Freedom

The road to the outside finally opened today.

Last night, this came by and made a narrow clear path on the road.

It wasn't government, as I heard. Apparently someone in the area owns it and he and other people with such machines were at work yesterday just opening up the roads. He still got watched, though.

Following this, A couple of neighbors and I worked together to get the last of the snow out of each other's driveways that the dozer had pushed in. One has a big snowblower. Another shoveled. With my hand messed up, I used the other hand and a spade to break up the snow so the snowblower could get it. Then when the driveways were clear and one woman lamented being out of wine, I went back in the house and grabbed a Malbeck and three styrofoam cups and we stood outside drinking wine as the sun went down.

This morning a bigger tractor with a bigger plow came by and blocked our driveways again. We all dug out again, this time without wine. But most of the lower roads were still blocked by thoughtless idiots who had gotten stuck early on during the storm and just walked home, leaving their cars where they were. (These people's cars all need to be whacked repeatedly with sledgehammers, IMHO. That's DC metro-style douchery and it has no place up here.) Eventually most of those got moved today and people could get out.

I chose to just stay here though. Nothing out there that I need. Dogs and I just took another snow day.

"We got bones. We're good."

Monday snow day.

Called the Sheriff's office this morning. The lady who answered sounded like she was going to lose it when I asked if they had any idea when we here might expect some snow removal. Apparently the calls demanding help have been off the charts. She sounded almost grateful when I reassured her that I was all set to wait things out but was only calling out of curiosity. "I'm supplied and quite comfortable here," I told her. Sounds like I'm one of the relative few out of the non-stop callers that that office has been getting. Many people are demanding immediate rescue and/or complaining that they don't have food. Seriously, people? We all saw this storm coming a week out. How could any of you not have taken basic steps to ensure that you could get through this?

Oh yeah...Our local Dem voters. I forgot about the ones who always think that the government is going to take care of them. Surprise, fools. Obama ain't coming and even the state and county folks are hindered by the snow and backlogged by priority rescues. Sheriff's phone lady told me to hope for the promised warmer weather later this week but in any case it is likely to be a few days before they get up to us folks on the mountain.

Glad I got books and booze.

Some folks are getting impatient though.

"Where is that UPS truck? Where is the garbage man? Where is ANYBODY? Please, God...I need someone to bark at!"

And while some toil to clear paths...

Others play on them.

"Say 'what' again. Say 'WHAT' again! I dare you, I double dare you!"

"OK...what."

Fight's on.

Nothing says winter fun like roughhousing in the snow.

"These woods are lovely, dark and deep..."

"But you won't get by me, you creep!"

"Girl, don't make me have to remind you of your place again!"

All in fun...but what's that?

Just a bird. Carry on.

Gee, it sure was nice of someone to go out and tromp down all those trails to play on, wasn't it, dogs.

Dogs?

"Getting chilly out here. Let's head back in for some Cocoa."

Best pals.

Who could ask for a better snow day?


As for me...a book of over a hundred of Jack London's best short stories...just the right book to be snowbound with.

Storm's over.

Now we all just have to deal with 36" to 40" of snow. And many of us here are a mile and change off of a main paved road.

Do, do, do, looking out my back door.

And that's the lee side of the house.

Front, looking up the drive.

The drive.

The primary SUV is pretty much buried until spring.

The black thing sticking out near the "bottom" of the pile? That's the drivers' side mirror.

But there's another pile down by the road.

It's the other SUV--the old dependable "Dog Hauler".

Dug out now. And yeah, the snow is up to the hood. But now after two shovel excursions out this morning, it's free and there is a path for it carved down to where the road used to be. Waiting on the state now, and their heavy equipment. Regular plow trucks ain't getting up here any time soon.

So how you doin'?

Dog Run Fail

I let Murphy out into the dog run. The snow is three feet deep. He tried to go straight off the steps and promptly did a face-plant in the deeper snow beyond.

And thus endeth the winter stroll.

Back to his native habitat he went.

Still coming down. Global warming, my ass.

Snow Belles

"Off into the white stuff...and this wasn't here yesterday!"

"Oh no. Just hell no! Fuck this, I'm going back!"

"This is better. Come on, Dad...shovel the rest. I gotta pee!"

Murphy's snow adventure.

So with over two and a half feet of snow down, the dogs had to go out. I took them out front and carved a path for them to get under the carport, the only place where the snow is not up to their backs.
I knew that Belle would not be a problem but with Murphy I was rolling the dice. I gambled that the snow was too deep to let him get anywhere other than where I wanted them.

I lost on that roll because I underestimated his prey drive and sheer dog power.

Down the driveway he went, bounding through snow so deep that he had to leap as he broke trail towards the road. The road was not plowed and was just as deep, and he continued to plow through the undisturbed snow at rocket speed. It was actually beautiful to watch him go, or at least it would have been had he not been ignoring me as I tried to recall him. In seconds, he was around the corner and out of sight.

Belle started after him, but she stopped at the bottom of the driveway when I called her once and she came back. Then I thought about it and sent her after Murphy, figuring that two dogs breaking trail for me would make my trek easier. Her I trust.

By the time I got to the crazy cat neighbor's house, Murphy had already forced his way up their driveway and into their garage, hunting cats. He'd then turned and gone up onto their front porch where they have numerous cat shelter boxes. I got up there and summoned him, and to his partial credit, he did come to me. I got hold of his collar with my one good hand and came back home, with my good Belle leading the way all the way back to our door again.

I was out of breath from trying to move through that snow, and it was only mid-thigh deep on me. But that black engine of destruction, Audie Murphy dog, he'd bulldozed through that crap like it was nothing, and he was primed and ready for more.

And guess who is not going back out front any more?

The storm has passed

The latest winter storm has gone on by, leaving us here with not quite a foot of new white stuff. I got out and shoveled the drive yesterday twice while it was still coming down, so this morning's clean-up was a snap. Had to get it all down to bare driveway, as today looks to be the last day above freezing for a while and I want a driveway, not a toboggan run, so the ice and snow have to go.

I put the dogs out on the front deck to watch, and Belle, as is getting to be a habit with her, climbed over the front deck gate and came down to "help".

Sigh. At least she stays close by while I'm working.

Snow, and Memories.

Snow.

We got 2-3 inches yesterday by the time it stopped. Not much at all, especially compared to the Michigan snowfalls that I remember from my youth. But it was enough to coat the mountain here with white, and keep the trash trucks and fed-ex from coming up here. Wusses.

I remember growing up, how even an inch would have my dad out there with a snow shovel, clearing the whole driveway and the sidewalk. It didn't matter if the sun was going to come out the next day and the temps would be in the 40's, that driveway was going to get cleaned off today and so was the public sidewalk in front of our house and our own walk leading up to the front door. That was just part and parcel to being a homeowner and no one was going to have to trudge through snow in front of our house, not even if the only person out walking was the mailman. Yeah, they used to go out in the snow, too, back in the day.

Well that notion of his stuck with me over the years, and to this day, I can't look at an unshoveled driveway without reaching for the nearest snow shovel, even if it's a steeply inclined drive like mine and no one is expected to come over.

This one's for you, pop.

Happy Birthday, Pop. Couldn't find a picture of you with a snow shovel, but we sure had fun with the Uzi that summer day back on '07, didn't we?

My Dad. January 7, 1942 to October 2, 2012. Still missed.

We got snow...and Belle got busted.

Just a couple of inches here, but it's a blessing in that this morning, as I was sitting in my home office looking out at the woods, only to see Belle trot past the window. After recovering her, I went outside into the dogs' run and was able to find her latest escape hatch courtesy of the tracks in the new snow. And this one was a beauty. Belle had found the one spot where the fence wasn't tight to the ground and she's been able to push it out a few inches and slither under. And once she's gone, the fence goes back to it's original position and you can't tell by looking at it that it moves. I've walked by that section countless times trying to find out how she's been getting out, and if it wasn't for the fresh snow, I'd still be wondering.

A couple of stakes and a few big rocks will fix this problem. Gotta hand it to her though--she's good to have found that spot. She must have gone along the fence line probing every section until she discovered that one weak spot.

I'm going to have to start calling her "Little X".

"Curses. Foiled again."

Fun in the snow

At least these two have been having it all day.

Snow Day

We got another couple of inches overnight, and a new snow tonight and tomorrow is promising up to six more. But today the sun's out and the dogs gotta play. So we walked overt to a neighbor's house for a bit.

Break trail, you huskies! The plow truck hasn't been up here yet--just a random hillbilly 4WD.

But they're working well on leash together. And the snow? NO big deal for them.

Here's the road that I'd normally use to get in/out. Not even the hillbilly tried this one. Fortunately there are other ways.

The mutts though? Happy as little clams.

They played with a neighbor's dog for a bit and then we walked home. Now my leg's done for the day and the dogs have passed out, Belle in her sunbeam spot by the window and Murphy in front of his stove.

Time to put lunch on and have a beer. (Heck, it's noon in the next time zone...that's close enough.)

Enjoy your day out there.

Snow's here.

Well over a foot of it in most of the yard, and even quite a lot on my deck which is somewhat sheltered. Belle appears a bit puzzled but definitely amused by it and Murphy just bulldozes through it.


And it's still coming down, and expected to do so until sometime tonight.

This is a good day to just stay in and watch all those shows that I've never seen before, like Justified and The Walking Dead, which are on Amazon and Netflix, respectively. I'd never seen either before but I'm burning through both of them these past coupe of weeks so I'm just into season two for both.

My thoughts:

In Justified, they sure do kill an awful lot of people in one little Kentucky county, and the only one who seems interested or able to handle it is one US Marshal who has little to no jurisdiction over many of the crimes, however he just keeps shooting folks his own self and he doesn't get suspended or put on administrative duty or anything--they just keep handing him new guns. I'm thinking that I wanna go work for the Marshals' Service now.

In Walking Dead, how is it that everyone except for a small band of dysfunctional misfits dies but said band of losers somehow makes it? These people have no skills, no real foresight or ability to plan, apparently, but THEY live? Really? And why is it that with thousands of abandoned vehicles around for them to use, from showroom-new trucks to military HMMVs, they're driving around in old junk that's 20-30 years old, including a motorhome from the 1970's that always breaks down? And how many times are the kids going to wander off before the adults start making them stay in the cars or just put them on leashes? If they were smart, they'd find someplace defensible to hole up and send out foraging parties, but no, they're just drifting around getting killed piecemeal like those high school kids in an old slasher movie. OMG! That's what this is! Does it get better? Do they get smarter?

The more I watch this stuff, the better I'm liking my books.

Snow's coming.

And we here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of eastern West Virginia tend to get hit harder than those flatlanders in Northern VA to the east or Washington, DC. Accu-hunch says we're looking at up to 19", so subtracting a bit for their typical over-estimation and then adding more due to our location on the mountainside, I figure that we're gonna get socked in pretty well over the next couple of nights.

I went to the store today, and got the requisite survival supplies, so the dogs and I are set.

What? I mean, seriously, who doesn't keep a rotating stock of foodstuffs good to last a few months? Other than the dim-bulbs in Atlanta, I mean. Dogs and I just have a few extra goodies to bunker down with, watching movies and reading books, and maybe reloading some ammo until the storm passes. (And yes, I do have more beer...and some good bourbon up in the gun room.)

Now knowing how much snow we're likely to get, coupled with the moisture in this system that promises either heavy snow or icing, I figure that we may lose power for quite some time during the storm. That being the case, I just finished running a generator test (Started on the second pull after sitting for months--damn, I love me that machine!) and I've laid out some power cords sufficient to reach from it up to my pellet stove and the kitchen, so we'll have warmth and the ability to prepare food, come what may. As a back-up to that back-up plan, I brought more wood into my basement shop for the wood stove down there. Worst case, the dogs and I will move into the shop and stay warm down there if all else fails. And I have more Coleman lanterns and stoves than I'll ever have need of, but buying them at yard sales and flea markets and rehabbing them is an obsessive hobby of mine. When I get too many, I give them away to friends in need or emergency relief organizations.

As for fuel, I just found ten gallons of gasoline next to the generator in two jugs that I'd thought were empty. +10 for having the extra fuel on hand, but -20 for not knowing it was there. It's at least six months old, probably older, and since I didn't Sta-bil it, I'm going to have to rotate it out through my jeep a few gallons at a time now.

My Jeep is parked at the bottom of my steep driveway instead of at the top, because if I need to get out fast, I want to avoid making like the Jamaican Bobsled Team by trying to negotiate that slope un-shoveled. My M-60 is also broken out and set up for when the state plow comes along and tries to shunt 30 cubic yards of packed ice and snow into my driveway within an hour of me shoveling myself clear. (I will get the bastard this year...Bet.)

So as the storm approaches you--if you haven't already been pounded or missed entirely, be careful and be ready.
And beware of photo-bombing black Shepherds in the dark.

Where'd Spring go?

Maybe it's buried under all the new snow.


Is it really March 25th? Am I really below the Mason-Dixon Line?


"Who cares? Just throw the ball!"

We got snow.

In March. In West Virginia.
8 inches easy, and still coming.


Murphy has no problem digging and rolling around in this stuff like a pup. As for me, the stove is lit and it's a good day to spend with a book or two. And beer.

Stay safe out there in the world, because ain't no way we can get to ya today.

Snow Dog

"I luv ya, Boss, but if you throw that snowball at me, it's on like Donkey Kong!"

Shoveling snow with three-legged Murphy

Two days ago, it was 60 degrees here.
Tomorrow, it's supposed to hit the mid-40's again and stay there or higher for the rest of the week.

Today, it's 20 degrees and I have 3-4 inches if wet snow on the ground, the bottom layer being solid ice.

This, coupled with my 100+ foot long, steeply-inclined driveway, does not bode well for my need to get our of here in a couple of hours. My SUV is at the top of that ice slide, and a big ditch sits just across the road at the bottom.

So I went out to shovel the snow off the top, chipped away at what ice I could, and put down 15 lbs of snow-melt salt. Come on, sun. Get to work. I also took Murphy for his morning walk, and along the way, I stopped to talk to two neighbors who were clearing their own driveways.

Now Murphy is normally a nice dog when it's just the two of us. But when I am trying to talk to someone else--on the phone or in person--he acts up because he doesn't want to share my attention.

First he plunks himself down in the snow right between the three of us. Then when that doesn't do it, starts jumping into and out of the snowbank until he gets some ice up between his paw pads, at which point he comes whining to me, hopping on three legs with the iced paw held off the ground. I take his paw, brush the ice out, and resume talking. He goes right off and does it again. And again. Funny how I've never seen this happen when it's just him and I together. But as soon as there's other people in the mix...

Then I walk back towards the house with one neighbor. We're trying to talk but Murphy is now turning and trying to grab the leash from me and turn it into a game of tug-o-war. When I push him back, he jumps at my gloved hands and tries to get my gloves off, or failing that, he grabs my forearm and tries to pull me down. It's all clowning (granted, he's 68lbs and doesn't really appreciate his own strength) but it's also nearly totally distracting, which is, I suspect, the point. Like I said, he never does this unless there's another person around or I'm trying to talk on the phone. He finally got to where he was jumping up in front of me so high that we were almost face to face, and I had to grab him in a headlock, order him into a "sit", and make him hold it as kind of a time-out. At that point, the neighbor went up his own drive, and Murphy reverted back to calm dog again. And even though we walked through quite a bit of ice and snow on the way home, he never seemed to get any more stuck between his paw pads.

Crazy dog.

Neighbor says: "Hey! Your dog is on my roof!"

So because it was nice and sunny outside today, and because there was a ton of snow everywhere, and because Murphy was having a ball in the snow--and because he'd been really good at coming when called at the dog park--and because I felt guilty for penning him up so long yesterday, and because I was tired...

You get the idea. I'm laying out an excuse field a mile wide here. That's generally an admission that I did something which, upon reflection, was stupid.

While talking to an neighbor (the cat neighbor) down on the road this afternoon, I left Murphy off his leash to see if he was as obedient as I thought that he might be.

He wasn't.

Actually he started out great. I unclipped his leash and put it in my pocket. he sat down on the street and just looked at me, trying to figure out what was going on. I told him that he was free now. Free dog. Have fun. I mean, he's surrounded by chest-deep snow. Where's he really going to go?

For the first minute, it was great. He bounded around me, capering in the snow. I tossed snowballs at him and he caught them in his mouth. The it hit him--the leash really was off. He spun around and ran a hundred yards up the road as fast as he could, then he stopped and turned to see what I'd do.

I called him once. He just stood there. So I yelled "Bye!" and walked back up my driveway. As expected, he ran back to the foot of my driveway to see where I was going. I got to my door and called him again, and he came towards me. Perhaps this might end well after all, I thought.

But then he saw one of my neighbor's several dozen damned feral cats. Off he bounded into the snow-filled woods, to chase it around the house. I tried to call him back a few times, but 'twas no use. He was having fun and not inclined to come back at the moment.

Ah, well. Like I said--chest-deep snow. He'll tire of that pretty quick. So I just resumed clearing my driveway and listened to the jingle of his collar tags which told me that he was either in my yard or the cat neighbor's. The cat neighbor really doesn't mind so long as he thinks that Murphy won't actually get his cats. I heard him calling Murphy a few times, trying to coax him over for a petting. But Murphy wasn't having any of that, either. The snow and the cats were much more fun.

Then I heard my neighbor yell. "Hey! Your dog is on my roof!"

Huh? I looked over, and sure enough, there was Audie Murphy Dog, standing atop my neighbor's attached car port, looking out over the snow-covered world as if it was all his. If dogs could talk, I have no doubt that he'd have been shouting: "Made it, Ma! Top of the World!"

Tracks in the snow indicate that Murphy was chasing one of the cats around the neighbor's house. The cat ran up a wood pile next to the car port and bolted across the roof. Now these cats had been running away from Lagniappe like that for years and he'd always stopped there. But Murphy, being a different dog, went straight up that woodpile behind the cat--right up onto and across the roof--stopping only when the cat jumped from the other side into a nearby tree. Murphy stopped at that point, then just walked back to the peak of the roof to look down on my neighbor and all of his other subjects below. He was still there when I got over there.

I coaxed him down with his red tug toy and got him re-leashed. He was panting hard from his workout and had that same glint in his eye that I've seen in both my past Shepherds--the one that says: "Do what you have to to punish me...it was worth it!"

Dogs...

My only regret is that I didn't have my camera with me at the time. But I did have it when I took these.
What? I'm not doing anything!


Enemy sighted! Cat! 180 degrees at 25 yards!