We've been lucky in the Connecticut River valley - we've had a number of humongous storms in the last couple of years and almost every one has come through in such a way as to, essentially, miss us. For example, the big storm on December 26, 2010, that whacked New York City resulted in less than four inches of snow in my yard. Well, all of that ended today.
About midnight, the snow started to fall. Through the night, it continued, gently enveloping my world in a featherbed of marshmallow fluff. I have a metal awning over my door; snow can only blow onto the steps and there is eight inches between the top step and my threshold. I had to shove my screen door open as the level of snow was higher than the bottom of the door at 8 AM. I don't know how much snow was on the ground; it was a lot more than on the steps.
My neighbors laughed in the road, hauling their two kids around the block on sleds.The kids giggled while their parents panted from the exertion. A little while later, they returned to start the job of clearing their driveway.
I started clearing snow at 9:15 AM. First, I had to shovel off the steps, then clear a path to the garage. I like to clear off the strip in front of my garage door, so when I open it, snow doesn't fall inside and make it hard to seal the door closed. Only once it is all cleared can I lift the door, take out the snowblower, start it up, and begin to clear more efficiently. I have a hard time shoveling as I have ruptured disk in the middle of my back (I never should have tried to install the air conditioner in the front window three years ago without moving the sofa, first!). Today wasn't too bad; the snow was light and fluffy. there was just an incredible amount of it!
First, I clear the bottom of the driveway, then, I sweep the car off and move it. Then, I clear the top of the driveway and the sidewalks. That's how I usually do it. Today, I had to take a break after I moved the car. I had been clearing for almost three hours at that point and I needed a rest. I went inside and warmed up. I came out about 90 minutes later and more than four more inches of snow had fallen. It was disheartening. I felt like Sisyphus, rolling the boulder up the hill over and over again.
The weather report said that Granby had a total of 23 inches. I'm going to say we had the same as I'm too tired to go out and measure. I hurt all over. This is more work that going to the gym and I wreak of gasoline; I spilled a bit on my hand each time I filled the tank. Whine! Snivel!
My snowblower is a monster (in comparison with the neighbor's and my old one) but I fed it some bad gas in the last storm and it must have stalled over thirty times today. I had to haul it back to the garage to start it (electric starter must be plugged in). I'm keeping it full of fresh gas and it seems to be running better - maybe. I love my snowblower, though. It was the first thing that I bought it with the money I won on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," that, and a new ipod that Jack promptly took. My old snowblower refused to entirely die but it didn't really work, either.
I'm feeling conflicted. The snow was beautiful - glistening white and so fluffy it might have been feathers. This was my favorite kind of snow when I was a kid - it didn't make good snowmen but it was terrific for sledding or skiing and it was soft enough to cushion your falls. As an adult, snow is like trash, something to get rid of. I miss having the time and inclination to frolic. I was too tired to play in the snow after a day of wrestling with the snowblower. Maybe tomorrow.
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