What I know today

I decided to get really original with my title this morning. Has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? Do you think it would get an A+ in English class?

I don't know. I don't think any English classes are operating this morning, so I'll have to wait to know that.

Now, back to what I know today. I know that today's variety of snow is good snow blowing snow. Light as a feather, still five or six inches worth. I did not shovel a path to the barn. Instead, I let my pant legs get covered and figured I could stomp it all off later.

I know today that my body hurts. That 30-year-old lower back problem which comes back (no pun) every so often came back this morning. I think it may have been aggravated by the time I spent on the snowbank west of the barn with a "Bill" board chopping away at the remaining cornice hanging off the north end.

I tried using the avalanche rake, but as my former Cedar Post editor and genius Matt Ginzton used to say, "It's a useless piece of junk." It's more of a useless piece of junk this morning cuz to of its metal braces for stability broke while I was simply scraping snow off the roof. My sisters tried it the day before on their barn and brought it back----neglecting to give it any descriptive monikers.

Anyway, Bill paid 50 bucks for the useless piece of junk when he could have been using his "Bill" boards with much more efficiency. I've knocked a lot of heavy chunks off the side of the barn with one of them, so I know. All that effort, however, could not remove the bulk of the three-foot deep covering.

So, yesterday my sisters insisted that we take one of their big diesel-driven heaters, fire it up, shut the barn doors and heat her up. They usually use three heaters for a couple of days to coax the snow off the roof of their big indoor arena. With that done, they had heaters to spare, so we took them up on the offer.

The heater roared inside the barn for nine hours yesterday while the horses stayed out in the barnyard. When we got home from a nice break and a great meal at The Blue Heron Restaurant aka Samuels Store, several chunks of snow had slid off the barn.

With every good move in winter, comes another move of work. When the snow slides off the roof near the gate that allows the horses into the barn, you get to shovel huge chunks of the stuff to allow the gate to open. All this is going on while horses, insulted cuz their grain is four hours late, are racing around, kicking and biting each other in the darkness right behind your behinder.

So, I hurried. And, I think that may have aggravated my lower back into screaming out with some protests this morning. I don't know for sure, though.

What I also know this morning is that Bill is out there stoking up the heater again cuz I've already been out there shoveling out that gate again cuz the horses had to go through it to get to their barnyard, and some more of that snow slid off the barn roof right on to the gate. I wasn't going to shovel snow this morning with the aching back, but I had no choice.

Anyway, my barn chores are all done, and with luck, by noon, the rest of the snow will slide off the barn, and I'll have only one more back breaking shovel session ahead cuz the horses still have to come through that gate to get to the barn.

I also know that the papers have not arrived this morning. Instead of grabbing them from the empty box, I walked down the road and listened to the silence. It was breath-taking as was the landscape newly decorated with all that fluffy snow, and, as yet, undisturbed by any living forces.

I know how lucky I am to live here, and as much as I gripe about aching backs and sore wrists and shoveling all those chunks of snow off my gate, I wouldn't have it any other way. I know that for sure.

I know, as of yesterday, that one of my friends hasn't been so lucky to have snow falling on her barnyard gate. Her barn roof fell down on a whole lot of stuff a week ago Saturday. Mardette Lewis lives near the end of Selle Road next to Pack River Cemetery. I've known her ever since the day way back almost 40 years ago when we met while riding in a Fourth of July Parade.

Mardette has a pretty upbeat attitude about the disaster which buried a horse alive for a while. Her attitude stems from all the help she received from the moment the roof went down. Neighbors, family and strangers came to help. The horse made it, thanks to the efforts of folks who hooked it up to an excavator and pulled it from what could have been sure death.

Mardette says all her horses have come out of the catastrophe surprisingly well, even though they lost their stalls. She also lost a lot of her hay because of glass shards becoming embedded within the bales. She's thankful that no one was hurt and very thankful for the wonderful people in the area who came to her aid.

I was amazed when she told me the story, not only about its contents but also that not one member of our family had heard about it. Goes to show how winter and its troubles keep us all with noses close to the earth----definitely no grindstone to be found for months.

I know also that my other Lewis friend, Myra, is happy to have her hubby Byron home after he underwent bypass surgery shortly before Christmas. We're happy to know that Byron is on the mend. Again, another family whom we've loved knowing for many years.

Well, that's about all I know for now, but I should know more later cuz Bill just brought the papers in and put them on the dryer. So, I'll go satisfy my quest to know some more stuff.

Maybe later, I'll look out the window, see that the snow has slid, pop an Advil and go shovel out that gate one more time.

Then, there's tonight's big storm! I just don't know what to say.

Happy Sunday.