When nice turns nasty

Have you ever tried to do something nice and it backfires?

That describes my life yesterday.

I arrived home from Kitchener to find a foot of snow covering our driveway.  Driving through it would have been impossible so I parked at the bottom and trudged my way up.  After a fleeting family greeting I donned my winter gear and proceeded to the tractor.

Since most people shovel or use walk-behind snowblowers, allow me to describe what snow removal looks like chez Mills.  I drive a tractor.  Backwards.  Downhill.  And all the while, wind whipped snow pellets are blown high enough to boomerang back and freeze on my face.

It's not as bad as it sounds.  It can be a welcome change from working with negative people.

As is my custom, I blew out my neighbours' driveway.  They don't have a blower or a shovel so its an easy way to help them out.

It was my turn for mailbox duty.  On our road the mailboxes are grouped together so everyone takes a turn removing snow from around them.  That's when things took a nasty turn.

Picture this: a guy who spends more time using conditioning shampoo than driving heavy machinery, guiding a 6-foot snowblower and a diesel tractor around the neighbourhood mailboxes. 

Not pretty.

I must have steered a bit too close to the last mailbox because my rear tire brushed it sending the box and 2 feet of lumber cascading into the snowbank.

I felt like an idiot.  I probably looked like one too.

I walked apologetically up my neighours' freshly blown driveway to his front door.  He was gracious, forgiving and he wouldn't accept my offer to pay for the damage.

Next time, I think I'll use my shovel.