but not like the state trucks. It ended up that many of the plows could not manage this snow because of its depth and weight. I am so thankful that I had bought a Fisher Plow! Christmas morning came and we had probably only plowed about half of our accounts and we were whipped. There had been a "state of emergency" declared by the governor by then. I came home and told Julie how bad it was. I was so scared that we would not be able to have the lots open for our customers for the day after Christmas (haveing just started in this part of the business I didn't want to get sued for not doing my job, ect.) Julie took Jonathan over to her parent's house and she volunteered to go out and plow (she had never done this before but she was a real trooper) the lots that I had not been to yet. I went to bed and crashed and I am sure my dad did too. Julie came back Christmas evening and said we had better get over to mom and dad's for Christmas dinner and the opening of presents. We picked up Jonathan from her parent's house and headed over there. I had ALWAYS been excited about the family get togehter, dinner and the opening of presents every year but for some reason, this year the feeling was not there. I was totally numb. I was only 26 but my body felt like it was 90. I could hardly eat anything and my dad was n the same shpe. Thank God he didn't shovel anything. He was 60 back then but in SUPER shape. I ate dinner and kind of slept and woke up and slept, etc. through the present opening. In the middle of opening presents, dad started saying that his left arm was feeling numb, that scared the crap out of ua all. All I could think of was "heart attack!" I told dad that we needed to get him to the hospital ASAP. It was still snowing like crazy and the radio and TV were appealing to people who had 4 wheel drive to help volunteer taking people to hospitals because the ambulances couldn't get thrugh. I told mom and Julie that I would take dad to the hospital. We went out and I couldn't believe how bad the streets were. We had 4 wheel drive and the trip would take about 10 min. in normal driving conditions but it took us over an hr. to get there. We finaly arrived and went to the ER. They IMMEDIATELY rushed him into the intensive care unit and did a bunch of tests. I had to wait out in the lobby for an eternity. They finally came out and told me that dad had to stay overnight for for tests and observation. They wanted me to go back home and bring his "neccessities". So I drove back and got them andJulie, Jonathan and mom came back with me to the hos. It was so stressful, not knowing what the prognosis was. We went back to my parent's house and slept that night. I had to get up and plow the next morning and do my lots and dad's lots too. My partner did his. It would take 2 more days of working around the clock to do what would normally take 7 hrs. I would come home and crash and Julie would go out and plow and shovel. Thank God we got the word from the hos.....dad was going to be fine. He had a blood clot in his left arm from continually reaching out of the truck window to "bang" the left windshield wiper to get the caked up snow off of it while plowing as the snow was coming down so hard that it was impossible to keep our windshields clear.
The thing I (and Julie) remember about plowing so much was the snow was so heavy and deep that it would not pile up in front of the blade like it normally does. It would start to do that but would become so deep that it would flow over the back of the plow blade and then build up and the blade would run up on top of it and become high centered and the truck would just become stuck. We would have to get out, get the shovel and dig out the blade. It would take about 30 min. to "unstuck" the truck and blade. It was draining! By the time the storm had ended, Stapleton International Airport had been closed for 3 or 4 days and the entire city of Denver was shut down for days...it took a LONG time for the streets to be cleared. The city had to use private contractors, inclucing construction companys with front end loaders. For days later I had people flagging me down begging me to plow their lots and I remember picking up a lady and her young child. Their car had become stranded in the sow. I took them home and they were thankful. I believe that rough times can bring out the best and worst in people. At an art gallery the owner flagged me down and begged that I clear their lot where the snow had drifted about 10'! It took me 3 hrs. and after not recieving payment they said it was because I had chipped the concrete on one of their parking blocks and they weren't going to pay! (censored lol).
So that is my most memorable Christmas. We have had MANY incredibly wonderful ones where everything went perfect but the blizzard of '82 shall never be forgotten! I made a bundle of money but looking back I know it wasn't worth all of the loss of family time and stress.
