Snow, snow and still more snow

I woke up this morning to yet another blizzard and wouldn't you know it our massively long driveway was drifted in again along with our front driveway(to the unused garage) and the sidewalks. We live on a corner lot which seems to be ideal for blowing snow to collect in nearly every place, making some very decent sized drifts. At 11am the wind had let up and the snow had slowed and the temperature boasted a whopping -6, so I decided to venture out side to do the shoveling. Kathryn and Tansley opted to come along to "help". Honestly, it was fabulous weather to be out playing in the snow, and that made shoveling not such a horrific task....except for the fact that the drifts were in some places up to my knees. Daniel had left for work at 8am, you couldn't even tell that there had been a van in our driveway by the time I got to shoveling. The snow had drifted to nearly a foot in front of our screen door, so I really had to push just to get out side and then I couldn't find our shovel, it had fallen over and was completely covered with snow. In some places the drifts were as deep as the snow that had previously been piled at the side of the driveway. In the front the snow on the driveway was as deep all the way across as the snow piles on either side, in fact one would have said "snow piles, what snow piles?". The same was true of the front walkway to the front door. The sidewalk was close to a foot deep as well. I'm just glad I'm not the guy across the street. My job was bad, but his was unreal! If anyone needs a snow blower, it's that guy. So I started with the back driveway and porch, heaving very heavy snow onto already large piles. By the time I was about a third done, the girls had decided that they were done and went inside. I worked my way through the sidewalk, still heaving and pushing. Lucky for me there is not a sidewalk in the front, not so lucky for anyone trying to get to my front door. Although I shovel our front walk and steps, getting to it is quite the feat, especially because we live on the same street as the Hospital so they plow that road, well plowing is a generous word for what they do, really they push some of the snow to the middle of the street,and some of the snow is pushed to the side (in front of my house). I then shoveled off the front driveway, although then wondered what the point was, my husband doesn't park in the garage, and even if he wanted to he'd probably get stuck because of the some what large pile that has been pushed to the side of the road by the so called snow plow. I tell myself that the reason I'm doing it is to get some exercise, and this makes me feel better. I finish in front and walk around to the back, only to realize that the driveway needs shoveled again. Too bad, I'm done! I have not seen this much snow or this many blizzards for a very very long time(Edmonton and Saskatoon not included). Is it just that I live in Milk River now and the great Chinook is not so powerful here? One day when driving to Coutts for church, I thought to myself, "there really isn't that much snow on the prairies, why is there so much snow in Milk River?". This thought was quickly followed by "because Milk River is the only thing for miles around to stop the blowing snow, and it just keeps collecting". You can check out more of our snow pictures in my album.

Our house in the snow

Kathryn on our snowed in driveway

Kathryn on our front walk

the massively long driveway

This is how deep the snow drift was.

Kathryn beside the Large snow pile