Today

Well, the snow storm of the past two days was a dud according to most.  Predictions of 3-6 inches turned to rain, mix and 2 - 4 inches, which actually resulted in rain, slush, and 1-2 inches here in Eureka.

Now that is not a big deal to most people but I live in a house that has Mt. McKinley as a driveway (well, maybe not that steep).  Every time we get any precipitation with temps around or below 32 my driveway glazes. If the snow accumulates that just adds to the problem.  What does that mean?  It means even the 4 wheel drive won't always make it to the rear garage or down to the street without sliding to the ditch.  Needless to say, I keep a supply of salt in the car and in the garage.

Today, even though we only got about 1.5 inches, I dressed in the warm clothes and headed out with my trusty snow shovel in hand to tackle the beast.  It's either that or be stuck in the house til the big melt arrives.  Because I have a really difficult time doing mindless work - ok, physical work - I plugged in the iPod and began thinking about what was going on in my mind at that moment.

Calimari, our cat of 11 years, has been acting pretty strange lately and twice has disappeared for 24 hours.  She took off Thursday night,  during the rain and was not home this morning when I went out to shovel.  I was worried that she might not come back home and realized I was not ready to deal with the loss of another pet.  How would I tell Darcy?

My mind immediately took be to a conversation with God.  Not one of those, 'if you do this for me I'll do something for you' discussions, just a discourse on why and how I would work through it with His help.  I came to the conclusion that I had absolutely no control over the situation and she would come home if that was meant to be.  Knowing the control was in God's hands not mine just eased my mind.

Ok, by now the snow shoveling was getting tedious and I was sweating.  As I said, physical labor is not my forte.  But the driveway had to be cleared so all of the Greenville students could make it up for the Super Bowl party tomorrow so I slaved on.

About that time I saw my neighbor drive off in his truck pulling a boat.  Now why would you take out a boat in 32 weather?  I suppose he was taking it to a storage area - there is one very close to our neighborhood.  I put it out of my mind and started singing along with the Metallica song - good thing no one was close by.

Soon the neighbor drove back with just the truck - aha, I was right about the storage - and parked.  Our houses are on over 3 acres so the buildings are not really very close together.  In fact, because of the heavy woods surrounding us we only see the houses after all the leaves fall.  Next thing I know I see movement near the end of my driveway.  There was my neighbor - we have only met breifly twice- with shovel in hand and he climbed up the driveway and helped me clear it.  We talked as we worked and learned a little more about each other's family and he told me if I ever needed anything during the week when Dave was gone to give them a call.  Pretty awesome that in this time of 'keep to yourself' or 'don't bother me' there are still REAL neighbors and I'm lucky enough to have one just down the hill!

God does look out for us even when we least expect it.

BTW - when I got back up to the garage Calimari was purring in her bed!