The Snowblower and Me

The view from our back door.

We've had SNOW this week - Monday and Tuesday.  And not just the little stinkin' snows we usually get - you know, one or two inches (if we're lucky!) and then it warms up and melts in the afternoon and freezes overnight.  Most of the time there's not a lot of point in shoveling; it just disappears either because the sun comes out or it changes to rain and gets washed away.

Last winter, we lucked out - we didn't really get much snow, and what we did get went away pretty quickly.  A good thing, too, because That Knee wasn't up to standing and walking for any extended time, so shoveling and running the snowblower were OUT.

Well.

Monday we got dumped on.  It snowed most of the day, falling thicker and faster as the day progressed.  We were one of the areas where there was "locally heavier accumulation," plus we have some places on our property where the snow drifts badly.

I fixed an early dinner, and afterward, when it was getting dark, That Person with That Knee said maybe he should get out the snowblower and...  I squelched THAT right away.  I'm not going to allow That Knee to have ANY excuse to kick up a fuss and let the nasty little infection bacteria get a toehold again.  Not THIS winter, anyway.

So I put on my arctic Carhartts and went out to the detached garage - That Man's private domain.  He tagged along, walking gingerly in the path I broke through the snow.  I'd never used our snowblower before, delicate flower that I am (HA!), so I needed instruction in its usage.

He gassed it up, showed me all the levers, buttons, switches, and toggles, got it started, and away I went!  

I spent a little less than an hour going up and down the driveway and front walk, while the snow fell fast and furious and the wind blew like crazy.  Although it was dark, it wasn't DARK.  The snow reflected enough of what little ambient light there was that I didn't need to turn on any of the outside lights to see what I was doing.

It was kind of nice out there, just me and the snowblower.  I saw two snowmobilers early on, and a couple of cars, but everybody was huddled in their homes and the snowplows hadn't started their evening runs on our street.  They had plowed several times throughout the day, but while I was out there, the street was dead.  I finished, returned the snowblower to the garage and went back into the house.

By the time it stopped Tuesday morning, there was just about the same amount of snow that I had already removed the previous evening covering the areas I'd cleared.  So, after lunch, I put on my Carhartts, went out to the detached garage, and started up the snowblower again - alone, this time.

I spent more time on the job that second time - clearing a path to the mailbox, and clearing more of the road in front of the mailbox so the mail carrier wouldn't have trouble reaching it from his little red, white, and blue Jeep.  Also some of the bad drifts in the driveway - the places that required three or four (or more!) passes to get down to the pavement, mainly between the cars we don't drive often, but also where the garage and race car trailer form a right angle - we get some really nice drifts there!  And at the end of the driveway and in front of the mailbox, where the snowplows throw the snow from the road.  Again, it was nice out there - still quiet, no wind to speak of (YAY!), and bright sun.  I got warm enough I couldn't wear a hat or my hood, so my scalp got sunburned where the hair parts!  I can still feel it!

I was kind of tired after manhandling the snowblower two days in a row!

Today I worked on the snow packed under the attached garage's door (it wouldn't quite close all the way, and we don't need the cold air blowing in under it), chipped the snow and ice off our mailbox (we want to get our mail), and cleared the whole front porch and the steps up to it (we want to get our Amazon packages - HA!).  It must have worked because we got mail and packages about an hour later.  We didn't get ANY yesterday, and Monday was Presidents Day, so no mail delivery, even if there hadn't been all that snow.

So I'm feeling like I've accomplished a LOT this week, even though I haven't done much of my normal work around the house (to be honest, I haven't done ANY - the house is a wreck).  But that's not the end of it.  We're supposed to get another couple of inches of snow tonight.  They say about 2 inches, but who knows?!?!?

We will see what we see when we see it!

Oh FUN!

The Mid-Summer Yard and Garden Tour - Something's Growing!

I've spent a LOT of time outside this past week, cleaning up the mess from the recent storms.

Besides the major tree damage to our buckeye and the neighbors' maple last week, some good-sized branches broke off and fell out of the top of the 95-foot tulip poplar in the back yard.  The tree guys didn't mess with them because the branches didn't fall on the neighbors' house, which was why we called them and their giant claw machine. 

I went out and dragged the branches to a relatively convenient spot to cut them up.  We have two gas-powered chainsaws, but they're difficult to start and to keep running (even That Man has to work hard at it).  They make oily messes and are LOUD to boot, so I made the executive decision to buy an electric chainsaw so I could cut up those limbs without a lot of wasted effort.  It's been too hot to suffer that way.  The new saw is easy to start, relatively quiet, and went through the fresh wood like butter.  Because the chainsaw doesn't belch smoke and fumes, I could smell the wood as I cut.  Tulip poplar is super fragrant!

All tulip tree stuff.  Under the rack is a
pile of tulip poplar seeds. Dry, they
make great tinder for starting a fire!

About a week before the storm, I'd taken delivery of a nice new EMPTY firewood rack.  Well, it's not empty anymore. That Man says that's what caused the storm to knock down the trees - nature abhors a vacuum, and the wood rack needed something to fill it up.  My new chainsaw and I obliged.

I heard the storm that caused all the damage may have actually been a tornado that didn't touch down.  I saw the trees on the street behind us blowing in all directions rather than just one, and our buckeye tree appeared to have been twisted when it broke.  The tree guys took it down to the ground and hauled it away with the neighbors' big maple tree, so we didn't get any of its wood.  Poor tree.  We'll miss it.

Here's what a Nut Weasel looks like.

Buckeye trees are notorious for their fertility.  Every year they produce thousands of buckeyes that litter the ground and make it difficult to walk - kind of like walking on a carpet of golf balls.  We used to pay The Girl and The Boy five cents a buckeye to pick them up.  They'd usually fill up a couple of five-gallon buckets each at about $40.00 a bucket.  That's a lot of buckeyes! 

Since there aren't any kids to bribe to gather buckeyes anymore, I looked for a tool to make gathering them easier.  I'd decided to buy a Nut Weasel for this fall, but now it's moot - I don't need it.

Possibly the last living
connection to our buckeye tree.

It's not just the buckeyes themselves that are problematic, but the little seedlings they make!!!  In the spring, there'd be a sea of baby buckeye trees.  The ones in the yard were easy to take care of - you just kept mowing the grass regularly and eventually they give up, but there would always be a bunch hiding in the beds of peonies and daylilies along the side of the house.  I must have done a thorough job of eradicating the stray seedlings that usually crop up in the flower beds because there just aren't any to be found there.  HOWEVER...!  I discovered ONE in the grass under the tulip tree.  It's apparently the only remaining offspring of our late lamented tree.

So...  I've decided to dig it up and move it to the garden, and maybe one day we'll have a sapling to plant in the yard, and it will grow up and make thousands of buckeyes of its own.  THEN I'll buy myself a Nut Weasel!

An INTERESTING Weekend - As in the Ancient Chinese Curse

You're surely familiar with the so-called Ancient Chinese Curse, "May you live in interesting times."  Well, I've had an "interesting" weekend!!!

The Bridgeton covered bridge.

After the irritation of my glasses and sunglasses trying to self-destruct, and the amazing news that That Man had decided to spend the day spectating drag race qualifying in Indianapolis, I thought I'd take a little field trip on Saturday to Parke County, "the covered bridge capital of the world."  I drove to the Bridgeton covered bridge and mill, where I picked up a map of the driving routes that take you to the 31 covered bridges in the county.  I drove the Red Route and visited several of the bridges.
 

The Bridgeton Mill

The Zacke Cox covered bridge.

The Harry Evans covered bridge.

It was a bright, clear, sunny, mild day.  While I wandered the back roads of Parke county, always on the lookout for wildlife, I encountered a white-tailed deer, a bald eagle, loads of turkey vultures, and a tree full of eastern bluebirds.  I ate a little snacky lunch at a picnic table by one of the bridges.

The Rosedale covered bridge.

The Mecca covered bridge.

It was a perfect day, exactly what I needed.  All good things must end, though.  As I got closer and closer to home, the sky clouded up, and eventually, rain spattered the windshield and then it started raining for real.  And blowing!

Pulling into the garage, I saw our neighbor on our front porch talking to That Man.  She was telling him one of our trees had split and was about to fall, and to be careful around it.  Once inside, we watched the rain wind whip the trees on the street behind us into a frenzy.

After the storm passed, we went outside to see what was what, and sure enough, our buckeye tree had been totally decapitated, the missing top on our neighbors' roof and gazebo.  Plus, their big sugar maple had split and blocked the street.  I called a tree service, and that's how we spent all of Sunday - supervising the removal of those two trees with our neighbors and picking up leaf litter and moving "smaller" branches around.  We had several branches blown out of the top of our 90-foot tulip tree, too, and they ended up scattered around the back yard - knocking down our cable TV connection, hitting my boat, and landing on the tomato plants in my garden. 

 And then the cherry on the top - when we woke up Sunday, we had no power.  A tree down the street had been struck by lightning Saturday, caught fire, and during a second storm that night fell and took down the power lines.  We didn't get power back until nearly 5:00 Sunday afternoon. 

In the meantime, we got out a generator for us and another for our neighbors so our refrigerators and freezers would stay cold.  It was a mild day again, so we just opened the windows to keep from suffocating in the house.  It could have been much worse - the temperature could have climbed into the 90s like it did earlier in the week.

The tree guys brought a truck with a grappling arm to remove the top of our buckeye tree from the neighbors' roof.  It was fascinating to watch, as attested by the number of rubberneckers driving by, slowing down, and taking pictures, but I'd really rather not have that kind of activity in our yard again soon. 

Here's the pile from the neighbors'
tree, after the street had been cleared.

Here's the pile from our
buckeye tree.

HOPE (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

This is one of my favorite hymns:

 "My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus'  blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."

Refrain:
"On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand."

"When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil"

Refrain

"His oath, his covenant, his blood
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay."

Refrain

"When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!"

Refrain

That Girl has recently found a new church to attend, and after her first service there, she told me they sang this really great hymn and she couldn't stop thinking about it.  Guess which hymn?

Maybe it's the sailor in me, but I like the concrete images of the rock, the sand, the storm, the flood, and the anchor holding through it all.  It makes me think about the devastation caused by hurricanes Florence and Michael. 

What better metaphor for the storms of life, both spiritual and physical? 

What better illustration of hope?

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "HOPE."  For more information on the challenge click here.