Sunday, March 06, 2005

posted by: copernicus on 3/06/2005 01:17:00 AM



Well, as misleading as these pics may be, the predicted snow storm wasn't that bad. Only 5 inches fell in NYC. These pics are from January, when a snow storm hit the northeast that instantly made it onto the Top 10 list of worst storms to hit the cities affected.

24 inches hit Metro New York, with temperatures in the teens and 35 mph winds creating snow drifts over 4 feet high. As you can see in the first picture, the snow reached my car windows.

The snow started falling in big fluffy flakes when we went to bed, and that first pic was my view from our 6th story window when I woke up in the morning.

"Holy shit! Baby, wake up and look at this!" Strangely comfortable in our underwear, breath freezing into clouds as we gazed out the open window, I said "Too bad there aren't any ambitious kids out with snow shovels looking to make some money..." Within seconds my lament was answered and they appeared.

Feeling like Scrooge on Christmas morning, I bellowed down from above: "Hey kids! Dig out that blue Saturn and I'll give you 20 bucks! I'll be down in a minute." We made some coffee and watched the kids dig for a few minutes, then I went down to pay them before they got discouraged and quit. The car was so deeply encased that I ended up giving them $40 and they did a thoroughly fantastic job.

Of course I wasn't done spending money to dig out my car that weekend. A conscientious and courteous Brooklyn Sanitation worker came by with a snow plow attached to the front of garbage truck and re-buried my car within hours of all that work those kids put in.

This time I found a guy with a plow on an ATV (I know, an ATV in Brooklyn??? I was amazed too, folks) and got him to dig me out. He didn't want anything in return, but I don't own a snow shovel and would've been buried in until the snow melted if he didn't help me, so I made him take a $20 for gas and doing a good deed. Then I tipped the building's super $5 to borrow his snow shovel so I could get the close-in digging that the ATV couldn't do.

The whole snow storm ended up costing me $65, but I didn't really give a shit about that. It was a beautiful storm, and we stayed in with hot chocolate and a stack of DVD's...and vodka. It was a helluva weekend.

Oh yeah, she just reminded me that while I was downstairs in the cold negotiating the price of my car's release, she was sitting in the window drinking a Cosmopolitan and thanking her father's chromosomes that she could play the "I'm a girl" card. She got to watch the boys do all the work while sipping her drink in fuzzy slippers.

When I came back upstairs she said she felt sorry for the kids cause it was "but-ass cold" and they were working very hard. I suggested that she flash them as a tip because after all, they were all about 14 and I know I would have appreciated a surprise flashing when I was their age.

We waited until they were done and began to head off down the street in search of driveways to profit from. She climbed up into the window, yelled:"HEY GUYS, UP HERE!" and did her best to make up for the fact that she never got the chance to be on Girls Gone Wild. The boys did double takes with dropped jaws while we laughed hysterically and went back to our vodka.

Good job baby, I was proud of ya.