This'n'That; December 22nd[Weather;Neighbors]

Western NY Weather To those whiners and complainers of the weather here, I usually say "Comes 'bout this time every year-Ya autta be use to it by now!!" Late last week the Rochester area got about 10-12." The snowblower and I got the driveway cleared in about two hours. Before anyone could leave for work Saturday, I had to shovel that crap the city plows push up on the driveway. My job has variable hours; wuddn'tcha know it.... Saturday was a long day. By the time I got home, my neighbor had both our driveways cleared with his snowblower..... boy... Neighbors like that are hard to come by!! He probably cleared another four inches then. Sunday morning I cleared both our driveways again, this time of about three inches. That's a four-day total of approximately 16-19"!! Sunday night into Monday, we had winds which plugged our driveway AGAIN-I haven't check the neighbor's yet, he has a hedge along his, so maybe he didn't get drifted in too bad. Ya Gotta Love "Lake-Affect" Snow For those who don't know, "lake-affect" snowstorms are caused by the prevailing winds blowing off The Great Lakes. Late Erie usually pounds Northeastern Ohio, far Western NYS and Western Pa. Lake Ontario takes up where Erie leaves off. Usually the counties west of Rochester, on easward to the Syracuse-Tug Hill area and southward to the NY-Pa border. The pounding the Rochester area took this past weekend was nothing compared to the snows off Lake Erie. This morning I woke up to news that the NY Thruway is closed from Exit 46 [Henrietta;intersection of I-390] to Exit 61 [NY-Pa border]. This means that lotsa folks "ain't gonna git ta work on time!!" Neighbors Like That Are Hard To Come By The same neighbor that cleared our driveway has gotta be the greatest man on the planet!! He spends most of his day away from home, working. He leaves before I get up [around 4:30AM] and I usually beat him home!! He has been known to "drop everything" and work on Miz Daisy..... dealing with her many "fits and quirks." He's never asked for my help in any of his projects!! He had this ol' broke snowblower in the back of his garage..... he replaced it acuppla years ago with a two-stage one. I mentioned that I was gonna buy a snowblower to eleviate the expense of a "plowman" who rarely gets the driveway done on time; destroys bushes and fences nearly every year. The neighbor-guy got out the old snowblower, replaced all the broken crap, did lotsa welding on it and replaced all the chains, belts and bearings. He "loaned" it to us; we gotta return it if we move [ain' likely!!] or if we kick the bucket [very likely, but not soon, hopefully]. There's NO WAY to repay this guy for all he's done for me; I do all I can that doesn't require his presence-yard care, snow removal, etc. MANY THANKS, Joe!!! Til Nex'time..........