shoveling

I know, I wrote about winter weather last week. I should have waited a week as yesterday we had our first blizzard of the season. (In case you don't know, that means snow + wind which results in drifts in front of anything that stops the snow.)  While we didn't have terrible winds here, close to 12 inches of snow fell and in some places it shifted around into at least 24 inch drifts.  Last night about 5 it stopped snowing so I went out to to get a start on the shoveling.  I sunk up to my knees in most places but for some reason the drift next to the garage left a 3-shovel wide area with hardly any snow.  Then I walked around the corner and realized all the snow that should have been there had been deposited in front of the garage doors.  Last night I cleared a path to the garage and in front of one garage door.  If need be we could get out.

This morning the sun shone bright and it was down around zero.  My church was canceled since it would take most people all day to dig out so I walked to a church nearby that was still having services.  The man who gave the welcome said, "Welcome to both of you."  (There were more than 2 of us there.)  The sidewalks across the bridge had been cleared but other than that it was safer to walk on the streets.  I saw a few cars that were going to take some major work to get dug out.  One side was packed in by the snow from the snowplow and the other side was packed in by the snow from the sidewalk snow blower.

I spent the afternoon finishing the shoveling.  The alley was plowed last night leaving a foot high mound that I needed to get away from the garage.  The other problem was where to put the stuff.  There just isn't a lot of space.  I was about ready to peter out and offer my car to my roommate for work tomorrow when a neighbor came over to help me with what was left in front of the garage.  I met several of the neighbors today.  And despite the close to zero temps, I was far from cold.  In fact I was sweating.  My core definitely got a work-out.

Some may ask why we don't have a snow blower.  Actually Kathryn does - it's just over at her brother's and he's on another continent right now.  However the friend staying there said he'd gladly come over and help once he got his car dug out which he figured would take all day. He'll stop by tomorrow.  In the meantime we can get our cars out and the mailman can get to the mailbox (which is by the front door) and people can walk down the sidewalk.

Tomorrow I have my first of two finals.  Since it's online I can take it when I'm ready which will probably be sometime in the afternoon.  Wednesday I have my Math final and then I'm done for the semester.  I have quite a list of things that I want to catch up on over the break.