Snovember 2014

Okay I know this post is a bit late but I realized that I really need to write about our epic snowstorm this year.  As I watched the forecast for the worst blizzard anticipated to hit the east coast this week, I thought I really need to write about the once in a lifetime storm we endured. 

So on November 17th we were forcasted to get some snow as I left snow there was a dusting on the ground.  I was half way home and realized I forgot my iPad at school and when I picked up the kids at my moms I asked them if they wanted to go get it or if we could live without it for a day.  Sara said go get it and Evan said we could live without it.  Little did I know we should have traveled to get it.  So it began to snow later that evening and our plow service came around 10pm, I heard him again around 3am and looked out the window, our driveway was down to pavement and it was a clear winter night.  Well when I woke up it started snowing, schools were closed at 5:30am, and it continued to snow.  Marc was in NJ and I attempted to clean the driveway.  We have a very powerful snowblower and I do use it in between plows.  The snow was heavy and sticky and the snowblower kept getting stuck.   We also had another snowblower at our house that we had planned to sell to some of our adoption friends that weekend.  Well that did the job a little.  Our street quickly filled with snow and no plows came through.  After snowblowing for an hour some neighbors and there two sons came over and the four of us cleared the driveway.  Our driveway could probably fit around 14 cars, 7 in each lane, and its on an inline (the kids can sled down it).  The kids came out to play because it had cleared out and they made it back to their swingset well as I was shoveling I wandered back to find them and Sara was back there with no hat, she had lost it in the snow and couldn't find it.  Needless to say I sent them in the house.  I later trekked back there to find the hat and couldn't and the snow was so deep I was huffing and puffing for a 150 feet walk! 

Marc made it to a friends house about 30 miles away with his car carrier.  His friend planned on driving him to their terminal and they finally arrived there almost 1.5 hours later after finding roads closed or impassible only to find Marcs truck so buried in snow that they never could have uncovered it since there was no where to put the snow.  Well his friend was kind enough to bring him home, another long trip but he made it home around 7:30 on Wednesday.  In the meantime a neighbor made a trip for gas and luckily I sent a gas can along and he filled it for us.  Little did we know later that all the local gas stations ran dry! 

Well the driveway was filled with about 4 feet of snow again the next morning and still no sign of plows.  We watched as a few neighbors skied or snowshoe out of the neighborhood.  Marc and I worked for hours to clear the driveway each day.  One of us literally had to knock down a few feet of snow and the other had to snow blow it off the driveway, a very tedious way to clear the snow.  Finally by Friday afternoon we had our driveway cleared.  We had plenty of food in the house but the kids were crazing pizza and French fries.  Marc and I set up the deep fryer in the garage and made French fries which Evan rated a 5 out of 10.  I found some Pizza Hut breadsticks in our freezer and those made him very happy.  On Friday the snow lightly fell but we were able to travel across the street and even down to my moms.  The snow in the street was still 5-6 feet deep.    So there were little paths through the street and I pulled the kids in the sled to Grandmas house.  Our neighbors ended up at our house on Friday the kids were sledding in the driveway and all the parents ended up here.  We sent all the kids in the house (around 12) with some middle school girls and let them play.  Honestly at this point all of the parents needed a break.  So the kids played and we had happy hour in the garage and turned on some propane heaters.  I put out a ton of Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts and the kids had a blast.  The boys played video games and the girls loved being with the big girls.   It turned into everyone raiding their cupboard and freezers for mac and cheese and frozen pizza, bags of chips, cheese and crackers, and drinks. 

Saturday we listened for the plow all day and finally Marc had a call that he needed to get his truck out since they anticipated flooding.  Luckily a friend nearby had his street plowed and picked up Marc.  He was able to get his truck but couldn't get home with it.  The end of our street was a 10 foot pile of snow.  The night before we were making jokes about who would have a domestic or fake a medical emergency just so we could escape.  Not funny, but it was in sarcasm.  Well it was around 2pm, Wegmans had reopened that am, so I sent Marc with a very long list.  During that time Rochester came in and plowed the entrance to our street.  Marc was able to park at my moms house and we picked up the groceries on a sled and brought them home.  A few hours later a plow came through and we were determined to escape.  We told the kids we were going out for dinner and Evan didn't want to go.  I felt like after 5 days of being confined in the house I need an outing.  So we went to Applebees the only place that was open.  We ended up with 7-8 feet of snow, 6 days off from school.  During the months of November and December my kids were only in school for 23 days!