Snow ....Snow ....S**t

And now my story from the great Valentines Blizzard of '07. First of all I really wouldn't call this a blizzard, it was more of a bad snow storm. Now 1978, that was a blizzard, but I know that people around us got it a lot worse and I would not want to live where Carrie lives for any amount of money. We got to leave work early on Tuesday since the roads were getting worse, and it was a little slow going home. Good news and bad news sorta thing. I go highway pretty much the whole drive where the good news was that there wasn't alot of traffic, but the bad news is that the highway is out in the country so there isn't much keeping the wind from drifting the road pretty bad. When I got home I was able to get some of the snow shoveled. I knew there was more on the way, but with the levels of snow that they predicted I figured I better get ahead of it. I try to get to the driveway as soon as possible for two very good reasons. One is because I try and get the driveway shoveled before we drive on it since there is no worse feeling then shoveling snow and then getting the handle shoved into your stomach with the abrupt stop of a rut. The second reason is that our driveway is uphill and pretty steep so if it isn't cleared it usually takes one or two runs at the driveway to get into the garage (like it did when I got home). Now if it's just a little snow I will just shovel it pretty quick, but with this much snow I decided to fire up the snowblower. It took me a few minutes to get it to fire. All I can say is thank God for electric start since pull starting that thing would have killed me like in the good old days. I took the first pass down the middle of the driveway and got into the thicker stuff the plow had put at the end of the driveway and stalled it (damn). Now when you stall this blower it takes quite a bit to get it restarted since it floods the engine. So back up the garage to plug it back in again and I kept hitting the button to start it. I figured that I would let it sit for a few minutes in case it was flooded. Of course I didn't do what I should of last spring and ran the gas out of it so I was dealing with old gas also. So I begin to shovel, and shovel, and shovel. I get half the driveway done and try and fire up the blower and nothing happens. I am shoveling my driveway and I am thinking a couple of different things as I look at the blower sitting in the garage. "Is the blower mocking me? It sure looks like it is." Like it is a little payback for not draining the gas in the spring or getting fresh gas before this winter. The other thing I am thinking is that people are driving by the house and see me shoveling snow with a blower sitting at the top of the driveway. I was waiting for someone to stop by and say, "you know that thing at the top of the driveway blows the snow for ya." I felt kinda like an idiot, but I was hoping it would eventually start and I could make quick work of the rest of the driveway. I finally got it started and was able to finish up the rest of the drive in a few minutes compared to the half hour it took me to shovel.

The next day I was one of the few who made it into work and when I got home Jen and I went out for Valentines day. We originally were going out, then we weren't, then we were, then we weren't, freaking weather. I was attempting to be real slick with Valentines day when we were planning on going out. I put a change of clothes in the car (nice clothes, tie, etc) earlier in the week and thought that I would change at work and we would meet at the restaurant and I would surprise her in my nice clothes. Nope. Wednesday when I went to work I took the Jeep since it is a 4x4 and left my clothes in the car. damn. We ended up having a nice dinner at Triangle Park and then headed home (Grandma watched the kids, but we had to be home before Idol came on so grandma could watch, she is hooked).

Thursday by the time I got home from work we had driven on the driveway for two days so the tire ruts were really built up. damn. I tried staring up the blower and couldn't get it to fire. So I break out the shovel and do the driveway again with the blower mocking me again (much like Wilson in Castaway). Abrupt stops of hitting the tire ruts pissing me off. I tried occasionally to start it, but it wouldn't fire so I ended up shoveling the whole thing by hand. I ended up getting out an actual shovel to knock down the ruts to make the driveway all pretty. One thing for sure, I am definitely going to drain the gas this spring and get fresh gas next winter. Either that or a can of Ether. (Good note for MR)