Piles

When I was growing up, I remember that "piles" was a euphemism for hemorrhoids with my mom's generation. This winter on Long Island, I think it's universally understood that whenever someone utters the word "piles" he or she is talking about snow. The snow in the corner of the parking lot which blocks several spaces, the snow on the side of the road which blocks part of the driving lane...but especially the snow in the yard and on the side of the driveway at your house.

Although I'm hurting this morning, yesterday I was able to haul shovels full of snow from the street up the driveway and toss the snow over the four foot high mounds on the far side of the driveway. Why did I have to do that? Because the mounds on each side of the driveway near the street were already five or six feet high...and if any snow landed in the street instead of on top of the mounds, we'd get it back in front of the driveway when the plow returned...but not merely as snow. Whenever the plow deposits anything, it's snow mixed with ice. Double whammy.

We also have to be careful to avoid putting snow on the sidewalk (which is extensive, as we have a corner property) because our village has a law that the sidewalks must be cleared within four hours of the cessation of any snowfall...though, mercifully, they exempt the hours of 9PM to 7AM. Nice to know that I don't have to shovel at 4AM if we got a storm that ended at midnight. That's a bit early even for this morning chickadee.

I was impressed with the kids yesterday. The older two were showing off their upper body strength by throwing the snow onto mounds that were taller than they were. Even the youngest actually moved a lot of snow when shoveling. Usually he mostly moves his mouth. :-)

I'm thinking that I should begin lifting weights this spring so that I can retain some newly gained muscle tone so it will be there when I need it next winter.

Oh, wait, hubby said that this is the last snow he'll ever clear with a shovel (about two storms ago) because he's getting a snow blower. We actually have one at my mother's house but it's too big to transport back and forth in the practical sense...but it's also been broken for years. Sigh, it's just a lot of talk for now. At least he'll be making good on that statement temporarily, because he's having surgery on his hands to take care of a longstanding carpal tunnel problem. Next week they operate on the left hand, and then about a month later on the right...which will put him out of the shoveling business for the rest of the winter. Well, at least the snow shoveling business...

Note that I refrained from using "piles" to describe the snow mountains on our property because, after the first paragraph, I realized that the snow mountains are as much of a pain as hemorrhoids. There's literally no place to put any more snow this winter, and if the weather report is correct, none will be melting any time soon. Oy.