The Terrible Winter of '10-'11

I'm afraid the winter of 2010-2011 is becoming a repeat of The Terrible Winter of '96-'97, which was followed by a terrible flood in our neck of the woods. I can't remember the last time we had two days of sunshine in a row - it's just one gray day after another with an inch or two of snow on a daily basis. Ole has burned through many gallons of gas in the big farm tractor moving snow this year and with the price of gas at $3.09 it's becoming a very spendy winter.

And then there's the frustration of breaking parts and things when the snow is so deep and heavy. We had freezing rain just before Christmas so there's a thick layer of ice beneath all the snow, which causes ole' Poppin' John (the tractor) to get stuck easily and slip on the ice. Last time Ole moved snow I had to tug him out twice with the 4-wheel drive truck and the third time I refused because I was afraid something was going to break. I called Farmer Neighbor Dave who came over with an even bigger tractor that had chains on the rear wheels. His tractor hardly grunted and Poppin' John was out of the snowbank.

When you're pulling something as big as Poppin' John out of a snow bank and off the ice with a truck you have to YANK it out - you can't just slowly drive forward. There was a nylon tow rope between the truck and the tractor and I think we broke the tow rope three times. One time it hit the tailgate so hard I was sure there was going to be a big dent in it - but there wasn't. And not only was there blue exhaust smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe of the tractor - you should have seen the "blue smoke" that was coming out of the cab of the tractor!! I'm sure glad there weren't any little ears around to hear that.

This morning managed to dawn with bright sunshine so somehow I'm going to manage to enjoy that part of it. The actual air temperature is 18 degrees below zero with a bit of a breeze that makes the windchill 34 below. That's enough to frostbite the hairs on the inside of your nose, huh?

Love Lena