Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
With The Beard gone this past week, I finally experienced the horrors of having a walk that desperately needed shoveling and a baby that refused to sleep. Karma must have been on my side, however, because when I finally gave up and decided to leave the baby in her crib (much to everyone’s dismay) a pair of burly teenagers came to the door offering up shovel services in return for a check made out to CASH. Oh, how grateful I was!
To honor all those chilly teens who walk the streets with shovels looking for a little spending money, here are two lovely photos of snow swept houses taken by my friend Qousqous. Perhaps if we all think of how picturesque our homes look when blanketed with snow, the chore of shoveling won’t seem so terrible?
Cute, no? The snow effect works particularly well on cottages and old fashioned rectangular houses with lots of pretty trim around the windows, but no matter what sort of house you have snow can make it look a little cleaner and a little more photogenic… at least until the white stuff gets all slushy and gross.
I did have one question for all my readers who live in snowy climes: Are teenagers with shovels a relatively rare occurrence these days? The pair that saved my tush the other day are the first I’ve seen since moving to the great white north. Mostly we just see construction workers with nothing better to do than roll around with snowblowers overcharging for a driveway blowout.
While perhaps rarer, I have several friends who, after big snowfalls, roam their neighborhoods, shovels in hands. (College students, for the record.) There are also those like my boyfriend, who will shovel out a friend of a friend.
Might be a product of the economy. In years past, most teenagers had enough spare cash, but these days they can’t find an afterschool job and their parents aren’t giving them an allowance.
When I was young I shoveled my elderly neighbors’ walk and driveway. I was terrified he would try to do it himself and drop dead in front of his own house. So I would sneak over, shovel, and then go home.
Aw, that was terribly sweet of you, Pencils. I can’t say that most people would have done the same.
{ Waves hand } Oh, I did! I did! I had an elderly neighbor, and for years I just shoveled his walk as a matter of course. I live elsewhere, now, and am EXTREMELY grateful if a teenager-with-shovel comes by. When I pay, I make sure to let them know to come back the next time it snows!
Add me to the list of people who went around shovering when I was a teen, sometimes for money and sometimes for neighbors who were too old or frail to do it themselves. No clue where todya’s teens are!