Winter….what a magical pain in the ass!

Here in Vermont, it snows 13 months a year it seems. Just when you are getting used to not having to bundle up in a snowsuit like Randy in “A Christmas Story” to walk outside and get your mail…a blizzard of massive proportions comes crashing through and crushes all of your hopes and dreams.

It may seem like I am exaggerating but I assure you, I am not. Living in Vermont is beautiful and truthfully I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. (That I can afford at least. Hawaii…Italy…come to mind for potential relocation contenders) Here in the northeast, we get the full effect of the 4 seasons…and winter is, unfortunately, one of them. One of the longest and most prominent it seems. But it is beautiful.

This cartoon depicts my ongoing battle with the snowplow. We live on a fairly quiet street but still a frequently used street as there is a church and a school nearby. This means we are always among the first to be plowed out following a snow storm and constantly maintained throughout the duration. This is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because we are never “snowed in” and can always get out to the store for more coffee and potato chips. You know, the essentials. BUT….it also means that every time I finish shoveling my driveway the snowplow will inevitably be by to push all that snow right back into my driveway. And this isn’t even just my snow that gets piled back in. It’s my neighbor’s snow. It’s the church’s snow. It is probably the snow from the grocery store a half-mile away. It’s the community snow and it always ends up back in my driveway precisely 45 seconds after I get it cleared out and looking good. This battle will persist back and forth for the duration of the storm…and then for about 2 hours after as the road crews remove the snow from our streets. Don’t even get me started on the sidewalk plow that comes by in the middle of the night - once the battle is seemingly over - and dumps more snow in my driveway. That son of a bitch needs its own cartoon!

That’s winter in Vermont! A constant battle that you never win until spring is over, usually sometime in mid-July. A friend of mine posted on Facebook recently; “If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.” I can assure you, friend of mine, there’s a whole lot of joy going on in my neck of the woods.

That’s today’s cartoon. As always, thanks for checking out my cartoons! I have to get back out there and shovel again. I heard the snowplow go by as I was typing this so it’s time to hold up my end of the bargain. Happy battling friends! See you Wednesday for the next cartoon.

Cheers,

~tod