No more photo ops

I'm going to miss seeing this machine in our driveway.

We had enough snow build up that the grader operator decided it was worth coming in here the other day. It was perfect timing on his part -- we hadn't dug the Guppy out of the snowbank yet so it was out of the way, and now the weather forecast is such that there probably won't be a reason for him to come in here again until sometime next week. And by then we'll be gone in search of Spring. 

The grader turning around by the barn. 

In the photo above, the Guppy is kind of hiding behind the grader, still securely tucked into the snow. In the photo below, the Guppy has (obviously) moved.

I thought taking that tarp off would be a real pain, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy. The S.O. had used old Chevy hubcaps to cover the plumbing vents on the roof; because they were rounded, there was nothing for the tarp to get hung up on once we started pulling it off. The worst part was getting hit with solidified chunks of snow that tended to slide right down the tarp and up my jacket sleeves.

Pictured above is the space the Guppy emerged from. The tow dolly had been parked right behind it, truly buried in the snow close to the storage shed. The S.O. wound up doing a fair amount of shoveling to get to the point where he'd be able to drag the dolly out with his POS Dodge plow truck once the Guppy was out of the way. 

With the Guppy out of the way, the Dodge is now parked in that space for the foreseeable future. Unless something dramatic changes in the next 24 hours, the S.O. will not be plowing any snow again until, oh, maybe October. November if we're lucky. 

The Guppy is now positioned for loading, the tow dolly is directly behind it although not yet attached. 

The above is my last grader photo for this year and probably forever, at least on our driveway. As of November 1, 2015, we'll be solely responsible for snow removal on our property. If I want to take grader photos next winter, I'll have to chase Billy around Herman hoping to get some decent photos as he's clearing county roads. I don't think I'm that ambitious. Or obsessed. 

Later today we'll finish loading the Guppy, getting the beast ready to head South toward slightly warmer weather tomorrow. I did get the new curtains done, both the ones to block the cab from the rest of the interior and the "kitchen" curtains for the living/dining area. I'm not sure what era that fabric is from, probably the 1960s, but once again I'm thinking my aunt Thelma had odd taste. I must confess, though, that those curtains are growing on me. I started off thinking it was some of the ugliest stuff I'd ever seen, but it's amazing how attractive fabric can become when it's Free. And it is a cheerful pattern. 

We still have a bit of a curtain problem in the bedroom. The ones that came with the Guppy were in sad shape, adequate but just barely, so I replaced them with some curtains that had been in the guest cabin when we bought it. Turned out they work fine on two of the windows but are about half an inch short on the third. Not a big deal, but still something I'm going to want to deal with eventually. Now that the ugly, filthy valances are gone, we need to move the drapery rods up a couple inches anyway. I'll just plan on doing new curtains that are custom-fitted to each window so I can be sure each set is exactly the right length. It'll be a good project for this summer. Although who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and find something ready-made and easily adaptable at a Home Goods or other store in our travels. I didn't have any luck when I looked around here, but when the retail options are Family Dollar and Shopko Hometown I wasn't expecting to. 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Think we're getting close to the two feet total for this particular storm. It doesn't matter. Our driveway will remain open.

Unfortunately, this winter is the last one where the Road Commission will plow private driveways. The fees they charge don't really cover the cost, and there are staffing issues -- when people retire, that position just stays empty. Fewer guys working means the amount of public road each plow operator has to cover keeps growing; doing driveways eats up too much time. End result? The Road Commission board members voted a few months ago to discontinue the driveway program after this winter.

So what are we going to do next year? We managed in the past without the Road Commission; we can do it again. The S.O. has a 4-wheel drive pickup with a plow rig, and if there's ever a storm that dumps so much snow the pickup can't deal with it, well, we do have snowshoes.

Alternatively, there is always The Guppy and a snowbird lifestyle. There are worse fates than spending the winters wandering around the southwest while avoiding snow.

Spring in the U.P.

View from the front door about 8 a.m. yesterday. I measured -- the snow on the railing was a little over 10 inches high. The average new snow depth on the ground was 14 inches. It finally quit snowing around noon. I know what caused it. People across the upper Midwest can curse me. The day before I'd mentioned to the S.O. that it was about time to put my cross country skis and snowshoes back in storage because I wouldn't be using them again this spring.  

The S.O. warning Billy (the grader operator) not to go up to the end of the driveway to turn around where he usually does. We'd had enough warm weather for a serious soft spot to develop and did not want to risk the grader sinking into mud. The snow was so greasy he was having trouble keeping the machine moving as it was. 

There are days when I think I'd love to have this job -- the machine looks like it would be fun to play with. And then I remember that Billy has to get up at an ungodly early hour and get to the county shed before any of the roads are plowed and I go back to just enjoying watching him work. 

I hear a lot of complaints from people about snow plow drivers leaving snowbanks behind their cars. It might be hard to see in this photo, but there is no snowbank. One of the reasons I'm always saying I love the Baraga County Road Commission is the grader operators, both the current one and his predecessor, are really good about never boxing the vehicles in or blocking the path to the house. 

If we're lucky, this will be the last we see of the grader plowing snow on our road until next fall.  

Spring in the U.P.

I'm guessing we got about 20 inches of snow dumped on us yesterday. Today is lovely, clear blue skies and a predicted high of 40-something for the next several days, so maybe that storm was Winter's last gasp. Nonetheless, I'm happy we paid the driveway plowing fee and did not have to rely on the S.O.'s POS Jeep to open the driveway.

Actually, that storm better have been Winter's last gasp. The snowbanks have gotten high enough that even the grader is having trouble pushing the snow back.

The view out the back door this morning. 

He snuck up on me again

It snowed again last night. This isn't exactly news for a Thursday in January in the U.P. I'm guessing we got at least a foot of what Sarge refers to as alligator repellent. I got up this morning, looked out at the driveway, and decided that this was going to The Morning when I finally got the perfect winter snowplowing photograph. Lots of fresh powdery snow and great light: just cloudy enough to keep things from glaring, but still really nice and bright. I was going to position myself so I could catch the grader just as he came around the curve. I got dressed, I put on boots, I was ready. I even kept stepping outside occasionally to listen for the machine. So how did I do?

He did it to me again. Snuck up. I swear I only looked at the computer screen for two seconds and the next thing I knew I heard the beep-beep-beep as he started to back up. Son of a bitch. How does he do it? How can a machine that big also be that quiet?!

It's a mystery.

Seeing just how deep the snow is on the grader makes me realize (again) how lucky we are that the county road commission still does private driveways. It's worth every dime of the annual plowing fee. 

The driveway plowing was a program begun by a previous county engineer. It's since been discontinued. I've mentioned before that it's one of those things that's being phased out through attrition. No one can be added, and if you drop off, you're off it forever.

January

I've heard of people using modified lawn tractors to keep their driveways clear. This is what we use.

Eat your heart out, DaveO, we've got snow.