Lots Of Snow

I do not mind shoveling snow, however today was a bit of a pain. It had been snowing quite a bit yesterday. We had shoveled our driveway twice as well as shoving my parents-in-law’s driveway twice. Overnight, we got at least a foot of snow. We were almost unable to open our back door (my parents-in-law were unable to open their front door). We tried shoveling for a bit, but the process was too tiring and inefficient. Fortunately, we have a small electric snow blower. It is not the greatest, but after two hours of work, we were able to get the driveway cleared.

My father-in-law, Ken, is a diabetic. He needed to go to dialysis this morning. However, their driveway was just as bad as ours was. So, we loaded up our snow blower and attempted to drive over there. Normally a ten-minute drive, it took us at least a half hour to get there. None of the roads had been plowed. We had to drive in the ruts that other vehicles had made. We only were stuck in the snow a few times. Fortunately, we only had to rock the truck back and forth to free ourselves. Of course, once we got there, we got stuck trying to pull into their driveway. After a few hours of digging and using multiple snow blowers, we were finally able to send Ken on his way to dialysis.

Driving home was a bit less problematic. With the unfortunate exception of our road, most of the roads had been plowed. We were a couple of blocks away from our house when we noticed that someone had left their car in the road (presumably it was stuck). Anyway, since the ruts in the road would not let us drive around the car, we had to drive around the block. Fortunately, we only got stuck briefly trying to pull back into our driveway. Our neighbor, on the other hand, was not as lucky. He had broken his only snow shovel, so I went to help dig him out of the snow.

After today’s events, Rachel and I decided that we should invest in a stronger snow blower and a different vehicle. I enjoy my Dodge Dakota, but since it is rear-wheel drive and since the rear end of the truck is the lightest part of the vehicle, we are not able to handle this much snow. Also, it is kind of a pain being limited to being able to transport only two people and having to carry everything in the back of the truck. Taking groceries home when it is sunny is fine, but it is another matter when it is raining or snowing. Since we want something that has four-wheel drive and better weight distribution, we have been looking at a Dodge Durango.

The dogs are really enjoying the snow even if it is deeper than they are tall. When they run through the yard, they almost look like dolphins jumping out of water and then diving back in. Of course, if we get much more snow, the dogs will be able to jump over the fence.

With today’s weather, I am glad that I received a couple of my Christmas presents early. Rachel got me a pair of boots and a couple pairs of wool socks. My tennis shoes are normally fine, however when the snow gets more than a few inches thick, my shoes (and socks) get wet. Now, I can go for much longer in deeper snow without getting wet. In fact, I was in snow that was between one and two feet deep for several hours today while my feet stayed nice and warm. Also, the wool socks are doubling as my slippers. When the roads are more drivable, I think that Rachel and I are going to pick up a couple pairs of snow pants. Both of us fell in the snow a couple times today (sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose). Having wet jeans is not pleasant.

Speaking of Christmas, we have finally finished our Christmas letters and will be sending them out shortly. They would be going out today, but we have not seen our postal carrier yet. In the meantime, I posted our Christmas card photo online. If you do not get a letter, please let me know. In May, when the home computer crashed, we lost most of our addresses.

Tagline for today: “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.” - Mae West