by Gabriel Selbig and Ryan Navrot
It hit our small fishing community on the first of February. Relentless through our much sought after four-day weekend. It cancelled events, closed businesses, and immobilized vehicles of all sorts. Indeed, the mad snowstorm of 2012 did not greet Homer welcomingly.
Last week’s storm left Kodiak’s Safeway with a damaged roof, but no such local news has been reported. Although, certain Homer High students were eager to tell their comical inconveniences caused by the numerous feet of snowfall.
Last Friday, Sophomore, Dylan Wylde woke up searching for his truck. He realized after a few moments, the snow bank parked in his driveway was his ’96 Chevy! “About two hours into shoveling, I tried to back my truck out of there. I must’ve not seen the mountain of snow directly behind me, and the truck was then bottomed-out.” Mr. Wylde believes it was a combination of the snowfall and the wind (typically known as a blizzard) that blew under, over, and every which way around the vehicle that caused the mishap. When asked about his thoughts of snow shoveling, he angrily retorted, “Shoveling? Oh, that is my least favorite thing to do.”
The real heartbreaker of this dreadful storm was the affects taken on young Mady Gerard’s 16th birthday. Amidst the aftermath of the blizzard, Gerard had no options but to grab her shovel and clear the snow for hours on end, while quietly and tearfully singing to herself, “Happy Birthday To Me.”
Burl Tonga, senior of Homer High, reaped the benefits of a nice weekend stranded at home with no obligations and no worries. Both the family van and his own Subaru were snowed-in for a total of two days, so Burl was truthfully left with no option. With massive amounts of snow sliding off the steep metal roof of his house, the railing of the porch was “taken out”, as Burl likes to phrase it.
Homer High Sophomore, Elsa Simmons had more difficulty than anybody as she must drive all the way up East Skyline past Ohlson Mountain, down an iced over dirt road, and still must snow machine down her make-shift path a quarter of a mile just to reach her front door. She estimates about six feet of snowfall needed to be dealt with. The most exciting part of her day was shoveling off the tall roof of the Simmons’ family cabin. “It was pretty scary watching Dad throw himself off the roof, but I remembered how much snow we had at the bottom”, Elsa explained as her father enjoyed making the best out of an aggravating situation.
It is now a week later, and the snowfall is not what’s lingering on everybody’s mind. Weather temperatures have risen dramatically in the past week, as it has reached about forty degrees all through the week. Driveways and roads alike appear iced-over or puddles of slush. Debates of an early spring are rattling in the minds of students. As quickly as the blizzard came in, it’s melting away day by day.