There's SNOW Place Like Home! Fast and Furious ... Colorado Springs Drift!

Today we spent the morning "dealing" with the snow that started visiting us yesterday (12/20). I prefer to call it "playing" ...

It started yesterday morning - the wind... wild, wild wind- whipping snow all over our city, Colorado Springs.  By 10am, yesterday 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...)
**Kristal Kraft, our neighbor to the North -Denver posted 2 great blogs ... HERE and HERE.** Thanks Kristal!

Businesses (like our title company) told us that they planned on being closed for the remaining of the day, and tomorrow (well, today). Our office was closed and other stores started following suit.

Midday proved to be white out conditions, such that I could not see my front porch ... from my front window!

By sundown yesterday, 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.

This 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. I had been scanning the quiet morning streets and barely caught the tip of a hat moving around behind a massive drift against a house. I headed over to see if I could help. He ppeked over and saw me coming.
"How is THIS fair?" He askes, pointing to my snow-less corner-lot property. He was the very person who laughed at me the last snow storm, "I'm so glad that I don't have a corner lot to shovel..." Now he was the one with 5 feet of snow surrounding his house... I helped him anyway.

From there, I 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 some coffee, 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 - both blocked by snow drifts. (See top left picture (top of post) - snow drift over 5' high, spanning across the whole street! Stop sign is barely visible!)

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. (My favorite one, top right (top of post)... nice birdfeeder!)

We wandered through snowdrifts that were taller than me, tackled friends in the snow, watched kids sled out their front door, watched silly drivers try to tackle 5' snow drifts with no luck... J

 We dug out a total of 5 homes before lunchtime - including several sidewalks... But not before getting some pictures of buried cars! (Please note the bottom right car's license plate ... our dear friends have just moved here from Florida. They did not even own a snow shovel.) So, for those of you wearing mittens in 60◦ weather (wink, wink...) - here is a peek at a wintery day in Colorado Springs!

Now, we are due for another snowfall in another day, but Christmas is expected to be warm and sunny. I would even place a wager that the snow will be all but gone by the new year - a wonderful thing about Colorado... the snow falls, but does not stay for long!