Snow, right.

Holy mother of all that’s …

That's pretty much the words going through my mind today. I’m in awe. And out of breath.

We got our snow all right … Not as dramatic as our 17-incher, but I swear we got more this time around …

And, remember, a month ago tomorrow we were dealing with tornadoes.

Last night about this time, we were thinking the 22 inches that was being predicted was turning into a false alarm. We got a couple inches in the afternoon, but the snow had stopped …

Little did we know.

We were woken up again at 5:30 this morning by Kates’ phone ringing with the news that her school district was canceling its classes. And while she slept, I got up, spent another hour shoveling and got myself off to work -- I followed two snow plows for most of my way into downtown.

Our own city’s school district did go through with classes, however, and my cohort Liz had just gotten off the phone with a parent who was furious about the decision. “Lives are at stake!” the woman cried. We would mock that line the rest of the day … but it wasn’t the last call we’d get from a parent. There was an outcry. … It’s just snow! another one of my cohorts screamed from the other end of our office. We live in Wisconsin. Are you not familiar with the concept!?

And then, at around 11 this morning, we started getting more of it. Lots of it. Call it an avalanche. We were walloped. Blasted. Socked.

I swear some of the snow flakes were as big as ping pong balls. And they were dropping like a steady waterfall …

“At least it’s pretty, fluffy snow,” Liz said as we walked across street to lunch. Sha.

(This is what it looked like from one of our parking lots...)

Then, after lunch, I had to check reports at the police station. I’m doomed if I take my car, I’m doomed if I walk, I said, but I had to go … So I walked the five blocks, and I looked like a snowman when I returned to the office.

(Here's the view from our office window ...)

By 2:30, the city and county had been officially “shut down.” The malls and major shopping centers had closed. The schools that so boldly remained open this morning were now dismissing early. And all evening events and activities were canceled, including our birthing class tonight …

By 5, I was on my way home. I made it out of downtown and had a decent time taking one of the main roads through town back to our neighborhood … Then I came to our street, unplowed and buried in nearly two feet of snow. Daunting for My Little Green Machine, to say the least …

(My car before I got in it to go home...)

So I pushed a little harder on the accelerator and prayed. Come on baby, come on baby! I said as my car pushed and pulled and rocked through the snow … Then I got to our corner, saw the blockade of snow at the foot of our driveway and took a deep breath. I plowed through the snow, and tried to gun it through once more to our garage. But I was done. I had gotten a few feet into the driveway, and the snow was so thick I couldn’t move any further …

(My car. Stuck...)

Outside the sound of snow blowers was coming from every corner of the neighborhood. Meanwhile, I changed clothes, grabbed my measly shovel and proceeded to spend the next two hours shoveling our driveway and sidewalks.

And I still didn’t get all of it. There’s nowhere left to put it.

Here’s the rest in pictures …

(A downtown scene...)

(Another downtown scene...)

(Our sad back yard ...)