There's been a respite from the falling snow. I think that the temperature is actually a few degrees above freezing. So I went out to shovel the driveway.
Those of you who have been here can attest to the fact that I have a long and steep driveway. It can be a chore to deal with even in the summer. But tackling this driveway when it's covered with thick, wet, almost slush-like snow is an altogether different sort of work indeed. It took damn near an hour. I'm wringing with sweat and just starting to catch my breath, but the driveway is clean.
Not sure why I bothered since my truck is in it's snow emergency parking spot down at the base of the driveway and I'm not planning on going anywhere anyway, but it's just one of those things that automatically has to get done when there's snow on it. Maybe it's because the UPS guy might bring me something, or an ambulance might need to get up here, or maybe it's just a default back to my father's influence, ("Ok it's stopped snowing. Get out there and get that driveway cleaned off.") Or maybe I was just bored and it's preferable to house cleaning. All I know is that snow-covered driveways just bug me and mine is clean now so all is right with the world.
This calls for a beer.
Shoveling wet, heavy snow is one of the hardest tasks there is. Well done!
ReplyDelete"Ok it's stopped snowing. Get out there and get that driveway cleaned off."
ReplyDeleteWords to that effect were spoken to me many, many times during my formative years, thereby influencing in no small way my attitude towards snow accumulation on driveways (including and especially my own).
And, as was very common, Dad's directives to me and my siblings were frequently accompanied by a practical physics lesson. Dad was very anxious to get the blacktop of the driveway exposed, so that the sun could induce the sublimation and dissipation of the snow into the atmosphere, thereby removing the snow not only from the driveway in its solid crystalline form, but also from the immediate vicinity before it could transform into its liquid or quasi-liquid form of hydrogen hydroxide.
Dad, then, was a proponent of solar energy it its most basic and efficient form.
And so am I.
Precipitation has not yet arrived on Long Island, but the weatherman promises us that it will soon show up, and will be at its worst just in time to coincide with my commute to the college to teach.
One of the many reasons I don't live somewhere other than where I do now :) I love visiting places that get "real" winter weather... but I'd last about one good storm's worth of actually having to live with it before I'd hightail it back to Texas.
ReplyDeleteEver thought about a heated driveway???
ReplyDeleteI took one look at the upcoming weather report and didn't shovel a damn thing.
ReplyDeleteIt'll all melt off this weekend.
Hee. It's called my lovely neighbor can't sit still and plowed mine when he plowed his. Cause I'm a helpless female who needs taking care of. Ha. I let guys open doors for me, too. Ha. Love my neighbor.
ReplyDeleteDown here, we'd call the answer to that a Pear burner.
ReplyDeletehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kMSYwo-WCBc/SkWDdeIta2I/AAAAAAAAAsQ/b5OTGpESU9I/s320/Pear+Burner.jpg