Ok, I've been sleeping and eating (a lot, actually; one of the side-effects of all of the calories I've been burning while I SHOVEL SNOW), and going to work - but even that has been cancelled quite a few times because - oh, have I mentioned this? - it will not stop SNOWING!
Lest you think I cry wolf, let me tell all of you warm-locale-dwellers, or anyway non-Massachusetts-dwellers, that we are now over the six foot mark for snowfall. In seventeen days. Which means that in 17 days, we have broken the previous records for 14 days, 20 days, and 30 days. Oh, and did I mention that there's another storm on the way - for TOMORROW?
All of this means that life in the city has ground to a virtual halt, and in some cases, an actual halt, like when we broke the subway. Unlike more rural places, or even mores spread out, modern cities, or really any place with less corrupt and better managed state systems, we have, quite literally, nowhere to put all of this freaking snow. We are in fact borrowing snow removal and melting equipment from other cities. Which makes no sense, when you consider that Boston is located in New England and New England is well-known for being stupidly snowy.
I love my city. I really do. But I don't so much love this weather - or our inability to deal with it.
But I digress. I was going to complain some more about shoveling. I spent all day on Monday shoveling my roof with my neighbor, and most of the day yesterday shoveling out the sidewalk and our cars.
Actually, maybe I'll just let the photos speak for themselves:
This is what the pile of shoveled snow looks like in front of my house. Yes, it's up over the first floor windows. Yes, it's from the storms plus the shoveling. It's hard to tell from the picture, but this particular mountain is well over my head, probably close to the ten foot mark in height, and more than that in width.
I actually had to dig a tunnel through that pile to clear the snow away from our furnace vents (another thing I've learned this week: blocked furnace vents = carbon monoxide poisoning.)
I dug through the pile of snow in front of one of the cars...
And in back of the car...
Only to realize I'd forgotten all about the side of the car that faces the street - and the plows. Sigh...
This person has decided not to bother, and to just start driving again in April. The antenna is all that's left to indicate that this is a car, and not just another snowbank...
Snow is pretty, isn't it? I do love it - it blankets the whole world in white, softening all edges and wrapping every corner of the city in quiet. But I happen to love it in moderation.
