What NOT to do when it snows

The weather forecast is calling for snow again.  Normally this would be no big deal, except for the lessons I learned recently from the season's first (and hopefully last) major snow storm.

It started snowing on Friday night.  By the time it ended on late Saturday, there were probably 10 inches on the ground, but by Sunday morning when it was time to dig myself out, it felt more like 10 feet.  I learned a lot of lessons about home ownership and show that day:

(1)    Buy a snow shovel;
(2)    Use it before the snow freezes into a hard, crusty mess;
(3)    Smother the driveway in salt BEFORE the bad weather starts;
(4)    Park close to the street so I won’t have as far to shovel to get out; and
(5)    Stay parked on the gravel driveway, NOT on the grass.  Frozen mud is still mud when it starts to thaw.

After shoveling for about an hour, I realized that I’d only covered about 6 inches of ground.  With only about 50 feet to go, I wanted to cry.  But fearing that my face would freeze and crumble like they do in the movies, I decided to pray instead.  I was literally standing in the driveway praying that God would send someone to dig me out before spring thaw.  Within 5 minutes, a nice older gentleman showed up with a shovel in hand.  Of course I had to pay him, he wasn’t THAT nice, but it was still an answer to my prayers.  And… he and his partner, a nice older woman that I also met, also do yard work and cleaning, so I got their numbers and will be seeing them again in the spring, or sooner if we have another heavy snow.