While a lot of young people are enjoying the Sunday snowstorm by playing or sledding in the white powder, some enterprising teens in South Riding, Virginia, are hard at work with their nascent snow shoveling business.
With the snowstorm fully underway, it’s safe to say that the idea of leaving the fireplace first thing Sunday morning and shoveling the driveway, sidewalk and steps wasn’t appealing.
On a neighborhood Facebook page, I was very happy to see that some teens’ moms said their children were looking to earn some spending money.
“It’s really cold, if I were older and I had some money, I’d pay other people to do it, too,” said 14-year-old Jude, who just formed a snow shoveling business with his friend, Jason.
There was about 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow in my subdivision when the young shovelers arrived.
“If you shovel earlier, the snow is a lot fluffier and lighter,” said Jude, with Jason backing him up. “It’s a lot easier.”
The snow continued to fall as they shoveled, changing to sleet as they worked.
Shovelable snow is fairly rare in Loudoun County.
“My dad lives in Pennsylvania. Where he lives, it’s always snowing heavily,” said Jude, who got plenty of practice in the more snow-prone state.
Why would two 14-year-olds choose to labor in subfreezing weather, rather than recreating?
“I’m really not into sledding as much,” Jude said. “I’m also looking forward to buying new gear for my band.”
Apparently, the business partners are also bandmates. Jude plays bass guitar and Jason plays drums, Jude’s mom, Sari, said.
After getting down to asphalt on the driveway, front steps and sidewalk, the partners spread ice melt to combat the additional snow, sleet and freezing rain to come.
As they finished the job, I couldn’t wait to get inside, but the hardworking teens weren’t thinking about slowing down with a warm mug of hot chocolate.
“We’re going to our next house now,” Jude said. “This is just the first for today.”