Diggin' Out

If I had to guess, I'd say we have about 10-12" of snow on the ground - this is a rare event for the Puget Sound - especially as far south as we are. And for those of you who aren't familiar with our set-up, we park our cars in the back of our house at the end of a long alley that is really only used by us. To boot, the top of the alley sports a steep hill. No traffic means snow build-up that we need to get through to get anywhere. Besides Jim needing to get work, we need a car handy in case Lemon decides to put me in labor. So this morning has been consumed with diggin' out - thus far, using only a super-heavy garden shovel. We rarely get snow in these parts so we have procrastinated in buying a snow shovel for 2 years now. Silly us.

Jim tried to get the Prius out but with its super-fancy traction detection system he couldn't even rock it out of the spot in our backyard (in this case, the car is too good). So plan B, the Celica (which happens to be the scariest car to drive in these weather conditions due to almost NO traction), is in effect. We managed to get it to the end of the alley but could not get it up the hill. After about 8 attempts at backing it up then trying again, we keep slipping back into the same spot without success...

A neighbor just came to our rescue with a real snow shovel to borrow (thanks, Sara!) so hopefully the next couple hours will be more fruitful than the last couple, spent with Jim shoveling and pushing, and me squeezing behind the wheel of the car trying to rock us out of the jam we're in...

Otherwise, Jim will need to burn a vacation day meant for after the baby is born. Bummer.

Note to self: Next year get a shovel, have salt and kitty litter on hand, and some chains might be nice.

UPDATE (12pm)
Another great neighbor, Neil, came to our ultimate rescue with a big truck and tow strap. We had never met this neighbor before so we are happy to have made a new friend! We have success and the car is out... Jim gets to go to work today.