The early morning trip to pick up the heating pad for the barn girls never happened. By first light, there was already fresh snow on the ground, and flurries so thick you couldn't see our neighbors' homes on the corner. The blizzard had already arrived.
Instead, Handsome and I aired the dogs (poor Tag couldn't negotiate the snow at all), put out feeders with birdseed, and took care of the barn ladies. Within two hours, this is the snow that had accumulated on the feeder and birdhouse in the sheltered section of our yard. You're looking at nearly 5" of snow on the feeder. By the end of the day the weather widget in my iPhone said that our area recorded 11.75" of snow, but, hey...let's just call it 12". What's a 1/4" at this point? Another 2" was forecast for overnight. I haven't checked that yet.
When the plow comes to clear out our road, the driver typically plows up our road to the farm lane. He pulls into the lane enough so he can turn around and put the plow down adjacent to our mailbox. From there, he plows back down the other side of the road on his way out.
Thursday, he overestimated the "safe zone" on the farmer's lane. He drove too far out and got stuck. Thankfully, he had a load of sand in the dump truck, so he moved further into the lane, dumped a bunch of sand, and created enough traction to extricate himself from the lane. Sadly, not before tearing up the gravel and part of the farmer's field. We just hoped he'd learned his lesson. Not so fast...
When he showed up today, guess what? Yep. He did it again. Due to the ruts from the previous situation - and the fact that he again went too far out onto the lane - we watched in disbelief when he got stuck yet again. I realized I was standing slack-jawed that he would have managed to get the plow in trouble the. very. next. day.
Getting out this time took a bit longer, but he finally dumped more sand and after a lot of effort, hand shoveling, and rockin' that plow truck, he finally managed to again extricate himself. We walked away from the dining room windows shaking our heads. Let's hope he's learned his lesson.
Needless to say, the road conditions were slippery, snowy, and with little visibility. We stayed put all day. I'm hoping that the wind with lie down so we can run a few errands, most of them involving the barn cats. We shall see.
The counter company confirmed that they'll be here Monday between 1-3 pm to do the install. Right on schedule! Today, however, once we get home from running errands, you'll find me in my studio. I have work to do!
Our neighbors winter in FL.
ReplyDeleteHe lets us use his J Deere tractor with a plow to plow, his, ours & 3 neighbors driveways.
Hubby Has had to plow for the last 3 days, & I looked outside, & yup, more snow.
Not sure how much, the wind has been bad & a lot has drifted.
Mother Nature is making up for lost time!
I need to go out to, but will see how the roads are.
Stay safe!
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn:
DeleteYour husband is like "our" Andy. Generous with his time, and able to help out neighbors. That's wonderful. I'm hoping the snow stops soon. We're already nearly 14"! Mother Nature is fickle, for sure! We haven't been out since this began. Hopefully, we'll get our errands run today before the deep freeze hits. Stay safe and warm.
xoxo
Donna
That's way too much snow! Last night we were pretty much experiencing blizzard conditions with high winds and thought for sure there'd be a ton of snow this morning. Nope - it rained and it left only a couple inches on the ground. It's been the weirdest winter. Right now it's 2C but we're supposed to go into a deep freeze over the next few days. Only one day of sun in over a month.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that snow plow driver should invest in some driveway flags so he can see where he shouldn't go.
Hi MA:
DeleteThe weather has been pretty nuts. Warm, cold, really cold, dangerously cold. No snow, rain, ice, snow, snow, snow, snow. Oh, and don't forget wind. Ugh. I'm already over it. We have driveway flags in and so far, he's managed to run one over. lol
Stay safe!
xoxo
Donna
Donna I'm hoping you get more snow, only because I really want to see if the third time really is the charm for the plow driver. Just too much wide open space for him. And no, you really don't need any more snow.
ReplyDeleteCan you believe you are almost as the end of the pantry reno?
Hope you are enjoying the weekend.
Shirley
Hi Shirley:
DeleteThis morning, he drove to the end of the road. Backed all the way back to the intersection, and then came back down the road on the other side. Then he backed all the way out again so he could avoid the lane altogether. We were in the house, giggling. I can't wait for the pantry to be finished. I want to put things away SO BAD! The dining room looks like the pantry exploded all over. Once Monday is over and the counter is installed, it will be all downhill. squeeeee!
xoxo
Donna
Maybe he's a new plow person learning the ropes at a slow pace. It is not fun getting stuck. Good to read he's learning. Y'all have a lot more snow than we have. Rain washed ours away. There was a down pour when I went out yesterday. I kept thinking if it was snow, then we'd have a few good inches.
ReplyDeleteHi Salty:
DeleteYou're so right. I've been stuck in deep snow more than once, and it's no fun. I wasn't surprised that a "new guy" might get stuck once. I was more surprised that it happened twice. However, he has learned because he's not going into that lane at all now! Rain would be disastrous for us, as it still gets too cold and we'd end up with much more awful ice. I'm glad you were warm enough not to have that. We have ice under the snow right now, so every trip to the yard is taking our life into our hands. I was actually "turtling" in a snowbank yesterday as I tried to get seed to the bird feeder. I managed to leave a great pile on the snow for the birds, and a huge divot in the snow where I had to get myself out of my snowy predicament. I must have been a sight to see as I floundered around. I got off with only a twisted knee. Ice and tramadol saved the day. I'll be more careful, but Handsome said he'd plow out a lane for me to safely walk the next time I fill the feeders.
Stay safe and warm!
xoxo
Donna