Neighbors, Gotta Love ‘Em!

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Saturday morning we awoke to another couple of inches of snow  covering all surfaces. Once again, driveways previously dry and snow free were wet and coated with a combination of ice and slushy snow. It was time for the most popular guy in the neighborhood (my husband who owns a snow blower) to begin his rounds of the driveways.

As he began the up/down, back/forth movements, I contemplated what I could do to help. I knew I would be no help in snow removal, but I could have a baked product ready for the weary, cold snow removal man. I set about creating some blueberry muffins ready to pop in the oven when my husband stopped. He didn’t stop for three and a half hours. The muffins became a side to join the soup for lunch.

Once the muffins (unbaked) were ready, I headed to my desk to begin working on a presentation. The phone rang as I was reading an article I considered using. I sprang from my chair, ran to the bedroom to grab the phone before the answering machine kicked in. The following is the conversation with my neighbor Dan.

Dan: Is this Mike’s Snow Removal service?

Me: Yes, it is.

Dan: When is he getting started?

Me: He’s already out there. Have you checked your driveway? I see he’s been across the street and he’s working on Dave’s right now.

Dan: You know if you ever move, there had better be an empty house next door to you, because I’m not ever letting you go as neighbors. That Mike is one to keep!

Me: (laughing) I agree, he is a hard worker.

Dan: I was just thinking, what if Mike had an incident like I did with my foot (side note: Dan broke a bone in his foot by stepping into a hole.), would you know how to run that snow blower? Do you think you should be getting some lessons? (worried tone to his voice)

Me: Well, no I do not know how to run the snow blower, but we do have the instruction book, so I’m sure I could figure it out.

Dan: That’s good, but maybe you should check it out.

Me: (laughing) We’ll see. Maybe someday. (said in a voice that indicates that isn’t happening)

Dan: You know what would make this neighborhood just perfect? If you made an Italian cream cake a couple of times a year. (This is a cake I make for my birthday and it only happens once a year, but he prods me to make it more often. You can tell he loves this cake.)

Me: Good-bye Dan. Check your driveway.

Later I am at my desk, with a view of the street and who should appear? Dan. He approaches my husband. I can tell he wants to know how to work the snow blower. The drives are all clear, but a plow has come through and created a mess. It left knee deep mounds in the middle of the street. Cars will not be able to make it down the street once this mess freezes up later. So Dan is getting his lesson on snow blowing 101 by taking down the mounds. Soon Dan heads back inside,I guess he is satisfied he knows how to run the snow blower.

I think he got the hang of it. I guess I won’t need to dig out the owner’s manual to learn how to run the snow blower.

While the snow blowing was happening, the neighbor to our left, Dave, knocked the snow out of our satellite so we could get TV reception. Another neighbor had KC barbecue sauce and homemade peanut brittle for us (she makes the brittle every year and it is soooo good!). We are truly blessed with good neighbors. I don’t plan on moving for a long time (that will make Dan so happy 🙂).