Oh Yeah, Now I Remember . . .

The holiday is over and it was back to work but it was nice to have a few days to rest and unwind.

Thursday dawned with snow falling through the darkness and several inches had fallen.  I was up long before first light as daybreak now is about 9:45 am with the days growing shorter till the winter solstice.  I could see the flakes coming down reflected in the glow of the street light across the street.  My deck and railing was covered with about 3 inches and it was coming down steadily.

The weather forecast said to expect 1” to 3” but that had come and gone so it was a lets see where it ends.  I did not have anywhere to go so it was a good day to just hang out and enjoy its beauty.

The weather front stalled out over Anchorage and gave us a foot of fresh snow over the weekend.  On Sunday it was time to break out the snow blower for the first time this season and have a go at clearing the driveway.  It is not long but it is four vehicles wide so it can be a good workout with four inches so I knew that a foot was going be a roaster for me.  Added to that was the city snow plow had pushed his pile up at the end of my drive made for ever more work which I was not looking forward too. 

I layered up to stay warm since it was about 18 degrees out and made my first mistake.  Soon after I started moving snow it became quite clear to me I was over dressed.  I moved and pushed snow for over an hour when I decide I needed a break and to get out of too many clothes. 

It seemed like the snow blower was not moving very fast even on the higher gear settings.  First gear seems like sixth gear and Reverse one seemed about the same as three.  I looked at the drive cable and found that the lock nut had slipped and was not set right so I was almost manually pushing the blower in the foot deep snow which wore me out quickly.

Once I fixed the cable drive it worked as I had remembered and it took about an hour and a half to plow everything making sure the two vehicles on each side had access to get out of the driveway when needed.  By the end of it I was sore and the out of shape warning was playing in my head that I need to exercise more.

Oh yeah, Now I Remember . . . what life in the arctic northland brings with it in our everyday living in an extreme environment.  With the first few times its ‘fun’ but after a winter of it . . . looking forward to spring thaw is as welcome as the returning light after a dark, cold winter.

Ice

Comments

missy3333 said…
Good writing.

Ain't winter grand?
9:40 AM
Icewind said…
Thanks, yeah we live through it waiting for the light of summer!

Ice
9:47 PM
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