Yep. We got about a foot of snow Saturday night and into Sunday. This is what I woke up to yesterday.
Ugh. It was time. I walked up our long, steep driveway and started up the tractor. The hydraulic lever for the plow was still frozen, so I couldn't raise the plow.
Plan B. I walked a mile to Earl's house, fed the Jeremiah the Horse, and started Earl's plow truck. Nope, I don't know the truck's name. I need to get this information from Earl. I let it warm up while I brushed the deep snow off it with a windshield wiper blade I found in the cab because I couldn't find a snow brush. I got in, hit the lever to raise the plow, and nothing happened. The plow didn't work.
Plan C. I walked the mile back to our cabin, got a candle, a lighter, and some aluminum foil. I tented the hydraulic lever with the foil and put the lit candle in. I left it to warm up for an hour or so and then see if it unfroze. It did not.
Plan D. Shovel.
Shovel we did. Pam wasn't feeling well, but being the trooper she is, she came out to help shovel anyway. Afterwards, she wound up on the loveseat to snooze. Poor Chevy wanted to snuggle, but there was no room.
That's our screen door that's stuck open because of frost heaves. Thankfully, the Bleecker Black Flies are minimal at this time of year.
Poor Ruby went outside to go potty. She's a pit bull. She's very muscular and broad, but built low to the ground, if you get my drift (pardon the pun). Where to... umm... squat? Also note that not too many birds will be eating suet from that feeder today.
Poor Aud, the Kia, snowed in real good.
This was Leo Pard's first big snowfall, and he seemed to revel in it. Those two Madonna-looking things to his left are our wood splitting stumps, each about 18 inches high.
Ruby, still looking for a place to squat.
Plan B. I walked a mile to Earl's house, fed the Jeremiah the Horse, and started Earl's plow truck. Nope, I don't know the truck's name. I need to get this information from Earl. I let it warm up while I brushed the deep snow off it with a windshield wiper blade I found in the cab because I couldn't find a snow brush. I got in, hit the lever to raise the plow, and nothing happened. The plow didn't work.
Plan C. I walked the mile back to our cabin, got a candle, a lighter, and some aluminum foil. I tented the hydraulic lever with the foil and put the lit candle in. I left it to warm up for an hour or so and then see if it unfroze. It did not.
Plan D. Shovel.
Shovel we did. Pam wasn't feeling well, but being the trooper she is, she came out to help shovel anyway. Afterwards, she wound up on the loveseat to snooze. Poor Chevy wanted to snuggle, but there was no room.
While shoveling out the Buick, I let Bessie the Tractor run. That did the trick. The PTO of the tractor uses the same hydraulic fluid as the transmission, and it warmed up enough to free up the lever. I got the tractor plowed out on the landing on the highway, and then attacked the head of our driveway. In the course of doing that, I got Bessie stuck. I managed to get her pointed down the driveway, and made one pass down the steep Driveway of Death, plowing a narrow pathway. Long story short, Bessie could not climb back up the Driveway of Death for another pass or two. I even tried backing up it, hoping that with wheel weights and chains and front wheel drive (backing up), I could make it. Nope. So I had to shovel the top of the driveway by hand, which I paid for last night and this morning.
As Earl would say, I'm too old for this shit.
Pam has to go to work today, so she's going to see if she can get the all wheel drive Kia Sorrento out of here. If she can, she can park it up on the landing by the highway and just walk up and down to the Unabomber Cabin. We're only here for a few more weeks. No big deal.
Today's weather forecast is a high of 15 and a low of -1. Maybe it is a big deal.
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