Snow!

I knew it was going to snow.  I was just hoping that it was light enough to push off the driveway easily and quickly.

Not so.

I woke up several times during the night, each time looking out the window to check the progress of the fast-falling flakes.  Indeed, everything was covered.  I considered bundling up and going outside when I woke up at 3:08am, but I knew that for as fast as it was coming down, I’d just have to do it again, anyway, to get the car up the driveway.  So I rolled over and tried to sleep.

Finally, at 5:20am, I pulled myself from the covers, went to the garage, and suited up.  I certainly had enough practice over the years to be familiar with the drill.  I left on my PJ’s; then slipped into heavy black sweat pants and a gray PINNACLE AUTO SALES sweatshirt with black letters. Next I pulled on the red snowmobile suite that had belonged to my step-daughter Nancy when she was 14 years old.  She was now 52.  Next came the wool hat with balled ties, which sat under the hood of the sweatshirt.  I wrapped a scarf twice around my neck, coming up over my chin.

I had heavy wool socks with reindeer on them; after the socks, the thermal packed snow boots (also Nancy’s). To these boots I secured rubber ice-grips that slip over the boot treads.  Two pair of gloves (one thermal) and I was out the door.

I snapped the radio on to my favorite country station (Pittsburgh Y-108), grabbed the blue Walmart shovel, and set to. It was cold; in the 20’s.  But the wind wasn’t blowing so I was ok.  After a few minutes I got into the swing of things, and had a pattern going.  I cleaned the steepest part first, in case I wore out.  I shoveled and pushed and threw snow for two hours.  I knew that if I didn’t stop and get ready for work, I would be seriously late.

I hadn’t had time for the extra parking space at the top of the drive, nor the sidewalks or decks/porches.  But as I stopped to snap a photo of my ‘job well done’, I knew that it was indeed a good job.  I would finish it up when I got home later that night, about 7:30pm or so (which I did).  The snow plow had, of course, threw about 5 feet of salted sludge onto my cleared driveway, which ultimately froze, but after about an hour all was clear again.

It felt good to be outside, engaged in a worthwhile project, getting fresh air and watching the sun come up.  I always dread those early morning shovelings, but once I’m fully engaged, I find myself singing with the radio and not really minding it so much at all.

That’s not to say that I’m looking forward to the next middle-of-the-night snowstorm.  Because I’m not….