We Are Not Yet Frozen
Thanks to everyone who expressed concern for our well-being during Chicago’s recent spell of severe weather. We are fine. In fact, Judy had to spend this past week in Los Angeles for her job. She’ll be getting home late tonight.
As for me, I was in Springfield, about a 3 hour drive south of Chicago, from last Friday until yesterday. Springfield was cold, about -10 (F), but not quite as cold as Chicago’s -22.
When I got home, I found the accumulated result of several snow storms. The sidewalk and driveway needed clearing, and the driveway was blockaded by a pile of snow and ice up to 4 feet tall in places.
Today I got started on digging us out from under. My first priority was to break through the blockade between our driveway and the street. The temperature was 10 degrees, which felt almost balmy.
This weekend the temperature is supposed to rise above freezing, and we might even get some rain. The traffic and city plows have already churned and shoved the snow off the streets.
A cheerful thought is that the majority of winter is behind us. We have started February, which has only 28 days, and after February comes March, which at least in theory could be the beginning of spring. So things are looking up, or they will be once I’ve shoveled all this )@#*&% snow.
gardeninacity 
Glad for the report, and especially glad to see that cleared street — and the forecast. It’s been terrible for so many people. It’s good that you and Judy weren’t in the worst of it. On the other hand, I think I read that it was raining (!) in L.A.!
It absolutely poured in LA for hours yesterday. I heard on the radio that there were some road closures due to mud slides. But not where I was! Most of the Chicago Area is very good at clearing snow in the streets, it’s rarely a big problem once the snow stops. Except when there’s over a foot of snow, or freezing rain sculpts frozen slush into place, or some other charming occurrence.
I’m glad you avoided the mud slides. I’ve got a couple of friends who live in the area, and they were delighted with the rain, being avid gardeners themselves. As for shoveling: how well I remember our conviction, during my years in snow country, that the plows waited at the end of our street until we had the driveway cleared, and then came by to block us in again. Good times!
It started coming down just as she was leaving!
I can’t wait for tomorrow’s heat wave. It is 12 right now. At least we have not had snow since Monday, and only about three inches.
Weather is pretty mild right now. Can go outside with just a jacket.
Glad you are all safe.
Thanks, John.
We have been looking at the Chicago weather & wondering how things were for you & Judy. Good to know all is well. Wish we could transport some of our hot air over to help with the clearing of snow. 😀
And I’ve been thinking about you in all that heat! It sounds awful! Also, I’ve joined the FB group Gardening Australia, and they spend an awful lot of time discussing poisonous snakes and spiders! I was just hoping to see flowers when it’s winter here!
Oh that is so funny. Fortunately, we get a lot more cold weather than most of Australia, and therefore we don’t get spiders, and I’ve never seen a snake in Canberra. (but they are out in the bush.) When we were in Rome, the hotel manager said he could never come to Australia because everything wants to kill you!
That would be nice. Maybe some day that technology will exist.
So glad to hear that you are both safely home once more, even though you now have a mound of snow to clear!
As of today, it is almost all melted.
Those pictures are not very convincing. It looks pretty frozen to me.
We’re inside most of the time.
Here we are in Maine, quite cold as well, but shuttering at the extreme you are dealing with in your neck of the woods. Do take care!
It’s moderated quite a lot.
You will need a pick ax to move that huge mound of frozen snow and ice. Wow, hopefully the warmer weather will help you. Lucky Judy being in CA despite the rain. Glad you both weren’t in Chicago for the horrible lows. Your garden looks all tucked in nice with blankets of snow.
I got it all with a shovel, somehow, but after that I was pooped.
We too have to shovel out as the tractor/snowblower decided it didn’t need to having a working battery. Alas, the 40F temps that are supposed to come our way are going to be much appreciated by everyone! Stay warm!
You too, Cortney!
I’m glad you are well and staying warm! We are on a curve, and always have that huge blockade between our driveway and street as well which the snowblower can’t get through. I try to think of shoveling as good exercise, but it definitely not fun, especially when temps are so low!
No, it is not fun. I try to do it a section at a time.
Just keep thinking about those warm temps in the forecast! Like you say it is February and the days are noticeably longer and the sun feels stronger as well… to me at least 😉
And now there are only 3 weeks left in February.
We used to see snow like that in Connecticut, and are glad to have left it behind.
Good to hear things are warming up a little where you are. 🙂
New England can get some serious snow.
It looks cold to me! Glad you’re okay and starting in on the warm-up.
I think it definitely qualified as cold.
I think the current warm spell is a belated “January thaw”. February is the longest month of the year, IMO.
Sometimes it feels that way.
The groundhog says spring will be early but I’ll go by the tree buds and skunk cabbages like I usually do.
I don’t think the groundhogs get a really in-depth training in meteorology.
No, but they’re right 40% of the time.
Lucky that you and Judy were both out of town for the worst of the cold weather.
It was lucky, yes.
Terrible winter Jason. Here the places are similar. Plus, the ice is under the snow, the legs slide, it is not good. I shoveled the paths in the garden, and then they looked like trenches.
Your snow must be very deep!
Oh, the end of the driveway snowplow dumps are the worst! We also got some snow but not as much as you, it seems. It was extremely cold last week – around the same as you (-30C) – school buses were cancelled 3 times! But all in all, it’s been a rather quiet winter around here.
If we don’t get any more big storms – a big if – I will consider this winter to be not too bad.
Oh my! I’m shivering looking at all that snow. Here’s to the rain clearing it all, it must be backbreaking shoveling that little lot!xxx
First I shoveled, then the rain came and washed most of it away.
Months are like lines at the supermarket, the shortest is always the longest.
And lanes of traffic during rush hour.
Yikes! My area (north-central Alabama) was shut down for a predicted snowfall of 1-3 inches. Schools closed, everyone rushed to the store for milk and bread. The end result: not one flake of snow.
Well, better to be prepared.
So glad you and Judy are weathering the cold, so to speak. When it storms, we have the same blockade at the end of our driveway after the plow goes by. It can be very daunting. We call it Wall O’Snow. Nature’s gym, that’s for sure.
Gives you a workout, that’s for sure.
Hello Jason, I’m glad that you’re safe and well enough to be swearing blind at the shovelling. We recently had a snowfall in the UK that covered the garden in a few inches (and so brought the country to a standstill). We didn’t bother digging as it went after a couple of days and now there’s no trace. February is our coldest month so de-frosting the car is the worst I’ll have to put up with.
At least February is one of the short months, though it feels like a long one.