Winter Wonder ... Bread?!?

It snowed, again! I guess my prediction for “no snow on New Years” from my last SNOW post has been proven wrong. Over the past few days we have had even more snow, here in Colorado Springs. Depending on where you live, snow has fallen anywhere from 7″ to a foot, between Thursday and Friday. Whereas last storm the eastside (like Greenhaven) got hit harder than the reat of the city, this storm fell harder on the foothills.

Again, we knew it was coming. Only THIS time more people decided to prepare … But no one knew how difficult it was going to be to “prepare” - as many of the stores did not have regular deliveries because of the last snow storm and the Christmas holiday.

Derek and I went to several stores, in search of “comfort food” to prepare and share with our friends and neighbors. What did we find? Well, we sure did not find BREAD! Have you EVER seen a major grocery store with shelves THIS EMPTY?!? And the bread aisle was not the only vacant place in the store… HUGE sections of canned goods were gone. The meat section only had remnants that there was once USDA Fresh cuts of anything. The produce section was down to a few scraps of Organic cabbage, yams and exotic peppers. What about the dairy section, you ask? Well, I have NEVER paid that much for a gallon of milk … ever! Pickings were slim … and this was the same story in most grocery stores around town.

I guess there is a silver lining to every snow-filled cloud, right? Well, since we could not get many groceries, we did not have much trash (or so that should be the case…). This would be a good thing, as the trash collectors have been out of commission for 2 weeks, now - due to non-navigable roads and holiday schedules. Can you BELIEVE how much trash built up in these past 2 weeks - especially since Christmas was one of those days?!? Whew!

The theme of the neighborhood, for the past couple days was “Put the trash out and hope that it magically disappears.” (It finally did disappear, after accumulating for over 16 days …) Thank you Waste Management for working this weekend!

Today, Saturday Dec.30, we had some great blue skies - a welcome reprieve from the cloudy gloom. Now, it is still chilly out and the wind is still sounding like lost souls floating around my house. But the blue skies are that happy reminder that we live in Colorado- home of 300+ days of sunshine every year!

(Story and pictures compliments of Mariana Wagner- Greenhaven Resident)

'Twas the Week Before Christmas - Snow!

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the 'hood ... The snow started falling, but all was still good!

It started Wednesday morning - the wind… wild, wild wind- whipping snow all over our city, especially in eastern neighborhoods, like Greenhaven. By 10am, Wednesday the whole city knew that it was time to stock up and bunker down for a storm. (However, not everyone actually stocked up and bunkered down…) Businesses planned on being closed for the remaining of the day, and Thurday.

Midday proved to be white out conditions, such that I could not see my front porch … from my front window!
By sundown, if you were not already home, you were all but doomed. The snow had blown itself into massive drifts and collected itself in convenient spots - like intersections.

Thursday morning, we awoke to a more peaceful setting - the wind had all but ceased, but the snow was still falling. I looked out my window to see our neighbors homes (and cars) BURIED beneath feet and feet of snow drifts. Somehow the location of our house deterred the drifting snow- leaving us with no snow to shovel. Now, I LOVE to shovel snow, so I “geared up” and headed outside, armed only with a shovel (and my camera).

First, I helped a neighbor dig his way out of his house. There was quite the drift around the front of his home. From there, we headed down the street to help dig out another neighbors car. He had tried to make it home, got high centered and stuck- in the middle of the street, and made it the rest of the way home (2 blocks) on foot. We dug him out and he drove home.

What a way to start my day! I went back home, drank my 1st cup of coffee for the day, put on some stylish orange leg warmers and headed back out.

I went, first to check out the entrances to our neighborhood. There are only 2 ways to enter and leave our neighborhood - Roxford (the East entrance) was nearly impassable, due to a massive snow drift! We went on a brief tour of the neighborhood, talking with neighbors in all states of wonderment and frustration at their current immobile predicament. We helped those who needed help, an took pictures of homes that needed more help than we could give.

We wandered through snowdrifts that were taller than me, tackled friends in the snow, watched kids sled out their front door, were quite entertained by a few drivers trying to overcome 5’ snow drifts with no luck… We dug out a total of 4 homes before lunchtime – including several sidewalks… But not before getting some pictures of buried cars!

You know, there is a wonderful thing about Colorado… the snow falls, but does not stay for long! Friday brought us crystal blue skies (and super crowded stores!!).

I was reminded, once again, at what a wonderful neighborhood we live in. People who had already dug out of their homes offered help to those who were still battling the drifts. Almost every street had bundled up neighbors gathered here and there chatting and watching the kids play in the snow.

Later that night, we had some friendly neighbors (including our new friends from Florida ... I bet they miss the warmth, now!) over for some homemade beef stew and played some games.

(Written and photos by your Greenhaven Neighbor~ Mariana Wagner)