Snow Report from Lilly’s Valley
This most recent snow storm, which lasted here from Thursday at dinnertime through Saturday around bedtime, dropped somewhere between 3 and
4 feet of snow her at Chez Champion of My Heart. The much-needed moisture is
great. The stability of our various utilities in recent days and other
weather-related drama — not so much.
This is my version of what my friend Sharon Anne Waldrop calls, “You know you live in the country, when …” Usually her examples are cute, like realizing while you’re at the post office that you still have eggs from the hen house in your pocket or stopping to help a neighbor round up wayward horses because you happen to have spare harnesses and rope in your car. I certainly have those examples too, but today, I’ll share the sometimes frustrating side of living in a relatively remote area … while trying very hard to work from home:
- Wednesday (which was a warm, beautiful) no
power, ended up having to take notes during phone interviews by hand - Thursday, monster snow begins
- Friday, monster snow, inadequate plow equipment,
and no internet connection - Saturday, monster snow, no phones, car nearly
off the embankment of own driveway - Sunday, snow finally ends, but no internet connection
In the midst of the snow clearing drama on Saturday, I’m sorry to report I took no photos. Imagine one tired/hungry/frustrated spouse (after 2+ hours of struggling to get my car unstuck on his own). Enough said?
Ultimately, it took like six people, three shovels, one snowblower, and an ATV with a plow to clear the steepest part of our driveway (near the main road) enough that we could get another vehicle in to pull mine out. We tried using Tom’s truck to pull mine backwards. No luck. I just slid further down the hill. We tried our neighbor’s Suburban to pull it from the front, but it nearly got stuck too. Finally, one of the old-timers came up the road in his ancient, 40-ton snowplow, tank-like thing with big metal treads. He cleared more snow, then pulled my car to safety.
What an ordeal!
More snow videos coming later this week, but for now, I’m at the end of my patience for things going wonky on the technology front. I have very simple needs: food, water, shelter, wood, electricity, phone, internet … and, of course, warm pups.
A little sledding perks a girl up too!
(I shot this Sunday, after a 60+ degree day greatly reduced the thigh-deep snow.)