Let it Snow...a Bit Late for Christmas

Well we finally had a nice heavy snow here in KC...in friggin April. Too bad it never seems to snow like this for Christmas.  We got 11 inches starting at about 7am.  Matt decided to stay home and probably will tomorrow as well.  It's been some time since I've seen this much show, and apparently we're suppose to get another heap of it this weekend.  I saw our neighbors shoveling their sidewalk in the morning, but since Matt as working from home and I didn't feel like doing it on my own I decided to wait until closer to when Matt would stop work.  We went out around 4 pm and I'm glad we wait because a guy was using a show blower to clear our neighbor, Julie's  drive way.  He saw we were trying to shovel ours and offered to help with the blowers.  Turns out he lives in the neighborhood over, Linden Hills, and is also a principal at one of the elementary school near by and does this to earn some extra cash and help the neighbors.

He said we could juts pay him as we like and sadly we only had $10 in cash to give him this time, but next time I would say it would be worth at least $15.  If he always comes by we may not have much need for our own snow shovel after all.  Although is is unfortunate we don't get as much exercise from it.  But we shoveled our front path and that was enough exercise for me.

Our neighbor's son ended up helping us shovel quite a bit so I gave him a little money for his help as well. He also hung out with us a bit and we played in the snow.  We made snow angels and barried him in the snow.  I wish we had a sled.  I haven't been sledding in forever and would love to do it.  Plus apparently it's considered an activity got weight watchers so a good hour of sledding can get us some very fun activity points.  This snow should last a while so I'm sure we can run out to Walmart and buy a sled and take advantage if it.  After some snow fun, we all went inside and had, what else, hot cocoa.  Only thing that could have been better is if I could have made my homemade stuff from scratch, but I still need some baking chocolate for that.  Maybe next time.

An Americans Guide to Handling Snow: Dec 7th

It seriously just snowed like 1 inch and everyone is in a panic. In France they don't really get much snow except in the north or mountains, so they don't clear roads or sidewalks, don't put down salt, everyone drives like 3 miles per hour, but then they hit the gas too hard when they first start and spin out.  My advice to the French for how to handle snow...DON'T PANIC

Top Tips for Handling Snow, No Matter How Little

1. Anticipate: If it looks like there could be snow start preparing.  residence should put some salt down on the side walk in front of their houses.  this is especially needed for people who live in the city so the city doesn't have to spend as much time in residential area and can focus on public places like shopping areas and squares.  I'm sure everyone in France could buy 1 lb of salt and have it last for a few years. 
2. After The Fall: Once again, residence should clear whatever snow wasn't taken care of by the salt with a simple shovel, or in some cases a sturdy broom would do I'm sure.  And once again this leaves more ti,e for the city to focus on shoveling roads. 
3. ACTUALLY SHOVEL THE ROAD.  Even if it snows only 1 inch, that's all it takes to have small fender benders which causes traffic problems, which makes people even more cautious, and then we have a vicious cycle.  Many say that its a waste of money to have all the stuff to take care of snow just once or twice a year.  But I say if it keeps even just a few dozen people from falling and hurting themselves or having car accidents, it's well worth it.  I can not even begin to guess how much money Orleans spends on this like putting out flowers in the parks and public areas.  Yes it is very pretty to have nice looking parks, but I think I would rather them spend a little less on pretty stuff and invest in some snow safety measures. 
4. Drive with caution, but not too much.  I literally saw someone moving about 3 miles an hour when there was tons of space in front of them.  Yet when they come to a stop they stopped too quick and would slid or when they start back up they hit the gas really hard and spin out.  Easy does it people.  Don't be in a hurry, but don't keep 20 feet between you and the next car. 
5. Above all... Don't Panic!  I promise a few inches of snow is not going to end the world.  Just be safe, but down salt, shovel side walks, and don't panic while driving.  You know it should snow at least once a year so you might as well get use to it. 

Just think, in places like Canada it's probably already snowed like 3 feet.  Stop being a bunch of pansies already.  If your French brother and sisters in Quebec can handle it all the time, you can handle it once or twice a year.