Mir Gefaellt Es: I'm Dreaming of A... Big, Fat Blizzard?!

Since my last post, which had me dreaming of even more Karin jewelry that night, many of you now know we got slammed by a fairly big snowstorm in Minnesota. Currently buried under 17” of the white stuff, I will weirdly admit that I like snow. Yes sir, I like it. But maybe not in the form of four foot-high snowpiles everywhere I turn. Sad to say, but that storm kind of whupped our arses. The main event was Saturday (and I mean all dang day, Saturday). Tonight, I can still hear the sad howl of overtaxed snowblowers on their fourth go-round. Cars are still stranded in a cement-like soup of frozen snow drifts, people are scrambling over these mini-mountains to get to their buses, and in many cases, we’re just walkin’ down the street because the sidewalks never got plowed. Traffic is a mess, and to top it all off, we started this morning at a lovely -7 degrees Fahrenheit. Not cold enough fer ya? Then I’ll add the -20 degree Fahrenheit windchills that accompanied the cold.

Oh yeah, and the Metrodome roof collapsed.

Wish you were here… no, really!

The crappy weather did not dampen the spirits of the hardy Twin Citians, however. Nope. Like those ueber-chirpy Whoville residents, people were out helping people. Whether it was snowblowing a neighbor’s driveway, helping push someone’s poor car out of a snowdrift, or some other kind gesture, “Snownami/Snowmageddon/Snow-whatevs” brought out a very admirable quality in the people around here. It also failed to keep a small crew of us from venturing out into the nuttiness for some beer and bowling. Yes, we walked for nine blocks (the roads were often impassable). Yes, it was cold (so I looked like that kid from A Christmas Story for realz). And yes, it was a great night! At least in our neighborhood, the bars were packed and people were out and about, sometimes on skis and snowshoes.

So. I like the snow. I do not like the messy aftermath. But I do like the attitude of most people up here regarding the inevitable winter weather. We live in the Upper Midwest. Snow and subzero temps are an annual rite of winter in these parts. So we might as well try our best to enjoy it.

For your enjoyment (whether it's because you truly love winter or just love laughing at us Northerners), here are some images from Snowmygosh, as well as some video. While I was dreaming of bling, I don't have to dream of a white Christmas, because I don't think this stuff is going anywhere until April.

It started out innocently enough...

Keep watching the car next to the sign post...

Braving the snow and cold for beer and bowling...

Yep, there's a bike under all that stuff...

Snowstorm? What snowstorm?

The morning after. Aaaand... car's still there.

Here's what downtown looked like this morning:

And some pics from our local TV station KARE-11...

Yaaay... running in the blizzard is fuuuuun!

Driving, on the other hand, not so fuuun...

Oh wait, did you ask what it sounds like?

For those of you who haven't seen the broadcast-everywhere footage of the Metrodome roof collapse, our City Pages takes it one step further and delves into the mystery of the blur hauling you-know-what in the upper right-hand corner of the video. Click on the City Pages image below for the link to the article: