Classic Rant #157 (December 21, 2009): Snow Job

Yes, in my neck of the woods we were buried in snow this weekend. We received the brunt of the pre-winter storm, a nor-easter that was somewhat unusual in that it hit Long Island during the end of the fall season.

Some parts of Long Island received upwards of 25 inches of show on Saturday through Sunday morning, which I hear is a record snowfall for my area. The whole Eastern Seaboard got hit, with the lower portions (Florida) getting torrential downpours and temperatures in the 50s, while as you moved up through Georgia, the Carolinas and up to New England, just about everybody got lots of snow.

In my area, we received about a foot, which is bad, but certainly not as bad as 25 inches. My wife and I shoveled a good portion of the morning yesterday, and the show was like rice--not that solid--so it wasn't as hard to do as it could have been.

Taking the dog for his morning walks were pretty treacherous, and he had a hard time finding a place to squat. He did--I mean, nothing is going to stop that from happening--and even this morning, he looked for a spot for a while, but finally found one.

As for me, I was fine doing the shoveling yesterday. Then, I was in my car, and I reached over the glove compartment for something, and BAM!, my back went out. I am sure it is somehow related to the shoveling--I haven't done that type of work in a year or so, so I know it stretched muscles that don't normally get stretched like this--but it didn't happen when shoveling, it happened in my car.

Today, my back is still stiff, and sitting all day probably won't do it any good. It will probably take a few days for my back to get back to normal, so I guess I will have to grin and bear it.

Now I hear that we are supposed to get some precipitation on Christmas, but happily, it will be in the form of rain. It will be pretty warm, too, in the 40s, so that is a situation that should melt a lot of this stuff.

The storm happened a day before winter officially comes, so I am wondering if this is an omen of things to come. Will we have a horrible winter in the Northeast this year?

I sure hope not. I am getting too old for this shoveling business, and me and the white stuff haven't had a joyous relationship since I was a little kid sliding down the man-made mountains when I lived in South Jamaica, Queens.

I absolutely hate the snow as an adult, and I rue the days when we get it.

Again, yesterday, at least in my neck of the woods, wasn't that bad, but I feel that the next one could be a real back breaker--if I don't hurt myself again in such a stupid, unexpected way.