Did you ever see that journal spoof on the Internet wherein the naive resident, new to an area which received massive amounts of snow, began his entries reveling in the bucolic beauty of his winter wonderland? Gradually, he became more and more negative with each successive day of snowfall, and by about the fourth week, he was cursing the snow as he became increasingly (and I love this expression) shack whacky. A few weeks ago, I was joking about how I was ardently resisting the temptation to buy a snow blower. For the past few days, we have been getting dumped upon up here in the lovely community of Burk’s Falls. Last Friday, we awoke to a foot of the white stuff and, no problem, I dug us out. Saturday, the same thing happened, and again, no problem. No sooner did I finish that vigorous 30 minutes of shoveling, when we received a third dumping. I’m still O.K. with this, and will likely grudgingly continue my manual snow removal routine throughout this winter, if only to reinforce how lovely it will be to have a snow blower next year.
As a tease, I bought a copy of the local “Buy and Sell” swap sheet the other day, and looked into various exotic snow removal options. I can buy a slightly used 1953 Ford tractor that “runs good” for only $1800. All I need to do is buy a plow for the front. Another option is to buy a beater truck with a V-8 and a snowplow attachment. The problem with those rigs is that I wouldn’t know how warn out the truck is … a little sawdust goes a long way to disguising a bad transmission. My favorite option is a 4 wheel drive ATV with a snow blower attachment. The great part about that option is that I can use the ATV as a (fun to use) utility vehicle during the summer months as well. Glenn, our great building project supervisor and my resident expert on all things mechanical, assures me that I need one with at least a 400 cc motor. I’m thinking 700 ccs would be better. That way, I could plow snow at 40 MPH, or pull my car out of a ditch.
Actor Heath Ledger, perhaps most famous for his leading role in the controversial movie “Brokeback Mountain” (homosexual cowboys? - who knew?), is dead at 28. I’m guessing it wasn’t the Ambien. In U.S. Politics, Hillary and Rock Star Obama got into a cat fight at the last Democratic debate in South Carolina. As I predicted months ago, when it seemed as if George Bush would drive even the most ardent Republicans over to the donkeys, the Democrats seem to exhibit an irrepressible tendency for self-destruction. Yesterday’s debate confirmed that theory, and it is ironic that John Edwards, the candidate with a cold chance in h-ll of being nominated, appeared to have taken the high road as the two front-runners gnawed each other to political death. The Toronto Maple Leafs fired their GM, John Ferguson, and being cautiously optimistic, as are all Leafs fans, I hope that the new guy will point the Leafs in the right direction. Hey guys, just get us into the playoffs for a change. Finally, our great carpenters are working on the last of four “valley logs” for the roof structure, meaning that, perhaps within a week to ten days, the house will be completely covered from above. Most of the casement windows have been repaired or replaced, and are nearby being stained, and exterior doors are on order. The house won’t be finished any time soon, but perhaps in the near future, we will be able to camp out on the floor! Gotta go now, Shauna and I are about to have what I’m sure will be a 3-hour discussion about how random we want our random-width, random-length pine floor planks to be.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
As a tease, I bought a copy of the local “Buy and Sell” swap sheet the other day, and looked into various exotic snow removal options. I can buy a slightly used 1953 Ford tractor that “runs good” for only $1800. All I need to do is buy a plow for the front. Another option is to buy a beater truck with a V-8 and a snowplow attachment. The problem with those rigs is that I wouldn’t know how warn out the truck is … a little sawdust goes a long way to disguising a bad transmission. My favorite option is a 4 wheel drive ATV with a snow blower attachment. The great part about that option is that I can use the ATV as a (fun to use) utility vehicle during the summer months as well. Glenn, our great building project supervisor and my resident expert on all things mechanical, assures me that I need one with at least a 400 cc motor. I’m thinking 700 ccs would be better. That way, I could plow snow at 40 MPH, or pull my car out of a ditch.
Actor Heath Ledger, perhaps most famous for his leading role in the controversial movie “Brokeback Mountain” (homosexual cowboys? - who knew?), is dead at 28. I’m guessing it wasn’t the Ambien. In U.S. Politics, Hillary and Rock Star Obama got into a cat fight at the last Democratic debate in South Carolina. As I predicted months ago, when it seemed as if George Bush would drive even the most ardent Republicans over to the donkeys, the Democrats seem to exhibit an irrepressible tendency for self-destruction. Yesterday’s debate confirmed that theory, and it is ironic that John Edwards, the candidate with a cold chance in h-ll of being nominated, appeared to have taken the high road as the two front-runners gnawed each other to political death. The Toronto Maple Leafs fired their GM, John Ferguson, and being cautiously optimistic, as are all Leafs fans, I hope that the new guy will point the Leafs in the right direction. Hey guys, just get us into the playoffs for a change. Finally, our great carpenters are working on the last of four “valley logs” for the roof structure, meaning that, perhaps within a week to ten days, the house will be completely covered from above. Most of the casement windows have been repaired or replaced, and are nearby being stained, and exterior doors are on order. The house won’t be finished any time soon, but perhaps in the near future, we will be able to camp out on the floor! Gotta go now, Shauna and I are about to have what I’m sure will be a 3-hour discussion about how random we want our random-width, random-length pine floor planks to be.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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