Shoveling... Water?

So our first snowstorm of the winter forced my husband and I to pull out our dusty shovels!

~ Our Slushy & Icy Driveway ~

Yes, Shovels. We have a snow blower, but we received ice and rain first, so the snow was so heavy the snow blower wouldn't work. 

Dressed like Eskimos, and armed with shovels, we attacked our very long gravel driveway by hand! I heard on the news earlier in the morning that this is called "Heart Attack Snow", and with the first scoop, I understood why. I also heard that each shovel of snow weighs about 15 lbs. with this moisture filled slush. We have one ergonomically designed shovel, which my husband used. I got stuck with the muck shovel from the chicken coop. Oh joy! 

~ My Muck Shovel ~

I feel like we just stepped onto the set of the television show, The Biggest Loser. Our task is to shovel out the slush filled driveway as quickly as possible before the temperature drops and it turns to ice. With another foot of snow predicted to fall on us, we knew we had our work cut out for us before our whole driveway becomes an ice skating rink!

I had never seen so much water in "snow" before! We were literally shoveling water down the driveway. Chris would shovel scrape the snow off, and I followed behind him shoveling the water underneath. It was crazy! We could watch the water left behind me begin to freeze immediately, which made walking back up the hill drive tricky. 

Our task took two hours, just to dig out the essential driveway areas. As much as this projects was a challenge, we tried to stay positive and have fun! Reminding ourselves that this is the first time we had to shovel snow this year helped. Reminiscing of the hard winter we survived last year really made us feel better! I couldn't help but giggle as Chris "slipped shoveled", it made for great entertainment! 

Working hard on the Homestead with a positive attitude... 

this City Gone Country Girl found muscles she forgot she had!

In the City, there would have been a plow service that would have been called to clean out the driveway in a swoop. But there is something about the fresh air and the happy tiredness of a good job done. Not to mention the exercise Chris and I just clocked in for the day! 

~ Frozen Lilacs and Barn ~ 

As the snow came down around us,we knew that we would have to attack this driveway again. But after two hours of shoveling 15 pound scoopfuls of snow, we were toast!

Time for a break, Chris went in to warm up by the fire, and I went sledding in the back yard with our youngest daughter.

After all that work, it was time for some fun! 

Jenn ~ City Gone Country Girl