moar funny pictures

At the time Hubby decided last night that my first snowblower operation lesson was in order, we had 8 to 10 inches of snow which was lying on top of a crust of ice. The ice was on top of 2 to 3 inches of snow. All of this had occured between 10pm Saturday and 4:30 or so yesterday afternoon. I thought he was kidding when he said he'd start the snowblower and I was expected to use it. I could have said no, but I thought using a snowblower would be easier than shoveling. That'll teach me to think.

I got all bundled up and went outside. The idling snowblower was sitting in front of the steps all ready for me to grab the handles and blow the snow. Hubby showed me throttle position for reverse, first and second gear telling me he usually uses it in second. He showed me the crank to turn the chute, and told me I had to push down on the handles when using reverse gear. The control is under the handle, there's a button there to lock the machine on but don't push it. So, away I went...in more ways than one.

I quickly decided, after a few minutes of trying to keep up with the forward motion of the machine in second gear, that I'm not cut out to go that fast on the kind of walking surface that resembles a trek in sand. Slipping and sliding around behind a machine that keeps trying to pull me face down into the snow. It was possessed with the idea that it could do everything I needed done without me. So, I let go of the trigger and changed gears to first. Take that you machine you!

So, we are carefully (and comfortably) chugging along when I get to the end of the first path. Time to turn, right? Wrong! Snowblowers don't turn corners. I MADE it turn corners. Hey, I am the intelligent being here, I'm the one with the brain. I know where we need to go and we will go there. Got it? I muscled that baby into turning corners so I could clear a driveway that was 24 feet by 16 feet. I was so proud of myself, and then it happened. Hubby comes walking up to me and casually tells me that he clears a forward path, then he backs up and clears another forward path, ALWAYS blowing snow in a direction AWAY from the wind. Oh, and I didn't need to do half of the street either.

I was exhausted. I was also covered in snow. Hubby stood there brushing the 3 inches of snow that had collected on my head and shoulders, while I processed the information he just gave me that he could have shared in the beginning of the lesson. The only reason he still breathes is because I was too tired to kill him. End of lesson one, snowblower 2, Sherry 0.

It snowed some more afterwards and Hubby did the duty today because I'm so sore from yesterday that we were afraid I'd hurt myself trying it again today. So today I brushed the vehicles off while Hubby ran the snowblower (in second gear) to remove the snow that accumulated since I used it. It looks so easy when he does it. You just go forward to clear a path, back up and go forward again to clear another path. I swear I can hear that snowblower laughing at me.

So far we don't have that much snow. Mostly because we had sleet and freezing rain. It started snowing last night, switched to sleet about 4:30 this morning. The wind was more worrisome to me because the gusts were quite strong. Looking out my windows there are 5 trees around me in the woods that snapped off and toppled over, not including the limbs that fell. The wind has stopped and we have switched entirely to snow.

We are under a travel advisory although the roads are not closed with the exception of an 8 mile stretch of state route 12. Not close to me, nor anyplace I wish to go today so I'm fine with it. We've hunkered down with the woodstove, and I'm enjoying my day.

The snow is interfering with both my DSL and my TV, one of the joys of having satellite systems. Still, Hubby's watching an old James Garner western/comedy at the moment and I'm taking the opportunity to let you know we're fine and I'll see you guys tomorrow after the weather clears.

I am probably going to run out of Caturday pictures at some point, maybe by Christmas, but I'm not promising a thing. One thing I won't run out of is music for these shuffles I've been doing.

It's really my age I'm sharing on Saturdays. I am old enough to have been exposed to all kinds of music. I even like classical but not nearly as much as I do other genres. In a way I feel sorry for those much younger than I am. Unless you were exposed to music played by your Grandparents and possibly great Grandparents you missed a very big contributor to your own musical roots.

Music is much like a tree. It starts from the root, which would be classical in nature and it grows up and out. Each style of music adds limbs, branches and leaves to the tree yet it has a connection to what has grown before it. The popularity of music styles come and go, some getting lost and others taking root to germinate and grow new trees. I'm fortunate that I have been exposed and still enjoy the roots of my musical tree.



The Playlist

1....Alabama...Love In The First Degree, Song of the South and Mountain Music
2....Dire Straits...Down To The Waterline, Sultans of Swing and Walk of Life
3....Harry Connick Jr....Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Easy For You To Say and Love For Sale
4....Kenny G...Silhouette, Songbird and You're Beautiful
5....Kenny Rogers...Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer, Lady and You Decorated My Life
6....Lionel Ritchie...All Night Long, Do It To Me and Truly
7....Nelly Furtado...Maneater, Promiscuous and Say It Right
8....Patti Labelle...Lady Marmalade, New Attitude and On My Own
9....Rod Stewart...D'Ya Think I'm Sexy, Hot Legs and Tonights The Night
10..Ronnie Milsap...(There's) No Gettin' Over Me, Any Day Now and Lost In The Fifties Tonight
11..Squeeze...Black Coffee In Bed, Hourglass and Tempted
12..The Boomtown Rats...Banana Republic, I Don't Like Mondays and Up All Night
13..The Manhattan Transfer...Choo Choo Ch' Boogie, Route 66 and Tuxedo Junction
14..The Staple Singers...I'll Take You There, Respect Yourself and Touch A Hand (Make A Friend)
15..Toni Braxton...Breathe Again, Just Be a Man About It and Unbreak My Heart

We spend much of our lives falling down and picking ourselves up again. For those of us who are really lucky, the picking up process happens with a great deal of emotional support from friends and family. While they can't entirely mend the wound, sometimes they can give us the balm our soul needs to mend the wound itself. Many of us believe in a greater power than ourselves, and know that power will help see them through the rough patches, others believe in themselves and what they can accomplish in this life.

A conversation with my granddaughter, during which she informed me that "Life's not fair", is the germ which lodged in my brain and is giving birth to this post. "Who says it has to be?" was my response. What makes a teenager old enough to have a mind to process what she sees in life, not understand that life is never fair? She thinks it's because she's the child and we're the adults and life will suddenly become "fair" when she achieves the magical age of 18. My sense of humor kicked in at that point and I, unfortunately, started laughing. Of course she thinks I was laughing at her and this ended the conversation. I wish I could say I wasn't but...I'm guilty. I shouldn't have laughed, but at that point a commercial started playing in my mind. I couldn't help myself because it was so ridiculous.

The commercial is one that plays locally for a pharmacy called Walgreens. It's a "perfect world" commercial. It comes complete with candy cane colored houses and Pepto Bismol pink decor. Who in their right mind would decorate with that color? Getting back to the gist of the commercial it says that in a perfect world everyone would have exactly what they want without any effort on their part. Barring the "perfect world" there is, of course, your local Walgreens to see to your needs. I did say it was ridiculous. Come to think of it...so is the notion that my granddaughter has that she will have a life that's fair when she turns 18.

She isn't alone in that thought. All of us at the ripe old age of 15 thought the same thing. Somehow we didn't understand that working for someone else meant that we had to obey the rules. We didn't understand that adults also are unable to do exactly what we want to do. She's going to learn at some point in the future that life is a series of mistakes made from which we must pick ourselves up and get on with the rest of our life. Cradle to grave bumps, bruises and falls. Stress, stress and more stress throughout our entire lives. For those fortunate enough to have a support system, the falls happen but something or someone provides a cushion. There are times when the cushion isn't really big enough to totally stop the hurt, but the cushion was offered. When you stop to really think about it that's what Christmas should be all about.

It isn't a perfect world, we can't all afford to give our family and friends everything they desire. Sometimes we can't give them everything they need. Sometimes all we can give them is our love, and we can give that 365 days a year. Might even find enough love to cover that extra day during Leap Years, yet every year at this time we stress ourselves out because we try to afford to give gifts that are much too expensive. We all complain that Christmas is too commercial, that it costs too much, that life isn't fair because we can't afford to buy that expensive trinket our loved one thinks they need. I believe that what they really need is...us. Will someone please remind me that the next time my granddaughter needs a conversation with me I really shouldn't laugh at her no matter how ridiculous I think the situation is? If you do that for me, I'll remind you to give someone the gift of love this Christmas.

According to the news, New York may be getting a Nor'Easter over the weekend. It isn't definite, but I'm getting prepared. The pictures are ones I took on February 15, 2007 after the Valentines Day Nor'Easter blew through Central New York.

The first picture was taken through my front window at the back end of my car. It's a 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier although you wouldn't know it to look at it.


After some heavy duty shoveling I at least got the area behind the car cleaned out.


Took a break and stopped to take pictures of Hubby's van. That was the next job on the agenda.



After I was nearly finished with the shoveling that day Hubby came out and did his own vehicle. Someone needs to be inside to answer the phone so we usually take turns. This year we got smart. Hubby bought a snowblower. I'm so glad of that. Since we no longer live where those pictures were taken we have a lot more to shovel. I'm ready for the fun to begin.