I watched him struggle with the sea

[sovay]

I was nine-tenths of the way through shoveling my mother's driveway before it occurred to me that the flat-bladed gardening implement which I had been using to rowel up the frozen underlayer of slush from which the shovel just skidded off—it reminded me of a whaler's cutting spade—was conceivably some kind of hoe. I cannot tell if this means I will never have to settle my debts with Poseidon or if I have just incurred Demeter's eternal disappointment.

Comments

[asakiyume]

something something please all gods please none?

[swan_tower]

Unrelated except that I just discovered this ten seconds ago and had to come squee at you: in looking up information on possible binary planet systems on Wikipeida, I discovered that you were the one to suggest the name "Vanth" for the moon of the dwarf planet Orcus. That is super awesome!

[kathmandu]

Rule of thumb: if the flat blade is parallel with the handle, it's an ice-chopper. If the flat blade is at 90 degrees to the handle, it's a hoe.

I feel like the various gods must have some kind of way to pass out-of-season homage and debts back and forth, the way libraries trade copying and copyright fees. So you should be fine no matter which kind of tool it is.

[nineweaving]

Ice-flensing?

These 18th-century tools are very much shorter than hoes, and (cruelly, succinctly) hafted with whalebone.



Nine