Snowcalypse Stories (Part III)

Earlier I described the series of events associated with the DC Snowcalypse of 2010 and left you at the point where we had spent a chilly night without electricity.

Soon after waking up on Sunday morning I lit another fire, and a few minutes later I heard the hum of electricity return to the house. It lasted for 30 seconds or so before it died again.

Thinking that maybe the fuses had blown, I checked them and they were good. Soon my Blackberry was buzzing with neighbors sending notes about the short burst of electricity. It seems like it happened to all of us.

By now it had stopped snowing, and WTOP was saying that the snow was over and done with (and another one coming), so I went outside to face the white world of my neighborhood. In the back of my mind I kept trying to ignore the fact that it was Super Bowl Sunday and that it was beginning to look like I was going to miss it.

Several neighbors more arduous than me had already begun shoveling their driveways, but the most immediate issue was the fact that when the snow plows went through the neighborhood, they left in their snow wake a six foot tall wall of snow in front of everyone's driveway. That alone looked like several hours worth of shoveling by itself, never mind the driveway.

But, as my neighbor across the street warned me, by tomorrow the snow would be rock hard, so today was the only window of opportunity to remove it. He also proved that you reap what you sow.

You see, the day before I had come over to his house and offered him firewood. He had thanked me but declined, since he had his own stash.

And today, he came over and offered me his snow blower. "I've had it for 30 years," he claimed. He then explained that a few decades ago, he and another neighbor had proposed to all the neighbors in the cul de sac to chip in $100 each and they'd all contribute to buying a professional snow remover for all to share. Only one neighbor agreed to do so, and thus he and the other guy ended up buying a small snow Toro snow blower which they used for years between them. And today he was offering it to me, provided that I somehow cleared the snow mountain in front of my driveway.

Help came via a truckload of Central Americans who showed up at another neighbor's house to clear their driveway. I asked their jefe how much they would charge me to clear my driveway. He told me that they were already booked all day through the neighborhood. I switched to Spanish and he told me that maybe he could squeeze me in after 4PM and that it would be $160.

Being the lazy snow remover that I am, I was willing to shell out the exorbitant sum - after all, there was a lot a snow in that driveway - but the more stingy half of the family shot it down as she strapped Little Junes on her baby carrier and began attacking the wall. A six foot wall of snow just doesn't scare those hardworking Swedes.

"See how much they charge you just to remove the wall," suggested the kind neighbor whose offer of his snow blowing machine dangled before my eyes like a carrot on a stick. He must have seen the horror in my eyes as I contemplated spending the entire day shoveling snow.

Sixty bucks later the wall was gone and now the entire neighborhood was after the work crew to have them clear their walls. Somehow the crew managed to escape with a bunch of snow shovel wielding neighbors chasing them down.

Using the ancient Toro snow blower, I attacked the driveway, and even with mechanical help it took me about four hours to cut a path wide enough for one car to get through.

And I forgot to mention that electricity had come back in the interim and the real problem of Snowcalypse 2010 had been solved: the Super Bowl was back on!