I'm tired of shoveling!!!

Over the course of the last week or so we have had more than 10 inches of snow and temperatures that reached -46 windchill. I feel like I'm living in Alaska. Although, we at least did not have to deal with it being dark all of the time. It's hard enough for me to deal with the cold let alone dark. Yuck. I'm one of those people that when they have not felt sunshine, they tend to go into a depression type thing. I feel my mood going down on days without sunshine and the longer I go without it, the more bleak I feel. I think that maybe at some point I'm going to try one of those "sun lamps" that simulate the sun's rays in a normal looking light bulbs. They are supposed to work wonders. Anyone ever use one?

Temps are still cold, but they tell us it will get warmer starting tomorrow for a little bit. Of course warmer means more snow. Oh joy...here we go again. I'm still tired of shoveling, which for me is strange. I love to get out in a snow storm and shovel while the flakes are coming down around me. Only this year with my foot it hurts and that is not fair! How can I enjoy something while I'm wincing with every step? Oh well, who ever said that life was fair?

Last Wednesday when I went to read meters in between waiting for the insurance adjuster for the car and also waiting for Will's computer people (who came out twice) Amanda went with me. At one point 5' tall Amanda was standing on a snow drift that was well over 6' tall. I had the tow rope ready in case she went under. Although, I probably would not have been able to find her in all that snow.

Saturday Will went out to start the Tracker to read meters and the key would not turn. I don't mean that it would not start, I mean the key would not turn. We tried "unfreezing it" we tried warming the steering column and about everything we could think of. It still will not turn. We are waiting for the original key to get here from Tennesse so that we can try that. Maybe something happened to the key we were using so that it would not turn the tumblers. If this new key does not work, then we'll try the next step.

So no Tracker.....that means Will's truck (taller tires) EXCEPT.....Will's truck must have been born in Florida....it hates the cold. No starting it. It felt the -34 windchill and said "ARE YOU CRAZY?"
So now what? We have to read meters, no choice, we HAVE to go out. They are due back on Monday. So we are down to my poor little beat up white Lumina. I mean to tell you that car has been through it all.....hail storms, wind storms that broke the door hinge, ditches on the mail route when the snow was so deep you couldn't see the road and then there's the famous snow plow incident.....all in all, you couldn't expect it to start on this bitterly cold day could you? WRONG! Started right up and plowed right through all we asked it to. I was so proud of my little car. Boy is it a trooper! It's earned quite a few purple hearts, but it keeps on ticking..

Will and I had to read meters all day on Sunday. With all of this snow there were quite a few that we had to walk to, well actually Will had to walk to... my foot does not like walking in snow that has uneven ground underneath. It makes it hard to keep from twisting and turning it on the bumps and ridges. We read until dark and still had about 100 to read. Thank God, I had Monday off for Martin L. King day.

So on my holiday that I was supposed to catch up on my paperwork and household stuff......I read meters. Many, many meters. Wouldn't have been too bad, but it started snowing, and snowing and snowing. We were getting snow fall of an inch an hour and I was out dealing with it. Great fun that was.. Then I finished came home to fill out the paperwork and take it down to Oakdale. Left here at 2:45 and arrived at Oakdale at 3:53. It's a 22 mile trip. The snow was so bad that they had closed down the interstate at many, many points and even the not closed parts were stalled shut by traffic jams caused by accidents. Bad stuff to be driving in, but I had no choice and I also had to pick up Jake who stayed after school.

Jake and I headed home and the only thing I could think of was boy my foot hurts and I still have to shovel. Of course, I knew the kids would help me, but it's still a large driveway. LOW AND BEHOLD a miracle had happened at our house while I was gone.....
Jessalyn had come home from school and shoveled the whole driveway. Bless her great big heart! I am so proud of her. Jake and I topped it off (there was another 1 or two since she had shoveled) and then we came inside. All of us kind of sat and staired at each other. We were all tired.
Not much action going on around here that night. I think Jessa even asked to go to bed. Believe me, they earned money for all that work.

Tuesday was one of the heaviest mail days of the year. The Post Office is closed for MLK day, but I think that we are the only ones. Everyone else keeps sending mail. I went to work early on Tuesday and got home about 6:45. Long day. I did my route and a good bit of one other.

Yesterday was catch up day at work. Lots of things get done "just enough" to get the job done and then I have to fix it the next day. Today is more of that and then Will and I have a date tonight.

For Cranfest I get to go and do the public appearance thing and go to a fund raiser. Of course I'm dragging Will along this time. I don't make him come very often, but this is a dinner and of course there is the fun part that Gilbert Brown and Santana Dodson former Green Bay Packer players are the ones putting it on. It's a fund raiser for one of their charities and they are hosting that deal or no deal type game. It should be fun. At least I hope it is or I will never hear the end of it from my hubby. He seems to get great giggles out of making me "pay" for things for years to come.
Well, time to go to work.
Have a blessed and wonderful day!
dea