I AM the snowblower
Well it finally happened. The skies burst open last night and gave us a whalllop of the white stuff. Mother Nature couldn't possibly have started with a small sprinkling, oh no, she had to welcome winter with a big snowy party.
Now, most of you don't know that Shaun and I have been arguing about getting another snowblower. What most of you probably don't know is that we had one... briefly... last year. We purchased it second hand from Shaun's Grandmother's elderly neighbours before they went into a retirement facility. The snowblower was GREAT until it comitted suicide and blead all over the drive way. One of the piston shafts had broken loose, and a piece of metal exploded out the side nearly missing Shaun. The resulting oil leak made the whole mess very graphic. We actually managed to sell the thing to a guy who was planning to fix it. And so it was just us, and the shovels.
It actually worked out quite well. In the morning, I would shovel while I waited to be picked up by a friend for work, and in the evening, Shaun would finish the job. I got in a lot of trouble last year for shovelling snow! Apparently pregnant women are supposed to sit in the living room with a cup of hot chocolate and watch their husbands labour to move the heavy white stuff. Oh well. No harm done as far as I can tell.
So the debate continued from last winter until now, mostly with Shaun telling me we NEEDED a snowblower, and me frugally telling him we didn't. And so it was settled: I would shovel. I would LOVE to shovel. I would want to shovel even when there was only 1/2 an inch of the white stuff on the driveway. I would dream about shovelling and wake up enthusiastic to do so. We didn't need no expensive, gas-powered contraption!
And so, after dragging myself out of bed this morning, and opening the curtain I was a mix of enthusiastic and mortified. What had I done? What had I comitted myself to? But I put on a brave face, got into my snow-shovelling clothes, donned my coat and boots and despite Shaun's evil grin, went outside to tackle winter's gift.
Getting started was easy. I cleared the porch and walkway. "Ha!" I thought, this was going to be a breeze. But then I got to the hard stuff, the 7 inches in the drive. It was HEAVY wet stuff, and the worst part was my glasses fogged up and since EVERYTHING was white, I could barely see anything.
But, like a master snow-ramp builder, I set to work building ramps to drump the snow over, and slowly but surely the black pavement began to appear. I must admit that about half way through clearning the drive, I was tempted to drag myself inside and beg Shaun to go buy me a snowblower. But after I got over the initial exhaustion, I was invigorated, and seeing the pavement appear and grow was quite motivational. I even cleaned off the van. And then shoveled the mess that made.
So will we end up getting a snowblower? I hope not. Will I be completely sick of the white stuff before Christmas? Definetly!
Now, most of you don't know that Shaun and I have been arguing about getting another snowblower. What most of you probably don't know is that we had one... briefly... last year. We purchased it second hand from Shaun's Grandmother's elderly neighbours before they went into a retirement facility. The snowblower was GREAT until it comitted suicide and blead all over the drive way. One of the piston shafts had broken loose, and a piece of metal exploded out the side nearly missing Shaun. The resulting oil leak made the whole mess very graphic. We actually managed to sell the thing to a guy who was planning to fix it. And so it was just us, and the shovels.
It actually worked out quite well. In the morning, I would shovel while I waited to be picked up by a friend for work, and in the evening, Shaun would finish the job. I got in a lot of trouble last year for shovelling snow! Apparently pregnant women are supposed to sit in the living room with a cup of hot chocolate and watch their husbands labour to move the heavy white stuff. Oh well. No harm done as far as I can tell.
So the debate continued from last winter until now, mostly with Shaun telling me we NEEDED a snowblower, and me frugally telling him we didn't. And so it was settled: I would shovel. I would LOVE to shovel. I would want to shovel even when there was only 1/2 an inch of the white stuff on the driveway. I would dream about shovelling and wake up enthusiastic to do so. We didn't need no expensive, gas-powered contraption!
And so, after dragging myself out of bed this morning, and opening the curtain I was a mix of enthusiastic and mortified. What had I done? What had I comitted myself to? But I put on a brave face, got into my snow-shovelling clothes, donned my coat and boots and despite Shaun's evil grin, went outside to tackle winter's gift.
Getting started was easy. I cleared the porch and walkway. "Ha!" I thought, this was going to be a breeze. But then I got to the hard stuff, the 7 inches in the drive. It was HEAVY wet stuff, and the worst part was my glasses fogged up and since EVERYTHING was white, I could barely see anything.
But, like a master snow-ramp builder, I set to work building ramps to drump the snow over, and slowly but surely the black pavement began to appear. I must admit that about half way through clearning the drive, I was tempted to drag myself inside and beg Shaun to go buy me a snowblower. But after I got over the initial exhaustion, I was invigorated, and seeing the pavement appear and grow was quite motivational. I even cleaned off the van. And then shoveled the mess that made.
So will we end up getting a snowblower? I hope not. Will I be completely sick of the white stuff before Christmas? Definetly!
posted by Deb at
11/17/2005 11:16:00 AM
