A tale of a Minnesota winter morning….

It’s Friday, yea!! the weekend is coming I’m going skiing, it’s going to be a great day. Yeah right, as I look out and there’s 13” of new snow and it’s blowing to beat the band. Well they did say  some 1-5” and it was suppose to be a bit breezy. Get up, it’s 4:45 time to get dressed. No calls from work so we are on for the day. Get dressed, brushed teeth, phone rings ….. Good morning, school is two hours late this morning (I did check wcco to make sure just in case they forgot to call me). Look at clock, look at snow, look at bed….heck it’s an hour more sleep. I get back into bed (mostly dressed) and dream stupid dumb dreams I can’t remember but do remember them being stupid. Get up a tiny bit early cuz I know the roads aren’t nice and now that it’s light out I can see this….Gotta dig the cars out (notice the thermometer? It’s zero. Notice the windsock sticking straight out? It’s windy). Jim goes out and starts them, I get dressed into my santa suit (that damn red snowsuit I really hate but it’s warm), and move the cars down the driveway and clean them off. Les calls, he’s stuck in his driveway can I come get him, okay gotta run…good thing I got up and ready once.

Jim said he’d go first to clear a path but than stops at the end of the drive way to clean his windshield. I scoot around him and head up the road to find 2 cars stuck in a drift in the middle of the road and 1 being pulled out by a pick up truck. I slow down and figure I can squeeze pass them, I have a little blazer. NOPE!! NADA!! Opps the ditch pulled me in like sticky paste. There I sit and fume because I have places to be, things to do and there’s a couple of cars that were in my way and now there’s three. Jim comes up behind me, looks at my car says I can’t pull that out and say he has to get to work and leaves me there. He’s smiling knowing that if I had waited for him to just clean off his windshield maybe it would of been him instead of me. I walk 1/3 mile back to my uncle, up hill both ways in snow that’s up to my butt in places and wake him up. I get his truck started, the chains and tire ready and he comes out with a “I’m saving you, you owe me” smile. It’s now a bit after 8:00 and I leave the bus garage at 8:30 today (usually 6:30) and I haven’t even got my bus pre tripped or started. Mark saves me and make sure I make it to the highway and I call in to find out ….SCHOOL IS CANCELLED!!!! UGH!!!

Went to my parents on the way home and shoveled for an hour just so they can get out the front door and down the steps safely. Came home and shoveled because I have another load of coal to unload (that’s what’s under the blue tarp on the red truck). I did 5 loads, enough for today/tomorrow and Sunday morning. I’ll deal with the rest later.

 

My shovel job. It’s not wide by any means but at least a path to the back shed where the coal and fire is.

This is our coal elevator, the metal thing going parallel to the snow (the other is our dragline). Couldn’t use that anyways, can’t get the snow out of the way.

The snowdrifts is as tall as our 250 gallon fuel oil barrel. Nothing in there but it’s there in case we have an extra grand just sitting around to fill it up. That little building is the playhouse and slide. Don’t think the kids will be using that for a few weeks.

 

Don’t think we’ll be using out camper for a few months either. Oh winter, I wish you’d just go away.

Now no skiing tomorrow either (I was taking new scouts skiing and with the snow and wind and cold tomorrow figured I’d rather take them when it’s nicer out so they’ll want to go again, than when it’s not and they may not have fun), I’m taking an activity to Pierz. Need the pay, no work Monday or today….UGH again!!!!  Bus driver, no hands on the wheel, no pay.

Oh well, the life of this Riley. Hope your Friday is safe and awesome. I’m really not complaining cuz no one was hurt, I got more than enough exercise for today, my mama made me breakfast, I got extra coal done before I even knew I had a trip tomorrow, I have a trip tomorrow, I have this afternoon to just putz and do a craft if I want too. And the snow is pretty though I really would prefer some green grass sooner than later.

 

Blessings!!!!