Blizzard - Plows & Busses Pulled, Highways Closed

Well, the "shoe dropped." We woke up to snow and blizzard conditions this morning. It was bad, and the forecast was for it to get worse throughout the day. It is now after 5:30 pm and it has indeed, become worse. The winds are whipping badly now, and the visibility is bad, when it gets dark it will be worse. More snow is coming tonight, they are saying 2 – 3 inches an hour with 60-70 mile an hour winds with. The wind at the harbor now is at 59 mi per hr. and Canal Park and entrance to Park Point is closed. The highway department is talking about closing I-35 from Twin Cities to Duluth. The city busses are to stop running at 6 pm and they are taking the snow plows off the roads until 3 am. No travel is advised.

I’m office manager at my place of employment, when I saw the conditions this morning I closed the office. I conferred with my boss via phone, she was in Mendota Heights (St. Paul) this morning, and was going to make her way to the office there from her nearby hotel. She flew in from our Milwaukee office; she had been there for a meeting yesterday. Her flight from Mpls. to Duluth was canceled. It’s been re-booked for tomorrow morning, but we are guessing she may not make it to Duluth until Saturday. She got there before the snow started last night and she tried to rent a car, and there were none to be had at any of the car rental places in the airport!

I wanted to write earlier, but I’ve been busy doing extra things around the house trying to keep my mind off of worrying about Rob getting to work and back home. His schedule was to start at noon today and work until 8 pm. Our street wasn’t plowed, but the main arteries were kept open, we are 1 ½ blocks in from a main bus line route that is kept open, so we have a block and half to “plow” through with our car when the street hasn’t been plowed. But even so, we worried about him getting back home after 8, when it was to be even worse. They told him if he could get there, they would make sure that he got a ride home with someone that had a four wheel drive. Of course, they were very short handed, so he wanted to get there to help out, also he wouldn’t get paid for the day, if he didn’t get there. So, Bob drove him, got him there, and Rob called to say they would get finished and leave by 5:30, we are waiting to him to arrive home now.

Our youngest boy didn’t go across the Bong or High Bridge to his job in Superior this morning, I was relieved to hear that. Sarah’s boss came with a truck and picked her up. He said he could make work calls from home. Our daughter in Hudson also worked from home. I had to laugh at myself this morning, worrying over my kids and how they would handle the weather today. It reminded me of how the phone calls would come to the house from my Mother in Law as soon as the weather got bad, asking if we were going to work in the storm, calling in the evening, asking if everyone got back home, and not being relaxed until she knew all of us were back home safe and sound. We understood her caring, but sometimes it would bug us that she would seem to worry obsessively about us. I know that if we lived near my parents, it would have been the same, although maybe not, because my Mother was the type that did most of her worrying internally and tried not to let on to others that she was worried. But, Mother Pugliese was verbal about her worrying, and it was hard for her to relax when she worried. Now that we are parents, and even though the kids are adults, we are worrying during these storms about our kids and their families, just like my Mother in Law worried! I was on the phone this morning, and this afternoon, to be sure that everyone was home and safe. I know exactly how she felt.

And NOW, Mom and Dad can relax, because Rob just got home. (6:16 pm). Now I can relax again until tomorrow morning, and it will start all over again.