Gift

We got a lot of snow. I can’t really say how much because it tends to drift into my driveway. That’s just how the wind works in our neighborhood. A lot of the snow and leaves and stuff blows down the street and piles up in front of my house. I’d say at least six inches of snow, maybe more like eight. Could be a little more, who knows. It was enough.

Fortunately it was nice and light and I got outside to shovel before it started to melt and refreeze, so it wasn’t a million tons of slush. It just picked up easy. The huge snow bank at the end of the driveway that the plows left behind was heavy, but not world ending heavy, if you know what I mean.

I cleaned off the cars and shoveled the driveway-proper nice and easy, then spent a big chunk of time on the snow bank. The piles on either side of the driveway are getting big enough that you really need to chuck each shovel full far and high to get it over the top. I felt a little like a soldier in World War I wandering around in a trench (no I didn’t, really, but you get the idea).

When the snow bank was gone I walked over to the fire hydrant at the other end of our front yard and found a really nice gift. Someone had already dug it out. It looked like the work of a snow blower, but I didn’t see any evidence of who might have done the work. Whoever it was (whomever it was?), I thank them very much! I don’t mind digging out the hydrant (it’s on my property after all) and you will never, ever hear me complain about doing it, but it was a really nice treat to not have to today. Again, thank you so much!

I finished up by digging out the path around the side of the house to where we keep the trash barrels, and to the back door. Once it was done I came back inside and wrote this literary tome. Now I get to make my wife some lunch! Snow sucks, and shoveling sucks more, but it’s all done for today so it’s time to celebrate! Huzzah, babie!

Pressure

You don’t see this every day.

I heard some noise outside of the house this morning (don’t I always when working from home?) so I took a look outside. There was a dude messing with the fire hydrant in front of our yard. He opened it up and hooked up some kind of gauges. I wonder if he was checking the water pressure.

Interesting.

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Shoveling

Given the choice between surgery without anesthetic and shoveling after two feet of snow…

I’d have to think about it.

 
Guess what wouldn’t start.
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I’m six feet five inches tall. The drift over the mini van was at least two feet taller than I.
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I did the unthinkable today. I shoveled the driveway without pulling either car into the street. How?
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I used the garage! Today was the first major storm since we bought the house where the garage was clean enough to hide a car while I shoveled. It was a sublime experience (not really).
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There are two heavenly moments when shoveling your driveway. One is obvious… its the moment you are finally finished. The other is more subtle. The other is that moment when you first break through the into the plowed road beyond the edge of the driveway. It’s a sweet moment.
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Remember, if you have a fire hydrant on your property it is up to you to shovel it out so that any emergency personel who might need it can get to it. Don’t be the jack ass who thinks it’s the city/town’s job. Just do it.
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I’m still trying to decide if shoveling would be preferable to surgery sans anesthesia.