We can count the flakes as it snows and snows.
We can’t get hurt. It melts and fades.
…
Was it only last week
we made crazy promises,
mad as the snow?
I couldn’t help by throw some lyrics in from my favorite song by Kitchens of Distinction, titled “Mad as Snow.” I was nearly mad at the snow Thursday and Friday; I had a lot of it to shovel!

I grew up in the Rockies and took a break during college to move back out and make a living (meager, yet fun) snowboarding. I started out shoveling snow but eventually did get to live out my “dream” of snowboarding all day and getting paid for it. The free season pass wasn’t bad, either! But I grew to enjoy shoveling snow as I embraced mountain living. 50 miles from the nearest city, one usually has to master a shovel! But I’m not 20 years old any more.

I shoveled the drifts around our house, ignored the driveways, and made sure access to our rental property was restored on Thursday night. I woke up Friday to find that there was more snow than before! Grrrr. I got a text message from work saying not to come in, so I put that time to use with my trusty shovel again.

This time I took a break in the middle of shoveling to storm off to a few area stores to “check out” snowblowers. Of course there weren’t any to be had, except some overpriced ones with plastic parts sure to break in the cold. Dejected, I made my way back home for more shoveling. Thank God I got through it, one scoop at a time. I could have done without the drifts, though.

Today I chiseled off the driveways I’d previously ignored, after a run to a very busy Scheels Sports. My favorite Thomas Dolby live album in my iPod, an ice cold Cherry Coke in the driveway, and my Dakota Snow Blade kept me company as I chopped the now-packed snow into manageable chunks and cleared the slabs. To do all this with a shovel instead of a snowblower DOES seem as “Mad as Snow.” I’m just not mad AT the snow. Not yet.