I’ve been told I have some hermit-like tendencies, so I’m certainly not someone who minds being snowed in for a cozy day at home. It actually sounds a little delightful. Baking, organizing, watching movies, relaxing…….all right up my alley. But my Saturday was anything but delightful….
I actually had a very busy Saturday planned. I was going to go to the Gopher game with my sister, head out to see a friend coach his high school basketball team later that afternoon, visit a friend and her new baby, have dinner with friends, and finally get to see my roommate sing with her folk band. I was looking forward to all of those things, but on Friday, as it became more apparent that I wouldn’t be doing any of them, I wasn’t extremely bummed. I actually needed an excuse to stay tucked in all day. I was coming off a week where I had totally over-committed myself and I was exhausted. It was a good exhaustion (since there were almost 50 people who showed up to the church singles Christmas party!!), but nonetheless, an exhaustion.
On Saturday, I learned that one small decision can lead you down a path where many other small decisions lead to a big headache. See, I was dog-sitting, so I had an additional element thrown into my snowed-in state. At about 10am I decided that I should shovel a little to keep up with the storm (the home owner had told me she would pay me to shovel in addition to sitting the dogs). I worked (too hard) for just over an hour and then decided that I should run to my own house for a minute to let out the dog there and grab a few things for the duration of the storm. At 11am, the roads were not good, but I was able to get home without an issue. It’s after I got to my house that the problems started....
Instead of just letting the dog out and grabbing some more clothes, I put a load of laundry in, wrapped some presents, and got generally distracted. Soon enough it was 2pm and I could see that my car had been plowed into where I had parked. I needed to get back to the dogs I was being paid to watch, so I grabbed a shovel and started to work my car out of it’s spot. Friendly Neighbor came over to help me out, and I was off. Friendly Neighbor also mentioned that I should throw my shovel in my car because I might need it, but I told him that I had made it over here no problem, so it wouldn’t be needed. I made it about one block before I got stuck again. Since I was shovel-less, I got down on my hands and knees (in only sweatpants) and dug around the tires. Red Stocking Hat Man saw me and came over to help dig me out. After just about 10 minutes I was off again. About a block ahead I saw two women working a car out of a spot, so I stopped to help. We worked on her car for about 10 minutes, and as I got back into my car, I realized I was now stuck again. The two women, along with Red Stocking Hat Man, helped me out and I was going again. I was now about two blocks from a snow emergency route that I knew would be clear. If I could just….make…..it…………..NOPE. Stuck again. This time in the middle of an intersection. I was getting a little ticked at myself for waiting so long to leave my house, and I was also getting pretty tired, but I just needed to make it two more blocks. I worked with Man Without Gloves to get my car out, but I was stuck pretty bad. I said that we should work on getting his car unstuck since mine was so bad, so we did that and he was off. By that time we had gathered a crowd that included Friendly Neighbor, Red Stocking Hat Man, and about four others who were determined to get me out of the intersection.
As I hopped back in my car to give it gas, Friendly Neighbor realized that my wheels weren’t turning. It was determined that I had overheated the transmission and would need a tow. And this is where I started to get upset.
I called Triple A and they put me on a list. I started to think through what I was going to do in the next five hours while I waited for a tow. I was getting cold – the inside of my boots had gotten wet and my feet were feeling that, let alone the fact that my sweatpants were drenched and starting to freeze solid. I waited for about 40 minutes when Triple A called to say that they were not allowed to dispatch any tows in my area due to the dangerous aspects of the storm and that I would need to call 911. Friendly Neighbor had stuck around to make sure I would be okay, and when I told him that news, he said we needed to shut my car off and see if it would cool down enough to get me going. We waited for 30 minutes (most of which I spent praying) and tried again……and my wheels turned!!! We dug me out and with the help of eight men pushing, I was OUT! I drove as quickly as I could to the emergency route and I was in the clear!!!........for now.
My next challenge was deciding where to park. Obviously a snow emergency had been declared, so I could only park on the side streets (since I couldn’t even get to the driveway of the house where I was staying). Parking on the streets proved to be an issue as well, since every street was simply a path down the middle with snow banks on either side. I drove as close as I could to the house (about two blocks away) where I saw a group of men with shovels. I got out of my car and (with tears) asked them what I should do with my car. They agreed that the only option was to put it into a snow bank as far to the side as possible, and they graciously offered to put it there for me. They shoveled some and then rammed the car as far to the side of the road as they could.
I was feeling delirious. I was so cold. I couldn’t feel my toes, and my legs were getting there, too. As I walked to the house, crying, I could barely lift my legs out of the more-than-knee-deep snow. I fell multiple times and cursed myself for not being in better shape (and for EVER LEAVING THE HOUSE). When I got back to the house, I realized that I had left my phone in my car. Before I got undressed, I decided to head back the car and retrieve the phone, since I needed to contact my family who thought I was still sitting in an intersection in a dead car. I got less than a block from the house when I realized I wouldn't make it to the car, trudging my way through 2-3 feet of drifted snow. I couldn't even get to the street where I could've walked in tire tracks. Back to the house.
Thankfully, my mom's number has only one digit that is different from my number, so it is the only phone number I know. I called her to get the number of the phone I was on from her caller ID, as well as to get the number for my sister, who I wanted to ask about how to warm my feet properly. I had a little breakdown while on the phone with my dad. I couldn't even begin to think about how in the world I was going to get my car out of the snow bank, let alone where I was going to park it once it was out (according to the snow emergency rules, I needed to move it to the odd side of the street, but that was also just a snow bank.....).
Mom and Dad helped me figure out that my uncle and cousins could come and pull me out of the snow bank in the morning. Then I would retreat to the suburbs with them for the day (where the streets were plowed!). I got up early to assess my car situation and see if I could find help from more friendly people in the streets, but I didn't come across anyone, and my car was VERY drifted in. I did a tiny bit of shoveling around my car, but I really could barely move. I COMPLETELY overdid it on Saturday and my back was in quite a bit of pain. My cousin recruited a friend with an Explorer and the boys and my uncle came into the city to dig me out. I was so stuck in the snow that we needed to use a tow rope. One tire wouldn't spin, but that was just because the snow was so packed around it. We got the tires spinning, navigated our way out of the city, and stopped at Perkins so I could at least buy them breakfast. After breakfast my uncle took me to a tire shop because he noticed they were low on air.
This isn't at ALL how I wanted to spend my snow day, but I'm so grateful for a few things:
- Since I don't have a garage, my car would have needed to be dug out no matter where I had left it on Saturday. If I would have been at home, I could have moved it to my driveway, but then the boy we pay to snow blow wouldn't have been able to clear that area, and I would have been plowed in by the snow from the alley. If I would have left my car in the driveway where I was dog sitting, I also would have been plowed in.....and that snow was up to my thigh on Sunday morning! I'm thankful that it was relatively straight forward to move it from the snow bank where I ended up, and that I wasn't towed or plowed in.
- I'm so glad my tires started moving again and my car is not in the shop. I can't imagine if I would have actually needed a tow on Saturday.....I think my car would still have been in that intersection on Sunday morning.
- I'm thankful that I wasn't in any fender-benders.
- I'm thankful to the WONDERFUL help from friendly neighbors to dig me out (multiple times) and park my car for the night.
- I'm SO thankful for my uncle, cousins, and their friend who drove all the way from Blaine the morning after a huge storm to help me, and that my uncle drove my car so I didn't have to, and that we got my tires all squared away. Ahhhhh. So relieved.
- I'm grateful for muscle relaxants that helped me sleep last night, and that my back does feel a bit better today (it was SO painful last night....it made me sick to my stomach with how much it hurt).
I'm sure you also have a story from Saturday - hopefully you didn't make such poor decisions like I did! The morale of the story: listen to the weathermen and get hunkered down sooner than later!!
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