Is this much snow really necessary?!

As a new resident of Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana, I cannot help but wonder if this much snow is a usual occurrence around here.  I only moved two hours north of where I had been living for nearly five years, but I really do not feel as though we got that much snow.  So is this what I am to expect in terms of a northern Indiana winter if I find that I am here for more than one!?

Last weeks winter storm dubbed by the news as "BLIZZARD 2011!" resulted in a fairly decent amount of snow accumulation, but even prior to that it had snowed frequently whether it ended in much accumulation or not.  But this so called blizzard required digging.  I live in a house on Jefferson that is split into apartments, so when I woke up Wednesday to the expected snow and canceled classes I didn't think much of it... That is until I realized that there would undoubtedly be class on Thursday... I bundled up to step outside and see the damage, only to find that the city plowing truck who had worked so diligently to clear the streets had buried my car.  The snow, which was no longer the pretty, fluffy, light snow that had fallen, was heavy, compact, and mixed with salt.  I set out to undo the damage, and it only took two and a half hours... Two and a half hours of shoveling, heaving, sweating and back breaking efforts.

But my car was free and I would be able to make it to campus the next day.  And that is exactly what happened, and while I was at school my fiancee, who was unable to make it the day before because of the snow, surprised me by coming to Fort Wayne while I was in class.  She kindly informed me  that she had not taken my highly coveted parking place and had shoveled more snow making room for both of our vehicles.
When I got home, I quickly found this not to be the case.  Yes, there was space for my car, but there was not a way to pull into that space without going over a big bank of snow and the space was so tight between the front of her car and the wall of snow that in the oncoming traffic I was supposed to somehow fit my car in... I gave it my best, but quickly became nearly enraged because a) I had spent so much of my time and effort making sure that I would be able to get my car out of my spot and also have a spot to pull into when I returned, b) I was now stuck, ass-end of my car in the road as I was being honked at and cursed by passersby, while trying furiously to shovel my way out.  I did finally make it out of my little predicament, but not without blowing my power steering.  I immediately went to get it looked at, and after much discussion I had to schedule an appointment for the next day.  After sitting in the waiting area for almost two hours the mechanic informed me that it wasn't the hose, and it wasn't the motor as had been thought but instead my tie rod was on the verge of breaking, and would need replaced.  After all that my power steering still is not working and I had to make yet another trip back to get a belt readjusted to stop the chirping that commenced after my second trip to their shop.

I woke up today to find my car covered in snow again, and though the snow was not as high as it had been on Wednesday, it was still too high for my liking.  I suppose it could have been half way up my car door and packed underneath too, but I am still beyond over the snow, the shoveling and the salt! 

I think I can be done with this rant now...