It's Colorado in Myrtle Beach!

It finally happened on Wednesday.  For seven years my shovel has stood in my garage here waiting for the day I could shovel snow as I did in New Jersey.  About a year and a half ago in Colorado I was able to borrow a shovel and twice get a little shoveling in, but Wednesday I may have shoveled more than any day in my life and I had a great time!  As Adrian Monk would say, "Here's what happened:"

                                               

It all started in December 2017 as we packed our belongings to move to Myrtle Beach.  I've loved shoveling snow and watching it fall since I was a kid and there was no way I was leaving without bringing one shovel with me just in case I needed it.  Below is the picture of me enthusiastically holding the shovel in our kitchen when we arrived in South Carolina.

It unfortunately started snowing 7-8 pm Tuesday night in the dark.  I tried to get a picture of me holding the shovel in the snow and this is the best I could come up with.  You should be able to see some snow on my hood and in the sky. Below is a picture of our palm tree.

         

Wednesday morning before I headed out for the big day, I decided to post on our two neighborhood Facebook sites and this is what I said:

Good morning neighbors! It's a beautiful winter morning and I'm heading out to shovel. My shovel has been sitting in my garage for 7 years waiting for today and I'm heading out for some fun. If anyone really needs a walk or driveway shoveled you can text me at ( ). I'm going to have a great time today.

I did not mention that I wasn't going to charge anything, but would only accept a $5 tip so they wouldn't feel guilty.

The first thing I saw was sleigh riding-southern style. I was so surprised I didn't grab my phone until they were down the street.  The hatch was open with the mom and a child in the back and a rope pulling another child on a small sled.  I've never seen this before.

I started working on my driveway and moved to my neighbors on both sides and did their driveways that had cars on them. These pictures are of our palm tree and house and down the street.  The best time after a snow is early in the morning when it's just you and this was the quiet and peaceful scene.  

     

A neighbor around the corner wanted to borrow my shovel, but when I got there I could tell he didn't want to shovel. I told him to go inside and I'd take care of it.  This is an action shot in case you didn't believe I really did this.  He said to me, "I've never seen someone smiling while they shovel."

I did get three texts from people I didn't know and I did one walk and two driveways.  The last two people would have been upset if I took only $5 from them, so to make them feel better I accepted their generous payment.

Meanwhile on our neighborhood Facebook site. I had a lot of positive comments, but this one was special: "This guy deserves a parade!" When I asked him what the parade would look like, his response was hilarious: "It will be everyone in Horry County holding flags with your name on it while carrying shovels. The parade will go from 29th Ave. North on Ocean Blvd. all the way down to Damon's Steakhouse on the south end!" 

My neighbor across the street, who helped me with one neighbor's driveway, generously posted this on our site: "Our neighborhood is a better place to live because of you. Thank you for being a great example of sacrificing to put others first! The world needs more men like you." It was very kind of him, but can you have this much fun and really be sacrificing?

Seven years ago when we moved in we were with a bunch of people in the development and I overheard a guy from New York say that he had his snow shovel in his garage, just in case.  I told him that when it snows, we have to get a picture together with our snow shovels.  I was shoveling a few houses away from him and I managed to get this selfie of the two of us.  We had almost identical green shovels.

Did I have fun on Wednesday? I shoveled at seven other houses and I was out for seven hours. It wasn't a lot of snow and I took breaks and had water and food.  I even ate a little chicken at my house while I shoveled!  

As I arrived home I knew I had to finish my driveway, but one of my neighbors cleaned it up which of course was the southern thing to do. My left leg was a little sore the rest of the day, but the next morning, I had no aches or pains. By far, one of the best days I've had in South Carolina.