Neighborly Shoveling Competition...

Ahhhh... FINALLY some more snow!!! :)
Last night we had a great snowfall and it has continued the whole day.  It might seem crazy to most of you, but most people here in the north of Sweden are super excited about it!  It is the end of February and there is supposed to be winter here - people that choose to live this far north enjoy it and all the activities that are available during the winter season.

I spent a great deal of time shoveling in front of the house this morning.  For those of you who know of neighborly competitiveness when it comes to having the nicest lawn have not seen the art of shoveling yet!!!  We have neighbors on each side of us, who have perfected this very significant task and there's some MAJOR pressure on us...  ;)

Of course, we are already behind when it comes to the equipment.  A nice shovel will put you back around $100 - $200!  (for a SHOVEL?!?)  Since we're renting we have not invested in a *xx@%## shovel, but are stubbornly using the one left behind by our landlord.  It works... it just takes a lot longer...

For those of you who don't know - there are a few things to consider for the right shoveling etiquette when you live in a row of houses, like we do...

• If your neighbors have shoveled - you'd better get out there and do it too.  It's common courtesy, so we can drive by each other's houses.  
  
  
  
   
• You should always shovel a little bit over on your neighbor's side...  Just to show that you're a friendly neighbor that doesn't just draw the line right at your property.  Not much... just a few inches...  
  
   
• When you've shoveled your whole area, and it looks to most people like you're done... is when the REAL job begins...  Straightening the snowbank!  This may be specific to our row of houses, but we don't want to stick out like a sore thumb!  ;)  This is where you take a smaller shovel and throw the bottom debris up to the top of the snowbank.
  
    

Then you go inside, drink a cup of tea and enjoy your exquisite work from the comfort of your home, before it's time to go out and do it again a couple of hours later...

Oh, and a side-note for women... waterproof mascara is preferred...   ; /