Archive for ‘December, 2008’

Big John’s

Never say never or last or always…

I wrote in the previous post, not that long ago, that it was my “last post for 2008”. But shortly after I hit “publish”, I received a call from Big John’s. Big John’s is the shop that had my snowblower for tuneup/repair. I decided on Sunday that the snowblower needed a tuneup at the very least. Big John’s is closed on Mondays. I phoned on Tuesday, gave all of my info and was told that their pickup/delivery person would call me “sometime” about picking up the snowblower.

That afternoon, when I was in Kalispell on my pre-storm supply run, I received the call. Dave was about 1/2 an hour from my house. I was 2 hours from my house. I gave instructions to get into the garage and when I returned the snowblower was gone. I put a note on my calendar to call Big John’s on Tuesday next week and see if they had any guess as to when I might get the blower back. I calculated that given the extreme cold and heavy snow, there might be a LOT of snow blowers needing service and snow machines and 4 wheelers, etc. – all the purvey of Big John’s.

Dave phoned me early this afternoon and said they would deliver the blower back to me in an hour if that was ok.

Yippy, Skippy and A-OK with me. I was beyond happy.

Dave and his assistant played with Karl whilst I got a check for the whopping sum of …..drum roll please: $61.50 – which included the pickup and delivery. I had expected $150 plus.

Karl was disappointed when they left.

I am now the president of Big John’s fan club.

Sometimes you have to stir the fire

I will be working away and suddenly notice that I don’t hear the fire. I know I just added logs.

When I go to check on the fire, I see that the logs have settled together, blocking the air that allows the logs to burn hot.

It usually takes just a bit of nudging with the poker to open up a bit of space for air to bring the fire back to life.

I was stirring the fire a day or so ago and a blog post on Sunny Rising Leather titled Throwing Oranges came to mind.

From the post:

…what we need to do to get off our well-worn path of frustration is to “Throw an orange”, and I guess I meant we’d follow the orange we…just…threw (?) It makes total sense in my mind..

Perhaps it meant that we distract ourselves with something bright and different and watch where it lands, somewhere completely foreign and exotic compared to our constant.

The post was written in November, after the election and as the economic crisis was in the forefront of the news. The comments to the post are moving as well – particularly Naomi’s. But the thought and the followup is that we may all have to make adjustments in what we do – not just a spending less thing, but a “what do I do for a living” thing. For many, it might be a time of not finding employment “as usual”…and so what are the alternatives?

The world is not going to and has not come grinding to a halt. There will be things that need doing, opportunities maybe outside of our normal “work”. Those that are willing to “throw oranges” ….or “stir the fire” may find that needing to do that fans the flames of their lives.

Stirring the fire, moving the logs – [the ordinary or usual things of our lives] – so that the coals – [our hopes, dreams, desires] – can breathe and come to life strong and bright. Or perhaps stirring the fire so that our hopes, dreams and desires or another way are visible.

This last post of 2008 does come from the front porch. A blustery wind is blowing in the tree tops but it is coming from the south and feels warm…ish. It is snowing, but the temperature is 34. It is supposed to get cold behind the warm front of this next storm, but at the moment, the temperature is at odds with the sound and sight of blowing snow and howling wind. Perfect, in my mind, for this post.

To close: Bob and Karl…veterans of dealing with life turned upside down…

A Happy, Warm, Wonderful NEW year to all – From the Front Porch.

A fine mess

Saturday, it was cold. The snow came down light and fine. When Karl and I were out about 7 that night there was nearly 5 inches of new, powdery snow on the driveway. I started the snowblower thinking that if it continued to snow overnight as forecast, it would be easier in the morning if I only had the overnight snow to contend with. The snowblower had other thoughts – it has been running rough, quitting…I treated the gas hoping it was just condensation. It started! – but the auger was frozen…I moved it into the house on a tarp to thaw out and resigned myself to working on maybe a foot of snow in the morning.

It didn’t snow overnight. It did warm up. At 5:30 Sunday morning, the temperature was 34 and it was raining. The light, sugary snow had turned into a heavy, wet mess. Snow was still dropping from the trees, but it was dropping in heavy, ugly clumps…not misty avalanches of powder.

The snowblower started but still did not sound good. I had arranged for plowing if needed, but decided to try to at least clear the edges to guide the plow. The snow was so thick and heavy that it was hard going and the blower finally gave in to whatever problem it is having. I called my neighbor who was my backup.

His chained tires had trouble a few times, spinning as he worked on moving the heavy snow that formed giant snowballs which finally rolled off the plow blade.

A mess, but the drive and turnaround are clear. The snowblower is to be picked up by the repair place and neighbor, Adam, will be plowing for awhile.

There was, however, something pretty in the day. A week or so ago, a reader sent me a link to instructions for making ice art out of doilies. I didn’t have any doilies, but I did have some crocheted snowflake ornaments made by my grandmother. I didn’t cut a real tree this year and hadn’t used them in the house, so an easy art or science project depending on your perspective…

As they melted, they melted from the center out.

A bit of beauty amongst a fine mess.

Tree avalanche

The snow we have now has come when the temperature has been very cold so it is dry, light and airy. It clings to everything…

The snow piles up on tree branches…

But…eventually, the amount of snow, or snow and a bit of sun cause gravity to do its thing and a branch sheds its accumulation of snow. If it is a high branch, the avalanche of snow from the high branch brings snow from lower branches in its path. Karl and I have both been “caught” – Karl lays his ears back and runs and then looks at me as if to say “What, I did nothing?”. I hear the sound, feel the first rush of snow and hunker down in my coat with my cowboy hat for protection as the weight of the snow falls around me. This afternoon, as snow has been falling heavily, the trees have been thunderously shedding snow with increasing frequency. It falls all around the sunroom where I’m working and Karl is napping near me – startling us when it falls near or on the house.

Thunder of snow…tree avalanche.

Karl’s dilemma

hmmm….there is a perfectly wonderful dog bed on the front porch…

Oh…

I shovel off part of the roof. The additions to the original part of the house did not include new roof trusses. The front part of the roof and particularly the porch roof is extremely flat. Two problems – the bathroom vent gets buried quickly and the snow load on the porch roof can get ugly fast. It is much easier to push off 3-6-8 inches of light fluffy snow as it comes down than to dig out a foot or more of heavy compacted snow…ask me how I know this…

The roof dump interferes with Karl’s “view” of his yard. What is a dog to do?

Singing apparently helps…

At least the heated water bowl works.