Snow and a marathon

Or should I say a marathon of snow? Anyway, we had received a lot of snow, but not nearly what we got a couple of weeks ago. And it was a beautiful morning, so wonderful to see the snow, but not so wonderful to walk in it. 

And I'm apologizing for this in advance -- no, I'm not. I'm mad! But here's another rant about the snow.  

First, some pretty snow pictures. 

This looks like a skunk. Just waddling along in front of the house. The day before, it was a rabbit. It's like we have a central highway going across all the front yards. I had smelled a skunk about a week ago but didn't think they would be out. 

Skunk out for a stroll

I had to trudge a path through most of the walk in the forest, but it was beautiful, so worth the trudging. 

The sun on the newly fallen snow

I didn't have time for the usual walks for the girls, so we went for a shorter walk into the forest. And with the way the sidewalks and the multi-purpose path had been plowed, trudging through the forest was way easier for walking. 

This is the multi-purpose path in the afternoon. That is about two inches of semi-packed snow. So while you don't get snow in your boots, it's very challenging to walk on, considering there is ice underneath. Not just a layer of ice that covers the sidewalk, but thick, lumpy, and bumpy ice. It's the way the water from the previous day froze. 

The plowed path

In the afternoon, some parts of the sidewalk looked like this, and that was a breeze to walk on, although one had to be careful of slippery patches. I slipped twice but did not fall. 

Some sidewalks were almost dry

The girls, of course, were happy to be out, and Lexi just plops herself in the snow and is happy. Murphy is constantly on the lookout!

Murphy and Lexi in the snow

OK -- so even if Murphy is a challenge at times, how can you say NO to that face! She's so intelligent and knows how to tug at your heartstrings. 

I LOVE you, Mom! You're the best!

I cut and sewed and cut and sewed and pressed the entire day. OH -- when I wasn't shoveling the driveway. I'm happy to report that I caught up on the homework that wasn't done. Oh -- that's a lie. I still have two more blocks to make, but I don't need them today. And there are some other parts that I would have liked to have done, but they will wait for next month. 

Those three presentations are done and ready to go this morning. I'm still working on the fourth one for this afternoon, and that will happen as soon as I'm done with the blog. All the Zoom links are sent, and we're almost ready to roll. Let's pray that my internet works properly. Ever since I installed that new system, it's been crap. I was so mad yesterday (OK -- I do NOT have anger issues), let's say that I was frustrated, so I unplugged it and need to plug the other one back in. 

But then I might just run the Zoom from the kitchen table where I'm close to the router, although that didn't do a thing yesterday. We may be getting crappy service for another reason, and it just coincided with the installation of that new device. Seriously -- how does one test this stuff? 

And it's not just me, DH has been having oodles of issues as well, so it's the connection, not the individual laptops. 

OK -- I got busy first thing in the morning and cleared my driveway. With the sun shining, all the snow melted from the driveway, and it was nice and dry. Notice that I even shoveled into the street between the windrows. I'll call them my gateposts! No snow is being shoveled into the street!

The driveway is clear

Then about 8 PM last night, the backhoe came to clear out the corner. He's an IDIOT. Sorry -- I do not have anger issues. But I was MAD! I even went out and stood in the driveway, and I think I paid a huge price for that. He didn't care one iota of what he was doing. 

Remember that we still had 10 - 15 feet of snow in the bend that wasn't cleared from the last snowfall. That excess snow was just in the bend in the street, and there was no need to move it. And don't forget that this was now ICE and hard-packed snow with the recent warm temperatures. 

However, this guy thought it would be a good idea to clear all that excess snow. And guess what? He shoved all that snow into my little opening. Notice that he didn't put snow on my driveway but made it pretty impossible to leave without shoveling. 

The mess at the end of the driveway

Let's just say that I was MAD, and I got out there with the shovel, and it didn't take long to clear. Amazing how frustration can motivate! But it was filled with ice; it was NOT loose snow, and look at some of the HUGE ice balls he left. That one is still there. 

Huge balls of ice and hard-packed snow

This is what it looked like from the other side. Three driveways got hit hard. What is wrong with these drivers? Instead of driving counterclockwise into the bend, I bet he could go clockwise to draw the snow away from the drives and push it across the street where there are no driveways. Or I bet he could angle the blade to draw the snow away, but no, they go for maximum coverage here. As someone said, they get paid regardless of the quality of the work, so what do they care about?

The windrow from the street side

So now, there's an opening. It looked big enough last night, but I'm not sure now. Oh well --- if not, then I'll have to shovel a bit more. The snow is so hard you do not want to drive into it as the fiberglass on the cars would be toast instantly. 

An escape route to the street

And now I have a lovely iceball as a marker for the end of the driveway. 

A huge ball of ice

I sent those pictures along with a nicely worded (and very polite and emotion-free) e-mail. I would have been happy if the backhoe didn't come, and nothing will come of my complaint -- of that, I'm sure. The last time they came back to "fix" what they had done, they proceeded to drop more snow at the end of the drive, and I sure don't want that. 

And I noticed that all but one house shoveled their sidewalks yesterday. It's not like the house in question doesn't have a shovel because I saw her out shoveling the snow so they could move the car. The sidewalk? What sidewalk? I'm not going there. 

I see we got more snow last night -- not much, but it'll have to wait. Today is a super busy day. 

OH -- did I mention that I walked almost 17 KM yesterday. That driveway is big and well, with my two walks with the girls (both of which were shorter than normal), that was a lot of walking! Then I couldn't sleep so it's going to be a long day!

And I hope to have homework pictures to share this coming week. Hey -- I thought I said that last week and you didn't get any pictures. Sigh..............

But on that happy note -- because all days need to be happy, I'm out of here!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!