It was snowing heavily when I woke up this morning. I’m not sure how many inches accumulated before things turned to rain. Then the sun came out. The result was that by late afternoon, everything was covered with about an inch of very wet, very dense slush-snow. Since John has been sick for the last couple of days with a fever, it was up to me to get the driveway cleared before the inevitable night-time freeze.
If you have ever shoveled slush, you will know that it is very heavy, and slides off the shovel pretty easily. Which made it pretty hard to throw as you might do when shovelling fluffy snow. So I spent a lot of time scraping up a shovel-load of snow, and walking it to the side of the drive to dump it. It was very slow going. After clearing the area in front of our garage, I was mightily bored. So as I worked towards clearing the way up to the street, I got a bit more creative.
Ok, I had a bit of reason for doing this. Namely, I wanted to get up to the mailbox without traipsing through the snow, which can lead to harder shovelling. The side paths were to walk over my shovelfuls. Of course, once I’d started a pattern, I felt like going a bit further with that.
And since I’d bothered to go inside to get my camera, why not go all out?
As I was working on that last bit, a couple of people out for a walk strolled by and said “hello.” I can only wonder what they thought of me.
(Just so you know, I did actually finish clearing the driveway.)
20 responses so far ↓
morethananelectrician // March 1, 2008 at 11:33 pm |
Although I am unhappy about my children not growing up in the snow as I did, shoveling snow is not something that I miss!
Painted Maypole // March 2, 2008 at 2:20 am |
that is awesome. at least you had some fun. that is a LONG driveway to have to shovel. We had one in MI that was house on one side, steep hill on the other, so you had to carry the snow past the house and throw it onto the front lawn. guess my parents didn’t think about that when they bought it. or they knew they had free child laborers. ;)
dragonfly // March 2, 2008 at 3:33 am |
Creative cleaning! Or is that clearing? Anyway, way cool. :)
flutter // March 2, 2008 at 3:42 am |
That rules
magpie // March 2, 2008 at 9:34 am |
you rock.
Mary Beth // March 2, 2008 at 10:26 am |
If you’ve got to shovel, you might as well have fun right?
Kyla // March 2, 2008 at 10:59 am |
That is AWESOME!
Denguy // March 2, 2008 at 11:55 am |
Did some one spike your tea in the morning?
Where do you live that your driveway is 47 metres long!?
rimarama // March 2, 2008 at 3:13 pm |
You could have played jumbo checkers on that! Cool.
By the way, do you live in the Black Forest?
ewe_are_here // March 2, 2008 at 5:02 pm |
Fantastic. If you have to shovel snow, it should at least look fun… maybe then you can convince others to pitch in, a la Tom Sawyer.
heh heh
fireweaver // March 2, 2008 at 8:22 pm |
that is **fantastic**. and your checkerboard is right on grid, like you were super-detail-oriented and busted out chalklines to get it done. every nerd you know is exquisitely impressed.
but good lord i’m glad it’s close to then end of the snow season!
Madame M // March 2, 2008 at 9:00 pm |
That looks pretty fun– also, great exercise.
And c’mon– whatever they thought of you that could have been bad was surely eclipsed by the sheer jealousy of not being the ones who did a checkerboard on their driveway.
alejna // March 2, 2008 at 11:43 pm |
morethan-
There are certainly more amusing forms of snow entertainment than shovelling. I should go sledding.
painted-
That does sound like a lot of work. And the sort of thing that would make you glad to have free labor at hand.
dragonfly-
You should see my dusting!
flutter-
thanks!
magpie-
thanks, too! (Still want me for a neighbor?)
Mary Beth-
Words to live by, if I ever heard them. (And thanks for coming by!)
Kyla-
Aw, shucks.
Denguy-
No, no spiked tea. But I did manage a nap before shovelling. And the driveway’s probably only around 30 meters. I live in a place known as The Boonies.
rima-
Maybe we’ll get the giant checkers pieces out next snow storm. (And yeah, while not actually the Black Forest, we do live in a pretty wooded area. I like trees.)
ewe-
If only others had been around to watch. I mean, other than the couple out for a stroll. And they didn’t exactly wrestle the shovel out of my hands.
fireweaver-
No, no chalklines. I’m apparently just that good with a snow shovel. Who knew? I’ll put it on my CV.
Madame M-
I did have fun for the checkerboard bit. (Or at least I was distracted from the drudgery by laughing at myself.) And I suppose I did get some exercise. As for the passing folks…huh…I hadn’t considered that jealousy might be their main reaction. I’m sure that was it.
jen // March 3, 2008 at 12:12 am |
i think i fell a bit more in love with you just now.
KC // March 3, 2008 at 12:01 pm |
Dude. Can you have a longer driveway?
Sweet shoveling. If you have to do it, that is.
alejna // March 4, 2008 at 12:48 pm |
jen-
Then my plan worked!
KC-
Our driveway is pretty typical for our town. Or even on the short side. Phoebe’s daycare (a home daycare) has a driveway several times the length of ours. Plowing is big business out here in the boonies.
merrymishaps // March 4, 2008 at 11:33 pm |
Oh my! You certainly have a lot of patience!
mimi // March 5, 2008 at 4:33 pm |
This is my favorite post in teh whole world. I’m laughing out loud. Thanks.
alejna // March 11, 2008 at 9:30 pm |
merrymishaps-
I guess I do have a lot of patience. As long as it’s not about dealing with people…
mimi-
Aw, shawks. Glad I could make you laugh.
Top Rated Snow Blowers // December 2, 2008 at 12:42 pm |
man I hate snow, got hit with about 10 inches over the weekend. I am glad I got a brand new snow blowers to knock that snow around though. I don’t think my back would take it, and doubt my wife would help…