“Spring? Stupid groundhog! I’m thrilled we had such great weather last week, but I think we are going to pay for it before winter is over.” – My Corner, Your Corner – Feb. 26, 2017

Maybe the groundhog wasn’t so dumb, after all. I made that statement after we had a week of unseasonable 70-degree weather in February. It wasn’t just that week; we had a pretty mild winter, especially since there were all kinds of predictions of it being a harsh one.

Everyone compared this week’s storm to the blizzard of 1993. I remember that storm and it was pretty crazy then, as well. The same problem existed back then as it does today – where the heck do you put all that snow?

Living on a narrow street is difficult. The borough doesn’t have many places to put the snow, except for making a single path down the middle of the street.

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My neighbor woke up Tuesday to a nice surprise — the borough pay loader had dumped a five-foot mound of snow at the end of his driveway. It took a while to chip away at the heavier than normal snow, but with three of us pinching in, we managed to dismantle it.

Clearing paths for neighbors was essential in case an ambulance was needed so we got that done, too.

A few days after the storm, cabin fever set in and, with the sun shining bright on Thursday, it felt good to get out.

More folks were out and about clearing snow from the additional inch or so that came through Wednesday evening.

The Water Street Bridge was closed for several days but with few people traveling by car, the Fort Jenkins Bridge wasn’t overloaded.

With all the snow on the ground, I’m curious about how this will affect high school sports schedules. It will take a while before track, baseball, softball, lacrosse fields and tennis courts are cleared of snow and dry.

One of the local weathercasters said the snow from the blizzard of ’93 took 10 days to disappear. Ten days seems optimistic, but who knows. If we catch some warmer temps along with sunny days, anything is possible.

When the snow does melt, all sports schedules will be a week or so behind. Most high school sports will begin this week with either an exhibition schedule or the start of regular season schedules. Track and field schedules begin in earnest at the end of the month.

This is an athletic director’s nightmare.

Everyone seemed to take the event in stride and Facebook was abuzz. The one good thing about social media is everyone stayed in touch about conditions in their neighborhood.

Not many people ventured out on the roads, but you still had a good idea what conditions were like. You knew what streets were plowed and not plowed. You knew what boroughs were on top of the plowing situation and who fell behind — all thanks to Facebook.

Some people praised the work of street departments while others were not so kind.

Facebook had plenty of photos and videos showing mounds and mounds of snow and vehicles unrecognizable under all those mounds.

Then there was the #snowchallenge. For those non-Facebook users, that was a challenge where you had to jump in the snow in a bathing suit. I wasn’t a participant during the ice bucket challenge of a year or two ago and I wasn’t going to get involved in this one, either.

I was barely able to keep my fingers and toes from frostbite while digging out, let alone jumping in a pile of snow wearing very little.

I did get a kick out of some of the challenges, though. One challenger became popular when he jumped off his porch roof, imitating a former professional wrestler. He lucked out on his landing, but the Russian judge would not have given him a high score.

Thankfully, the power was not interrupted in my neighborhood. If it wasn’t for the entertainment of the Internet and television, I might have lost my mind. After two days inside, I was going a bit bonkers.

I never realized how many court shows like Judge Judy are on in the afternoon.

As we always do, we got through another crisis and the Irish finally got lucky after back-to-back frigid parade weekends in time to enjoy a St. Patrick’s Day party or two.

Quote of the week

“To grow mature is to separate more distinctly, to connect more closely.” – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian poet and playwright.

Thought of the week

“The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it’s so rare.” – Daniel P. Moynihan, American politician.

Bumper sticker

“Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.” – Julius Caesar, Roman statesman.

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My Corner, Your Corner

Tony Callaio