Love waking up at 730 on a weekend when my alarm is set for 930!

Love waking up at 730 on a weekend when my alarm is set for 930!

Got maybe 5 inches of snow so far. Little bro has done a first pass on shoveling and I'll take a swing at it in about an hour, hopefully before the "wintry mix" starts.

About an hour of that and then the freezing rain starts.

VDOT site shows three(!!) trucks working our little district, and one just went by - but I still can't see our street for the white garbage - they may have already switched to salt.

CWG's little map has us in the "isolated power outage risk" which is good, and pretty much how it is with any snowstorm.

At least we're not somewhere like Texas where the entire grid can collapse just because everyone turned their heat on.

The cats are understandably a bit out of sorts with all the activity on a Sunday morning.

Same, cats, same.

CWG just posted that folks should get out and do a first round of shoveling before the sleet hits (makes everything heavier and harder to deal with) - WAY AHEAD OF YOU!!!!!

The little electric snowshovel seemed like a very indulgent, silly purchase at the time.

It was not.

It takes a few more passes than a regular shovel, but there is no lifting, no back strain, no cardiac events.

Just gently pushing it along.

You do have to pay attention to the wind direction so you don't get a face full of snow, and my hand was kinda cramped from holding the power button, but those are non-problems.

Neighbor across the street has a new(?) snowblower. He came across and did the sidewalk on my right/neighbors left.

Nice gesture, and I resisted the urge to tell him to get his ass off my property, cause though his dogwhistle flags haven't been up in a while, I fucking remember. Maybe he's trying to make amends.

Did a second pass on the rest of it, and the snow is uh, crunchy!

Me after first shoveling: My socks are still good and dry, I'll put them on the little table next to the door.

Prep for second: Where the fuck did I put my socks? Oh well, I have plenty.

After second shoveling: My socks are still good and dry, I'll put them on the little table next to the door...oh fuck me.

The kids are taking advantage of the street being on a hill and having a great time sledding. 🥰

@cafechatnoir Aww

The kids are taking advantage of the street being on a hill and having a great time sledding. 🥰

Oh, and those little 5x5x8ish boxes that Chewy sends pet meds in?

Just the right size and height to set in front of a wall heat register and pop some wet shoes on.

Yay for child labor!!

Or, youthful self starters!

Was putting birdseed out and a throng of kids with shovels is out and about.

"You looking for work?!"

"Sure!"

It's been coming down so fast the past couple hours, even three passes isn't keeping up well - one more pass from some enthusiastic kids will definitely help. And worth every penny.

I'd feel bad about having kids do my work if I'd hadn't been doing it all morning, too.

The freezing rain has yet to arrive, which is good, but it means things are still falling from the sky that require shoveling.

OMG, i just looked and the kids did the whole driveway - I guess they didn't hear me when I said, "Just a path up the side is fine, we're not going anywhere"

They got an extra $20 for that.

Every year, there is someone bitching on next door that there aren't any kids that want to shovel snow - really it's just a factor of shifting demographics, but also - tweens & teens aren't your damn personal labor force.

Still so very glad those kids came around as I was looking at my work having immediately been covered back up, LOL.

And, this is why I keep cash on hand at all times, and a reminder that I needed the replacement debit card on one of my accounts, and that is now taken care of.

Thanks kids!

@cafechatnoir I'm reading all your snow-shoveling posts and realizing that although I grew up up in Michigan, where we certainly got snow, I have no memory of the shoveling. Who did it in my family? Me? My parents? Neighborhood kids? No memory at all.

Still so very glad those kids came around as I was looking at my work having immediately been covered back up, LOL.

And, this is why I keep cash on hand at all times, and a reminder that I needed the replacement debit card on one of my accounts, and that is now taken care of.

Thanks kids!

OK, the fourth and final for me pass is done, which neatly coincided with the second battery running out on the shovel and the freezing rain starting.

It's as good as it's gonna get I think - I went back out and put ice melt down and I am calling it a day.

OH! If you have those ice melt jugs with the shaker tops - keep an empty one on hand - when you have to open a new one, just pour what you need in the old one so you're not trying to lug around 10 pounds of ice melt.

And Sean has been fussing at me all morning.

GIRL. It is the WEEKEND. You are supposed to be on the couch with ME.

He is happy I'm done.

@jeridansky

I mean, when you're little, it doesn't matter, it just magically happens!

I remember my Mom shoveling snow because of this absolutely garish green camo-ish jacket with orange bits all over it that she would wear. (It still hangs in the coat closet, LOL.)

I'm sure my Dad did it when he wasn't deployed, but I also have zero memory of that.

Here is the pattern on the coat - you can see why it is seared into my memory. And retinas.