Snowing Still

Gina Lollobrigida

Getting restless - it's a two post day.

Snowing outside still and I mean it's snowing! I went out this morning about 9:30 and it had pretty well quit snowing. I had to push the back door open but it wasn't any where near the 18-24 inches they were talking about. I was almost disappointed. I then had to shovel the inside of the barn to get the snowblower out. The wind had piled up a drift right inside the closed door. I got the snowblower fired right up and headed out to cut a path from the barn to the house via the chicken coop. Everything was going well until I sheared the bolt on one side of the thrower gizmo so only half of the thing was throwing snow.

It's amazing how much more difficult even the simplest tasks are to complete when everything is cold and snow covered. I had to kneel down in the snow and stick my head in there and, of course, I couldn't see a darn thing because of a combination of not being able to get things in the proper orientation for the bifocals or because the glasses were fogging up. And because the pin was a snug fit in the shaft it took me about ten minutes just to find where the piece was broke off in the shaft and then get it where I could whack it with a punch to knock it out of there. About the time I got that all taken care of and retraced my steps, it started snowing again. I was going to open up the lane with the tractor but decided to hold off a little. It's just as well. It's snowing sideways again with great big flakes as I write this (2:30 local) and it would have all been drifted over. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me tomorrow. I like being outside in the winter but it's supposed to get real cold on the back side of this snow. We might get 18" before it's over. From what I've heard on the Weather Channel, this is number three on the all time snowfall list in Chicago.

I'm thinking I'll have the rest of the week off for sure now. I should be able to get all caught up on the magazines and finish off another book - I'm working on number seven or eight for the year already. I'd much rather be working in a nice warm shop building things, however.