Snow Day Activities

Hubby's headmaster pulled the trigger on closing the school around 8 pm Sunday night before it had even started snowing.
My office called it around 7 am Monday morning. Causing me to charge upstairs and dive back into bed.
I was really happy about the snow day (at least until we had to shovel) because between working at the store both days and my mom being up Saturday night, I didn't get much of anything else done.
The day at home gave me time to reclaim the kitchen and get caught up on laundry.
Of course, the morning's activities were focused on working the last few toe rows of Hubby's Sox Socks.
I did indeed corner him last weekend and make him try it on. Despite measuring it on his foot, off his foot, and checking gauge, I think it's a little long in the foot.
But he says it's ok, which he wouldn't say just to make me feel good. After all, he's going to have to wear the thing.
So maybe it just seems baggy compared to how I like my own socks to fit.
Then I asked him whether I had to make the stripping pattern match? And he was like, "Well, they should be uniform!"
Count me as one of those knitters who is neurotic about getting self-stripping sock yarn to start in as close to the same place as possible on the second sock. But I thought maybe I'd try to let go this time. It seemed a safe gamble since he didn't think the I Heart Husband Socks were mismatched.
That, however, was a matter of the color pooling differently, which the Sox has a defined strip pattern.
I think I found the correct spot, and I'm through the 15 rows of ribbing, but I won't know for sure until I'm into the leg.
Fortunately, socks are small enough, and I'm neurotic enough, that I won't mind ripping back to get the sequence to match.

Forced Labor
Of course, no snow day is complete without spending a few hours shoveling the driveway.
I'm the mean one who has prevented purchasing a snow blower to date, but with the mortgage modification indicating we'll be in this house with this big ol' crescent driveway for several more years, we reopened the topic.
Anyway. Usually we step off the porch and work our way up to street level on the exit side. Then we go back to the center and work up the entrance side. This usually results in the entrance not being cleared because by the time we get to it we are too tired to do it. We always have the best of intentions to get back out there.
This time, Hubby had a major brainwave, carved out a shovel wide path to the road on the exit side, and we worked down to the center. Then we walked along the shoulder to the entrance and pushed down again.
This meant we were moving the heavy, wet snow from the plows at the start when we actually had energy enough to move it.
Then, when we were spent, all we had to do was a 5x5 foot area of fluffy stuff in the middle. His cunning plan worked as we looked at it and said, "Oh we can bust this out in no time."
It also helped that we remembered to park the cars strategically when we got home from grocery shopping Sunday so we didn't have to work around them.

Snow Tsunami
The state plows are the bane of our existence when it snows. Sure, I appreciate them clearing the roads, but they shoot all that nastiness into my driveway!
While we were working on the exit a plow when by and sprayed us. A second plow was hot on the first ones heels. It took us a few seconds to realize he was clearing the shoulder and sending a massive wave of snow toward us.
Hubby yelled, "Run!" and we all high tailed it for the porch (it is possible that I shrieked).
Dudes, you should have seen this wave of snow! It was like something out of a disaster movie.
It not only shook the front hedge and blasted tons of little twigs off, it also knocked over the garbage can!
That was actually the second time the garbage can got wiped out, so it was good we saw it happen. The first time we thought a plow must have hit it.

Is It Worth It?
Still, there is something satisfying about a freshly shoveled driveway. I guess it's because you can really see the result of your labor.
On the other hand, you should have heard the stream of cuss words Hubby cut loose with this morning when he opened the front door and saw the plows had been working overnight.
It's supposed to be sunny today, so hopefully their contribution will just melt away.
Luckily, Hubby's brilliance continued to this morning. Perhaps remembering my previous difficulties getting out of an icy driveway, he suggested I do a k-turn and go out the entrance ramp, since the slope is more gradual. This worked rather well, although it's scary because the driveway is a little blind from that angle.

Clean Puppies
As though spending an hour and a half helping Hubby shovel wasn't enough exercise for one day, I also gave the pups baths.
They are so trusting and accommodating, they hop into the shower with me no questions asked.
And with the sliding doors, they can't escape once they realize their mistake.
Actually, they are very good about getting bathed. They just stand there and suffer the indignity of it. They both love getting toweled dry and brushed , which can be a bit chaotic.
I was a little worried because the fur on Samson's rump was coming off in little tufts, like a toy loosing its stuffing, but I thought it might have something to do with him shedding his winter coat.
I called Hubby in and he confirmed my suspiscions. Samson didn't seem to mind me going after it with the brush, at least not at first. I'll probably have to brush him again tonight.
Of course, after they were dry their fur was so soft and silky all I wanted to do was love on them for the rest of the day. Petting them was, dare I say it, better than petting new yarn.
An activity made better by not having my hands smell like stinky puppy when I stopped.