I woke up to a message from the cat rescue group, asking about the truck. I told them I hadn’t had any word yet. The person asking me then said that she would drive to our place to deliver the donated kibble on Saturday!!! (today is Thursday)
What a sweet thing to start the day!
Then she asked what my address was.
Bahahahahaha!!!
I gave directions. She will message me when she heads out. Hopefully, we’ll know what’s going on with the truck before then.
I had texted the garage yesterday afternoon but didn’t hear back before they closed. I texted again this morning, asking if there was any news. I needed to know if I had to arrange for a ride to get groceries. I got an response and an apology. With all the snow we’ve been having (they got a lot more of it in town at the lake than we did here!), they were swamped. He promised to get back to me soon.
With today and tomorrow being so much warmer, but then a steep drop in temperature after that (though not as steep are predicted earlier), the first thing I wanted to get done was clearing the end of the driveway. I did take the time to help run the hose out the door’s window so my daughter could start on the many loads of laundry we’ve all got waiting, then shovel some of the paths around the house, first.
Then it was off to the gate.
I remembered to grab some of the outdoor solar powered lights I got a box of not long ago. I grabbed three of them last night and was going to prep them with double sided mounting tape under the tops, where the solar panel is, but found that wasn’t going to work. These are designed to be mounted onto wood with provided screws. The way the casing is designed, under the solar panels isn’t flat. There’s a slightly recessed area. I would need foam core mounting tape to fill the gap. Which I didn’t have. So I used what I had under the light portion, where it was flat. Hopefully, it will be enough to hold them in place.
I put the lights on the gate first – one on the slide bar, positioned to it would light up the lock and chain below, plus two others above the middles of each side of the gate. I forgot I meant to have the other two facing the other way, though. That’s okay. If these work out, I can add two more, facing the other way, in between the three already there.
Then it was time to push the gates open through the drifts under them and start digging.
Thankfully, the plow ridge wasn’t too hard packed, though using the ice scraper to break up packed snow was still needed in some areas. There were two areas that I needed to focus on. The plow ridge and the drifting under the gate itself. In between wasn’t too bad. The rest of the driveway could use a run with the snow blower, but I don’t think I’ll bother. Not worth dragging around a couple hundred feed of extension cord. It’s not that bad, and we’re going to be warming up more consistently, soon. Friday night through Saturday night are supposed to be cold, but there is no new snow expected. After that, things are supposed to warm right up again, we should even see some melting in some areas.
I had to force myself to slow down and take many little breaks while shoveling. I enjoy it so much that, when I get started, I’m working like I’m 27 instead of 57, and this was going to be a big job! I started at the plow ridge and then worked my way down far enough to clear the swing zones of the gate.
While working, I did see a bit of traffic. Much less than usual for our surprisingly busy road. While I was clearing the second side of the gate, I started hearing another vehicle coming that sounded… off, somehow. Looking up, I saw our vandal driving by veeeeeerrrrryyyyy slowly. Thankfully, he didn’t stop to yell and wave his colostomy bag at me again. 🫤
At one point, I thought I would take a break by sitting on the wall of snow along one side of the driveway. Silly me! It wasn’t as hard packed as I thought, so I sank down. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, if my knees weren’t shot! I couldn’t just stand back up again. In the end, I had to get down on one knee – the left knee, since I still can’t put weight on my right knee – and use the shovel as a brace to stand up again.
Being broken sucks.
Last of all, I dug a path to the trail cam, which I haven’t been able to get to for some time. That path needed some serious chopping up with the ice scraper! It was so snow and ice packed at the bottom, I only did one part of the path. I was just too tired to try and dig out the path running at another angle. It was completely filled with snow and would have been just as packed with ice and snow under the much softer top layer.
In the end, I was out there for two hours.
Still no word on the truck when I got in, but I did tell him I was going to be shoveling and might not be able to hear a message come in. I’ve since let them know I’m inside again.
My daughter, sweetheart that she is, had a not lunch and a pot of tea ready for me when I came in. 💕
It was so nice out there today that I was actually overheating somewhat while shoveling. We’re definitely going to have to get a new snow shovel, though. I really like the one I’ve been using, with the blade width and ergonomic handle. Unfortunately, it started to crack a few years ago. Today, while pushing snow, it got hung up on a chuck of something, hitting it hard enough that I heard a cracking sound. The old crack is now much larger. Amazingly, it still held as I finished the job! Unfortunately, a really good snow shovel like this one is not cheap. They also tend to not be in stock when the end of season clearance sales happen. Still, when I finally make it into the city, I’m going to have to look for a replacement. We do have other snow shovels, but they are not as good.
For now, I’m going to just get some rest until it’s time to head out and do the second cat feeding outside. I really ought to take more pain killers. Or my anti-inflammatories. I haven’t been needing those every day, lately, but today is a day I should take them!
If I can just haul my stiffening body out of my chair to walk across the room to get them.
Okay. Maybe I over did it a bit today…
😄😂
It sure felt good, though!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 