150 Followers! WOW!

Here I am, home on a snow day, having gotten the call at 4:20 this morning. I just came in from my first shoveling session of the day (about 1/2 foot of fresh heavy snow so far, and probably another 1/2 foot left to come). They say the snow will stop by 7:00am tomorrow, so maybe we'll have a delay tomorrow. Unlike those of you in other regions, this snow won't stop us for long. Some of our high school students were talking yesterday about using the snow day (which was strongly anticipated) to ski at Gore Mountain, a nice ski center about 1/2 hour away from the school. So try to understand this parent philosophy: the weather isn't safe to run the buses, but what the heck, give the teen the car and let him drive (with a few friends) 1/2 hour on hilly lonely country roads to go skiing!
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Anyhow, I figured I'd take a computer break, and I clicked on my blogger dashboard and voila! 150 followers!! I can't believe that 150 people actually think that what I say is worth reading. Thanks! I'd like to do something special to thank you -a random give-a-way or something, but I need a few days to figure it out. I hope you'll check back and see what I come up with.
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Here's my worry though - I feel like I've gotten to know some of you pretty well after almost a year of blogging, and I worry that I can't keep up. I read/follow a lot of blogs, love them all, and also like to take the time to comment and to respond to comments left on my blog. So bear with me if I don't get back to you right away. I have to remember my primary responsibilities are to my family and my job (and today, to my sidewalk!).
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A word about the sidewalks, family, and human nature. I used to love my cozy neighborhood, but over the years a number of houses have become rentals and the tenants are a disappointment. Today shoveling was hard work; I was trying to toss shovelsful (or is it shovelfuls?) of snow onto banks that reaching toward my 5' height. And a neighbor across the street was snowblowing (we don't own a blower; my husband refuses), and had his blower aimed... you guessed it; over a snowbank right onto me and my newly shoveled sidewalk, as well as my husband's car. I stood there and stared at him as my sidewalk filled in and he kept right at it. I didn't realize my husband, who was shoveling in the back, had seen this, until he told me he called the police when he saw the snow hitting ME (I was so bundled with hat/scarf/hood that I didn't realize it was landing on me at first). We've been on the street about 25 years, and this was a first. We used to help shovel each OTHER's driveways.
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I've noticed this change elsewhere too; you stop when driving your car and wave to let someone cross a street and they amble across without nary a hand up to say thanks. Or a kid talks back to you in school the way you wouldn't have DREAMED of speaking to an adult when you were a kid. I'm sure you know what I mean. I hope my 22 year old son, as he makes his way in the world, remembers that he was brought up to be respectful and kind. Hopefully he and his friends can counteract the wave of disrespect that I seem to see in society these days.
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OK, didn't mean to seem so grumpy. It's beautiful outside, and I have a lot I want to accomplish today with my extra time. Meanwhile, my next post, I promise, is finally going to be about Lucy, my dragon. Enjoy the weather, whatever yours is like!