Whenever there is a chance we might get snow I want it all to come my way. Last winter we barely got any snow. Maybe a couple of inches in January 2020 but nothing really substantial. I am always disappointed when we don't get any.
In 2019, during our last snowmaggedon, we weren't prepared. We didn't have a snow shovel and we should have had one because we do get snow when the conditions are right and it's usually a lot of it. At the time, Ben worked at Lowe's but we weren't thinking, oh we should get a snow shovel because we are getting over a foot of snow. That winter, all of the shovels were gone, that included every single type and not just snow shovels. The snow melt was gone for those people who buy that...we don't buy snow melt. So, we were left with our large spade shovel and that made removing the snow from the driveway rather difficult. The first chance we got we bought one just to have. Of course it arrived after all the snow was gone. We actually joked about it further and said, "now that we have a snow shovel, watch, it won't snow for a few years."
That's exactly what happened. It skipped over 2020, the worse year in human history, and snowed almost the same exact weekend in February just two years later. It doesn't just snow, we get, "Winter is coming. All of it. In one weekend." type of snow.
On February 11th it started lightly snowing at our house around 8:30 a.m. The forecast stated that it would start snowing in our area in the early afternoon but it started a few hours sooner. Ben didn't want any snow and always told me to shut up because he didn't want to have to run the plows on JBLM. Unfortunately, he had to run the plows anyway so that meant he got to sleep in and go to work in the afternoon (around 3) so he could be there until 11 p.m. My job was normal since I was working from home. The only thing we had to worry about is if the power went off. Which thankfully it didn't the entire time we had snow.
It snowed the entire day. When I logged off of work I decided that our kitties needed to experience snow for the first time. They each took a turn outside in the back yard. I just tossed them out into the snow. They both weren't sure about it, probably got cold and ran back inside house.
Then I had another idea. I grabbed a plastic laundry basket and filled it with some snow. Placed a towel down on the floor and let them have at it. I even made them a tiny snowman to see if they would play with it. They did a lot of sniffing, pawing at it and even started licking it.
Ben would call and we would talk about some of his experience running a snow plow. He said most of the time it was boring because he was just driving around and not really doing anything.
The next day, we both basically did the same thing. I worked and Ben slept in and then went to work around 2 p.m. again to run the snow plow. I don't think it ever stopped snowing and the next morning there was quite a few inches on the ground.
I got pretty much all of my work done so I went outside and finally used our snow shovel. There was 10 inches of snow on the ground around 2:30 p.m. Shoveling snow is very hard work. I got half way done and didn't want to finish it but I forced myself to. I knew we were going to go way more throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the evening so why not get this amount shoveled or there will be way much more tomorrow and will be harder.
I got into the Escape and drove it down the road to get the mail. The snow was so high I actually had trouble driving. The snow was touching the bottom of the Escape. I did manage to get the mail, found a good place to turn around and headed home. Yikes! It's because they don't plow residential roads but only the main roads and arterials. That evening I made chocolate chip cookies and used Ben's mom's cookie recipe. They turned out really good! Ben was at work until 11 p.m. and was glad to come home after that. He was so bored.
Saturday Ben had a shift at the station and had to get up early and head into work. He wasn't too excited that he had to drive on the roads to Tenino but he allowed himself some extra time just in case there were dumb idiots out on the roads. He did text me to let me know that he made it to work safely. I got up later, did a few chores, worked on my blog and decided that I needed some exercise so I cleared the driveway again. The snow stopped and it started to warm up a little bit. The snow had gotten heavier so it made shoveling even harder to clear off the driveway. It took me a little bit more than an hour to do.
I then decided before it started raining to make a snowman. I grabbed one of our plastic sleds and stamped down the snow. The snow almost went up to my knee in some places. Then I used the sled to scoop up snow to make a giant pile. I shaped the bottom of the snow man. Added more for the middle and then shaped that and then lastly added some snow for the head and face. I went to the back yard to pick up some sticks for the arms, grabbed two cherry tomatoes for eyes, a carrot for the nose and a charcoal briquette for the mouth. I added a Seahawks hat as a final touch. My snowman was done.
I went back inside the house and did a bunch of of other stuff because the snow wasn't worth being in anymore. It was getting warm and mushy. That's the Pacific Northwest winter for ya though.
It pretty much all melted by Tuesday but the large mounds of snow the snow plows moved off the roads took about a week to melt entirely.
Yay! We finally got to use our snow shovel!
Next Adventure: Ben's Birthday Weekend
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