Oof

No more snow for a few days, please; it hurts too much.  The snow stopped late Sat. night.  Hubby ran the snowblower earlier in the day so he could get out to work. That evening I shoveled our sidewalks and collected the snow on the driveway in convenient piles for snow-blowing later.  Sunday I checked on Dad's place.  His neighbor had kindly blown out the driveway.  Some hand shoveling was needed to finish the job; oh and the temperature had dropped to a high of 10 deg. F with a whopping wind chill.  By the time that was done I had no interest in spending any more time outside finishing my driveway.  The legal obligations to the city were fulfilled; it could wait.  The evening was spent sitting in front of the pellet stove shredding enough old records to fill a yard waste bag with shredded paper.  Monday was spent running more errands; then I finished clearing the snow from my driveway and from strategic places in the yard so that drainage would be possible when the spring thaw occurs.  The temperature was still frigid.  Yesterday the cold snap finally broke!  Then Hubby loaded the snowblower into the Element, we hauled it over to mom's house, snow-blowed a strip back to the garage, and parked it inside.  Then we grabbed a quick lunch at the Chinese restaurant, and while Hubby was at work, I mailed some stuff, paid our property taxes, paid mom's property taxes, did mom's banking, returned library stuff, and then trundled back over to mom's place to snow-blow her driveway.  When that was done, I loaded the snowblower into dad's truck which has been parked there for a while.  Thankfully, the old Dodge pickup started, and it only died once on the way back home.  (I think it might be an electrical problem exacerbated by winter weather; in the past I have noticed that it dies even more often if the radio is on in addition to the heat and headlights.  The problem seems to clear up once the truck has been running for a while.  Dad seems to think it is the carburetor while I think it is more likely an electrical problem.  Maybe it is both.)  I noticed on the way home that the left turn signal was blinking slower than the right one.  The snowblower was unloaded and parked back in its usual place; then I took the truck back over to mom's house to retrieve my car.  On the trip back to mom's house the left turn signal failed completely in the on position, so I had to switch it on & off to get it to blink.  Those stalk switches are really expensive to fix!  It is unlikely that the snow will melt before Christmas, so I guess it will be a white one.  But please Lord, we really do have enough to hold us for now!  Send it somewhere else please.

By the way, some southerner must have programmed the auto correct.  It doesn't recognize the verb forms snow-blow, snow-blowing, and snow-blowed.  It keeps trying to substitute snowplowing instead.  No you idiotic program - only professional snow removal companies and municipalities can afford snowplows.  The rest of us have to shovel it or blow it and pray the wind isn't against us.

Canine Perspective on the Postal Service

Ember has settled in nicely.  Unlike Chloe who could be lightly supervised in the yard while she searched for the perfect place to go potty, Ember has to be walked.  Hubby takes the morning rounds and they usually encounter the postwoman delivering mail.  Ember really likes seeing the postwoman.  The postwoman gives her treats &/or a good ear rub, and Ember gives her a hug.  On one morning hubby and Ember ran across the postwoman while she was at her truck.  The postwoman gave her a treat from a container.  Now Ember probably thinks the mail truck is completely filled with dog biscuits just for her.

Sweet

Greenwich Mean Time is sweet! It is possible to watch Grand Tour on Thursday evening in WI, because it is already Friday in Britain.

Operation Desert Stumble last week was a bit over the top - a mix of Groundhog Day and Monty Python's "How Not to Hide Sketch".  The only thing missing would have been the queen actress saying "I'm not dead yet."

Maybe they'll be back on topic this week.