Obsessive Compulsive?

Do you tend to be Obsessive Compulsive?  Here's an easy test: Just grab a snow shovel and go clear the driveway after a snow fall.  After you determine that you are done, look for two things:

1.      Thin lines of snow that slipped past the shovel on each pass.

2.      The tracks where a vehicle has driven over the snow compacting it to the driveway surface.  This requires some extra effort to remove.

If either of those items are visible on the driveway after you decide that the job is finished, then you probably aren't the Obsessive Compulsive type (this is the CFO).  If every possible piece of ice/snow has to be removed before the job is done, then you might just be a little Obsessive Compulsive (me).  Nothing drives me more crazy than finishing those final few scoops at the street, only to turn around and see that the wind has blown a new, thin dusting of snow down on the driveway that I just cleaned off.  My rule is simple, if there is enough snow that you can leave a foot print in it, then it has to go.

We've had a lot of time to test this theory and I am definitely WAY more compulsive than the CFO.  Even if it is “stupid cold” outside (see my rant from last week), I’ll stay out longer than I should trying to get it perfect.  I'll admit, it is pretty satisfying to drive through the neighborhood seeing our neighbors' ice crusted, poorly shoveled driveways and then pull up to our, spotless, clean and dry driveway.  And I'm still doing it the old fashioned way with a shovel... give me a snow thrower and I'd be unstoppable!  

My Obsessive Compulsive behavior (plus my need to be outside) kicked in hard last Sunday when I spent about 3 hours in below freezing weather disassembling the bottoms of all of our down spouts to get the ice out of them. (Picture me with a bucket of hot water and a screwdriver, pulling off all of the elbows and soaking them in the hot water until the ice melted enough that it would slide out)  We had started to amass a collection of icicles on the house, which lead me to the discovery that our gutters are full to the rim with ice.   Once it warms up enough for that ice to thaw (probably today since it is actually above freezing outside) , I want the water to be able to actually drain out of the gutters, so I did my best to get the ice out of the down spouts.

 Icicles and a nice sunset!

I did a little research on local snow fall records and this is what I found as of February 18th: So far this winter we have received 46.5” of snow, compared to a typical average snowfall of 16.3”.  That means that we are 30.2” ABOVE average for snow fall, with another month, or more, of winter to go.   We have almost tripled our average snowfall.  We are quickly running out of places to put it!

The CFO and I had a nice quiet Valentine’s Day dinner at home; I made some risotto with sausage, squash and zucchini in it and followed that with some chocolate brownies covered with caramel, pecan pieces and chocolate chips.  I’ll freely admit that the brownies kicked a$$.  See the photo below:

My birthday is this Friday and I’ll officially be in my late 30’s.  How the heck did that happen?!  38 years old?  That means that I graduated from high school 20 years ago.  That can’t be right, can it?

February Freeze

Several people have emailed asking why I haven’t posted lately.  The main reason for the lack of posting is because we are in the dead of winter and, therefore, I have nothing to write about.  It has been STUPID cold here and it has snowed every couple days, which requires trips out into the stupid cold to clear the driveway. Inevitably, once you finish and go inside to admire the results of your snow shoveling through the window while sipping hot chocolate, you see the city snow plows come by and push the snow that was in the road onto your driveway.  Lucky you, you now get to venture back out into the stupid cold to clear your driveway again…

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Sometimes I get lucky with an easy to shovel 2" dusting like this:

 

Other times it it takes a bit more work when there is an 18"+ high wind blown drift across the front of our house. (a special thanks Google for somehow knowing that adding faux falling snow flakes to my photo would emphasize the snow):

 

And, oh great, it is going to snow again tomorrow evening.  This morning, it was -2 degrees when I got up at 4:40am to go to the gym.  NEGATIVE TWO DEGREES and that didn’t factor in the wind chill.  I’ve stopped looking at the wind chills because it is just depressing.

I just hope that we don't wake up to this sight out our front door:

The only good thing about going out into the stupid cold to shovel the driveway is that it is an opportunity to get outside.  Albeit, it is stupid cold outside, so all you want to do is finish whatever brought you out into the stupid cold so that you can go back inside where it is warm.  However, being cooped up indoors for months on end is making me more than a little stir crazy.  I love being outside and, even though I am a pale-a$$ white boy, I need some sunshine.

This is what we see when we look out the window, wishing it was 70-80 degrees warmer outside... Yes, the Christmas tree stayed up late into January:

 

Spring can’t get here fast enough… too bad that #$%@ groundhog said we are in for 6 more weeks of winter.  Ugh. Did I mention that it is really cold outside?

In other news, for better or worse, I am serving another year on the neighborhood HOA board.  This is mainly because the other 4 people that were on it last year are stepping down for various reasons (moving, workload at work, etc.) and I can, occasionally, be a compassionate person.  Yes, I felt bad for leaving the new board members high and dry, so I volunteered to do it another year.  Of course, that prior experience landed me the title of President.  This is not something that I was wanting, but whatever, I can do it for a year.  A couple of the new people are “go getters,” so I thought one of them might step up and do it.  At least someone did step up to do the treasurer position, arguably the most difficult position of them all.  Feel free to refer to me as “Mr. President” from here on out.

Finally, in case I forgot to mention it: IT IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY COLD OUTSIDE!