Blizzard of 2010

The blizzard of 2010 was quite an adventure for the Speer family. We pleasantly watched the fat snowflakes fall on Friday and all was well until nighttime. Shawn woke me up around midnight with a frantic plea that we move the whole family downstairs into the living room.

The heavy snow was snapping branches off the trees outside all around so he was afraid something might collapse on the roof. Fortunately nothing did, but it continues to be a concern if we get 6 more inches of snow later in the week.

We got about 20ish inches of snow as far as I could tell.

We woke up and I carried Paul on my back and went out to take the first round of pictures (those on the cloudy day). I was so thankful that we had electricity and cable. Until about 10:30 am that is. Then the electricity went out. We called the power company and they said it might not be back on until Friday (6 days!) We decided that we'd hang out in the house until it got close to dark then we'd stay with my uncle up the hill who still had electricity. Uncle Greg was kind enough to put us up for the night and feed us. We enjoyed hanging out with him and his family. It was nice to get to know Michael's girlfriend, who walked there from over on Lagonda road.

Saturday we decided we were going to go out to stay at my mom's. We thought the best roads would be to take 79 to 22. 79 in Washington Co was completely fine. We got just past Bridgeville in Allegheny Co and it was horrible. Completely coated in ice and terrifying. We turned around and came home. Shawn talked to Uncle Greg and they decided to try to get the alternator (tractor generator) working. The picture of Paul bundled up eating oatmeal was after they got it working as it was warming up. It was 42 degrees in the house. The alternator worked great once they got it going. We had power, but we were concerned about whether the tractor would be ok running all night. Thankfully, at 7 pm, the electricity came back on!

Today, Shawn slept in and took the day off. He helped George knock snow off the shed roof because the shed looks like it might collapse under the weight. Paul and I took another walk in the snow (the sunny pictures). You can see Paul in his pack on my back in the shadow in one of the pictures.

Now, we are very thankful to be safe and warm and hoping that the next storm (to come tomorrow) will not be bad. They are calling for 6-10".