Only 3 months til Spring!

It was a warm day today, only about 5 below, Eloise and I inspected the state of the ice melting in the drain pipes, and the gutter, forming some pretty impressive icicles. I have a fantastic tool called a 'chopper' basically it is a little like spade but narrower , thicker steel, and with a more heavy duty handle. Its for smashing ice from your walkways/driveways. I spent 20 minutes or so doing that today, its a little like sisyphus pushing the bolder up a hill forever, but it does have a certain meditative quality.

Actually, when I went out to buy my chopper, I didn't know what they were called, so I walked into the hardware store and asked for "one of the those thingys for smashing up ice on the sidewalk" and recieved one of those quizicle, 'you're not from around here are you?' looks.
"You mean a chopper?"
"Err yes"
He pointed to a particularly hefty looking one
"This is a great one"
I 'hmmmd' knowingly, nodded my head, and tried to look like a man who knows his choppers
"I'll take it"

There has been a lot of shoveling snow and smashing up ice to do this winter. It's a civic duty (and a legal obligation) to shovel the pavement in front of your house whever there is more than 2 inches of snow, but that is only half the job, what with the entrance to garage, paths around the house and garden and 2 flights of steps the streets to deal with. It sounds like a drag, but given that you are cooped up inside for 5 months of the year, it is possible to take pleasure in this little excursion.

Liz is back in law school now, so that means I'm on baby duty evenings and weekends so she can go to class and get some studying done. Liz's mum also helps out, coming in for a couple of days a week to watch the little girl. She is growing and lots of fun. We try to enjoy every moment, because she's changing before our eyes.

I'll leave you with some proof of my shoveling efforts!