Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Wisconsin's Backyard - Part 2

I'll make it easy and more direct this time.......here are the links to the photo albums highlighting the last half of the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail.

August 27, 2009

August 28, 2009

August 29, 2009

August 30, 2009

.....and to provide a bit of timely balance to those mostly warm and bright images above, I offer this morning's drift busting results, a rather mediocre result after two very tough passes with the plow truck, 4AM


I plowed yesterday just before dark, then was forced to go out after winds of 30-40 mph all night long again this morning.  We got home from work this afternoon, stopped at the mailbox where we found mail inside the box and a UPS package on the snowbank behind the box (our UPS driver knows when to avoid our driveway and has permission to be 'creative').

Peg looked at me and said, "you better not".  We spoke this morning and prepared for, my walking in and leaving her up on the road in the car and once I had the road cleared, she'd follow me back to the house.  She had her knitting along, so would have been fine ......at least for awhile.

I said, "we're goin'"

It's amazing what a 30 mph downhill head start can accomplish.  Sure, there were 10 seconds or so when I couldn't see but I know the driveway pretty well.  When I put the car in Park up at the garage (made it this time...ha!), Peg wondered if we'd done a 360 on the way in.  I told her that I was pretty sure that we had not.

"Well it felt like it".

Back out to plow again this evening, the wind is still blowing so I'm imagining another session tomorrow morning as well.  Spring tomorrow.




8 comments:

  1. When I was a kid I always thought having a long driveway would be the best thing. Then I owned my first house out in the country and my short driveway was plenty long enough :^) Especially since I had no way to plow it. Of course, it being the country I had a neighbor who always came over and plowed me out when it got "bad"...no charge. He did it just because he could (and he liked plowing snow LOL)

    I don't miss the nearly daily stretches of clearing the driveway, but I do miss the feeling of making it to the garage without getting stuck :^)

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    1. I grew up in a first ring suburb of St. Paul on a 2 car wide driveway. I was 12 when dad bought his first snowblower and was old enough to use it, brother and I taking turns to clean the driveway. In the summers, I lived with my mom's brothers on the farm so never experienced long driveway snow removal until we moved here.

      We've done it every way; a garden tractor and snowblower, my first Ford 9N, more than once I've done the entire driveway with a walk behind blower, actually not a bad way since it doesn't leave the huge ridges along the edge. We hired it done by a service, a neighbor did it for years and now we're back to the tractor and plow truck with a bit of walk behind thrown in.

      We should condo it in the winter, live here in the summer.

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  2. Since it is Spring does that mean your snow is going to melt and no more plowing?

    Good thing Peg didn't enjoy the ride to the garage or you'd have to charge admission and call it: "Mr. Cooper's Wild Ride?"

    I remember visiting family in Edmonton (Northern Alberta) one year and our car not surviving the -38 weather. We limped it to Red Deer and took the Greyhound home to BC. The only car we had left to drive was hubby's '69 Barracuda. Now that is a hoot to drive when the snow is up to your bumper...... we were pretty much plowing snow with it's front end. Sigh - I miss that car.

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    1. Trobairtiz, I certainly hope so!!

      We did a mini version of the wild ride this afternoon and I think we'll both tire of it very soon. Thankfully the wind is down tonight and to be obstinate, I refuse to address it tonight.

      I wish you still had your '69 Cuda!!

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  3. A nice 180 before the garage would've made it nice and easy to get out next time. Nice that you have the equipment to keep your driveway clear. I keep thinking of putting on a plow for supplementary income. (Not that I'm thinking of retirement...)

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    1. You are right, a 180 would have been a good thing. The old plow truck was cheap and is the rustiest machine I've every seen, honestly on the verge of falling apart. It was a Department of Natural Resources truck and the undercarriage looks as though it lived its life on the seacoast. I do all I can to be gentle with it.....bottom line, we need something better. The '46 Ford tractor is more reliable and in better shape; it just isn't big enough with its one-way hydraulics and low weight. With better equipment, the driveway wouldn't be such a challenge. But give up a bike or two?? No way.

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  4. I still don't envy you and all the snow. I remember having to shovel by hand a very long double driveway when I was a kid and then the snowplow would go by and plug up the end of the driveway with chunks of frozen snow and it would take 2-3 more hours of shovelling to get that cleaned up. Those were the days I wished I had a brother - he could have done that stuff. Ugh. I detest winter. I think I am a creature of warm climates. Hope your winter is over soon!

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  5. Thanks Dar for the end of winter wish. We heard on the radio this morning that this was the coldest start of spring we'd had in 50 years....last year's weather at this time set all time records for warmth. I'd say we're averaging out nicely.

    I still don't mind winter, even though it gets longer than it should be. Not all winter tasks are completed and spring too soon would only be frustrating :)

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