You know you’re a True Minnesotan when you wake up, realize that while it’s 19 out, it’s also a clear blue sky because the storm passed during the night, so you hurry through breakfast so you can go out and play in the snow.
By which I mean shovel your sidewalk and driveway before the condo crew show up and spoil the fun.
I’m not kidding; I enjoy shoveling. I also enjoy washing dishes.
In both cases, it’s because those are things I hardly ever do. There’s a machine that washes my beer glasses and plates — it’s built right into the kitchen, which is convenient. But doing it myself sometimes lets me play in the water.
Step 1: Shovel the sidewalk! (So I can order Chinese food later.)
Shoveling snow lets me play outside. If I go out and build snow people (let alone a really cool snow fort), the neighbors call the men with butterfly nets. But a guy out shoveling snow? That’s perfectly normal. 😀
Step 2: Shift all the snow in the drive to the left.
And it’s some nice exercise. I’ve never enjoyed exercise just for the sake of exercise. If I’m going to put in a lot of effort and get all sweaty, I want to accomplish something. When I’m done there should at least be a dog house (or a driveway cleared of snow).
All done! Now I can order some Sesame Chicken!
I’m old-fashioned; I use a shovel (not a snow blower). No doubt if I had to do this more than once in a while for fun, I’d resort to operating light-weight machinery.
I apologize if my snow glee puts off any from the East Coast who suffered through that major blizzard. It’s just that, around here, we’ve once again been struck by lack of winter snow. Check it out:
December 19, 2015 — Tiny vestiges of an earlier snowfall remain…
I have a little game I play every winter. It’s called When Will It Snow (and stay). It consists of three questions: Will it snow by Halloween? Will it snow by Thanksgiving? Will it snow by Christmas?
December 23, 2015 — It freakin’ rained!
Lately, snow by Thanksgiving has been iffy, at best. We’ve generally managed to have some snow by Christmas, but some years, not so much. Per the song (several, actually), it really ought to snow for Christmas!
December 25, 2015 — Here’s our “white” Christmas. Pffft.
Quite honestly, I was a little jealous of that blizzard back east, so when we finally got a decent Minnesnowta winter snow storm, it put a big smile on my face.
And sent me out to shovel!
Logos con carne 
February 4th, 2016 at 6:13 pm
I like shoveling and washing dishes too Smitty. I don’t have to shovel because I live in an apartment though 😦 ❤
Diana xo
February 4th, 2016 at 6:57 pm
Yeah, it’s good honest work and makes you feel like you did something! 🙂
February 4th, 2016 at 8:26 pm
and it’s mindless. I’ve solved many problems while doing physical or manual labour!
February 5th, 2016 at 10:35 am
Oh, excellent point! Yes, simple work can have an almost zen-like meditation state!
February 11th, 2016 at 12:03 pm
You can do my dishes. And if I had snow to shovel, you could come do that too. (Living in VT made me come to hate it. Even with a snow blower. And there was always that problem of having a snow wall so high my snow blower couldn’t blow the snow over it…)
But I would totally be out there making a snowman. Don’t care what people think of that! 🙂
February 11th, 2016 at 12:53 pm
Sorry, retired guy here. I don’t work for anyone else anymore! XD
A few years back I built an obvious snow woman in my front yard. Someone took it upon themselves to tromp into my yard (leaving clear footprints) and knock it down. I always wondered if someone was offended by a snow person with breasts or was there something much uglier going on.
February 13th, 2016 at 1:07 pm
Oh that’s so freaking hilarious! I can see one of my buddies doing that, although he’d do some sort of menage a trois…so graphic the neighbors probably would prefer to call the police rather than enter his yard.
February 13th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
Well, I only had enough snow for one. 🙂
February 15th, 2016 at 5:59 pm
Almost looks like Sweden if you look on the houses and the character of them. But on the other hand, a lot of Swedes immigrated there 100 years ago. 🙂
February 15th, 2016 at 10:48 pm
Yeah, sure, you betcha, it’s pretty Scandinavian around here, let me tell ya!
All four of my grandparents were Norwegian immigrants, so I feel right at home! 😀