By the time this issue hits the presses, it will probably be all over, but it sure makes for pretty scenery when a winter storm actually hits the area.
Unfortunately, it also a “pretty” big mess when it finally ends, and as we speak, Jack is outside in his bright orange suit cleaning it up with the snow blower. That outfit is so loud I believe he could be seen in the middle of the woods which are at least a half mile away. Just picture a 6-foot, 1 inch orange camo sasquatch sighting….
Not sure how much snow we actually got with this storm. Jack said he had 9 inches listed on his phone app, but when he came in for a break, he said it looks more like 4-5 inches here.
Sounds to me like Mother Nature woke up and realized it is nearly the middle of January and winter should be here in mid-Michigan by now.
Besides a mess to clean up, this storm, thanks to a layer of ice under the snow, made for some treacherous driving around the area. Just a half mile west of here there were two accidents, the first a rollover and the second, just a couple hours later, a slide off that put another vehicle down in the same ditch. We heard all the particulars from neighbors Bill and Joan, who had a ring side seat to all of the excitement.
My contact Mike at the Clare County Sheriff’s Office, said there were multiple crashes/slide-offs between Tuesday morning and today (Wednesday).
It sure brings back memories of big storms in the past – the “Blizzard of 78” that dropped a foot and snowed us in for about four days. The kids sure enjoyed that one – snow hills that made for great sledding, jumping off the porch into a waste deep blanket (you had to have help to get out), snow ball fights (of course), rolling down the neighbors hill, skating and sledding on the road and anything else that sounded like it might be fun…
Meanwhile the adults were hauling food and necessities to neighborhood shut-ins and clearing paths around the house and out to the road, which was a bit hard to find. My best friend Jan and I trekked downtown (about 5 blocks) and loaded up with milk and bakery bread and canned goods to help the neighbors through a hard time.
Jack, who was on the fire department back then, was gone to help others who couldn’t get out, so we (Jan and I) were home base for our friends’ youngsters, bringing our in house total up to ten, but we managed and the kiddos had a great time.
In fact, that storm brought the people from the Village of Concord (where we lived) together like never before. Everyone was ready to help their neighbors and together “we weathered the storm.”
This week’s winter storm didn’t even begin to compare with that one. At the time, I was the editor of the Homer Index, a very small weekly paper. Of course, I wrote all about the storm for the next edition of the paper. That storm really made that next issue a keepsake for everyone from Homer. We ran out of copies.
Fact is, Looking back on winter storms is a lot better than going through them.
The snow is melting, but there’s a possibility of another “big” storm getting ready to hit the area….
After all, it is winter, isn’t it?