Make it stop...

Oh, I'm sick and tired of shov'ling
To the weather gods I'm grov'ling
And since I'm about to drop:
Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop...

I'm glad that I decided not to bother trying to keep my driveway clear yesterday, after having seen the blowing snow.  The guy across the street from me was out shovelling several times yesterday afternoon and evening, and his driveway looks no more clear than mine.  I dare say that if I measured it, the depth is probably a bit less than I've got, but most of the effort would have been wasted as blown snow filled in the gaps.

When I went outside a few minutes ago to see how much of a mess there is, there was a family gathered around their SUV at the street intersection by my house, trying to get it unstuck.  I gather that they were trying to follow the "grooves" left by other vehicles, and missed when they made the turn.  They ended up on ice, in deep snow, with tires with no treads... and the driver was obviously unfamiliar with how to deal with this kind of thing, since he kept spinning his wheels at high speed -- making his "slipping against ice" problem even worse.  With my help, and the help and advice of the guy across the street, we eventually got the thing moving by rocking it forward and back.  Once we got the driver back into the "grooves", he drove off slowly.  I suppose his family, left behind at the intersection, will catch up with him eventually.

After I've had breakfast and dressed warmly, I'll try to dig out my snow thrower, and then attack the driveway.

Note to drivers...

After helping to push several cars stuck in the T-intersection beside my house:

• If your car is stuck in deep dry-powder snow on an icy patch, spinning your wheels at high speed doesn't help.
• If people gather to help push your car out of the snow, any able-bodied person in the car apart from the driver should get out and help to push.  If they're not able to help push, they should at least get out of the car.  Their weight in the car doesn't help.

I'd made the mistake of leaving my snowblower outside and slightly exposed to the snow.  Snow had got into the rotor and partly melted, then re-froze, making the rotor badly unbalanced.  When I tried to run the thing, it vibrated violently and made a terrible noise.  I had to bring it inside and let the ice melt out of it, then put it back out on the porch to get cold before I ran it again to avoid getting more snow/slush/ice in it.  I managed to clear my driveway, but noticed that it had accumulated more frozen slush and ice inside the rotor.  Apparently the heat from the motor was enough to cause some melting, and that water then sprayed over the rotor and re-froze.  The snowblower is now sitting back in my entranceway, on a boot mat to collect the water.  Better that than having to mop up the water, as I did the first time today.  Live and learn.