it snowed a little bit overnight. just a few inches, but enough to freak some people out, including my mother. she said my father was coming out to pick me up so i could help him shovel the small amount of snow around the cafe. she told me at 10:15am, so i got out of bed to get ready. i found karen video chatting with her boyfriend miguel in the living room. outside, neighbors were clearing out their cars, including an unexpected cameo by my upstairs neighbor steve. he also cleared the sidewalk.

i waited by the window, waiting for the car to arrive, while karen when through her videochat rolodex of mexican friends, holding up her laptop to show them the snow outside. i ended up hovering by the window for more than 40 minutes, because my mother didn't let me know my father was going to clean the sidewalk at their place first, then get some gasoline, before finally arriving at my place.

my 2nd aunt had already cleared much of the sidewalk around the cafe by the time we arrived. we retrieved the snowblower from the toolshed and cleared the sidewalk from my grand uncle's place all the way to the parking lot. it was good to keep the sidewalk clean in anticipation of the 3rd snowstorm arriving on sunday-monday (freezing rain for much of sunday followed by a night of snow in the evening into monday morning). what's really scary was how excited karen was this morning when she thought she might have a 2nd snow day for monday. i really hope that doesn't happen.

after a bowl of sauerkraut cellophane soup for lunch, i got a chance to use the bathroom and take a shower, clearing out my congested sinuses in the process. i went outside and refilled the suet feeder and shook the globe feeder so there was more sunflower seeds. i streamed the NFL turning point edition of the patriots super bowl comeback for my parents to watch, followed by some taiwanese food travelogues (particularly korean barbecue).

after dinner i got a ride back to my place, but first we stopped by the cafe to give my 2nd aunt a ride as well (saving her from having to walk home in the snow and cold). when i got back home i noticed 2 things: karen didn't lock the door and she was frying something for dinner because the whole house reeked. maybe she doesn't understand that during the winter, i can't just easily open the door or the windows to air out the house, and any cooking smell she produces gets trapped and recirculated. she also didn't close my bedroom door so i'm sure all my things smell like they've been in a fryer. when she does this, i can't wait for her to leave. i ended up burning some candles to mask the smell. hopefully it'll dissipate after a few days.

i went outside to do some night time shoveling. steve did an okay job, but if everything was going to freeze solid after the rain tomorrow, i wanted to do a better clean up. i also shoveled out two paths onto the street. there are now 2 unused parking spots in front of my house. one of them was empty during thursday's blizzard so it's just covered in snow. i also dumped some sidewalk snow onto it (had nowhere else to put it) so that spot will remain buried for the foreseeable future. next to it is another spot. it's only partially buried, but with a little bit of work it can be cleared out. i thought about clearing it out, but i'm not feeling all that altruistic. i don't even have a car, so i have zero incentive to help clear out a spot.