Hook your horse to the Bitchin' Post.

I'm glad yesterday finally ended. It wasn't a fun day. It started with just trying to get to work. We got 5 or 6 inches of heavy, wet snow, and I was amazed our power wasn't out. The wires and trees were hanging heavy with it.

I leave for work at 5am, so it's still completely dark. I get the snow blower running, and commenced the Blowing Of The Snow. I have a pretty long gravel driveway, probably 120 feet long, and so I didn't see the tree right away. Turns out, a birch tree about 5" in diameter fell from the weight of the snow, and dropped directly across the driveway.

Dammit.

I tried to move it -- it wasn't that big, but it was still connected to the 3 feet of the trunk sticking out of the ground, so no dice. So back into the house I go, to get the bow saw. I figured that starting up the chainsaw at 5am might not please my neighbors, and even though I was already using the snow blower, I didn’t want make them hate me any more than necessary.

On my way out, I use the side door. Since I'm not coming back in that way, I lock it before I close it. My glove has a stupid nylon drawstring with a plastic clip on the end. Of course, I manage to slam this in the door.

Dammit.

I leave the glove dangling, and go around to the front door, clomp through the house, re-open the door I just closed, and retrieve my glove.

It’s definitely one of those mornings. I saw through the trunk of the tree, move it, and continue cleaning the driveway. Next thing I know, I’m pulling the “go forward and do damage” handle, but the snow blower has decided that it no longer wants to go anywhere at all. There is a suspicious lack of tension on the transmission mechanism. I look down, and the cable connected to the handle, the one that is also supposed to be connected to the bottom of the snow blower, is just hanging there in the snow.

Son of a BITCH.

Luckily, I find the bolt still connected to the cable, and manage to screw it back on.

I also manage to avoid tossing any gravel or stones through my car or house windows, but I do a great job of getting some of the smaller branches of the birch tree tangled in the blower mechanism, so that’s fun. I don’t want to stick my hand in there while the motor is running, but if I turn the motor off, the headlight goes out. So I do the in-between thing and use the little plastic shovel tool to dig around in there until I get it loose.

Finally done, I go back inside, set the coffee to brewing, grab a quick shower, throw on my work clothes and get back in the car. When I get to the end of the driveway, there’s a 4 foot high bank of snow that the plow guy thoughtfully deposited while I was getting ready.

FUCK.

Back to the house.

Back to the garage.

Back to the snow blower.

Back to the house to change into dry clothes.

Back to the car.

Finally. I’m off to work.

No power when I get home, though. I surrendered, started a fire in the woodstove and went to bed. Finally came back on about 3 in the morning. Gotta love living in the boonies…..

I figured today had to be better.