Shoveling

We have a job shoveling.  We shovel Canada Post mailboxes when it snows.  We have to clear out the snow in front of them and underneath if they are supported on legs.  These are the boxes that most communities have now, where there is a small wall of mailboxes that each house has a key to - kind of like an apartment building but on the street corner.  We have 48 hours to clear the snow and need to keep it clear of ice and slush.  This sounds like a relatively easy job and some years it is.  There are times when you laugh because you get paid and you only have to shovel once or twice in the last month.  

Not this year!  This year has been non-stop dumps of snow from December on with a bunch of really warm slushy days and freezing cold nights thrown in for good measure.  Each site is now a snarling mess of ice and snow that partially melts during the day during which we attempt to chip out the ice and then it freezes at night.  We sand what we can but as it warms up the sand sinks and there is a small frozen ocean of sand and water in front of the box.  Then it snows again and we start from square one!  To make matters worse this year I am too big and pregnant to be of much help so Dallin has had to do it all on his own.  

Every time it has snowed in March, Dal and I swear we will not do this again but then you get paid and it pacifies the hatred we have for shoveling.  We realize that this is money we would not otherwise have and even if it snows every week (that is not a dare or a suggestion) we would probably do it.  We are now on the last day of March and we have 2 feet of fresh snow from the weekend.  All the shoveling is complete but who's to say what the forecast will be for next week?!?  April 30th marks the end of our contract for another season and we have YET to have had an April where we needed to shovel .... are we about to tempt fate and see it happen?  I think so!  

Any of you who are praying for snow can stop now ..... we have had enough!!!