Monday, March 2, 2009

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (somewhere else!)



I just wanted to share my morning with all of you...and yes, that is a black cow. (No heat loss there!) Shoveling my car out, brought back a memory of when I was a teenager. This is how I recalled this memory.(it may not be accurate, we will have to verify with Chris and Mom)
It was a snowy day and we had no school, we lived in the big house on Main St. and the mill workers used to come and plow the driveway, but they never shoveled the path from the garage to the house. I believe I was about 14 and Chris was 16, and we had relaxed for the day, I am sure we were doing important things!! Dad came home and asked why we hadn't shoveled the path and Chris and I were just too busy. So he said, "After supper, you two will go shovel the path!". I was appalled!! Manual labor!! and it was getting dark..I was sure that making us shovel the pathway was borderline child abuse!! So off we went after supper and it was dark and we were complaining loudly, crying and carrying on!! It didn't seem to faze Dad, he put the outside light on for us...We couldn't understand why our mother, who we were sure was in there pleading with him to allow us to come in out of the cold, was allowing him to treat us like slaves, we were sure he was a tyrant!! So Chris and I started arguing. I had to start from the garage and Chris started from the house. I was sure we were going to die from hypothermia, I was sure they would find us in the morning frozen in a snowbank, (and boy, Dad would be sorry then, he would be begging our forgiveness!) As i was wallowing in self pity and shoveling and crying..my path was not straight as Chris's was, I can never make a straight line, so my was kind of curvy. When we met in the middle, there was a 4 inch wide 8 inches high pile of snow between us, Chris decides that she has shoveled more than her share and I am sure I have shoveled more than my share, so we argue back and forth over this 4 inch wide hump in the middle of the path, but it was about 8 inches deep. and we could not come to an agreement on who needed to shovel it..so Chris said,"I am not doing it." and turned and walked into the house, usually I would submit and after much crying and yelling, I would do it, but not this time...so I turned and said,"I am not doing it either!" and walked into the house. Dad said, "Is is all done?" and we both answered "Yes" and then we went to bed. During the night, it had started to rain a freezing drizzle which turned our little hump of snow into a frozen hump of ice.. So you can just imagine, Dad's surprise as he went out to go to work in the morning and walked down the path, and then had to climb over the hump and continued down the path, I am sure he was just thrilled!!! He later referred to my path as straight as a dog's back leg!!(I didn't get what he meant at the time, I thought it was a compliment!!) It stayed that way for quite a while until it was warm enough to melt it...I cannot remember the consequences of that shoveling episode,but I am sure there was some!! and Dad did laugh about it later in life, (much later!!). I don't believe Margaret ever had to shovel, she was always older and to sophisticated. (that's what we always thought) When Lori was old enough to have to shovel, Dad bought a snow blower!!! (they wouldn't have dreamt of throwing her out in the dark, freezing night to shovel now would they!!) Chris and I always had all the grunt work, as Dad would say, we were always badly done to.. I told Jenny this story and she laughed and laughed. I am sure Chris could add something to this, I could only write about the injustice that I felt... That's all for now, Pray for warmer weather...Spring is supposed to be here!! Love to all...Patti







2 comments:

  1. YES, I DID shovel !! When I was in high school in E. Douglas, before that in North Adams on State Rd and as soon as I finished the driveway the snowplow would come by and pile 4 feet of snow up - that was always right before Dad came home then he would say "why didn't you finish the driveway ?". Before that we lived in Uxbridge and had a looong driveway and large parking area which I shoveled while you and Chris were in the house because you were too little . GRRRRR.
    ;-)
    That's why I'm here in Texas where it is sunny and 70 today. Love ya.
    ML

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  2. I, too, remember this well, the path was indeed a "dogs back leg" ALSO, it was only a snowshovel wide, which meant if you didn't have perfect posture walking down it, you ended up in the snowbank! The only one who liked the hump was Tubby, she used to climb on top of it to look out over the snowbanks. As I recall, Dad and I were sitting in the den watching the news, with a lovely blazing fire warming us, I remember commenting that I was glad it wasn't me shovelling snow, Dad said he was glad he didn't have to do it too. So much for my entreaties and tears on your behalf!!
    Margaret did indeed do her share of shovelling in our other houses but by the time we got to E.Douglas she was a Junior and had a boyfriend who was glad to do her share of snow removal. AND, OF COURSE, Lori didn't have to do it, she was the BABY! Mom.

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