snow raft' so that he didn't have to run through the snow. Instead he used me to keep him safely above the drifts.

About twenty minutes of playing in the snow, and we were both exhausted. Which is good for Cody, because we had to put him in his crate so that we could start digging ourselves out.

By the time we were finished, it had taken us nearly four hours to clear our driveway and our sidewalks. Cody liked where the snow blower had gone, because the snow compacted enough to support his weight - I think this is the tallest he's ever been (and the snow is taller than he is!)

If the 20+ inches we got that on February 2nd wasn't bad enough, Saturday February 5th greeted us with about 3 more inches. That accumulation is more Cody's pace, so I had a fun time with him in the morning playing in the fresh snow!

After all the snow and all the effort to dig out, the hubby and I were exahusted (and Cody, too!) But then I looked out the window, and the sunset over the snow was absolutely beautiful. I was so happy I got to see that, because after all that work and all that pain, I was truly reminded how beautiful it all actually is.

It's been almost a week, and things are finally getting back to normal. Public transportation is mostly back on schedule, the cars have been reclaimed from Lake Shore Drive, and we can finally drive on most of the streets (even if all the lanes aren't open)

Even with all this snow, the hubby and missed only one day of work, and that was only because it was physically impossible to get out of the house.

Ok Puxatawny.. you said it's going to be an early spring. I'm holding you to that.

Or else I'm never trusting another groundhog ever again.