For fun!

The picture above is the first part of the storm yesterday morning. The footprints were from the mailman who has never heard of a sidewalk.

This picture was taken this morning after I finished with most of the shoveling.
The sidewalk was cleared completely after this picture was taken. I went in to eat and then came back out and finished it. I also did the neighbor's sidewalk and dug out the fire hydrant across the street.

Here's the story:
I decided to clear the snow today. We got about a foot, and it was wet and heavy. The last snowstorm was very cold, so the snow was dry and fluffy. It was much lighter.
I bought these shovels last year to replace the 2 cheaply made aluminum shovels and one very old steel scoop shovel. The scoop came from my Levittown home when I was a kid. The ends were curled from years of hitting the cement and the handle was cracked and ready to give out.

I bought two shovels. One is a scoop/push style, and the other is a straight snow shovel. They are made from spring steel with wooden handles and a plastic handle on the end.
Now, many of my neighbors have upgraded to snow blowers/throwers over the years because our driveways are fairly big. When we get a lot of snow, it's becomes a real chore for them to use the old style shovels.

There is one neighbor who goes down the street with a large John Deere tractor with a snow thrower on the front. This is a very expensive machine because the guy also does lawn care during the summers.
He knows I like to shovel in order to get exercise. I really need to be forced to get outside this time of year, and shoveling the new driveway and sidewalk is a great incentive to do so.
So, he will hit the bottom of my driveway only. That's the area where the snow plow goes and delivers the very heavy slushy stuff as he drives by. The snow piles there are almost impossible to shovel and are usually a lot deeper than the regular snow.

So, he takes that out for me and then goes on down the street.

As you can see from the pictures, we got a two part snow storm yesterday, and last night. The first one hit in the morning. It made school bus driving a real nightmare. I got home 45 minutes later than normal. There was just enough snow to make it very slick, although there were times that I thought we were going to get buried. But, it turned out to only be a couple of inches and it stopped around noon.

I came home all excited because I was going to be able to get a decent workout, and lo and behold, my driveway and sidewalk were already finished. Two local kids were walking by and they did the shoveling for me. That is a rare event anymore in this day and age, so I thanked them for their help, and vowed to beat them to the punch the next time. I did pay them, even though they didn't ask for anything.

So, last night, the storm kicked in again, and dropped about a foot of wet snow on us.
I got up at my regular time (5:10am), ate, got dressed and started shoveling. I had to clear the snow off the school bus first, so I started it up and let it warm up in order to speed up the operation. I did the whole bottom of the driveway and then moved the bus down while watching the plow come by and cover up the bottom of the driveway.
Then, I did the top. By this time, schools were closed, so I went inside to take a break. I came back out and moved the Blue car and finished the whole top of the driveway. I then moved both vehicles back up and did the full bottom. By this time, the John Deere guy had come through, so my driveway was finished.
Then, I headed to the front of the house and watched the sun come up, and finished the sidewalk and the neighbor's sidewalk and fire hydrant as mentioned above. I got my time in the sun. I guess people going by must have thought I was nuts because I just stood there in the sun leaning against my shovel handle while soaking up the sun!
I finished the work around 9:15, with time off in between. I worked at a steady pace, but I know my limits and took my time.

Now, this story is fairly uneventful, and might even be considered a bit boring.
But, three years ago, I couldn't have done any of this work on my own.

I have to say honestly, that I am going to be sore tomorrow, but had I done this work 3 years ago, I would be dead instead.

Oh what wonderful progress!

I did get a shower and took a nap today, and I might even go back out tonight for a walk around the super market.

Wow, like the tire cover says....Life is Good!