65 degree temps the day before? Check
Blizzard conditions the day after? Check
60 mph winds? Check
Horizontal, snow, no visibility? Check
No school, no work, no power, no traffic? Check
Any road in and out of the state closed? Check
Snow accumulations over three Corgis in height? Check
Yup, it must be spring.
Let's see, Sunday, pleasantly warm, breezy(really breezy)... Monday, early A.M, cold, blowing, snowing. Nothing like waking up to a foot of snow. Luckily, the school district has a robo caller that let me know schools were closed. Right after that, the power went out. I love sitting in the morning dark listening to the winds howl and snow pile up... On the bright side, no power, no work. Not that I could get out of my driveway anyhow.
Child 2 shoveled the walk during a lull in the storm on Monday. Not that you can tell, much. (View out the front door)
Child 2 went out to shovel the walk on Tuesday, after the storm passed, and did a good job - with appropriate cell phone breaks to whine to friends how mean his mother is, making him do manual labor. (Child 1 is in Arizona in college, laughing at me). Shortly after, Child 2 vanished, leaving me to shovel the driveway on my own. "I'll be back later" he says. I've heard that one before.
So armed with Old Blue, and the Corgis, I set out to tackle the 60 foot driveway.
Circled in red, in the back, my birdfeeder that is 6 feet off the ground, in the front, my birdfeeder that is 3 feet off the ground... now resting on top of the snow. Sorry birdies, hope you pigged out before the storm, I'm not wading out there today.
Of course the Corgis had to make some trails to navigate the yard. (With yellow snow directional markers). Here, Max samples the snow and decides how much to eat.
Merlin, being a good little brother, lets Max break trail through the yard. Once the yard trails were cleared, the Corgis came to stand in the shoveled sections of the driveway, supervise, chase the snow I tossed, and bark.
After an hour I had a donkey trail shoveled out. Not going to get me to work in the morning. I've high centered my car before, not going there again. So trying to blast out is not an option. Oh, and see the nifty sheet of snow hanging off the roof? It fell. Right onto the shoveled out sidewalk. So after I recleared the sidewalk, I went back to the driveway. About four scoops for every shovel width of snow, to get down to pavement. My chain link fence is four feet high, if that gives you any idea.
Heaving shovels of snow up over my head is a workout plan I don't really care for. Oh, and notice the pretty blue skies. Everything close to the pavement was melting... and growing heavier by the minute. Back to the driveway.3 Hours Later...
Houston, we have driveway! Oh, and the thing under the red arrow? A Monte Carlo. Don't worry, it wasn't going anywhere.
So, does anyone want to predict how long it was before the snowplow came by and buried the end of my driveway after I finished? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
19 minutes.
That's got to be a record, last the radio said, they wouldn't get to plowing out the low priority streets until tomorrow. I didn't even have time to unknot my soggy bootlaces and peel all the skin from my blisters. So back out, with Corgi help (Max ended up with more than one shovelful of snow in the face, not that it stopped him) to unblock the end of my drive and give me a fighting chance of getting out of my street, never mind the subdivision.
That's it, I'm done, and I have a sneaking suspicion I won't be lifting my arms over my head tomorrow. The Wyoming spring workout. Yes, I could get a snowblower, but where's the fun in that? Just in case, I left Old Blue on standby alert. With Child 2's name on the handle.
That's it, I'm done, and I have a sneaking suspicion I won't be lifting my arms over my head tomorrow. The Wyoming spring workout. Yes, I could get a snowblower, but where's the fun in that? Just in case, I left Old Blue on standby alert. With Child 2's name on the handle.
No, not by me.
