Xiaoniu 小妞

Okay, third and last snow posting in a row. I haven’t actually gone out and measured, but we probably got at least 20 inches of white, fluffy and very heavy snow dumped onto us yesterday. Our day basic went like this: shovel, change clothes, warm-up, repeat. In total 5 trips outside to shovel.

First trip

I started off ready to get started clearing the snow from the night. About 5 inches worth. It all started well, but after a couple minutes I realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as I first thought. The stuff was heavy (was it this heavy when I was a kid?) and there was quite a bit more than I expected. Not to mention our good sized driveway started to look like a football field.

All the while I’m listening to one neighbor snow-blow her driveway. She was just clearing snow away like it wasn’t work at all. Damn. Then, I hear my other neighbor fire up his snow-blower. I started to think they were doing this to show off. Next thing I know he came over to our driveway and started clearing it. It took him less time to clear 3/4 of the driveway than it took me to clear the first 1/4.

Second trip

About 2 hours later I had to go out again. I figured I would clear up the snow before it got too deep. It ended up being almost as deep as the first trip. This time Sue wanted to come out and help. I know it sounds bad, but she wanted to get out of the house and knew that just being there to help a little was moral support.

This time we actually cleared the whole thing. It wasn’t as thick as the first time and I was using a different strategy clearing the snow. It all worked out well and were were inside after about 1 hour 15 minutes (11:15am).

Third trip

We figured the snow is coming down heavy (2-3 inches per hour) so we’ll go back out at 12:30pm. So, we went out figuring for about 3 inches of more snow. Nope. It was coming down quite a bit faster than that and there was as much snow as the first trip and the town truck finally came by and plowed us in.

I spent a lot of time clearing the end of the driveway and Sue cleared the sidewalk near the garage. Next thing we know the neighbor is out helping us again. I almost fell over with relief.

Forth trip

Now, we are getting kind tired. Sore and achy to boot. Lots of snow yet again. Sue came out for a few minutes, but I knew she was tired so I told her to go in and rest. I stayed out and cleared about 1/3 of the driveway and just pooped out. Sue came out told me just to come in and rest. We’ll take care of things later.

Fifth trip

So, I’m all warm and in dry clothes and somebody starts snow-blowing our driveway (for the third time). We were trying to figure out who though. It ended up being a third neighbor that happened to have a snow blower. So, back into my outside clothes to help and thank him. I always wished he hadn’t come. I didn’t want to go back out, but thankfully, his help made it possible to go to work today.

The morning after

Today, Sue is pretty much house bound. She only has to go out for a doctor appointment and it’s back home for her. Seeing as there was just a small drift in front of the garage and a little snow (3-4 inches) in the driveway it was still possible to get out. I planned to shovel when I got home. Sure enough, I called home to tell Sue I got to work and she tells me the neighbor is out snow blowing our driveway again.

I know that they are only trying to help and we appreciate it greatly, but I still can’t shake the feeling of guilt is accepting their help. We owe them big time.

I also feel guilty because I know another neighbor that was out snow-blowing first thing in the morning had problems with her blower. It kept stalling. She ended up shoveling the rest of the day. I felt guilty because I know she lives alone and is getting older. I felt I should have gone over to help, but I couldn’t even keep up with my driveway. I was exhausted and couldn’t finish mine, how could I even try to help her. So, more guilt. It lessened a bit when we closed the curtains, but it was still there.

I wish I got a chance to take pictures yesterday. It is amazing looking. I’ll have to take some tonight when I get home. The roads are pretty clear, but still covered in snow. The temperature hasn’t risen out of the teens so things will take a while to melt, even with salt.

I actually ventured out for a short trip in the truck yesterday at about 4pm. It was horrendous out. The town truck hadn’t been by in over 5 hours so our road was impassable to anything other than 4wd trucks. I made my way to the main road and it was pretty nasty too. Went down to the light, almost got hit by some ass that was driving way too fast in a GMC Envoy (like a mom’s Trailblazer) and he almost lost it. I moved out of the way just in case. Then, I turned around and made my way back.

The good thing about the trip was I got to test out my new tires. Very nice! I ended up turning around in a parking lot that wasn’t plowed even once and the truck did fine. 18″ of snow and it just blasted right through it. By blasted I mean bounced and dug its way around. This morning I made it to work without even turning on 4wd until it got really bad. I wouldn’t have made it 100′ with my old tires. Nice!

Okay, enough boring dribble about my day.