How to Avoid Shovelling Snow

After the storm, Dave and I knew we had a lot of clean up to do.  So after breakfast, we bundled up and went outside.  Dave cleared about half of the driveway in front of the garage using the snow blower.  I helped him clear the Jeeps of snow, and then together we got most of the snow off the snowmobiles and the trailer. 

Let it be know that after this, I went to work continuing to shovel.  I cleared the back steps and the deck from this:

To this:

Do you like how the snow pile is almost level with the deck?

While I was busy with that, Dave decided it was time to play. And by play, I mean start up his snowmobile and run it up and down the street.  Behold (and excuse my shaky camera work):

It didn't take him 5 minutes to load the sled back on the trailer.  It took about 15 minutes worth of trying (I finished shoveling the deck by this point), and then he stopped because he couldn't get the sled lined up and kept sinking into the fluffy snow.  But before he moved on to clear the driveway, I needed to do one thing. 

I attempted to make a snow angel, but once I got on top of the snow, I kind of sunk in a few inches and then couldn't move my arms or legs to make wings.  Dave helped me up, but I think it looks more like the snow version of a chalk body outline in a crime scene than a snow angel.

We went inside, warmed up and grabbed some lunch, then went back out to finish the job.  Dave finally got to work and cleared the drive way (and put the sled back on the trailer), while I cleared the front steps.  I intended to walk towards the front door and then clear the snow backwards, from the door to the driveway.  Unfortunately, I went about 5 steps before I ran into a drift that came up to my hips and I could got any further.  So I started shoveling from there.  Luckily it was light and fluffy snow, so it wasn't hard.  But since there was 2 feet of it, it took multiple shovelfuls in the same spot to get down to the concrete.

A little fun and some mildly back-breaking labor, and we can get our cars up and down the driveway.  More importantly, we were able to get the trailer down the driveway and go snowmobiling in Hollis, NH with our friends Felise and Nick on Sunday.

Photo Op! Nick and Felise

And then Dave and me.

My brother texted me on Sunday if I preferred 2 feet of snow or morning jack hammers from a water main break.  The snow.  Definitely the snow.

Thanks for the snowmobile pictures, Felise!

Time Lapsed Photography (Blizzard 2013)

I owe you updates on our trip to Florida and our adventure in buying a new washing machine, but I'll give you the most timely update first. 

We got a bit of snow. 

Like a couple feet.

The official (according to the news) amount is over 24 inches for our town, but Dave thinks it was closer to 20 inches.  Hard to tell since the wind during this storm was so fierce (and continued to be so after the storm), that the drifting was pretty bad. 

The story goes that while the weather reports indicated early this week that we'd see snow this weekend, it wasn't until Wednesday that things started looking like this would be a storm, then something more than a storm.  Luckily most people took the warnings seriously and on Friday we got down to business.  Knowing the storm was expected to hit during the evening rush hour, most places indicated they'd close business at noon, and my work was no exception.  I took the train into work, left at noon and Dave picked me up since he's be able to navigate the weather in his Jeep fairly well.  Luckily it was just starting to snow heavily, but the roads were still traveled enough that it was just wet on the main highway, and only slight coating on the back roads.  We got home, hunkered down and had lunch and at 1:30 pm on Friday, I sent out this picture:

2/8/13 1:30 pm

Then we watched it accumulate.

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At about 9:00 pm, Dave wanted to try to clear some of the snow to make it easier on himself for the final clean up.  So he cleared about 8 inches of snow off the driveway, while it was still coming down hard and the wind was blowing at sustained speeds of over 30 mph.

I took another picture before bed.

2/8/13 10:39 pm

However, I knew it would be a much different sight in the morning.

2/9/13 8:32 am

Finally, at about 11 am, the snow stopped falling, clouds actually began to part, and the winds slowed down to just big gusts.

2/9/13 9:43 am

2/9/13 11:02 am

So we had a lot of clean up to do, but that's it's own story.  Of course.

Sleds & Snow

On Sunday morning, Dave and I got our stuff together and drove again up to Hollis, NH, to take our snowmobiles out for a little drive.  We belong to a group called Hollis No'Easters, a group of snowmobilers who maintain the trails in the Hollis area.  We went to Silver Lake again and this time, we went on a different set of trails, a little wider, a little more rolling, and as it turned out, a little more fun.

Shortly after getting on the trail, we found ourselves in an apple orchard, which was pretty cool.  Then a little while later, we were in a town park.  The trails are multi-use, meaning they aren't just reserved for snowmobilers.  Again, we saw people hiking with their dogs, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  This was a pretty popular area because the trail cuts through the park, but either side of the trail is restricted and snowmobiles aren't allowed, so people can play with their dogs, make snow angels, etc.

We ended up going almost 9 miles out on this trail, crossing roads and bridges, going around some quick turns and bumpy patches.  It's starting to get a little warm for January so some spots were sparse with snow, but it was still fun.  After a little break, we turned around a headed back.  Dave and I can't figure out why, but the trail was a lot more fun on the way back.  Maybe it was because we were familiar with it. Maybe because we were going uphill.  Or maybe because we were a little more comfortable with our snowmobiles.  Regardless, we had a good time. 

Then we got back to the orchard.  There were a few other snowmobilers out, but not many and the orchard was empty.  Even though we couldn't talk to each other, apparently Dave and I both had the same idea: Time to open this sucker up.  I hit the throttle and just went for it.  When I did look down and see that I was just shy of 30 mph, I laughed and let off a bit, pleased that I had the guts to do it.  Dave had a similar experience, but his sled was a little quick on the gas and he shot forward, getting up to 30 pretty quickly.

We had a great day out. It'll be too warm to be any fun this weekend, but hopefully over the next few week's New Hampshire will get a little more snow (notice how I qualified where I wanted the snow to be?) and we can go play some more before the end of the month.

First Run...Almost Made It

So last night, Central Massachusetts got it's first meaningful snow for the season.  We got a dusting for Christmas and about an inch on Friday morning.  But last night, we got about 10 inches of fresh, fluffy snow.  And Dave couldn't be happier.  All night he kept running to the windows,checking the accumulation.  Actually, I'm surprised he didn't wake up and jump up and down on the bed, exclaiming about how much snow we got.  I'm very proud that he didn't.

While we wanted to take our snowmobiles out, we haven't registered them yet and today the agent office was closed.  So we went cross country skiing at Great Brook Ski Touring Center.  It was a great day for it.  The sun came out, the powder was perfect for gliding, and I only fell once (over some ice at the very beginning). 

Dave and I came back home and cleared out some snow from around the house and Dave killed the downspout with the snow blower.

The little dark chunks to the left of the downspout are more pieces of downspout.  Dave is ashamed.

Then we decided to have some real fun.  Even though our snowmobiles aren't registered, we can ride them on our own property.  Behold: Dave turning our backyard into his own private, albeit tiny, snowmobile trail. (My apologies for the sideways-ness of this video...I actually thought I was taking it correctly.)

It was actually pretty fun.  Until we went to put the sled back on the trailer and Dave came up the slight incline only to run out of gas.  We didn't have that much gas in it to begin with, and I'm sure the slight tilt didn't help, but it was pretty funny to see that after going around the yard about 8 times, he didn't have enough in the tank to bring it home.

So close, yet so far.  Dave is again ashamed.

So on Dave's agenda for tomorrow is registering the snow mobiles and stopping for gas on the way home so we can get the sled back on the trailer (and hopefully go out on a real trail later this week).

This Is What Happens When You Don't Say No

So after last year's Halloween's snowstorm followed up promptly by a winter of, well, no snow, Dave is very anxious to get this winter started and bring on what he predicts will be snow of epic proportions.  I won't lie, I am kind of interested in it snowing so we can go cross-country skiing, since there are trails near our house.  Dave's excited by that prospect as well, but he's more excited about this.

Yes, those our snowmobiles and yes, they are ours.  Because I never told my husband no.  Truth be told, I'm excited about them too.  A few years ago, we took a winter trip to New Hampshire for some cross-country skiing and decided to rent a snowmobile.  It was kind of awesome.  Freezing cold, but awesome.  So when Dave told me he had "the need for speed" (yup, he used those words) and then made his argument, I could find no holes to poke in it, no ill-founded logic, and no reason to say no.  I never actually said yes, but I didn't discourage him.

So now, thanks to Craig's List, we have 2 sleds that will each hold two people (so we can take friends!) and a trailer to pull them with.  We decided to get two sleds so we could each drive (which is really the most fun part) and because on that bitter cold day a few years ago, we realized it's the driver who stays warm, so if we intend to go out for a few hours, we both want the advantages of the hand warmers and foot guards.  (Don't worry, friends.  These sleds actually have heated handle bars and foot guards in the back, so you'll be safe.  We didn't know that was an option until we already decided to get two sleds.  And I'll let you drive.  Maybe Dave will, too.)

November snow in Boston.

Thanks to the snow we got recently, Dave's quite anxious to get on the trails.  I could wait a bit, but yes, I'm looking forward to it too.  Especially looking forward to some snow over Christmas so we can take my Dad out (that sound is my brother getting jealous). 

But for the record, since I didn't say no to snowmobiles and let my husband drive a Lamborghini, I'm still waiting for my medal and/or cash prize (eh, just cash prize) for being the best wife ever. 

Three & a Half Days

That's important, but I'll get there in a moment.

It all started last Thursday, October 27th.  The weather reports called a for a bit of snow, nothing major.  Dave picked me up from the train station and as soon as I got in his Jeep, giant, fat flakes started hitting the windshield.

Did I mention this was October?

By the time we'd finished dinner and cleaned up, our yard looked like this.  Why, yes those are Halloween decorations.  And no, they aren't covered in snow because we left them out until December.  In fact, Halloween was still a few days away.

We'd made our plans to go out with friends to dress up in our costumes and celebrate Halloween for Saturday night.  A few people were going to come to our place first and then we'd meet others for dinner out before heading to various bars and parties.  We wanted to enter and win as many costume contests as possible.

Before people arrived, Dave and I decorated our pumpkins.  We picked these little guys up from the orchard that afternoon and since they were too small to carve, we got a little creative.  Aren't they adorable?

I made the one on the left and Dave made the little guy on the right

But then, well, I'll just let the video explain it.

So the snow kept coming.  Rachel and John arrived first, trying to get to our place (they came in from closer to Boston) before the snow got too heavy.  Then Stacy arrived, apparently just before her family lost power at their home.  Finally, as the roads got worse with the heavy, wet, slippery snow Nick made his way to our house.  Decked out in costume, we were finally ready to meet Cindy and Keith for dinner.

Nick and Stacy as a 1940's lounge couple

Why, yes, we are the Scooby Doo Mystery Gang.  Minus Scooby Doo.  Minor detail.

We left a little earlier than we'd anticipated because Cindy and Keith lost power before they were finished getting costumes on, so we moved up the timetable.  Might as well find a place with lights and heat, right?

We piled into Dave's Jeep (someone may or may not have been relegated to riding in the tailgate) and with the 4-wheel drive, we were able to get to TGIFriday's in one piece.  While the roads were rough from the snow, luckily there weren't a lot of people out so Dave, per usual, made his own lane and went around all the people that forgot how to drive in the snow.  Because it was, after all, October.

Supposedly TGIFriday's was doing a costume contest.  I say supposedly because at this point we were the only 8 people in the restaurant, other than staff, dressed in costume.  And there were probably only another half dozen tables even seated.  Like I said, not a lot of people were out.

Cindy turned herself into a cutie cupcake! She has sprinkles, too.

Keith had a professional do his make up for the Joker from the hospital scene in the Dark Knight.

We ate, drank, and were merry and for the first time, someone in our group won the costume contest!  (Bound to happen, but who knew we would need these circumstances?)  Keith won, which was awesome.  He even earned a Best Buy gift certificate to celebrate.

Two things: 1) Cindy looked delicious and 2) I'm not actually touching her boob.  Seriously.

At some point the power surged in the restaurant and as we looked out the windows, all the lights in the shopping plaza were out.  Slowly they came back on, but it was rather ominous.  Snow plows cleared the parking lots and surrounding roads, but the snow continued to come down hard and heavy.  Stacy attributed the power surge to the power lines reacting to the snow, "And the power lines were like, whoa!  It's October."

We decided to head back to the house and forgo our plans to hit up other bars--the roads were just too bad.  Cindy and Keith attempted to hit up one party (inspired by his win, Keith hoped to get there in time to enter the costume contest and double down).  Slowly made our way home.  I didn't really notice much other than the snow on the highway and the few cars on the road.  I honestly can't remember if I looked at the mall or other shopping plazas we passed.  But when we got into our community, it was that weird bright darkness of being black skies and the moon reflecting off thick white snow.  We pulled onto our street and that's when Dave and I both realized the bright darkness was eerie not because it was so near to Halloween, but because there were no artificial lights softening the darkness.  Power went out in our neighborhood too.

Our poor little maple tree doesn't normally touch the ground.

This storm was rough.  All night we heard the crack of tree limbs and in a few cases heard them fall to the ground, or worse, onto cars, sheds and homes. Luckily Stacy moved her car just before we left. Otherwise, a huge branch from our neighbors' tree would have landed right on her windshield.

The roads were rough, it was getting cold, and we knew everyone would be spending the night with us, unable to get home, so we needed a plan.  Dave called his parents.  They still had power so he decided to cautiously hit the road and make his way to their house and borrow a generator.  The guys headed out and Rachel, Stacy and I stayed back buried under blankets and listening to the trees crack and fall.

The whole scene reminded Stacy and I of a recent winter storm.  Three years ago there was a massive ice storm that hit Central Massachusetts.  People, including Stacy, were without power for up to 2 weeks.  That was the week before Christmas.

This was October.

Dave's parent's town also lost a lot of power by the time the guys arrived.  There were lots of downed trees and wires and it took Dave three attempts to fine a clear path to his parent's house.  When the guys arrived, Madaline and Ernie had just lost power, but they actually have two generators and hadn't yet winterized their camper, so they generously let their little generator go off into the night.  In the morning they would wake up to find a tree across their driveway.  So it was good that Dave didn't wait until morning.

When they came back, Dave got some heat and hot water running and we all prepared to bundle up and go to sleep.  I keep stacks of blankets in the house, so everyone was comfy and warm through the night despite the temperature drop to about 30 degrees.  The heavy, wet snow packed down on itself, but we suspect there was about 14 inches out there. (October.)  In the morning, Dave brought up the heat.  The day before I'd mentioned to everyone that I'd planned to make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.  But since I don't have an electric griddle or a gas stove, that went out the window when the power ceased.  I do, however, have a waffle maker so I still came through with a hot breakfast for our weary crew.

The sun was shining and bright. Since Dave and I were the only ones who had the appropriate gear (why would anyone think to pack snow boots in an overnight bag in OCTOBER?) we cleaned off cars, snow blew (?) the driveway and shoveled the walks.  Stacy and Rachel did my dishes.  It was a win-win. 

After the storm.  Still October.

Since the roads we clear and drying quickly, everyone was able to make it home safely.  We still didn't have any power, but my husband is awesome.  For most people a power outage would mean they could not longer be connected to the world and things like watching football would seem trivial compared to heating your home.

I am not most people.

See, on Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers played the New England Patriots.  Being a Steelers fan in another market is difficult because I don't often get to see the games.  But upon seeing the schedule for this season, I knew I was guaranteed at least this one glorious game.  Something as minor as not having power was not going to stop me.

Dave and I decided that since we have beer, whiskey and blankets in our house, there was no need to run the generator for heat between the hours of 4 pm and 7 pm, when the game was on.  So we sat in our darken home, watching our television feature the Steelers' dominance over the Patriots.  It might have been my favorite game ever.  (Especially after being at Heinz Field for last year's match-up).  We definitely confused the people driving down our street who slowed down and looked in our window.  I presume they were scratching their heads wondering how in the world we got our cable to work with no power. (Answer: We didn't.  It's called an antenna and it's what the world used before Comcast took over. Get one.)

So we spent the next 3 days using the little generator that could to cycle between the heat, the fridge and the TV.  We took showers and had hot meals and generally made it work. It helps that Dave is Mountain Man and is always prepared, too.  Throughout those days, a chorus of generators sang in the whole neighborhood and the pungent odor of burning gasoline permeated the air, but those of us that road out those powerless three and a half days rejoiced when at 10 am on Wednesday the lights came on.  Dave, who was home (I'd gone to work), was tempted to run around and turn on everything he could.  But he restrained himself and instead called his parents and invited them to come take showers.  They ended up getting their power back on Wednesday evening.  Cindy and Keith got theirs on Wednesday night.  Stacy got her's on Monday afternoon, but she deserved it after being out over the holidays for 12 days just a few short years ago.

So now we're back on the grid.  Since we managed so well, I think I'm most appreciative of being able to do my hair in the morning (those few days at work, I was looking pretty rough) and being able to see my food when I eat.  We have black plates and bowls, so I was never sure if I finished my meal.

All the leaves are still on the trees, we've had over a foot of snow already, and this better not be a premonition for the winter to come.

After all, this was October.

Boogie Woogie Woogie

Success!  After losing power for over 3 1/2 days we're back on the grid.  I came to work today (and yesterday) and am happy to report that we now have power again following the outage during the freak Halloween weekend snowstorm that also interrupted our Halloween party plans (but we still had a great time.  More on that later--now there are other things to tend to.) 

Willing Spring to Come

This winter has been painful.  Aside from the 80+ inches of snow we got, it's been so cold and windy throughout March and into April that I'm beginning to believe winter will never end.  EVER.  I've been willing spring to come--refusing to wear my heavy winter coat (I've been layering underneath my fall/spring jacket), pulling out my fun and funky spring/summer sandals and heels, even getting pedicures in March with Cindy was a signal to spring that it was welcome to come around.

Seriously, this is what I woke up to on April 1st:

April Fool's, suckers!

But alas, none of this is working.  To the point that a colleague who was born and raised in Boston commented that this winter has been so bad and has lasted so long that its enough to drive someone out of New England. 

Wow.  I expect a comment like that from me, but not from a lifer.

Of course by now you know that one of Dave's and my favorite warm weather activities is mini golf.  And I'm eager to continue the dominance that I relished in last season, what with my holes in one and beating Dave on more than one occasion (yes, beating him twice is considered dominance in my world.  As my dad says, you're only as good as your last game).

At Christmas-time, I'd noticed that our local mall had replaced the Gap/Gap Kids store with an indoor Glow Golf course.  Very intriguing.  While we had no interest in checking it out during winter break (mall rats and all), we kept saying that we should go do it sometime.  Finally, we decided that it might be an indicator to the Spring gods that we were ready if we did some mini golf.  So we went to the mall the other night and started our season early.

Guess what?  If you go to the mall on a school night after dinner, there won't be as many mall rats to annoy you.  In fact, there won't be anyone at all in the glow golf.

We had the place to ourselves and it was a pretty good set up.  They actually have 2 eighteen hole courses that wrap throughout the two stores (the stores adjoined in the middle) and for $9 each, we could do both courses and then if we wanted to, we could pick our favorite and do it again.  It's like less than 17 cents a hole.  Awesome date night value.  Although the clerk told us they had apparently run out of the little pencils so we weren't able to keep score.  Not necessarily a bad thing.

That dark circle thing in the middle of this hole is a loop-the-loop (two side by side).  And it's metal.  And when you miss the lead into it and hit the side, it makes a very loud noise.  Every time you hit it.

You know what's hard?  Mini golf in the dark.  Well, it wasn't entirely dark, because the glowing aspects were quite bright and neon.  And the course was hard.  They had a lot of stuff in the way (I know that's the point, but I mean there was A LOT of stuff on the greens in the worst places).  Plus, since it was dark, seeing the slight dips and bumps was very difficult.  And even the holes that didn't have a lot of obstacles required a 180 degree turn to get remotely close to the pin. 

The good news is that I got a hole-in-one on the second hole.  The bad news is that I was otherwise terrible.  The first course was a disaster--I probably mulligan-ed my first shot of the tee on at least 7 of the holes.  Dave had some do-overs, but wasn't quite as awful as me.  In the end we both ended up with two holes-in-one, but I know on the first course, he probably beat me by 10.  The second course was better and I think we were more evenly matched.  We opted not to take them up on the offer to play our favorite course again.

I don't know if we'll go back--I don't think I could tolerate it had there been a bunch of people.  And it would have been slow going if there were children.  But we did have fun, mostly laughing at how bad we were.  Maybe we were just rusty--after all, it's been months since we played.  Either way, we had a good time. And since we didn't keep score, I was able to convince Dave that I beat him and made him buy me ice cream at Dairy Queen when we were through. 

Snow Time = Play Time, Apparently

The thing with having an Akita in your home is that she doesn't understand why you don't want to play in the snow too.

Panda's been a bit of a challenge for us, but she's making great strides.  When we first brought her home, we didn't want her bounding about in the yard (big and fenced in which would make any dog happy) for two reasons.  The first was that she had just been spayed, so she had fresh stitches and we didn't want her to hurt herself.  The other was that the snow banks were so high that there was less than a foot of said fence remaining.  And since Panda is a dog bred to climb through snow, she could have easily walked or jumped right over the fence.

So we've been keeping her on her leash and walking with her in the snow.  Except that because unlike her, we sink in the snow, we stayed on the path that Dave made with the snow blower and she could only go up to six feet off the path (as long as the leash). 

She really didn't like this idea. 

Dave got a long lead and we started using that, but still she had limited mobility and couldn't run through the snow like she wanted.  Feeling bad for her lack of romping, on Saturday, after taking her on a walk, we came back home and I decided to do a test.  The snow has been melting, exposing more of the fence (maybe about half).  We came back in to yard and I took off her leash and replaced it with the long lead.  And then I just let her go.  I figured the lead was long enough that if she started to go somewhere, I could catch the end and lead her back into the yard.

Panda loved it.  For the first time she was exploring areas of the yard previously off limits.  On our walks we've noticed that Panda loves to dig in the snow (and eat it, but that's another story).  Left to her own devices in the back yard (with a little help from the holes where my boot fell in), she was in digging heaven.  Please excuse my finger in the following video--it was sunny out and I couldn't actually see what I was doing.

I did this little test without telling Dave.  He was out Jeeping and I actually was calling him before I started this video but I had to hang up since this activity had to be captured.

The next day I decided to let her off again.  Panda was so excited, since she knew what she'd be able to do.  Again, Dave was out, so I took another video.

But wait, there's more.

It was great, except that when I thought she was going up to the door, ready to go back inside, she took a left turn instead of a right.  Up a bigger snowbank, walked right over the fence, onto a snowbank in the neighbors yard and started to go down the steps into their backyard.  Oops.  I caught the end of the lead just in time and successfully got her back into our yard.  When Dave came home, he took a little off the top of the "Snowbank to Freedom."

You know what happens when you let a dog run around outside?  They get really tired.  Or play dead--I can't tell which.

She's actually sleeping like that--it's not a random stretch.  She lays like that for 20 minutes or more.  Sometimes I ask her if she's still alive.  Dave says she's just hoping we'll come over there and rub her belly.

Fun in the Snow

There just aren't enough hours in the day.  We'll leave it at that.

With all the snow that we've had, getting roughly 6 feet so far this winter, we've had to find a way to have some fun with it.  Eventually I dug out our Steeler gnome.  He was really well buried!  I haven't even attempted find the Red Sox gnome.  Frankly, I was more concerned about the Steeler gnome, since Pittsburgh's in the Super Bowl (more on that later). 

Anyway, Dave and I decided to make a snowman.  Unfortunately, we decided to do it after a fluffy snow storm, so the snow worked against us. 

This bummed Dave out more than it probably should have. But, ever the problem-solver, he got a spray bottle (typically used for spraying the plants with plant food) and filled it with water.  Slowly but surely, we were able to create the three big, bigger, biggest snowballs for our snowman's body. I think we ended up refilling the "snowman juice" bottle two more times.  It really worked.  We were able to make the balls, attached them, and sculpt his body.  Can't say Dave had a bad idea when he broke out the snowman juice.

We finished him off using our snowman kit.  He looks pretty awesome.  He looked even better when I put an old Steelers practice jersey on him.  He looks less awesome with the additional 12 inches of snow he got covered in over the last couple of days.

Other fun snow things include another afternoon of cross country skiing.  We decided to take the scenic route (and the cheap route) by heading onto some trails in the nearby state park.  It was the first time I'd even been on an ungroomed trail, but we weren't the only ones who had that idea.  We didn't see anyone out, but there had been snowshoers and other nordic skiers around lately and some tracks all around.  Dave did cut fresh tracks in a few areas for us. 

It was so nice to be out again.  The snow was very fluffy and being in the middle of the wood with it all over was really pretty and calming.  Since no one else was around, it was like our own private trail.  The best part (for me) is that since we travelled ungroomed trails, the snowbanks prevented me from falling (or I'm getting better).  I did fall once, sort of, but only leaned forward and ended up with my knees in the snow.  Otherwise,whenever I lost control, my skis made their way under 6 inches of snow and slowed me down.  Hey, whatever works.

Of course, I'm only excited about this because Dave did fall and it was glorious.  Yes, he was standing still.  We had stopped and taken off our skis to cross a brook.  After we hopped over to the other side, we worked on getting the snow off our boots to click back into the skis.  As Dave balanced on his right leg to poke the snow out of his left boot, I watched as he caught himself, but was still leaning to the right.  And then, practically in slow motion, he fell over on his right side.  In the same position when he was standing up. 

Ok, so I may be a little mean because I made him stay there while I took a picture, but it was hilarious.  I couldn't stop laughing.  And he has the benefit of watching me fall all the time, so I had to take advantage of this opportunity.

Why I Can't Complain

For the record, I know I really can't complain too much about the snow. I mean, I do live in New England, so I've been very lucky that the snowfall has been abnormally low lately.  And at least I live on a street that gets plowed no less than three times an hour during a storm (and sometimes when there's no snow at all--but that's only because the truck depot is down the street from us).

My friend Kate grew up in upstate New York and lived in Boston and central Pennsylvania for a while before she vowed that she was moving south because she hated the winter weather.  So she settled in North Carolina.  Good right?  Poor thing has seen more snow than I have in the last two years, and the kicker is that even though she's used to it, I'm sure it's worse for her there.  Because they don't have snow plows and rock salt and drivers that know not to keep their foot on the gas even when they are sliding down an icy road so their tires don't explode and set their car on fire.  So I really can't complain, because while we ended up with over 15 inches from this storm, I survived because I have a secret weapon.  Well, two secret weapons, really.

I have a husband who grew up in New England and knows all about managing in a snowstorm.  And he has this:

Oh yeah.  Go ahead and drool, Southern Snowbunnies.  This is actually our first full season with this bad boy.  Dave had a smaller one that he'd rebuilt so it would work again.  And then when it started to fail again, his dad gave us his snow blower because they get their driveway plowed and no longer need it.  So we're thrilled to have it.

DON'T stick your hand in there!

When Dave got back from snowboarding, he had his work cut out for him.  Even the tire tracks and spot where the Jeep had been before he left were completely recovered in snow. You'd have never know a car had been there for half of the snowfall.




Dave actually had to shovel to get to the snowblower.  But he made it and unlike the old snowblower, it started up right away, blowing the fluffy white flakes out of the way.



See the little pointy part?  I think my gnome is under there somewhere.

 I had to take a little video to show the wind and everything.  All you can hear is the roar of the snowblower engine, so speakers probably aren't necessary.

Dave decided to wear his snowboarding goggles while clearing the driveway, which was actually a really good idea.  It took him a little longer to finish since the wind kept bring the snow back to him.

So yes, I realize that I can't complain.  And my heart goes out to everyone living somewhere that is unprepared or has to cancel school because there's an inch of snow (really?).  Stay warm and be safe!