Moving a mountain

The first day back from vacation is always a pain in the ass. Something always seems to go wrong when I am gone and I come back to a mess to climb into and fight my way out. I spent the greater portion of the day catching up on emails, voicemails, and getting updated on the system that went KABLOOEY! Just when I thought it was the end of the day, I find out there is a team meeting and I will be at work for another hour.

Once I got out of work, I then had to go move a mountain of snow. Even though there was no snow at my house my mother got about 4 inches. Though I cleared the sidewalk and driveway, I was not able to get the part by the street clean. The plow had gone though hours ago just before the temperatures plummeted. By the time I got there it was frozen. A true wall of ice. I apologized to my mother and joked that she wasn't going anywhere. I figured she would call my brother and have him take care of it. Well, that didn't happen and I had to get it done today. I had no choice. So I loaded up a pick axe and shovel into my truck and hit her house after work.

To say it was a back breaker doesn't tell the story. I started hacking away, hearing the frozen snow break apart like I was chopping my way through styrofoam. I found ice underneath. I hacked and hacked, sweating my butt off. Ten minutes later I barely had dent the wall but my hair was soaked, my hands frozen, and sucking in deep breaths of cold air. I persisted and slowly got enough of it moved so my mother could get her car out. Before I was done the sweaty hair on the back of my neck had frozen. I guess working in 15 degree weather can make that happen.