Say It Isn’t Snow.....

The alarm went off at 5:15 am this morning because Nick knew that it would take a while to snowblow the driveway. The city plow had made 2 passes down our street last night JUST as we were heading up to bed. Since the winds were still almost 100 km/ hour, Nick decided to just leave it until the morning. I’ll admit to being just a wee bit glad to be the one on “radio duty” as I took over the whole toasty warm bed and listened for the weather. It reported a final snowfall count of 62 cm, just over 2 feet, but Halifax and parts of Nova Scotia set a record for a single day’s snowfall in their area with almost 3 feet!! As the machine chugged and paused, chugged and paused outside, I heard them cancel school again for the day. The roads were still being plowed and most of the school parking lots hadn’t yet been touched. With the sidewalks buried and most side roads to one lane, there also weren’t too many safe places for kids to wait for the school bus! I slid out of bed and flashed the outdoor light to get Nick’s attention, but he decided to soldier on and finish the job. It took almost 90 minutes. For most of the lower driveway, the snow was drifted more than a foot taller than the snowblower, so he had to first break things up with a shovel and then snowblow it. The left side of the driveway has snow banks taller than either of us, so the snow also has to be blown to the right or it tends to fly back in your face.

As the sun rose, the temperature did too. It was actually a lovely day and so, in true motherly fashion (and in desperate need of some time to organize my day) I turned both kids out in the snow of our backyard with their dad who was clearing off the deck so that our “emergency exit” is available. Things went smoothly until Bethany decided to clamber up on the snow pile ON the deck next to the shoveled path... and fell off of it face first onto the hard, bare deck. Those two top teeth that were a bit loose are now VERY loose and she still has a bit of a fat lip tonight. At the time, the sight of blood and the jar on her already sensitive teeth were enough to send her into a howling frenzy. Mommy and her ice pack sprang into action.

By lunchtime, I had sorted out which new orders needed photos and got my negatives together. We also had to pick up the 9 boxes of Runekeeper books that were still at the printer’s, so off the family went in the car!! I bribed my children with the promise of lunch at Wendy’s... because Bethany thought a Frosty would feel good on her sore “tooths”. We picked up the boxes, dropped off the cow proofs (yes, proofs not poops!) to Milk Maritime for the corrections to the English layouts then headed down to the self-store only to discover that they were still in the process of clearing a 3 foot high drift from the front of our unit. We helped shovel out our door and opened it, only to discover a disaster!! The high winds had somehow found a way to force a LOT of snow into our unit!! Three or four open boxes of leaflets were filled with almost a quarter inch of snow and in the corners near the door, there was enough snow to have really puddled if we’d never discovered before a thaw hit. Nick and I used the car scraper brushes to sweep out the area, sorted out the open boxes, shook most of the snow off and brought 3 boxes home to sort through and remove any damaged product... but it was about half and hour of heavy box tossing.

By the time we got home mid-afternoon, errands now complete, Nick was starting to fade. I sent him up for a nap and brought the girls down to the playroom next to my office in the hopes of getting all the packages for the post office sorted. By 4:30, I told Erin to wake her father in an emergency and left them playing while I did the post office run up the narrow back streets of our subdivision. At least 75% of what I wanted to get shipped today got up there in time... so that ‘s pretty good.

Tonight is date night... so the computer stays off and I get to spend time with my husband. Since he was still yawning a bit at supper, it may actually be more of a bet to see who can not fall asleep in the other’s presence... especially since the NEXT storm is supposed to hit tomorrow afternoon!! Say it isn’t SO!!