Feets Don't Fail Us Now
13/02/17 08:27
On a day when I had a dentist appointment to attend to; on a day when Evan had his own appointments and Nancy had hers with work in Boston; we sit here on a Monday morning largely snowed in. The storm was forecasted well in advance so that was no surprise. It is a nice reprieve actually since most of us might rather have the day off than to have to go to the appointments we had scheduled. What was a little surprising was that along about 8 or 9 last evening when we were wanting to go clear a few inches of snow from our driveway ahead of the larger storm expected overnight, we found precipitation in the form of rain. The temperatures had warmed up just enough to turn the snow to rain and it made the few inches that we had on the ground a very heavy few inches to move even with the machinery we use to do such things. It was a slog but we got the job done. It was a strangely sultry and tranquil night in an odd sort of way with subdued winds and a moonless sky and we did what we always do after busying ourselves for the better part of an hour clearing and removing snow around our property.
We walked down our snow covered street hand in hand so as to have support if and when one or both of us slipped on ice unseen beneath the several inches of unplowed snow underfoot. Power lines and tree limbs glistened with wetness appearing icy and treacherous ahead of colder temperatures moving in over night. It was the kind of night you want to have an extra blanket and maybe even a bucket of water should the electricity go by the boards. On this night in particular, I cleaned the kitchen not knowing what we might wake up to. We did not lose power but we did get more snow. The worst is yet to come or so they say. The day after was almost anticlimactic in that there was more snow but little else to suggest that a storm had passed through. There were no high winds, no impassable roads, no ice storms, no power outages, none off it really. I made the usual passes up and down our driveway with the snowblower before taking a second look at the end of our neighbors driveway just in case she had not yet gotten around to doing the same. No sense in not going the extra distance knowing that she would have to do the same. Just being neighborly, really. Besides, we are currently on her short list when it comes delivering home made bread, jams, and jellies. I'd like to keep it that way.
With any luck and maybe a bit of encouragement Nancy and I can get out and about on our snowshoes today. We've been sitting on them for the better part of two winters now and just haven't had the chance to use them. Our patience is about to be rewarded. There is probably about two feet of snow on the ground so that will work one way or another. I warned Nancy that planning any cross country treks before getting a little experience under our belts was probably ill advised. She wants to head out on the local trails through the woods out beyond the town cemetery and I'm all about seeing what we can do in our back yard before going any further. Are we in sufficiently good shape for this kind of exercise? Do we know what the hell we're doing? How do we get them on our feet? All good questions. I see in my minds eye that we get a little experience and then build on that experience just like the professionals do. Hikers don't start out on Mt. Everest. They grab their Sherpa guides and do the back trails first. I might even like to try some winter camping sometime. Really rough it. The sun is out in all of its glory this morning so everything is on the table. Feets don't fail us now.
We walked down our snow covered street hand in hand so as to have support if and when one or both of us slipped on ice unseen beneath the several inches of unplowed snow underfoot. Power lines and tree limbs glistened with wetness appearing icy and treacherous ahead of colder temperatures moving in over night. It was the kind of night you want to have an extra blanket and maybe even a bucket of water should the electricity go by the boards. On this night in particular, I cleaned the kitchen not knowing what we might wake up to. We did not lose power but we did get more snow. The worst is yet to come or so they say. The day after was almost anticlimactic in that there was more snow but little else to suggest that a storm had passed through. There were no high winds, no impassable roads, no ice storms, no power outages, none off it really. I made the usual passes up and down our driveway with the snowblower before taking a second look at the end of our neighbors driveway just in case she had not yet gotten around to doing the same. No sense in not going the extra distance knowing that she would have to do the same. Just being neighborly, really. Besides, we are currently on her short list when it comes delivering home made bread, jams, and jellies. I'd like to keep it that way.
With any luck and maybe a bit of encouragement Nancy and I can get out and about on our snowshoes today. We've been sitting on them for the better part of two winters now and just haven't had the chance to use them. Our patience is about to be rewarded. There is probably about two feet of snow on the ground so that will work one way or another. I warned Nancy that planning any cross country treks before getting a little experience under our belts was probably ill advised. She wants to head out on the local trails through the woods out beyond the town cemetery and I'm all about seeing what we can do in our back yard before going any further. Are we in sufficiently good shape for this kind of exercise? Do we know what the hell we're doing? How do we get them on our feet? All good questions. I see in my minds eye that we get a little experience and then build on that experience just like the professionals do. Hikers don't start out on Mt. Everest. They grab their Sherpa guides and do the back trails first. I might even like to try some winter camping sometime. Really rough it. The sun is out in all of its glory this morning so everything is on the table. Feets don't fail us now.