'It wasn't fun'

Between coughing fits, 80-year-old Larry Rankin managed to fit in five hours of shoveling Sunday.

With more than a foot of snow surrounding his purple Ford Ranger XLT, the north Minneapolis resident said he wished he had given up smoking cigarettes decades ago.

"I gave it up five years ago," Rankin said, leaning on a shovel as he caught his breath near his home in the 2200 block of Queen Avenue N. "But I should've gave it up 50 years ago."

In the wake of Saturday's snowstorm, the most impressive to strike the metro area in several years, residents spent Sunday digging out cars, clearing driveways and running snowblowers in wicked subzero temperatures.

Rankin's grandchildren often rely on him for rides, he said, but none of them showed up to help when plow trucks swept through, trapping his Ranger under snow.

Young people's hands aren't conditioned to hold shovels, Rankin reasoned.

"They have two hands just like me, but they're always out," he said with his palms up, "asking for something."

"It was about time for a good storm," Rankin said. "I like the snow; I just don't like to shovel."

Spent after a day of doing just that, he went to sleep around 6 p.m., allowing just enough time for his dinner of chicken and dumplings to digest.

"He'll be out again tomorrow," said his housemate, Sandra Konen. "He's a hardworking guy. You betcha."

Labor of love

Chris Luick and his friend, Margita Labhard, spent the afternoon digging out his five cars, all late-model Saabs, on Morgan Avenue N. just north of Hwy. 55.

In exchange for Labhard's help, Luick pledged to repair her busted snowblower, which they could have used Sunday had it been working.

"I'm used to snow," Luick said, "but this is a little extreme."

More than 17 inches fell in Minneapolis, where residents helped drivers stuck on side streets after plows bulldozed through to clear more heavily traveled roadways.

"You have to help people in need," Labhard said. "It'll come right back to you. It's like karma."

For her efforts, Labhard scored free dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant, as she and Luick took a break from the cold weather that left them shivering, tired and hungry.

25 hours to get home

While Rankin and Luick dug out cars, Marcus Cunningham relied on public transportation.

Cunningham squatted on a snow bank along Plymouth Avenue near N. 3rd Street, waiting on the No. 7 bus for the last leg of his 25-hour journey home from work.

Right around the time the Sonic restaurant in Bloomington sent employees home Saturday afternoon, Metro Transit halted bus service, stranding Cunningham at a co-worker's house in Richfield. Soon, the state Department of Transportation would urge no travel on the roads.

As he trudged through snow that reached his knees, the 6-foot-tall teenager realized he didn't have a chance of making it home Saturday.

The 18-year-old wasn't born when the Halloween blizzard of 1991 blitzed the Twin Cities, but he won't forget this weekend's storm.

"I hope it never happens again," Cunningham said. "It wasn't fun."