Plow Guy

It's the first day of holidailies! I'm excited about updating every day. We'll see if I still feel that way at the end of the month!

So, I live in central New York. We get a fair amount of snow up here - way more than I would like, but that's a different story. And, in my infinite wisdom, when I was looking to buy a house in the summer of 1999, I decided that the one I must have, the perfect house for me, was the one that was up in the hills, where there aren't many people and the scenery is beautiful - but we get so much wind that they actually erected windmills all around where I live just a year after I moved in. In case you don't live somewhere that gets a lot of snow, let me just say this - an abundance of snow + an abundance of super strong wind = crazy amounts of snow built up in my driveway. I live alone, I don't have a snow blower, and I'm happy to shovel (well, okay, so I'm not exactly happy, but I'll do it), but sometimes there is just too much snow to shovel. I mean, a double car driveway that is about 3 - 4 car lengths long is just too much to shovel when the snow is 3 feet deep in spots. So I have always called someone to plow when it's gotten too bad. Until last year, when someone started plowing it for me.

At first I had no idea who was doing it, and although I was happy to come out in the morning and have my driveway cleared, I was also waiting for someone to send a bill to me, and boy was I not going to be happy - I hadn't hired this person! I certainly wasn't going to pay some unexpected bill. And then the person came and plowed while I was home one night, and when he had finished, I watched out the window, and saw him pull into the driveway up the road. It was my neighbor! Which was very nice, but it kind of creeped me out. He's in his 50s, he's a recent widower, and the one time I've spoken to him was the summer of 2004. My sister and her husband were at my house, and my brother-in-law was unloading something from his truck into my garage, where I said he could store it. While he was doing that, my sister and I were standing in the garage talking and watching him (because it's just fun to watch other people work while you stand around, isn't it?). My neighbor's dog came down during all of this, and started barking and acting like he was going to attack us in my own driveway. We actually came into the garage and shut the door, because the dog meant business and he looked a little like he had a couple screws loose, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, my neighbor came down to get his dog and take it home, and he was plastered. I mean, absolutely shit faced, and it was early afternoon. Fun! And his dog bit him when he was taking it home and I think he ended up having it put down, but again - that's a different story.

So, back to the point of all this - do you remember the point? This guy started plowing my driveway last winter, and although I was extremely grateful to him for doing it and saving me the money of hiring someone, I was also a little suspicious. I don't generally get people doing things for me and not expecting anything from me in return, and what was he going to want? I shuddered to think. But he never asked for anything or made any move or anything, so I guess his motives were pure.

And now, it's December 7, it's been snowing around here for a while, and my driveway is filling up, and everytime I back into the one clear spot that I have in my driveway, I wonder - hey, neighbor! Are you going to come down and plow for me this year or what?