A "Blizzard" (Storm "Judy")

Okay. We had another snow storm today. Yes, that's right...it is winter after all. But this storm was forecast to be a blizzard of "historical" proportions, so much so that much of New England was closed down in preparation for a dangerous storm. My office was closed today, so I "worked" from home.

The Weather Channel gives names to winter storms. The name of this storm was Juno but since it is not an official name, I'm naming it "Judy" in honor of my late mother-in-law who was killed in a car accident five (5) years ago today.

Around 24-inches (2 feet) of snow had been forecast. This morning I awoke to find only about six (6) maximum. But it was hard to tell the actual amount because the wind was blowing. About 11 a.m. I noticed that the snow had stopped and things seemed calmer. Figured I had better get out and shovel before Round #2 began. This way there would be less snow to shovel later at the end.

View of my Escape in the parking lot before shoveling.

Note in the picture above how the snow plow had piled up snow in front of the cars. Got to shovel that plus in between cars as well as brushing off the snow on the car. As you can see from the picture below, some of the cars really got snowed in. Guess the wind blew much of the snow off my car.

Parking lot at the start of shoveling (view from my parking spot).

Several neighbors came out and the landlord showed up a bit later to plow more. So we were moving cars around so he could plow. So I ended up helping to shovel around several cars as well as tidying up around the back door.

Then I checked the front drive because it a somewhat sharp incline from the street. I have gotten stuck a couple times there as well as helped others who got stuck too.

Partially plowed snow at the apron at the street. Can you guess the width of the drive?

Shoveling the apron at the street took a long time because this snow was really heavy so I had to take small bladefulls. Fortunately, one of my neighbors came by when I was almost done and helped me finish it. Compare the picture above of the partially plowed drive with the picture of the finished product below.

The finished product, looking up from the street towards the parking lot. Sweet!

Being a diligent fire protection engineer, I went down the street a bit to dig out the nearest fire hydrant. An old guy (i.e., he was older than me) stopped by and insisted on helping by borrowing my little shovel to take a couple spadefulls while I brushed off the outlets with my gloves. Then he was on his way. A short time later, another guy came by and helped me clear around the hydrant.

Start

Finished. Ready for business.

I did some more at the top of the driveway where there is a slight curve around the building. The plow had left a good amount at the edge of the building (and a young boy had not been able to resist knocking down a big snow boulder). When I walked back into the building around four (4) hours later, my feet felt a bit frozen. Although a bit tired, I felt satisfied with the visible results of my efforts.

After shoveling.

Why do I shovel? I find it very satisfying to see the results of my physical activity. I shovel more than I am obligated to but if not me, then who? The landlord only does a cursory job. He told me he has nine (9) properties to do. We were lucky so much was done today. As it was, the sidewalk and front walk had several inches even though it was snowblowed early this morning. I was too tired to do that. Will they take care of it later? Doubt it.

I enjoy meeting my neighbors and chatting with them while we shovel. This is the only opportunity to have a real conversation with most of them beyond a passing hello in the halls.

Observing how people react to clearing snow in our parking lot tells me a lot about how our society is today. Almost everyone does the minimum and some even less. The ones who are out, are primarily interested in clearing their own car and then they return inside. "All fled, everyone to his tent." [2 Sam 18:17 KJV]

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Links:

http://www.weather.com/storms/winter/news/winter-storm-names-2014-2015-what-they-are-and-what-they-mean-20140929
http://www.weather.com/storms/winter/news/winter-storm-juno-blizzard-boston-nyc-new-england
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2011/01/sad-anniversary.html

Written Tuesday 27 January 2015