:: walterindenver ::

:: Sunday, March 23, 2003 ::

Fun in the Snow

Well, it was fun. The official snowfall measurement for Denver was 29.5", making it the second highest all time snowfall total. 47" in 1913, I think, is the record. I knew you wanted to know. This time some places in the foothills west of town received more than 80" and as of this writing some residents are still trapped in their houses.
Anyway, when the power went out on Tuesday morning I figured it might not come back on for a while. I made my way to the grocery store just before it closed up to allow the employees to get home. The plan was to buy some slow cooking items and let the gas stove warm the house.
The blizzard of '03 menu: Ham hocks stewed with lentils, (good, leftovers even better) slow roasted asparagus in olive oil, (very good) and BBQ pork ribs steamed in bourbon. (worth the inconvenience of the blizzard)
Wednesday morning the stuff was really piling up and the streets were more than axle deep in very thick, wet snow. The repair crew came to put a new power pole up and they couldn't get the truck into the alley to get the work done. They spent an hour and a half just digging a thirty yard path through the snow. We helped when we could and gave the the guys coffee and sandwiches as they'd been working non-stop since Tuesday afternoon.
Since most street traffic had stopped altogether the call went out over the radio for volunteers with four wheel drive vehicles to bring healthcare and other essential worker in to their jobs. I jumped at the chance. I have a Jeep Wrangler with good, wide snow tires and I figured I could move around better than most. Don't think that I was being altruistic - the governor had ordered all 'non-essential' vehicles off the roads and I wanted to get out and tool around by myself on deserted and snow drifted streets. I wound up carrying an ambulance driver and shuttling people to and from a Red Cross shelter. Several buildings had collapsed from the weight of the snow and the Red Cross set up the shelter to house the folks displaced from their residences.
I only had to dig the Jeep out twice. It was a great time.

UPDATE: Roverpundit has more pictures.

:: Walter 8:44 PM [+] ::
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