I really love my job, but not today!

I thought today I might write about the working mom part of my split personality.  We are well into winter here in Western New York and that presents certain challenges in the running of a doggy daycare.  

On good days, when temperatures reach well into the double digits, we are able to enjoy a good thirty minute romp in the snow a few times a day.  On those days, our canine companions are exhausted from their frosty frolic and are easily managed for the rest of the day.

Other days are not so enjoyable.  Often we lay in bed just before daybreak listening for the telltale scraping sound of the city plow already at work.  With a groan, we rise and dress for the single digit temperatures that will bring even the dogs in their coats and boots.  FYI it takes about as much time and effort to undress a dog wearing cold weather gear as it does a toddler! With a sigh and a few F-bombs, we find that it is first necessary to dig out the plow before the sidewalks can be cleared.  No time for breakfast or a shower if all the snow is to be out of the way in time for our first furry arrivals at seven o'clock.

Recently, the intestinal fortitude of even the most stoic Western New Yorker has been put to the test with a particularly long spell of frigid temperatures and relentless snow.  These days the F-bombs start before we are even out of bed, knowing that we will, once again, be faced with enormous piles of hard packed snow left behind by the city plow drivers who had worked through the night to keep the streets clear.  They are working hard, but still we curse them as we hack away at the frozen concrete mountains blocking our driveway and street access.

With all hands on deck (two adults and one teenager) we are up and running with just minutes to spare.  Watching the wind blow the snow across the sidewalk I had just shoveled, I wait for the chaos to begin.  A little thing like a blinding snow storm seldom slows down life here in the City of Good Neighbors, and soon the windows are rattling as twenty three dogs of all shapes and sizes greet one another and the day begins.