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Monday, February 28, 2011

My Aching Shoulders!

We were out of town and got back Saturday.  We had more snow.  So far, we've had about 3 feet just in February.

When we pulled into the driveway, I was VERY disappointed.  I had called someone to plow us on Friday, but it wasn't done.  Our driveway is paved, but shoveling 1 foot of wet heavy snow was not something I wanted to do.  The driveway is over 200 feet long, so I had a lot of work in front of me.  I started on it, and at got a spot shoveled out to allow me to get the car off the street.

I looked at the roof over the back porch.  There was now about 4 feet of snow on the porch roof, with another 4 feet on the deck!  One of the bad things about the new metal roof on the house is that all the snow slides right off the roof, dumping itself onto whatever is below.



I dragged a ladder out from the garage and climbed unto the porch roof.  It is a flat roof, so I wasn't too concerned with slipping (but you still have to be careful).  I shoveled most the snow down onto the deck below.  I then climbed down and shoveled the deck back down to 4 feet.  I went to the front porch and shoveled it's roof.  My clothes were soaked.  The stove got a workout drying my gloves.



On Sunday I shoveled more of the driveway (I would have plowed it, but my yard tractor doesn't have the traction to move 1 foot of wet snow).   I then heard a rumble, and the remaining snow on the main roof dumped itself on the porch roof.  I climbed back onto the roof, and shoveled the 2 - 3 feet of snow onto the deck. I then climbed down to the deck and knocked it back to 4 feet.



Being a glutton for punishment, then went inside and jumped onto the rowing machine.  I needed 17,000 meters to row to finish the 1 million meter goal I set for myself (I row 1 million meters between September and February).  Boy, my shoulders and arms were tired.  I am proud I did it!



I then took a break.  The weather forecast showed it was going to warm up to over 40 degF on Monday, with up to 1 inch of rain.  I then climbed back onto the porch roof to get right down to the thin ice layer to make sure that any runoff would not pool on the roof.

I went around the yard and checked out the scenery.  It was very beautiful.  I checked on the barn, and it was dry inside.



Snow was sliding off the barn.



There was quite a pile next to the old chicken coop (the largest I can remember).




It was quite beautiful outside.








It started to rain this morning.  The water ran off the porch roof with no issues.  We are expecting warmer weather most of the week.  My shoulders need the break (I really don't want to be shoveling the snow off the deck)!

Just another week around the barn . . .

4 comments:

Simplifying in the South said...

1 million meters! WOW! Congrats. What an accomplishment.

Laura's Last Post: The 3 A's of Awesome

Uncle Tractor said...

Thanks Laura. I try to do this every year. Like the saying goes, 'You rest, you rot'. You just got to keep going!

~ Regan said...

Then you're going to live for another hundred years! ;) all the work you do- I'm just glad you also take the time to enjoy yourself, too. Sorry you had to go home to all that snow, and shame on the plow guy- he should know how fast word spreads in a small town! Hopefully he won disappoint the next time.
Congratulations on ONE MILLION METERS!!!!

Unknown said...

It's really frustrating to see your house buried in a great pile of snow. Good thing you're fast thinker and acted on it stat! At least your roof did not incur substantial damage when the snow started to melt. Anyway, this was definitely an experience you'll never forget— both for bad and good reasons. And I know this is quite late, but congratulations on your hard work. - Eulalia @ BarnHouseExteriors.com