Snowy Considerations

Tuesday morning. The storm has mostly blown through. In the early darkness a few neighborhood snowblowers begin their happily ferocious roar. The snowplows that have been scraping the streets all night are quiet for the moment and the accumulation of the past 18 hours has ceased. The wind continues, but the worst/best is past. I sip my morning tea and appreciate the warmth of my laptop on my lap as I tap away on the black keys—writing and preparing for meditation, breakfast and then a morning of snow removal.

I did go out briefly last night around eight to have a small adventure and to perhaps do some initial clearing. By that time about eight inches had fallen. I easily cleared the backstairs—the snow was light and fluffy. I then wandered across the wind-swept parking like an arctic explorer treading over vast white expanses. At the street, I paused to assess the situation and to make my official-snow-removal-guy assessment. There’s a certain self-importance that comes with these practical jobs. Perhaps it is our innate desire to be useful or perhaps it’s that so much of what we do is hard to measure and snow removal is a job with a clear and satisfying end-point. With the strong winds and the continuing-through-the-night forecast, I decided to ‘keep my powder dry’ and wait till the morning.

Snow removal in New England is an art and a science. Shovel too early and you waste valuable energy and time. Wait too long and the drifts get soggy or frozen or simply too high to penetrate. The solution for the city snowplows is simply to go through the night. Worcester (unofficial snow-capital of Massachusetts) owns a fleet of snow removal vehicles driven by city workers and also relies on a militia of independent drivers, guys (there must be some women who are in the business, but I have yet to see one) with pick-up trucks and snowplows, to clear the miles of city streets.

It’s been a quiet winter for these snowplow drivers. It’s a seasonal business with no guarantee of steady or even adequate income. You’ve got to be willing to go out at all hours and keep going. To be able to stay in the business, you’ve need enough regular customers that you maximize your income but few enough that you can get to them all in a timely manner. A delicate balance.

But I’m just an amateur and have the luxury of waiting till later. I looked out the back door when I got up at 5:30. I was pleased to see that the small shoveling I did on the back stairs was completely filled in with the wind and the overnight snow. This validated my decision to wait and also meant the temperatures had not risen to the wet-heavy-snow range so the shoveling and the blowing later on this morning should not be too difficult.

I am happy to have these considerations. I am blessed to have the (new!) snow-blower and the physical constitution to still be able to perform this necessary winter ritual. So after I finish my tea and after meditation and after breakfast, I will gear up and tromp out to fulfill my important responsibilities. Such is the shape of the good life this morning.