We got a lot of snow last night. Six inches at least, but it’s really wet and heavy and packed down so it might have been more than that. I went outside at 11:00am after the snow had turned to freezing rain. Lovely.
I cleaned off and dug out the cars. Then I took out the huge snow bank at the end of the driveway which was awful. Then I dug out the fire hydrant which also includes digging through the snow bank which still was awful. Then I dug out the path to the back door. I was about six feet away from being done when the plows came back to widen the road. I was down to the last two or three shovels full when the plows came back again. Then I went back to the end of the driveway and shoveled the new (albeit much smaller) snow bank. Then I went back to the fire hydrant and dug out the new (albeit much smaller) snow bank there too.
I am toast. Screw you, winter. Screw you, snow. Screw you, mother nature. Blah!
Shoveling, I mean. I felt okay when I first came back inside after shoveling, but now that a few hours have passed… Ouch town, population me, bro. Every inch of me is sore, and despite having two of the best nights sleep I’ve had in ages over the last two nights, I am completely exhausted.
I don’t know if I have the energy to do anything other than sit on the couch for the rest of the night. I think we were already planning on ordering out for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll be able to crawl to the door to bring the delivery in.* I mean, really… that’s asking a lot.
It is a good thing I managed to put rhythm guitar tracks onto two RPM Challenge songs this morning before I shoveled. I don’t know if I will be able to do any more than that tonight, though I really need to. We’ll see how the pain goes. For now though, it’s just couch time. Much needed couch time, believe me.
Here’s a few guitar pictures to hold us over until next time.
*Obviously I exaggerate. I mean, it’s still laundry day after all.
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!
Just look at that furry little diva being all bad ass.
Today has been better than yesterday on the healthy front, but I’m not up to 100% yet. Let’s call it 80-85% and assume I’ll be through whatever is bothering me by tomorrow.
Today I managed to completely screw up my daily routine but I’m okay with it. We got snow yesterday, so this morning at 5:30am or so instead of going down to the cellar and getting my exercise in for the day I went outside and shoveled. We didn’t get a lot of snow, but we got enough. Within an hour it was all gone. Not long after finishing up outside I went out and ran some errands. Today is a very important day, after all*.
I didn’t get to breakfast until I was starting work at 9:00am. The hunger pains that I wrote about yesterday were definitely a thing and the eating struggles I also mentioned yesterday were also a thing, but not as bad as last night. Since breakfast was so late I didn’t have time to eat a snack mid-way between breakfast and lunch. I ended up going four hours without eating and wouldn’t you know it, when lunch time started approaching those mean old hunger pains were back again. I’m eating lunch now and feeling a little better, though that weird queasiness that has been slowing me down the last couple of days is still there. It is definitely better than it was, but it’s still there. It hasn’t been enough to stop me the way it was yesterday, so that’s a big plus. Maybe I can eat enough lunch so that I won’t be hurting in the lead up to dinner. That would be nice.
*Why is today a very important day. you ask? Because today is my beloved wife Jen’s birthday! It’s not just any old birthday either. It’s a big enough milestone birthday that her present this year was a week at Disney World. Yeah, it’s a big deal. She’s the love of my life and the woman of my dreams and my beautiful bride and it’s her birthday! Wish her a happy birthday!
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Jen, Happy birthday to you!!!!
We got some snow last night. The anticipation was enough to screw over my band practice, but in the end it wasn’t too bad. I don’t know what the official total was but it looked to be about 4-5 inches of really light snow.
When I woke up this morning I looked outside and thought to myself that I would clear off the driveway and the walkway and the fire hydrant after work. I did my morning exercise and ate breakfast and then thought I would maybe go out and shovel a path from the road to the door and leave the rest for after work.
It’s really cold out today so I dressed in a couple of layers and put on my snow boots like a good boy. I went out, fully planning to do just enough to let the mail man get to the mail box. Next thing I know, it was all done. All of the shoveling. The entire driveway, both cars, the path around the house to the back door, and the fire hydrant. All done. I did not start the cars so they still have a layer of ice. Other than that, it’s all done.
I suppose there is still a chance that the plows could come back and widen things, and that would leave a small snowbank at the end of the driveway and I’d have to deal with that. We’ll see how that goes.
I’m really pleased with myself for getting this done so early. It would have been on my mind all day otherwise. Like a dark cloud hanging over my head.
And yes, this post is just an example of me whistling past the graveyard. Expect a bunch of these kinds of posts today.
My glasses have those transitions lenses. You know, they tint themselves in bright light so they act as sunglasses when needed. When the light is dimmer the lenses un-tint themselves.
Yesterday we got an inch or two of snow. Not much, but enough to need to clean it up. I did a lot of it yesterday when I went out to the store. It snowed enough afterwards that everything was covered again. I went out and shoveled it all this morning, including the path to the side of the house where we keep the trash barrels and in front of the fire hydrant that’s on the end of our property. I also put some ice melt down on the driveway. We’re good to go. Our personal snow removal is complete.
If you’ve ever been outside after a fresh snowfall you know that it is super bright. If the sun is out, it reflects off the snow and everything around you is super bright. The transitions lenses come in handy on days like this.
I’ve been back inside for 15 minutes now and the lenses have yet to un-tint themselves. It’s like I am walking around at midnight with all the lights off.
I was hoping my to do list for tonight would include hanging out with my wife and then going to sleep, but it’s turning out to be a little more involved than that.
Approximately 90 more minutes of work
Top off the cat’s food bowl
Cook dinner
Eat dinner while hanging out with my wife in front of the tube
Shovel the 4-5 inches of snow we got today off of the drive way so that I can drive to the office tomorrow
Bring the trash barrel out to the street once there is a path shoveled to get it there
Finish today’s exercise and close the last ring in the Apple Watch’s activity app
Pack up my work laptop along with a bunch of things to put onto my new desk, which officially becomes my desk tomorrow
Keel over from exhaustion and sleep
How do I type the word, “yikes” in such a way that it accurately demonstrates how I am feeling as we approach the tail end of the work day on this gloomy Tuesday?
It has been a couple of years since we’ve had a snow storm like this. I don’t know what the official snowfall total is for my city, but I live in a spot that is subject to snow drifts and the piles of snow in my front yard were easily over two feet. Down the street from us, the accumulation appears to be a lot smaller. I don’t care about their driveways though. Mine was pummeled.
Last night I cleared most of the snow off of the three cars in the driveway, shoveled the driveway and the humongous plow snowbank at the end of the driveway, on the street. That was easily three feet deep and packed in tight. It was heavy too. Basically a shoveling worst case scenario. Finally, I dug out the fire hydrant at the end of our front yard. That involves more plow snow bank, just to add insult to injury.
I left a couple of things unfinished. I did not clean off the cars completely. They were still covered with frozen, packed in snow. It was less than an inch of coverage, but it was going to take an ice scraper to clean it off and I didn’t have it in me last night. I also did not shovel a path from the driveway to the door on the side of the house, which includes digging out access to the trash barrels.
My step son, Harry, was supposed to move from our house to his dad’s house for the week yesterday but the snow kept him with us for an extra night. I sincerely thank the snow for that gift of bonus Harry time. That means he is going to leave sometime this afternoon while Jen and I are working. I took a few minutes to fully(ish) clean off the car that was at the end of the driveway (as mentioned there are three cars in the driveway, our Mazda is on the end and Harry’s car is in the middle. The Mazda needs to move so he can get out) so it would be ready to go when he’s ready to leave. Further, that car was down to less than one gallon of gas so I wanted to fill it before I did anything else.
Fortunately, the ice wasn’t too bad. I started the car and scraped it pretty clean in a short amount of time and then headed to the gas station. It should be noted that the state line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was, as usual, clearly defined on the roads. Citizens of Massachusetts pay sales tax and income tax. New Hampshire citizens pay neither. The state line is clearly marked by the spot where the road goes from snowy but safely passable (the Massachusetts side of the border) to barely plowed at all and a mess of snowy shit (the New Hampshire side of the border). You see kids, paying taxes means you get services from your government. Services like snow removal after a fucking blizzard. Dig?
Anyway, I went to the gas station which means I had to take pictures as if I were a youtube film photographer even though I am not a youtube film photographer and I took these with my phone.
Speaking of film photography, of course the morning after a huge snow storm had an absolutely glorious sunrise/golden hour which I was not able to take advantage of because mother nature is a friggin’ ass whipe.
130/365
The gas station and car clearing process went very quickly which meant I had more time available before I had to start getting ready for work. I was inspired to spend that time finishing off the last of the shoveling. I dug a trench around the side of the house so that I can get the trash barrels to the street tomorrow, and so I can get the daily trash bags out to the barrel from the house. I also dug out the stairs to the door on the side of the house. While in the process I took one final aftermath photo with my phone. This time to give an idea of how deep the snow drifts were. Marvel at the depth…
It was deeper on the cars last night, and I think it is deeper in some spots in the back yard as well.
Well kids, there you have it. The snow removal fun is done. Here’s hoping the temperatures climb unseasonably high over the next few days and most if not all of this shit melt away and never come back. Seriously. I’m making a command decision and moving the whole family to San Diego, pronto. I hate snow.
I fought against it for as long as I could, but I just couldn’t hold it off any longer.
I shoveled the driveway. Today wasn’t the first snow of the season, but it was the first snow that needed shoveling. I didn’t want to, but I just had to.
I am happy that the first shoveling didn’t happen until the later half of January, but I am sad that it still had to happen. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it won’t happen again until after our new windows are installed next month.
That sound you heard off in the distance at about 8:15am Eastern Standard Time was me screaming in frustration. Why is it still snowing? Why?
Saturday night into Sunday morning we got some snow. An inch or so of the really light fluffy stuff. Not enough to cause problems, but enough to cock up my car music plans. I shoveled the driveway and brushed off the car on the outside (we’re still locked down so we haven’t needed both cars for quite a while and that leads to snow removal laziness) and moved on with my life.
The snow kept falling, but it didn’t stick, and while the air was well below freezing, the pavement was able to warm up enough to melt what little snow I missed.
And the snow kept falling. Round about sunset the snow started sticking again. Just barely. When we woke up today there was about an inch or so of the really light fluffy stuff. Not enough to cause problems, but enough to cock up my car music plans. I shoved the driveway and brushed off both cars this time and moved on with my life.
The sky is brightening up. The sun is trying to break through the clouds.
Inside the Red Head's Head 