Of Stalkers, Boners and Missed Music

Unlike yesterday's peaceful quiet, my street has been alive with noise all day.

People are out walking and talking, scraping their cars and whirring their tires trying to escape the mounds of snow, so I finally gave in and joined them.

Cleaning off my car was a cinch, but removing the drifts of snow that all but covered the tires took a while (I used a rake, a surprisingly efficient tool for the job of shifting the powder).

I even drove around the block to ensure that I had an exit strategy for later.

And then I set off on foot to see what was up in J-Ward.

My favorite Whiskey Wednesday friend was smoking a cigarette on his porch so I recruited him to inspect the 'hood with me and he was more than willing.

We saw a car parked facing east on Clay (it's westbound), but with no tracks in or out, indicating it was parked pre-snowfall. Interesting choice and for no apparent reason that we could think of.

We noted the absence of snowmen, probably due to the dryness of the snow.

In lieu of being able to pack the snow into recognizable forms, the artistic among us seem to have resorted to writing words on the snow canvas of cars.

We saw "VCU," "peace" and a heart written out on different vehicles, but my favorite would have to be the one that said "boner."

Now I'm just guessing here, but I'd be willing to bet that it was someone with a Y chromosome who was thus inspired (or maybe just over-sharing).

Two well-dressed men came out of their house as we passed, snow shovels in hand.

The one proudly pointed out to the other that he had cleared off both their cars; their intention now was to move the mounds of snow that were blocking them in.

Unlike me and my girly rake tool, they had manly snow shovels.

The one in loafers (you know, the perfect shoe for snow removal) inserted his shovel into a mound, where the scoop promptly snapped off from the handle.

The other guy burst out laughing at him, causing loafer boy to slink inside.

My friend and I walked on before making proper fun of them.

My friend peeled off when we got back around to his block and I kept going the block and a half home.

There was a guy smoking a cigarette and shoveling a walk at the corner house, who said hello to me in an eastern European accent.

"I haven't seen you on your walk every day lately. Like 9-10:00, right? I see you all the time. Where have you been?"

I've never seen this guy before and I have no idea who he is or that he knows about my daily walk.

Creepy or complimentary? You be the judge.

And now I come home to find that the Of Montreal show at the National tonight has been postponed.

Damn, I was hoping for some over-the-top musical spectacle tonight to cap off the snowy weekend.

I saw them in November 2008 and they were great fun.

Now I'll have to find another way to amuse myself.

Bet I can.