Shoveling Snow

Aaron and I will have lived in Indianapolis one year on January 29th.

I'm reminded of our first two weeks in Indianapolis.

We arrived on a Tuesday night, and it had rained non-stop all the way from St. Louis to Indianapolis. I think we pulled up to the house around 7pm. Our landlord took us out to dinner (see, Midwest people are just different) and it started snowing while we were at the restaurant.

It snowed off and on for the next week or so, and after a few days Aaron decided we needed to shovel our driveway.

Aaron and I were like excited little kids. SNOW! We got bundled up, and dashed out to the garage to get the shovel. It doesn't snow much, or EVER, in San Diego. I think we've had flurries twice in 20 years - but it melted before it even hit the ground.

Aaron starts shoveling like any good Californian would - like you shovel dirt out of a hole. Grab a scoop, throw it sideways over onto the grass. About 1/4 of the way down the driveway, he stops and says "Wow, this is really hard!". He takes off his coat because he's working up a sweat.

Of course, he started shoveling on the side NOT behind the car in the garage, so he had to shovel the whole darned driveway. An hour and EXHAUSTION later, it's done.

Well, we've learned two important lessons about shoveling snow.

First, the proper way to shovel snow is to push the shovel all the way down the driveway and then push the snow off to the side, like a snow plow. Way less expended energy.

Second, most people don't bother to shovel their driveways since winter weather in Indy alternates between 20/snowing and 60/sunny.

If you just wait two days, most of the snow will be melted.