Everyday I'm Shovelin'

My cute little across-the-street neighbor, Nephi (the one who gives me expired food and highly suspect canned applesauce), cracks me up. Every single day in the winter, he's out there shoveling his sidewalk. And usually somebody else's. The mound between him and the now-empty Drug Dealer/Domestic Violence house gets sky high in the winter. It's one of those weird things where both of their driveways are close together, with a thin little strip of grass between. Nephi is so good at piling the snow intricately on that mound, but not letting it fall down. I swear sometimes that mound gets up to six feet tall or so.

One day a couple of winters ago, it had snowed a couple of feet. When it let up, I glanced across the street whenever I passed my front windows to see if Neph was out there shoveling. He always waits until it's good and done. As the afternoon wore on, I started to get concerned. No Nephi. No shoveling. I thought, "Oh my gosh, I wonder if he died. He never, ever misses an opportunity to shovel." Ben came home that night, like at 5 p.m., and I accosted him at the door: "BenIthinkNephiisdeadhehasn'tcomeoutsidetoshovelyetheneverhasdonethatbefore!!"

Ben said, "Let's wait until tomorrow and see if he shows up outside. If he doesn't, I'll go over and check it out."

Happily, Neph started shoveling bright and early the next morning. Phew.

This winter has been really, really bizarre. Hardly a snowflake. It mainly feels like spring all the time. I've got to admit that I'm loving the sunshine and the balmy temperatures. It will suck for the farmers this summer, though. And the waterskiers.

There haven't been many opportunities for shoveling. But you can bet Nephi is keeping his vigil. The other day, I saw him shoveling a puddle of water. I think his sidewalk is a little uneven in this one spot, so when snow melts, water kind of accumulates into a teeny puddle in this one spot. I have a few spots like that on my sidewalk, as well. But yeah, I saw him scooping water from his puddle and throwing it on his lawn. I thought it was funny.

Dylan saw it, too, and he said, "Hey, mom, it's like that song on the radio that goes, 'Everyday I'm shovelin'.'" I laughed and laughed.

"What's so funny, Mom?"

"I think the song says 'Everyday I'm shufflin'."

"Well that doesn't make sense. Is he talking about playing cards??"

"No, I think he's talking about dancing."

"Dancing? Really? I don't think so. I think you're wrong. I think he's talking about shoveling."

When we have conversations like this, I've learned to just let it go. I know I'm right, and I know he's wrong, but he will fight me TO THE DEATH on matters like this. So I just said, "Wow, Dylan, perhaps you're right."