The driveway saga continues

When last we spoke, I believe I was bitching about snow and my driveway. Well, since then Mother Nature and my driveway decided they'd give me something to really cry about. As all the world probably knows by now, DC got hit by a huge snow storm this weekend. Here on the side of the mountain, we got just under two feet. Two feet! I can think of maybe three other snowstorms in my life where we got this much snow. The snow is up to poor Seamus' head!

After the Penguins vs. the snowy driveway round one went to the snow, we tried to contact the neighbors with whom we share our driveway to find out what the deal was with getting the driveway plowed. This was actually harder than you might think, because they get up leave the house at 4 am. I am sleeping at 4 am. But yesterday they were trapped here in the snow just like us, so I walked over and chatted with them. No problem, my neighbor said. We'd split the cost. He'd called his plow guy, and it turned out that he was retired, but he recommended a replacement. The replacement guy said to give him a call on Sunday and he'd come by. Easy peasy, right?

Wrong. First of all, the guy was supposed to be available early in the day, and then it was 2:30, and then he actually got here about 3:45. But his rates seemed reasonable and we all figured he'd zip up and down the main driveway a couple of times, then do where ours branches off, and everyone would be happy.

Yeah. He got stuck at the bottom of the driveway on our neighbor's side. Hever even got to our driveway. His truck couldn't make it back up the hill. So we started trying to clear the steepest part with our shovels, hoping that would help. He called in a friend with a slightly newer, bigger truck, hoping he could help. The friend parked at the top of the drive and walked down.the drive, saying he wasn't sure he could make it either. We kept shoveling snow. After a lot of manly conversating, complete with the removal of caps, and the shoving of hands in pockets, the smoking of cigarettes, and some muttering, guy #2 agreed to try to clear some of the higher part of the driveway down to the blacktop. We kept on shoveling.

Truck #2 got stuck on the way down the hill. I'm not kidding! My driveway managed to defeat two experienced guys with big pickup trucks and plow blades. After even more shoveling and a discussion of what sort of vehicle would be right for the job (the odds-on favorite was some sort of John Deere four wheel drive tractor), they called in a third guy to help get the second truck unstuck. He was a fireman, and as firemen do, he took care of business. He had an enormous pickup and backed that thing down the driveway, hooked a chain up to truck #2 and hauled it out of the snow and right back up to the road. Guy #1 actually left his truck at my neighbor's house. They are coming back in the morning with something they swear will do the job. I sure hope so.

In other (related) news, I think we're getting a snowblower.