SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — As snows go, Monday’s storm was an equal opportunity offender—hitting just about everyone hard. It also hit on a holiday with schools already closed, and the roads weren’t cleared as quickly. That left many people, who didn’t have the day off, working from home, present company included.
Luckily for me around my Shaker Heights neighborhood there were all the pieces needed for a traditional snow story. Residents like Darryl Bell, who seemed to spend as much time helping stuck motorists on Glencairn Road off of Chagrin Boulevard as he did cleaning his driveway.
“I’m about to put a sign out, don’t come down this street,” he said with a smile in between shoveling and pushing. “By the end of the day I’m hoping to have this big snow pile cleared up and be able to move on the street.”
Snow blowers were key, with more than a foot of snow and drifts double that—ask Dan Hannan, who in the use of his on this windy day seemed to end up wearing as much snow as he was blowing. Still, just like Darryl he knew this was the type of snow where good deeds don’t end at the property line.
“No, I’ll do the neighbors here so I’ll be out here for a while,” Hannan said. And to be clear he was clearing not only his neighbors driveways, but also a good quarter mile of sidewalk in the neighborhood.
His neighbor Robert Meklemburg saw it as a chance to get some cardio in, about two hours worth to this point. He did have some help in the form of his young daughter. He takes it all in stride.
“I mean it’s just the nature of living where we live right? Every year we’re going to get a couple of these so you get used to it,” he said.
As the snow tapered off with the system moving east, the plows took to the streets in tandem along Chagrin to begin the process of clearing the main roads.
Despite the wind and cold kids took advantage of the day off and the foot of fresh powder to hit the sledding hill and Lomond Elementary where the cold didn’t seem to faze those happy to be hitting the hill for the first time this year even if the timing of the storm cheated them out of a snow day.
