Throwin snow

It took some doing but I finally remembered my username and password to my blog. Now I hope to do less Farmville and more blogging.

I bought my first snowblower this year. Obviously the best year to have one. I am in Des Moines, Ia. and the winter has been unusually brutal.

I never bought one before because I kept saying, "My grandfather lived on a farm his whole life and never owned a snowblower. My father grew up in the midwest and never owned a snowblower until he was nearly 40. I called shoveling "good exercise" and a requirement to keeping young and healthy. But due to my age and my disabled back, I broke down and bought one last fall.

I remember living in Cedar Falls during my early and teen years. Our huge house sat on a corner lot and my job was to shovel, as well as mow. I also remember shoveling the elderly people's house and driveway next door, as well as the sidewalks of a couple relatives around town. I remember one year at a relative of my mom's, the snow was drifted nearly 5 foot after a particular snowstorm. I remember feeling like I was in a tunnel with the walls of snow on either side of me and how hard it was to throw the snow up and over the high drifts to get it off the sidewalk. I was perhaps 12 or 13 at the time and, though I did have the option of doing the shoveling or not, I did it all without complaining. Nowadays, I credit that type of work with the ethics and character I now possess.