I might have suffered from a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder in early January, but right now, I've got a raging case of SOD: Seasonal Out-of-Season Disorder. Let me explain....
In the city, we have a snow removal guy, and because of the layout of the door/driveway, we never have to touch a shovel, no matter how much snow falls. In the country, we also have a snow removal guy, who comes in a public-works type of snow blower and takes care of the extra-long, hilly double driveway. But he doesn't leave the comfort of his little cabin, so the 60+ feet of walkway to the door remains untouched until we get there on Fridays. In the past, I have managed to shovel us in, and when it got to be too much, my brother would come by during the week and make the path more walkable. But this year, we have just been walloped by storm after storm, and the snow outside the house is taller than I am. So today, I cried Uncle and hubs and I went in search of a nice small snow-blower (they call them snow-throwers now). I spied a really practical electric one online, but really, as long as it wasn't industrial-sized, I was going to be happy.
Except when we went to the first store, they were all out. And the guy gave me a look, like somehow, I was on a quest for the holy grail. At the second store, I noticed some patio sets in the Seasonal section. They still had shovels, but no snow blowers. Finally, we went to the third and last store, the biggest hardware store around here, where you can purchase all manners of odd tools. Seasonal section: filled with patio sets and lawn mowers.
LAWN MOWERS! There are 6 feet of snow in front of my door! It's mid-February, we live in Canada, where clearly, it is still winter, and it is still going to be winter for another 6-8 weeks. But forget about buying a snow-blower, what you can buy right now is patio furniture and lawn mowers. Apparently, they haven't had snow-blowers since January 15th.
So we bought an extra shovel, went home, and I shoveled long enough for my muscles to ache and my back to be sore. I managed to make a path about 24 inches wide, all 60+ feet. So good luck to the patio-set delivery guy, I hope the boxes aren't too wide!
I'd send you our snow-blow thrower, but I doubt it would make it there in time. Contrary to what you might think, I have been shoveling all winter. We have no guy. I am the guy. Life sucks. Damn, I miss Seattle!
Posted by: Herb | February 17, 2008 at 03:18 AM
Oof. You must have amazing muscles!
When we bought our house in southern CA in 1999, we tried to buy patio furniture for our new deck. Only to learn that of course you don't buy patio furniture in early September! It's time to prepare for Santa Barbara's (slightly cooler and rainy-ish for SB) winter. Silly us! Never mind that September is the hottest month in Santa Barbara.
Posted by: Courtney | February 17, 2008 at 04:45 AM
lol, I noticed the same thing just yesterday at Home Depot and Lowes and was wondering to myself, what the hell are they thinking?? We also have way more snow than is usual in these parts and currently owning 2 homes, I've had a snow shovel attached to my arm more often than not...I went through a stage where I could barely lift my arms they were so sore!! And now, we have to go shovel about 40 feet of snowbanks in front of our house so that a moving truck can hopefully fit in there on Tuesday...oh, and did I mention that we're expecting another 5-10 inches of snow this weekend?? Oh yeah, we're thrilled! So I'm totally with you and next year, I'm hiring a snow guy - that should ensure that not a drop of snow falls all winter!lol
Julie
Posted by: Julie | February 17, 2008 at 07:35 AM
I hear you on SOD. I foolishly thought I could run in and buy LSP a winter coat on sale after the zipper broke on her coat. But all that was left was a bunch of blingy, hideous Baby Phat type nonsense that made me realize I'd rather have my kid ride out winter in last year's coat with sleeves that are too short but that doesn't make her look like a wanna be ho. I can see garden furniture in stock down here, but up by you? For real? Where it snows in April? WTF? Take some ibuprofen and place your order for that snow blower/thrower in July.
Posted by: figlet | February 17, 2008 at 10:45 AM
My question is where the hell was your brother this week??? He better be somewhere really hot and lying on some sandy beach as this would be the only good excuse for leaving his sister in such dire straits! I was really lucky this weekend as hubs was there to shovel us in unlike last weekend when I had to shovel myself while he was on some golf course in Arizona (which he will not stop talking about!). Snow is great, isn't it?
Posted by: Susan | February 17, 2008 at 10:51 AM
What about the good ole Sears catalogue/website? Every little town has a Sears pickup spot and they have snowblowers and patio furniture at the same time. I don't know how I'd live in rural NB without Sears!
Posted by: Melissa | February 18, 2008 at 06:55 PM
Huge pet peeve of mine. The local drugstore stopped selling insect repellant the day before labor day weekend. Apparently the mosquitoes have a day planner, otherwise how would they know to head out of town? Kai needs new mittens....he'll have to tough it out with his too small pair until this summer when they again offered for sale.
grrrrr
off to check the sears catalog.
Posted by: Karyn | February 20, 2008 at 12:00 PM