Got Snow

Well, it's not exactly "news" that we've got snow, but it pretty much dominates our lives during this penultimate day of 2017.

We've lost power.  Annie and I each did plowing stints yesterday, and five new inches of heavier snow fell overnight.

Our power was out for a couple of hours last night.  Bill wasted no time setting us up with lighting, and once again, he wore his head lamp around the house.

Annie and I played on our phones for a while.  Bill hasn't quite gotten in to that activity just yet. 

While playing on my phone, I learned about several other residents whose power had gone down.  And, now I know who has smart phones cuz that's the only way you're gonna get messages to the outside world when the power's out.

The wind was blowing too hard for me to stand out on the deck and yell, "Help!" so the phones had to suffice.  I also called Northern Lights, Inc. to let them know.  

They hadn't received word of an outage on South Center Valley Road, so I'm sure the machine appreciated my call. 

Our dryer went caput Thursday afternoon. It makes really loud sounds.  I called for repairs, but the repairman's voicemail is full, so he's not getting any calls.

Bill decided to tackle the dryer yesterday morning before we called for repairs again.  I felt so smart standing there with my "smart" phone describing to him how to open the top of the dryer.

The online advice worked, and he was able to see that the belt seems all right, so we figured it was a bearing, something we figure we can't fix.

Calls are still going for repair possibilities.  

In the meantime, having a wood stove helps.  I spent most of yesterday afternoon putting wet clothes on or near the stove (yes, watching them closely), and eventually, all dried and went to their respective stacks.

Willie and Debbie have also said we can use their dryer, if needed.  In the meantime, we'll keep calling and hoping someone will want to come to our house and fix our dryer.

"Pioneer times," or at least a hint of them are keeping us entertained during this blast of winter. Annie is headed out right now to take on one more plowing adventure.  

Besides the fact that she has really enjoyed plowing, she has a vested interest:  getting out of here today in order to have enough time to pick out flies at North 40 and maybe stop at Cabela's before taking her flight back to Seattle.

This holiday season, in spite of the winter weather, has been fun and has sped by much too fast.  Soon, a very busy, on-the-go 2017 will slip away, and we'll be starting a new year. 

It's a bit hard for me to truly reflect publicly on the year because I have yelled a lot at the TV, but for the most part, it's been a wonderful year, filled with adventurous, meaningful, satisfying, inspiring and memorable experiences AND people. 

I'm putting together my photographic reflections for tomorrow's post, so am hoping we have no more power outages before then.  

Happy Saturday.