MONROE - Let the cleanup begin.
Thursday night's snowstorm kept people off the roads, but Friday morning they brought out the snow blowers and shovels to lift away 8 inches of newly fallen snow.
After the first major snowstorm of the season, some people around Monroe were actually smiling while digging out their driveways and sidewalks.
John Corey, dressed in a hooded jacket and leather gloves, was out at 6:30 a.m. with his snow blower cleaning up his neighbors' driveways and sidewalks along the 600 block of Third Avenue.
At 2 p.m., he was still at it.
"I did the apartments here, and then I started to do the neighbors' to the south. But the wind was blowing. So I started down there (at the intersection of Sixth Street) and I'm just working my way back," he said.
Schools were closed Friday, giving Collen Mahlkuch, a kindergarten teacher at Northside Elementary School, an unexpected day off to get her hair done and to wrap presents.
With cancellations at the hair salon, Mahlkuch took advantage of an opening.
"It works out good for teachers," she said about the snow closings.
Mahlkuch also e-mailed some of her students.
"One is having a birthday, and we were supposed to have a party. But we delayed that," she said.
Sometimes the job takes two and a break.
Tim and Mona Borgmann, rural Monroe, came into town, after an hour and a half of snow clearing, to have coffee and a little snack at Chocolate Temptations at about 2:30 p.m.
The idea was Tim's.
"If it involves coffee, it's always easy to take a break," he said with a smile.
Edward Reynolds, who normally works in the city engineering department, was decked out in neon green and rubber boots on 16th Avenue and 9th Street at about 2 p.m. Friday.
"I'm just helping out with traffic," he said.
He was directing traffic away from the downtown area, where Street Department crews were loading and hauling away truckloads of snow.
While some residents were happy to be able to get to work this morning, other residents may find the early street clearings were not helpful.
One small Dodge car on 14th Avenue near Parkview was found snowed in, blown in and plowed in, leaving it surrounded and up to its hood in snow, and a hefty task to free it awaits its unknown owner.
On a sad note, a crew with a private snow removal company found a black cat under the snow near a garage door of an apartment complex. They believe it died trying to find shelter during the storm.
Thursday night's snowstorm kept people off the roads, but Friday morning they brought out the snow blowers and shovels to lift away 8 inches of newly fallen snow.
After the first major snowstorm of the season, some people around Monroe were actually smiling while digging out their driveways and sidewalks.
John Corey, dressed in a hooded jacket and leather gloves, was out at 6:30 a.m. with his snow blower cleaning up his neighbors' driveways and sidewalks along the 600 block of Third Avenue.
At 2 p.m., he was still at it.
"I did the apartments here, and then I started to do the neighbors' to the south. But the wind was blowing. So I started down there (at the intersection of Sixth Street) and I'm just working my way back," he said.
Schools were closed Friday, giving Collen Mahlkuch, a kindergarten teacher at Northside Elementary School, an unexpected day off to get her hair done and to wrap presents.
With cancellations at the hair salon, Mahlkuch took advantage of an opening.
"It works out good for teachers," she said about the snow closings.
Mahlkuch also e-mailed some of her students.
"One is having a birthday, and we were supposed to have a party. But we delayed that," she said.
Sometimes the job takes two and a break.
Tim and Mona Borgmann, rural Monroe, came into town, after an hour and a half of snow clearing, to have coffee and a little snack at Chocolate Temptations at about 2:30 p.m.
The idea was Tim's.
"If it involves coffee, it's always easy to take a break," he said with a smile.
Edward Reynolds, who normally works in the city engineering department, was decked out in neon green and rubber boots on 16th Avenue and 9th Street at about 2 p.m. Friday.
"I'm just helping out with traffic," he said.
He was directing traffic away from the downtown area, where Street Department crews were loading and hauling away truckloads of snow.
While some residents were happy to be able to get to work this morning, other residents may find the early street clearings were not helpful.
One small Dodge car on 14th Avenue near Parkview was found snowed in, blown in and plowed in, leaving it surrounded and up to its hood in snow, and a hefty task to free it awaits its unknown owner.
On a sad note, a crew with a private snow removal company found a black cat under the snow near a garage door of an apartment complex. They believe it died trying to find shelter during the storm.