This morning we woke up to a beautiful, white blanket of snow! Of course the boys wanted to shovel, so we all bundled up and headed out to rescue our driveway from the countinuous powdering of precipitation. Fred had already left for a meeting, so it was just the boys and me out there plowing away at the heavy stuff that was already on the ground. Even though the neighborhood had that beautiful quiet that occurs after a new snowfall, that quiet was interrupted by the non-natural sounds of many snowblowers. At one point, I stopped to lean on my trusty old shovel and I just laughed out loud as I looked around. All the female neighbors that were out clearing their driveways were using SHOVELS! All the men were using SNOWBLOWERS! You'd think that it would be the other way around, you know, the women being the weaker vessel and the men needing to show their strength. But no. When it comes to snow removal, snow blowers are more powerful and manly than a simple shovel, I guess. Now, I don't know if snowblowers get the job done any faster than a shovel or not because it seemed to me that all these men were going up and down and up and down and back and forth and back and forth just enjoying the sound of the engine and the smell of gasoline or something. They had to find every little scrap of snow to whoosh away while it would have taken mere seconds to just plow that shovel through and be done with it already! That's ok. I found it quite humorous and enjoyed watching these guys so diligently clean their driveways and sidewalks and the road in front of their driveways and their neighbors' sidewalks and their own driveways again and ...... (Now if those same men would clean the insides of their homes with the same detail, I'm sure there'd be many a happy housewife on our street!)
After we exhausted our efforts in clearing the driveway, the boys decided to pull out the sleds. I stood at the top of the hill watching them for a few runs and then decided that I'd help them pack down a slide by taking a turn myself. Wow! I was hooked after that first run! Even without snowpants and with my short ankle boots, Christopher and I stood in line together at the top and took our turns going down that hill, too! I was sopping wet with sweat, snow and Christopher's snot, but did we ever have fun! I wish I could have videotaped us going down because he was squealing with delight and roaring with laughter if we tipped over. At the bottom of the hill he'd shout, "Up the mountain, Mommy! Come!" and we'd start all over again. My hip bones are a bit sore tonight. I think I hit one too many moguls on each trip down.
The boys are at school tomorrow, but since it's been snowing off and on all day and there's more predicted for tomorrow, I just *might* take Christopher outside so that I have an excuse to slide down that hill a few more times myself! Anyone want to come over and sled with us?
4 comments:
Enjoy yourself for me, too, Martha! My sliding down hills days are over ( until Aidan starts wanting to go- then, who knows?) Right now I'm just trying not to slide down our driveway when I go out to get the mail!
What fun!!!
Your boys are going to remember their Mom sledding down the "mountain" beside the house for years to come. Sounds like so much fun, but I love your description from a Mom's point of view. So true. They'll never see it that way until they go down the hill with my great-grandkids. hahaha
I miss a good sledding hill...
Mar, women aren't supposed to understand engines...that's why the men have them. The shovel resembles a spoon...and of course a housewife knows how to use a spoon! Actually, the guys are afraid the gals will do a better, faster job of snow removal than they do. U. Endre just got a new snow shovel...with wheels since our snow blower kicks up the gravel in the driveway too much. Now we have the snow to try it out on...tomorrow. Keep sledding, and enjoy it. Someday you'll be too old/cold to do it!
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