“Remoted” Workday 185 / Day 276 (Thursday)

The deck is a snowfield.

Snow!!! It was promised and delivered in the form of the light, fluffy, dry stuff. It blew and drifted on all three access stairways to the house – front door, side door and deck – thanks to a design where all access points face the same direction. If one entry is buried in a drift, all are buried in a drift. And the way the winds blow, there is always drifting. Even the shed door gets drifted in. The deck is a glorious field of virgin snow, at least until I get out there to clear some of it - like the area near the gate the delivery folks love so much, even when the stairs leading to it aren't cleared.

At 2:00 this morning it was wildly snowing and blowing and I was in pajamas, bathrobe and shoes while clearing the front steps and a short path from the front door for the dogs to potty. At 6:00, it was a more appropriate outfit of snow pants and ski coat over pajamas with boots and gloves while re-clearing the path that had disappeared since a few hours earlier. It was quick work, but not quick enough for Moose, who refused to step outside and peed on the rug in the porch instead, just inside the storm door. The wet cleanup in aisle one began once the early shoveling shift was done. The French Toast breakfast was a reward for surviving the first couple hours of the day. 

Yummy snowstorm breakfast.

The reality of working remotely delivered a kick. Prior to mid-March of 2020, a weather event that closed the bank branches meant a day free from work and lounging on the couch in leisure. Now, this “new normal” of remote work life means if a pandemic can’t keep us from working, a blizzard dump of a couple feet of snow certainly won’t. No more snow days off is a hard, sad lesson. On the bright side, I was able to enjoy three scheduled video meetings where every wrinkle, crinkle and the full matching set of undereye baggage is displayed on screen in full digital glory. 

At 12:50 another trip was made to the outside world to clear the gate and clean off the car and widen the path from the back door. The project began at the front door, and upon opening the gate, I saw that the driveway had already been cleared in that area. Thanks, awesome neighbor guy! That sped things up considerably, and it was an invigorating half hour of rearranging the fluffy stuff in the other driveway. It is a lot different with a four-foot picket fence than it was with the old post and rail fence. I used to be able to push the show under the fence, toss it between the cross bars, or lob it over. Now, it’s a high toss to clear the fence. Attempts to toss it through the pickets had mixed results. Some went through, but most hit the fence and slid down into a heap. Lesson learned.

For at least a week, at random points in the day, I’ve heard Christmas music when letting the dogs out. Today, while the world was mostly quiet and the snow fell and blew sideways and swirled around, the music was louder and more clear and it was worth pausing in the doorway extra long to enjoy the moment. Sadly, the music was not playing while I was shoveling.