The howling gale stopped along with the snow sometime before dawn. In the light, it didn’t so bad all things considered. I catnapped but was awakened by –more wind, accompanied by more snow. Mother Nature apparently wants to present this drama in several acts with short interludes. I bundled up Patty (pink parka naturally), who refused to pee one drop in over 24 hours, and dragged out her out the door. Could almost hear her “AHHHH!” I walked her about to see the sights (read: dragged her around some more). This dog, whose heritage is snow sledding, is just not that into it. Because of the gale, the snow didn’t fall straight down and there were relatively bare-like areas. But then there are the drifts, knee deep here, thigh deep there, or just impassible. It’s very windy, but not disturbingly so compared yesterday. After feeding the ravenous pooch who decided that under my bed was a good place to hide, I set forth to record all this on my iPhone. Finding food was also an issue.
The eatery across the lane was open thank goodness. However they had damaged seals in the floor to ceiling windows, so there was leaks. I trekked down the middle of the street to the main thoroughfares and realized the snow was a lot deeper than it looked. Things looked deserted except for those walking in the street. I spotted three slow moving cars, total. Two intrepid guys from Jimmy John’s, a deli franchise, tramped about, passing out free sandwiches; they declared they were OPEN for business and would deliver even for one. I instantly got a warm and fuzzy feeling. Free lunch and possibly dinner later! Did I know that Jewel and Dominick’s (major grocery chains) were closed across the city? I have never heard of such a thing. How could we clean out the stores of break and milk? Things must be truly bad.
My area wasn’t as hard it as those farther inland. Still I wanted to record something for posterity. (I apologize for the videos. It was my first time taping on the iPhone 4. Apparently I should have held the thing lengthwise for landscape mode. I was also breathless because my asthma has been playing up.
Here are pictures of what’s happening elsewhere.
According to the news, it is bad. There are lines of abandoned cars in the middle of Lake Shore Drive and the city is frantically trying to plow that open and toll away the cars. Drivers are still stranded at tollway oases. Chunks of the city are without power and no clue when it will be restored. There is no electricity to parts of the ‘el” and subway system. Some of the bus routes are shut down. The train system has shut down five lines and running Sunday schedules on others. Even the MALLS are closed.Over 20 inches of snow has fallen with more expected. The current talk concerns what could open tomorrow, but that sounds in serious doubt, especially if it doesn’t stop snowing soon. The mayor hasn’t said but news sources all agree we’re paralyzed.
Verdict: the Blizzard of “11 has nudged out ’99 and probably passed “79, but probably won’t beat “67, unless the paralysis extends for days. It’s not likely because the city has sworn to never let that happen again.EDIT: The sun peeking through and the sky is turning blue. It’s OVER! …Isn’t it?
EDIT: Well, Mother Nature decided to take the sun and blue sky elsewhere and give us the cold shoulder. Fiiiiiine. Be that way.