Snowed in

We received over a foot of snow in the last storm. Fortunately, I'm retired. I remember having to get up super early on work days. The car would have to be dug out of a glacier. Extra time had to be allotted for the slow crawl to work.

The day of the storm, since we didn't have to go anywhere, we stayed home. I didn't even think about shoveling until the next day. The worse thing about shoveling during a storm is that it goes on forever. By the time you've shoveled everything out, a few more inches of snow filled in behind you. Then the snowplow comes by and buries you again. It's a labor of Sisyphus.

I've never owned a snowblower. While I've thought about after those storms that drop three or more feet of snow, I've stuck to shovels and scoops. Snowblowers are loud, smelly, and prone to breaking down. Once I figured out the cost of ownership and operation, I stuck to my shovel. Turns out I'm too lazy to own a snowblower.

The new electric snowblowers powered by powerful lithium batteries do tempt me a bit. They may be just about ready for prime time and eliminate much of what I hate about snowblowers. Then I remind myself that most winters I do the snowbird thing and avoid snow for most of the winter.

You can tell when you are below the normal snow line. Up north, houses, especially older houses, are built next to the road. That keeps shoveling down to a minimum. As you travel south you start to see houses set far from the road down long driveways.

During years when I stick around for the holidays, there's a darn good chance I'm going to shovel. I do pace myself. Every year people get heart attacks and die from the exertion. So I shovel for a bit, then warm up with a hot coffee next to the woodstove. Repeat as needed.

We didn't even lose power during this storm. The Internet would occasionally go out for a few hours at a time, but that happens all the time anyway. Such is life at the end of the line for everything.

-Sixbears