Shoveling Out After the Blizzard!

It snowed and it snowed, and then it snowed some more! By the time the blizzard was done with us, it had left behind about a foot and a half to two feet of white stuff. Yes, that's a lot of snow. And even though it's fluffy, it's a lot of work to remove it!

But of course, that is exactly what we did. We dressed up in our big boots and our gloves and jackets and went out first thing in the morning, and started shoveling. The temperature was in the mid-20s F, and the sun came out and the sky was blue.

There are times when I am glad we have a 100-foot driveway. Winter is not one of them, because that's a LOT of snow to clear. Above you may see our house and driveway, after the first little pathway had been made to the main road.

It is good that there are two of us, and that we have strong backs for shoveling. I only wish we had left the shovels on the front porch, as getting down those front steps covered in that much snow to go get them from the driveway was a cute trick. But then I had my hammer - excuse me, my shovel - in my hands, and I was ready to roll.

The neighbors all came out to remove their snow too. So there were sounds of snow blowers from across the road and from everywhere. One of our neighbors' little daughters was out playing, and she screamed those really shrill little almost-too-high-for-dogs-to-hear-it screams. She screamed every time her father started the snow blower. How many times was that? Let's just say this: LOTS!

But my husband and I felt pretty tough, for we were clearing our driveway by hand, using plain person-power. We joked that we were like John Henry, from the story/song, of the man with a hammer who out-powered a steam drill. Yes, our neighbors had snow blowers, but WE had our HAMMERS - I mean, shovels - in our hands.

My husband and I own four cars between us. Two of them - the oldest one, a Geo Prizm, and the newest one, a Chevy Sonic - stay in the garage, which is attached to the house. The other two - my Mazda Protege and my husband's Chevy Impala - sit outside. And boy did we laugh to see how much snow was on them. Oh, how we laughed and laughed!

At a certain point around mid-morning, I noticed that the snow on my Mazda was starting to melt in the sun. So I quickly began clearing it off, knowing that once I got it started, the sun would help me finish it up. You may see a photo my husband took of me wielding my shovel between our two snow-covered cars in the extras.

All told, I was out shoveling for the bulk of the time from 7:30 in the morning until noon. We cleared the driveway, the deck, the cars, and several paths around the yard for our creatures. I had taken a use-it-or-lose-it vacation day from work. What a way to spend it: SHOVELING OUT!!!

My soundtrack song for these two images has to be about John Henry. So here are three versions of that story/song:
Johnny Cash, The Legend of John Henry's Hammer
Bruce Springsteen and the E St. Band, John Henry
Joe Bonamassa, Ballad of John Henry