Neighborly Neighbors

 Today was another unusual day where nothing went according to plan but I think I ended up laughing out loud more than I have in the last month. After yesterday's 12 inches of snow that was as heavy as wet cement we got another 12 inches of snow that was as heavy as cement. I got up, made my coffee, and drank two cups saving the third as a reward for shoveling snow. I was shoveling along. Four neighbor dogs are chasing each other or humping each other in the snow. A car was stuck on the wrong side of the street and I didn't think the plow or grader could get through this bottleneck. The same young man riding a fat tire bike that I saw yesterday peddles past me. That man makes me laugh every time I see him. My snow blowing neighbor comes up our driveway with her snow blower, looks me in the eye, and says, "I am sick of this (insert word here that rhymes with twit)!" I laughed so hard tears came out of my eyes. Ninety minutes later I pull my car forward and as Maria plows out my parking spot I sing aloud, "Ave Maria." Later as I walk up the hill the owner of the stuck car is spinning his wheels. I offer him some sand/salt mixture or a push but he declines. Maria and the next neighbor and the next neighbor's young son  snow blow the road in from and behind his car. They give him a push and he gets going, his shovel still on top of his car. He gets past my house and gets stuck again in front of my other next door neighbor's house. A U of M student in a black pick up comes by and tows him out with his strap. I notice the guy is from Louisiana and has bald tires. At least we can get plowed now. I go in the house and I notice my college roommate has texted me asking if I am free to talk. We start talking and she is giving me tips on where to go when I migrate south. She actually had a lot of good ideas because her parents lived in Texas when they migrated. By now the time is 1:30 p.m. and I have not had lunch yet so I made a quick lunch. I sit down to read my very large library book and I hear the plow coming. I am hoping for the grader rather than the plow because the grader has a smaller blade in the back that can scrape sidewalks clean. I keep popping up from the chair to see. The grader comes but does not scrape the sidewalk. Rats! I put my book down and put on my boots and coat again. I see the neighbor across the street is shoveling my sidewalk. She has a mini cooper from the state of Washington. She has worked all day at the hospital and now she is shoveling my sidewalk because she feels bad our side of the street got the brunt of the snow. She gives me some advice on which general practitioners in Duluth are good ones. I keep shoveling. Maria and her neighbor and the son are blowing each other's snow. Up the hill I see other neighbors helping each other out while a teenaged girl makes a huge snow person. An elderly neighbor to my left walks by to talk. She tells me her neighbor shoveled her sidewalk, her deck, and her satellite dish. She told me she has lived her a long time and this is a neighborhood of helpful people. I believe her. By now I have cleared my sidewalk of snow and ice but there remains a couple feet of snow in the street. I don't want to shovel the street and as I contemplate this my neighbor downstairs comes up behind me and offers to finish the job. He tried to go to work this morning but his car, although in the street and not down our steep driveway, was stuck so he had to work from home. I have already shoveled more than two hours today so I hand him our shovel and thank him. Later as I watch the local news I see that people, who were advised to stay home today for their own safety have ignored good advice and have gone skiing down mountains and surfing in Lake Superior! What. The. Heck? I sincerely think some people in this town are adventure seeking lunatics. Sharp chunks of ice are in Lake Superior coming out of Lester Creek. During my entire life I have had kind neighbors except that one woman on Arcade Street in Saint Paul who kept crawling over my transom window to steal my rent money hidden in my Kleenex box. My girlfriend knew her so she told me not to store my money in my Kleenex box anymore. I also locked my transom windows. Oh, I guess I had some neighbors on Portland Ave. in Saint Paul who kept stealing the comics out of my Sunday paper. The comics were the best part of the paper! Overall I think I have been luckier than most when it comes to neighbors.