holy snow

So, when we got home on Monday from Hamilton we could not pull in to the driveway. There was about 30 cm (12 inches) of snow in our way, officially. I say officially, as that is the official record, but it was at least 45-60 cm that I saw in our driveway. The wife's car definitely had at least a foot-and-a-half of snow piled on it. In addition to what nature provided, the municipal plow chucked in at least two more feet (high and deep) at the base of the driveway of hard, compact, dirty snow and ice. 

what we came home to on monday

They used to block the driveway all the time. Until I bitched at the city and my councillor. That was back in the hellacious winter of 2007-2008. The final straw came when about a four foot high and deep pile was left in the driveway of the same kind of snow this past Monday, but even worse. The kicker that time was that there was not much of a snow fall that day. The problem is that the plows come off a main road and our driveway is the first driveway that the snow can spill in to. That year they smashed the Bell box, took out the street signs on the corner, it was awful. When I complained, as I refused to clean it out and my truck was blocking the road in a manner that would make it difficult for traffic to pass by, the councillor sent a front-end loader to clear it out. After that, the plow made a point of not blocking our driveway at all. What was left of the winter, we had it pretty good. The odd guy with a blade on his truck would even push a bunch of snow out of the laneway if they saw me working away at it.

the winter I bitched at the city, the photo does not do it justice

Now, they have been pretty darned good these past nine years. Until Monday. The difference for me this time, is that my buddy Pete gave his snow blower to us this year as he sold his house and no longer needed it. An older heavy-duty Sears Craftsman pig of a blower. Wow, it is awesome. What would have taken at least three to four hours was done in about one.

So, I went out to Russell last night to meet with a Venturer Scout Company. No problem. The forecast was less than 1 cm (less ½ inch). Well, before I left the meeting the wife texted that she had returned home after driving about a dozen kilometres (7½ miles) after attempting to take the boy to his HEMA training. She was on the left side (the wrong side) of the road several times as visibility was crap and you could not see where the road actually was.

Well, I was in for a treat. After the meeting, I cleared the truck off and headed home. Several times I was on the left (wrong) side, in the middle of the road, and on the right shoulder. I could not see where the road actually was and visibility was very crap. Fortunately, other than a bunch of vehicles coming in to Russell, the roads were pretty clear of traffic and I got home alright. This morning, at least 20 cm ( 8 inches) more had fallen and no snow plowed in to the driveway. Yeah! The official tally: 5 cm (2 inches). Polar bear poop! Definitely at least four times that.

I had errands to run today, so I cleaned the truck off and decided to snow blow later. I made a few stops all heading in to the city. I picked up some Four Roses Bourbon, there are only three places in my area where I can get it, so that was first, and some wine for the wife. Then further into the bowels of the city: grocery store for ice cream ingredients for the wife (she is making Mexican chocolate and chili ice cream for dinner at friends' this weekend), cookie ingredients for me as I am making cookies for our Baden-Powell Day (officially, Scout-Guide Week) dinner at the Scout Group next week, a couple of additions for tonight's supper, and kale for the boy's lizard. And a couple of other stops.

spike, the boy's mali uromastyx

Get home, park on the street. Take everything in, put on the old combat boots and one of several Muskoka Dinner Jackets (aka Mackinaw) I have and get that blower blowing. Less than thirty minutes and I am done. So, I used to hate clearing snow, but this past weekend as I mentioned in an earlier post, I do not seem to mind it any more. I enjoy it in an odd way. It has become meditative. It is even calming while snow blowing, I just need to find some ear plugs.

today

While I was in the city, I was talking to a lad working at a store and he mentioned that Sydney, Nova Scotia, where is father is, has gotten it much worse than us. Officially, they got about 45 cm (18 inches) on Monday, but where his dad is, they got 60 cm (2 feet). That and winds up to 90 km/h (55 mph). In the lad's words, "They are getting crushed!" Well, we did not get crushed here in the Valley, but it reminds one; that, for all the beauty and splendour that nature provides, it is not to be trifled with. Hopefully, the snow clearing for the rest of the winter remains Zen-like.

a muskoka dinner jacket

this confident looking stripling is actually just wearing a plaid shirt, but i like the image