And you ain't seen nothing like it since the Civil War

Here's the deal: my neighbor, Steve, cannot stop shoveling. Granted, we've had a historic amount of snow within the last few weeks, but it only takes so long to clear a driveway and one or two cars. Steve is out there hours and hours shoveling, long after his driveway and every square inch within the vicinity have been cleared of snow.

Saturday night he was out there from 10:45 P.M to 1:00 A.M. Yesterday he was shoveling from approximately 10:30 A.M. to 9:45. I think he went inside once or twice but he was out there constantly. I know this because the constant scraping of the shovel was a ubiquitous presence in my apartment. When it finally stopped, I almost couldn't believe it.

He spent most of his weekend moving snow around. And not just by himself; one of his friends always comes by with his way too big snow blower to assist. They smoke butts and drink Captain Morgan out of red plastic cups, all the while displacing snow with the tools of their trade as gleeful as puppies bounding through summer meadows.

Here's a joke. How long does it take two Somerville townies to clear a driveway of snow?

Forever and Ever!

I suspect the experience is more compulsive than gleeful for Steve, hence why he's been outside shoveling whatever snow he can find for the last two hours. Two fucking hours in the crippling cold! Remember, he had already devoted approximately fourteen hours to the task with the help of his friend who had a snow blower the size of a bull dozer. That didn't do the trick?


I've tried to frame my perception of Steve's snow shoveling in a more favorable light. Apart from the noise it causes (I should stress his driveway is right under my window), I don't care how often or why he shovels. Clearly, his behavior in this regard fascinates me - I don't think I've seen anyone so goddamned into clearing snow- as much as it irritates me, but do what thou wilt, buddy. For all the inconvenience it causes me (try recording music with all that racket outside your window), I hope that he truly finds pleasure in what he's doing.

Anyway

Day off today. I was set to drive to work, but Jeff let us know we had the option of staying home. The roads were nasty, he said. So I'm home.

I've been listening to

Sunn O )))

James Gang

Jessica Pratt

Father John Misty

Mourn

Bonnie Prince Billy

Hari Om Sharan

Genesis

That type of stuff. In case you were wondering.

See you in the movies!