change of plans

At the time I went to bed, my plan for today was to alternate hours indoors and out shoveling. I calculated that it would take me about six hours to remove a foot of snow from the driveway (which is over 30 meters long, and for almost half of that there is nearly no place to deposit the snow, so it has to be moved to the back yard). I got up this morning, thinking I'd do the first pass before the neighboring snow blowers start up (too loud and stinky for me to be willing to be outside while they're going), but then looked at the snow falling somewhat sideways, and heard the meteorologist on the radio suggest waiting until this afternoon. And then the blowing began. Maybe today will be clean up the house day instead. It's really nice not to have to drive anywhere. Also nice not to be living in the remains of a big earthquake (it's Haiti anniversary day) or in the path of massive floods. It's just snow.

homeopathically good

Jo Walton, reflecting on Dune:
"I loved it when I was twelve, and I read the sequels, which are each half as good as the one before, and I didn’t give up until they were homeopathically good."

about half done

Four hours of shoveling non-stop (but slowly). The town average seems to be 18". I am pretty sure I understated the length of the driveway, but I never remember to measure it when it's dry. It's still snowing, but not in a threatening way. Not light and powdery, not slush, but somewhere in the middle. A good bit of what took up the time is that the piles quickly became higher than I can fling over, so I had to keep re-arranging the snow, finding new parts of the yard in which to place it, etc. I've done some stretching and will inflict the foam roller on myself soon. Tomorrow will be a rest day, on the theory that I it should count as a weight lifting workout, one LONG set of umpty hundred reps. I also seem to have developed a blister on my right thumb, which I didn't feel at the time because of the cold, I guess. Fortunately I don't need to drive anywhere soon, or hold a pencil tightly.