Good karma?

We live in a townhouse building here -- six townhouses only. We have really low maintenance fees, which is accomplished by not hiring anyone to do such things as maintain the front garden and shovel snow or such. The garden is one of those almost maintenance-free types -- a few trees and bushes that need occasional trimming -- and the snow around here really isn't usually a problem. 

You know, until this year. 

I was only here for two or three days of snow before Christmas, and the one day I was home I was alone with a toddler, making shovelling impossible. So today I thought I'd better get my heinie outside with a shovel so as to do my part and avoid getting sued (by someone who slipped on the sidewalk, not by the neighbors.) So I did so, and felt terribly virtuous. I went outside at the same time as the man next door, and together we did all the stoops, the sidewalk round the building and the driveway into the garage. I admit he did the hard part -- scraping off the ice -- while I got the easy part of moving the snow, but that was with the World's Worst Snow Shovel (TM). Apparently in Vancouver there's no need to buy a good snow shovel because it just never snows here. (ahem)

And I came back inside, rosy cheeked and glowing, exercised and feeling good about myself and my contribution to society ... and then I made cookies. 

And in the hour and a bit since I returned inside, it started deluging again and now everywhere I scraped is white again. 

So I'm wondering: does it count that I did a good deed if Mother Nature obliterated it within an hour??

And: Dear God, the state of the streets is now truly laughable. We are grateful we live within driving distance of anything we need, because we sure as h*ll are not driving anywhere. And we live within a block of a main road.