My Body Knows I've Been Shoveling Snow and Peace Corps Recruiter

So, this is what it looked like Tuesday after the clouds cleared after Anchorage's first snow of the year.  A bit late, but it's here.  I'd gotten the driveway and the deck cleared of snow.

Then it started snowing again Wednesday and by Thursday there was over a foot of new snow in the driveway.  Wet, heavy snow.  In this picture I've got some of the driveway shoveled.  

I was going to leave the rest for the next day, but I remembered I'd said I'd go to a Returned Peace Corps Dinner to meet with Alan Yuen, a South African national who works in the Peace Corps office in Pretoria.  The Peace Corps has contracted him and about 15 other foreign nationals to come to the US to recruit Peace Corps volunteers.  The idea, as I understand it, is to let people from countries that have volunteers give their perspective on how their countries benefit.  

So I kept on shoveling.  Got to talk to a couple of neighbors doing the same.  

And the sun even pinked the sky as I was shoveling.  

While I got the driveway cleared, the roads were something else again.  Lake Otis was awful.  Parts of Northern Lights were ok, but parts were a mess.  From Mike Garvey's Twitter account

Garages gonna be repairing a lot of broken axles pic.twitter.com/SS3mZsCVe2

— Mike Garvey (@mpg167) November 11, 2023

 But we made it safely, if bumpily, to the gathering.  

Here's Alan listening to a couple of the RPCVs talking about their experiences and asking how they can help Alan out.  

Then this morning I looked outside and the snow was coming down just as heavily as it did yesterday.  

But it didn't last as long, but it dressed the trees in back in a dreamy white.  

Here's what the deck looked like this morning.  But first I took care of the few more inches that had accumulated overnight on the driveway.

I did part of the deck in the afternoon.  The weather app says there will be some partial sun tomorrow, so I'll finish it then.  

My daughter and a good friend constantly remind me that shoveling snow is one of the best ways to get a heart attack.  Normally I don't pay them much attention.  But we had lots of wet, heavy snow, so I scooped the first six inches or so first and then the other 10 to 12 inches below.  And I took lots of breaks.  And I'm doing fine, though my body is pleasantly tired, no real aches or pains.