29 December 2012

Hello my bloggy friends!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful New Year.  That's still up in the air what with fiscal cliffs and winter weather possibly wreaking havoc, but there's still lots to be thankful for and we truly are blessed to live in the greatest nation on earth.
We've had some heavy-duty snow this past week in our little town of Burney, but only two homes' roofs caved in and one store and NO ONE DIED because of it, so that is definitely something to  be thankful for.  Christmas was interesting trying to get everyone together.  This house only saw half the family able to make it over the mountain but I am grateful to have had at least half.  And thanks to my son, I got a respite from shoveling the white stuff. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
With three feet plus of snow, getting wood to the house is a challenge. The snow has packed down, frozen crust on top, but one still sinks up past the knees in places when trying to traverse the white expanse.  Running a wheelbarrow through it is obviously impossible. Year before last I bought a kid's sled and had to use it a couple of times that winter.  Last winter it stayed in the shed.  Now, with this #@%! looking like it might be around for longer than any of us can imagine, it is time to utilize Sled.  It works like a charm as long as 1.  it isn't too bumpy along the snow path, 2.  the path is wide enough, 3.  you go slow.  Number 4 may come into play as the days progress and that would be:  4. there aren't too many sunken foot prints for the sled to get caught on.  There are places where that little sled glides along perfectly on the packed snow and over the sink holes and it glides especially well once we get to the little deck in back of the house.  Once onto that (it's cleared of snow as I write this, but that could change) and if it is early enough in the morning and things are still icy, Sled glides along like a penguin 'ice swimming' on its belly and you better look out or it will bowl you over.  Don't ask me how I know this!  I am perfecting my techniques every morning and it is getting easier and easier -- practice makes perfect --  and using  Sled is a hundred times easier than hauling a small arm load of wood at a time across 100 plus feet of unstable white @#%!, umm, I mean snow.
Here's a pic of Sled and a shot of the wood pile at the back of the property----  It's that brown , iced over, snow covered lump you can see between and behind the two bushes.


Well, for heaven's sake!  Here we go again with the side-ways photos.  Sorry.  I simply do not know how to correct this!


Getting around is a case in careful placement of every step because as the snow melts a little each day, it freezes again at night and there are icy patches everywhere.  Winter.  Such a lovely time of the year. Oh please, just shoot me!