....because snow fosters creativity! :)

So.....if you were living in Boston right now, you would be trying to deal with the massive amounts of snow we have been blessed with.......which is A LOT!  It's really crazy.....there's nowhere to put it all.  The piles of snow on street corners have become so high that you really can't see pedestrians who are trying to cross...cause they are hidden behind the snow!  I know.....crazy!!!

Below is a picture of the Target parking lot in Everett - the pile of snow in the corner is SOOOOOO massive.....there's nowhere else to put it all.

Now for the really creative part........so when it snows and your car is parked out on the street, your car gets buried and you have to dig it out.  What that means is not only do you have to clear off all of the snow on your car, but you also have to dig out all the snow on the street too, so you can get your car out.  Now....when you've gotten as much snow as we have in the past few weeks, this can be quite an extensive project, taking anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes....and maybe even over an hour.....especially if it's really icy.  Twice now I've had to use a metal shovel to hammer at & break up the ice on the road....and that is NOT a fast process.....so.........

Once you go to all of that trouble, you don't want to have to do it over and over again every time your park your car......so we get clever..........and we "save" our parking spot!!  Nope, we don't let the fact that it's a public street deter us at all.......we save our spot!!  Let me show you some of the creative ways we do this in Boston (or in this case Somerville, by my house):

Some people use chairs, some people use trash cans.........

This person used a recycle bin on it's side...........





This guy just took up two spaces.....we don't call that 'clever'...we call that selfish.....

This guy used TWO items, a Tidy Fresh cat litter bucket and a black crate.  Nice!  And then there's the always-reliable traffic cone......



But.....the award for the MOST creative item used to save a parking spot goes to:

Yes....yes she did (of course it was a woman!).  She used a dresser drawer to save her parking spot.  And what's even funnier, when she got home and pulled into her spot, she just put the drawer in the back of her Subaru.  How funny is that?!?!?!  Clever....very clever.....

And now.....a bonus story that is only speculation.....

You might be asking yourself, hmm...."so what happens if someone steals someone else's saved spot???"

Great question....and I've wondered that too....because I have yet to see it happen.  But, as of Saturday morrning, I think I now have an idea of what might happen......

On Friday night, I parked my jeep in a spot that was pretty far away from my house, because there were no available parking spots.  Now, when I parked in this spot Friday night, there was NO marker whatsoever indicating that this parking spot might be saved.  However........when I got to my car on Saturday morning, here is the sight that greeted me:



And no.....it did NOT snow at all on Friday night....so someone intentionally put all of that snow on my car. 

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

And yes, I'm grateful that my first reaction was to laugh hysterically when I saw this HEAP of snow shoveled on top of my car.  I mean, really.....how funny IS that?!?!  That's a LOT of effort that someone went to - to be mad at me.....

All I can imagine is that someone must have saved this spot, but by the time I parked there, whatever they had used to save the spot was gone....hence it appeared as if this was an open spot, which is why I parked there.  

Oh well.....it only took me about 15 minutes to clear it off.....but I am sure it took at least twice that long to pile it all up there!  Only in Boston.....I gotta hand it to whoever did this....major creativity!!! :)

Another quick little story......
Last night my car was stuck and my landlord/friend was helping me try to get out.  So we had the idea of using his Jeep to push my Jeep out (his is 4-wheel-drive....mine, sadly, is not - which is why it was stuck)....so we put the plan into action and then he backed off pretty quickly, got out of his car and came up to my window.  He said..."um...yeah...that's not working, I just dented your bumper."  And I thought....bummer....but oh well....it was worth a try.  So I get out of the car and we're both just standing there looking at the dented bumper, trying to think of more options.....and about a minute later......the bumper just POPS BACK INTO PLACE.  I'm not kidding.......it totally fixed itself...just like magic!  I was so glad that Brian was a witness to this, otherwise no one would believe me.  I love it!  Only in Boston........

We woke up to more snow falling this morning....so who knows when the craziness will end.  Until then......I'll just keep sharing the humor in all of this.........

happy days to all......