Snow Blows…Part 2!

7 Feb

Today was my day. The snow had stopped, the sun came out and I was able to at least get out of my neighborhood.

My stomach had been in knots ever since I heard that we were going to get almost two feet of snow, all while both Bill AND my parents were out of town. Thankfully enough we live in a townhouse, and have “people” who come and plow our street and shovel our walkways.

OK, I’ll admit, yesterday I shoveled my own walkway and parking spot, but it was easy and didn’t take me long. This morning I was wishing I had let the team of landscapers do it for me since I was sore as hell.

My next, and more difficult task still lay ahead. My parent’s driveway. I couldn’t in good consciousness let them come home to 2 feet of snow in their driveway. So off I went, risking life and limb just to get the kids and myself across town to their house. Once I got there it became apparent what my first hurdle will be…Just getting the kids in the house. The township plows had more than blocked the driveway and the driveway itself had 2+ feet of snow on it.

I slowed down as I got to the driveway and thought, “what the hell?”, I got a running start into the driveway, slid sideways and got stuck with the snow about half way up the grill (of my Jeep Commander). I had no choice, I had to get off the street. I knew I would be able to get back out when I needed to.

Next, I had to carry the boys, one at a time up the GIANT hill my parents live on top of. By the time that was done I thought for sure I was going to have a heart attack and die, luckily, I did not.

I took a bunch of pictures of the snowblower and sent them to Bill so he could see what I was looking at and talk me through getting the thing started.

By this point, I am panting and feeling more than overwhelmed. Bill talks me through the steps of getting the snowblower stared without blowing it up, and he might as well be speaking to me in Spanish (which he could do if he needed to). Now I’m crying because I’m panicked that if I can’t get the damn thing going I’m going to have to do it by hand, which would kill me for sure.

I get everything set where it needs to be and it’s time to pull that long string thinger to start it. My stretch is to short! I have to almost jump away from the thing to pull the crank, and it’s not turning over. STILL CRYING. Finally, it starts!

I pull the leaver to start the auger (spinny things) and it shoots out a newspaper, or I guess I should say small pieces of newspaper. Oh well, I don’t think they wanted to read it anyway.

Off I went, down the hill. I did my first pass, “Man, this is pretty cool!” I made the turn to start back up, snow in the face! Forgot to turn the spewer thing. As I leaned forward to turn it, I must have hit the ignition switch, cause it died…Half way UP the hill. Of course I had no idea why it stopped, so I called Bill.

A few passes later, the hill was clear and starting to dry. I danced my way up and down the driveway singing the We Did It song from Dora the Explorer. Of course I changed to I Did It. “I used the snowblower and cleaned the driveway off, I did it, I did it, I did it hurray!”

Next task, get the Jeep dug out. I used a shovel for that, and that sucked, but I did that too. I was shocked I was able to get it out of the snow without ripping the front bumper off.

You’re probably wondering where my kids are at this point. Logan was in his crib (at my parent’s house) sleeping, and Cameron was watching TV and playing with his toys. I came in to feed Cameron and get him in for a nap and out I went to tackle the top of the driveway.

Before I went in to get Cameron, I noticed that the snowblower wasn’t throwing snow very far and was getting harder and harder to use. There was a good reason for that…It was helplessly clogged with snow. UGH! I left in in the sun while I was in with Cameron and was able to scrape it all out when I went back outside. I’ll tell ya, even with the thing off, I was afraid to stick my hand in there.

The top of the driveway sucked! I had a hard time figuring out which way to move the spewer thing, so it was either pelting me with snow or covering what I had already done. I got just enough done so they could get up when they get home and get their cars out if they need to.

Today was a big day for me. I faced my fear of all things mechanical, and did it. Once I kind of got the hang of it, it wasn’t so bad, almost relaxing. Well, that is until I came in and sat down, now I hurt! All that’s left for me to do now is get the kids in bed and take a nice, hot shower. Man, I would kill for a jacuzzi tub!

I also feel I need to give MAJOR props to Bill. He took his time and was patient with me when I was on the verge of being hysterical crying on the phone and if it wasn’t for him I would probably be dead in my parent’s driveway with a shovel in my hand. Thanks honey!!

Go out and conquer your fears…It’s a GREAT feeling!

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