Blog Entry 02-05-2009

Blog Deprived

Being on such a minimal-use plan regarding our electrical system right now, my time in front of the computer has been drastically reduced. This means that I have neither been updating our blog lately (“No!”, you exclaim) nor reading much from anyone else’s.

I discovered a new trick last night, though. With the laptop connected to the Internet (in its place in the kitchen), I pull up one or two of my favorite blogs. Last night, it was Cold Antler Farm. Then, I disconnect from the Ethernet cable & the power cord and take the laptop (into bed last night) and read until I lose battery power.

Tonight, I have the laptop plugged in to power here in the sunroom (feet propped in front of a snap-cracklin’ fire, as usual) so that I can actually get a little work done. But, when I go to bed here soon, you can be sure that I’ll take it upstairs with me to read a few paragraphs before sleep.

Why have I never thought of that before?!

Today is Tom’s and my 9^th wedding anniversary, and I got the unexpected treat of SEEING him today! Huh? Well, he’s been working on that cabin 2 ½ hours away and just stays up there since it’s such a drive in between. The first overnight he spent, Tuesday, was -36 (F). And the cabin was NOT insulated. Matter of fact, not even all the windows were (or are) in! He did take the time to build a sleeping platform well OFF the floor, though, so he gained some comfort that way. But, he said that the (temporary) wood stove doesn’t hold a fire very well. So, he wakes up every couple of hours to feed the stove when it’s that cold, but last night – when it was so much warmer (about 8 degrees ABOVE) – he said that he just let the fire burn out and slept quite comfortably.

Since that first really cold night, he’s gotten the downstairs completely insulated (walls & ceiling) as well as the upstairs’ walls insulated. His next stay up there should be more comfortable.

On . . . what day was it, Monday? . . . I took the old / back-up plow truck out to clean up a few inches of new snow we’d gotten. I plowed out and back in the 8 miles (4 in + 4 out) and was just working on cleaning up the driveway and yard when I hit a hard-packed snowbank that pushed the plow blade over to the right. That wasn’t unusual. What was unusual is that the right hand “guide” (a metal flag that lets you know where the right or left end of the blade is) was REALLY far over to the right.

I shook it off saying, “Nahhhh. There’s no way it could get that far over. I must have been imaging it.”

So, I raised & centered the plow (the hydraulics worked fine), backed up, dropped the blade, and plowed up against another snowbank.

This time, there was no question. The right-hand guide was pretty much at the passenger’s side window.

Ummmmmm, how could that BE? It just physically CAN’T move there!

Well, yeah, it can. If you’ve just broken the back-up plow.

This old, Western (that’s the brand) plow is held on by two male/female “puzzle pieces” which are, in turn, held together by a massive steel pin. The pin on the right-hand side had worked its way out, and there was N-O-T-H-I-N-G holding the right-hand side of the plow on. Nothing. So, when the blade was pushed to that side, the entire blade support was basically pushed under the engine on that side. Hence the right-hand blade guide being visible by the side window.

Even more remarkable was the fact that the driver’s side plow support was the O-N-L-Y thing supporting the entire, several-hundred-pounds-heavy steel plow. Not to mention that the frame of the truck DOES belong – as does the rest of it – to the year 1977. It ain’t exactly a new, completely solid frame.

But, I can even top all this.

I parked the truck and went to Tom where he was wood cutting, and said, “Ummmmm, I think I just broke the plow.”

After looking over the situation, he said, “We have to find that pin. Where did you first notice the problem?”

I indicated a little ways down the driveway. As we got close to that spot, we could see a dark object in the snow. It was one of two things, and I said as much, “It’s either the pin . . . or a poopsicle*.” It wasn’t until we were RIGHT THERE that we saw, with MUCH relief, that it was, indeed the pin.

So, with me pin in hand underneath the front bumper of the truck and Tom heaving against the plow blade with all his might, he got the male/female “connectors” aligned, and I slammed the pin in.

I don’t know how many of you will appreciate JUST how lucky we were, but . . . OH, are we lucky that we still have a completely functional back-up plow!!! (Hmmm, maybe we should think about a back-up for the back-up?)

Now, off to bed . . . . Should I take the laptop to catch up a little on my blog reading or the crochet hook & new skein of yarn I treated myself to in town today? What a happy conundrum.

* Anyone who has dogs, knows what that is.