Salt and ice and everything’s not nice.
Waking up to ice sticking to trees and foggy glass windows, I groaned internally. As much as I knew I was not heading out to work in the slush I had to clear the driveway to make way for the service technician who was to look at our heater. Fortified by good Kaapi and bread, I dressed in layers and headed out to shovel for the first time in my life. The snow looked deceptively fluffy till I heaved the first load off the ground. Boy! was I mistaken. Frozen solid, I had to literally break the snow and ice in chunks before clearing it slowly. Amma emboldened by my adventure followed suit in her saree, winter jacket and open toed sandals. Armed with a smaller shovel she jabbed at the ice on the entrance to the house. After enough jabs it was just about loose to clear. Working in tandem we managed to clear the driveway for just about one car to make its way in or out.
Trudging back inside as I rested the shovel I realized how much my arms ached. And also realized how much I had taken for granted. Eight winters and this was the first time I was out shoveling snow. I felt sorry for poor K and decided he will have help next time he is out there in the cold battling the snow and ice.
Back inside the warmth of the house my heart goes out to the road crews who are out in force so the rest of us can zip through the roadways. Here’s to the good men and women who make our lives a lot easier. Cheers!
Feelings Life Misc Musings reflections Routine Snow US Ice Musings Snow Weekday
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Lakshmi Iyer 
I actually enjoy shovelling;love the smell and feel of fresh snow! Hope you have recovered laksh from aches! go get another hot kappi. Hi to amma:)pretty jealous of you, on spending exlcusive time with amma.
shy
Congratulations on the milestone 🙂 I can never bear the sight of one person doing all the shoveling, which is why as much as I loathe it, I never let A do it by himself. Divide and conquer, has been the shoveling rule at our household all along 🙂
I have always enjoyed shoveling. It was usually me who did that work and alone at that 🙂 I remember I did that putting A (the winter he was born..Dec baby that he is) on a comforter on the floor, the door ajar, running in now and then to see if he were alright. I so wished we had a fireplace in our apartment; so I could come back sit back with some hot chocolate in front of a warm fire 🙂
Well, the thought of snow and everything does sound good! Except for the shoveling thing you mentioned.
But the very thought of the fresh, hot kaapi in that kind of weather after a hard day’s work totally feels like heaven!
I know what you mean! Elan always does all the shovelling – but seeing how difficult it can be especially when it hardens, I have been trying to help too! I too took it for granted for awhile 🙂
I am sure K must be thrilled when he is back.
I too am guilty of not shoveling till date.B does all the work.I know the difficulty involved in the task.I should start helping soon.More than the task it is the getting bundled up part and standing in the cold that puts me off.
HI Laksh. Wow! This is something I have never had to do, of course. During winter we usually go up a local mountain to experience snow etc,.. but we are usually happy to have just a few hours of it 🙂 … Good luck with the rest of winter… and so spare a thought for us here in Melbourne suffering the heatwave 😦
Me too on the same boat Laksh. S is in Canada, will be back tomorrow. I had to clear the snow off the car this morning to take A to school. This is the first time I’m doing it in the past 5 years and man it’s difficult. Actually S was insisting me that I don’t need to do it and A can take a day off. But A wanted to go to school very badly because yesterday the school was closed. Finally got it done after soooooooo much effort and dropped him in school.
As Akay mentioned in the previous post a small separation occassionally makes each of us realise the other’s love and importance. Take care Laksh.
Hey Laksh! Only once I have shoveled in my 8 years here and that was 3 years back. I wanted to try how it is and I enjoyed it a lot. But B does it all by himself – yes, agree with the feeling guilty part and taken for granted part.
Hey laksh…how have you been? Sweet of you to drop by and say hi! Was busy vacationing in India…which was waaay too short. And coming to ur post…shovelling snow is a royal pain!! After one year of back breaking shovelling that jeeves and me have done alternatively….we decided to spend on a snow blower….makes life so so much easier!
@Shy: I shovelled again this Wednesday morn and I think I quite like it. 🙂 I am enjoying the time with amma too!
@Suman: Thank you. Going forward I think the rule will apply in our home too.
@Apar: I could imagine you running between door and driveway. 🙂
@Shalu: Am sure you can relate even if there is no snow. The cold should make it comparable.
@Bavani: 🙂 You gotta help. I have learned my lesson now hopefully!
@Manchus: He is. 🙂
@Anila: What can I say? Get out there and help him 🙂
@Spillay: I can understand what you mean. I would love to just have fun for a few hours and back back in the warmth of my home.
@Madhuram: S should be back now. I hope you guys weathered this latest storm better than I did.
@Anamika: haha 🙂 well! at least you tried.
@Rajitha: Hope you had a good vacation. India trips usually are way too short 🙂 Snow blower sounds cool but we don’t have too huge a driveway to invest in one. Plus it does make for some exercise 🙂