Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We had a bit of ugly weather yesterday afternoon that turned the evening rush hour into a commuting nightmare for thousands of people in the Chicago area. I get off work at 3:30 so it added an extra 20 minutes to my drive home. Not too bad. It took my son 3.5 hours to get home and my daughter a whopping 4.5 hours! Not a fun way to spend the evening.

Going in to work this morning wasn't too bad, however the National Weather Service just issued a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow evening into Friday. Depending on where you live you are either going to get a ton of ice, or a boat load of snow. We are closer to the snow line, but you just never know what kind of tricks Mother Nature is going to play.

Take the winter of 1979 for example. Mother Nature hit us with one major storm right after another that year. We kept shoveling and shoveling and shoveling and before long the piles on the sides of the driveway were so high that you couldn't even throw it up there any more. We finally had to have a guy come with a front loader to push the snow into the yard and give us more room to throw the never ending snow.

Tresa was in her glory. She was 5 years old and I don't know too many 5 year olds that don't love the snow. She never wanted to come in. It was funny because the vent for the dryer is on the driveway side of the house, and it kept melting the snow we threw over there. It made a great little hiding place for a 5 year old.

A not so great thing that came along with the snows of '79, were roof collapses. The roof of the bowling alley we use to bowl at came crashing in one night, destroying the building and the family business that went with it.

Irv was the Operations Manager at Carson Pirie Scott at that time. They had just finished a huge remodel of their Junior World department, and that roof came crashing down too destroying merchandise and a big section of the brand new department.

For many years after '79 when we would get heavy snows, you could see people on the roofs of businesses shoveling the snow off.

I don't anticipate another winter like that, but there are many years that we don't see snow until some time in January and we have already had many snows that have required shoveling.

I don't like to see bad roads because it causes so many accidents, but I must say I am kind of keeping my fingers crossed that we get just enough snow for the school district I work for to be closed Friday and the call to my cell phone with the recording that says, "District Office Personnel can work from home today".

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!