Woke up yesterday morning ready for action!  Got up at about 7:00 and rode the bike trainer for about an hour to get warmed up.  Meanwhile, Sarah went outside and got a jump on the shoveling.  I love that woman but it was 17 degrees or something and I decided to cool down after the ride and make a pot of coffee.  While that was brewing, I was the recipient of a blast of inspiration and decided to make some beignets – we were rooting for the Saints!  Cooking the beignets took a little bit of time.  The first ones were wayyy to thick and the batter in the middle wasn’t cooking.  Took some experimentation to get it right.

I called Sarah back in when the beignets were ready and we ate breakfast together.  Then we went out to dig out our cars.  After that, we dug out our neighbors car.  Felt pretty good when I finished that as they always let the dog out when we go out of town so I was glad to help.  I suppose that’s what neighbors do in any event.  At that point, I felt pretty good.  The back was loose, the hammies were ok and the shoulders were ready for a little more.  We were just getting ready to attack the balance of the parking area when my other neighbor hired a guy with a bobcat!  Thanks again Marine.

So, we went to a Super Bowl party, had some great Gumbo and watched a great game.  Who DAT!  I was tired but comfortable: I had struggled but vanquished 2 feet of snow, the team I was rooting for won and I had a great time with some good friends.

Woke up at about 3:00am and my back was screaming.  Just the lower back.  Agony.  Took an Advil and laid in bed until I drifted off.  Woke up at about 7:00 (a shade late perhaps) and went downstairs – looking forward to a great cup of coffee.  I sat down on the couch, turned on CNBC and heard a dripping sound.  It wasn’t the coffee pot.  Went over to the window and bloody hell! there was water running down the wall.  ICE DAMS.  I was very bitter.  I knew we had to get the snow off the roof for the gutters to thaw but I wasn’t about to stand on a pitched roof with 2 feet of snow and shovel.  I’ll do crazy things but there’s a line.

Sarah ran over to the Depot and got a hoe-looking thing called a “roof shovel”.  I cleared the eaves of the bulk of the snow and the water running down the window and the wall started to slow.  I’ve been back at it a couple of times – the last was about 5:00 (missed the Council meeting) and enough of the ice has melted that the water is now simply running over the gutter instead of behind it.

Of course, it’s supposed to snow a foot tomorrow so I’ll be out there tomorrow afternoon…