The trash pickup was delayed by a day, which was a good thing.
See, the trash cans are in the back yard, and the back yard is surrounded by a wooden privacy fence and the gate in the fence was held closed by a drifted mass that could only be described as a pygmy glacier; a foot-thick layer cake of solid ice on top of some stuff the consistency of Hell's own snowcone, and then more solid ice below that. The area around it, where I would have to stand or kneel to do my chopping and digging, was covered in a frozen slick of roof drippings that let the hatchet go sliding whenever it was set down, and caused me to demonstrate Newton's Third Law every time I stood up and tried to scoop my chippings out of the way with the shovel.
My goggles kept fogging. I broke a sweat kneeling there pounding away with the hatchet. After almost an hour, the end was nearly in sight; the gate was swinging further and further with each try, but if it went on much longer, I was afraid that I was going to collapse and my roomie would come home to find a Tamsicle in the side yard.
The trash cans made it to the street, but boy howdy, I got my exercise today.
It's wintertime in Indy
ReplyDeleteAnd the gentle breezes blow
Seventy five miles an hour
Attwenty-five below.
Oh, how I love you Indy
When the snow's up to my butt
I take a breath of winter
And my nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave you Indy
'Cause I'm frozen to the ground
Yeah, I dug out the trash can from it's 4ft. deep drift, and lugged it over knee deep snow yesterday to no avail. It seems that Friday trash pickup (as well as Tuesday through Thursday in those areas so serviced) was cancelled.
ReplyDeleteI knew that would be the case in the areas of the City serviced by city crews, but I had faith in the private contactor who handles my neighborhood. I suspect all the private contractors were asked to stand down for safety and so as not to embarrass the city workers.
Sounds like you needed some Thermite!
ReplyDeleteI expect you'll make the papers for something different altogether. I expect it will most likely involve finding wookie fur somewhere unplanned.
ReplyDeleteCheck your email, when you have a minute.
Take it easy. Shoveling snow kills a helluva a lotta people every year.
ReplyDeleteThe guilt is overwhelming, 6:40 pm, sun just down, 65 degrees. The same for all weekend. And they wonder why I moved here 23 years ago.
ReplyDelete"Climate Best by Government Test" is the sign of Redwood City, CA.
I blame Al Gore.
ReplyDeleteAnd +1 Insightful to thermite ...
@Brigid: When I was a young man, living in Maine, what I noticed was that my breath would condense and freeze on my moustache when it was cold. That, and when a can of coke froze and exploded in my car, creating a wondrous set of Coke stalagmites on the roof ...
I'm afraid that I'm not sorry to have sold my snowblower, because this year might have broke it.
Monday morning, I pushed the button and the garage door opened. I wheeled the dumpster to the curb. I pushed the button and the garage door closed.
ReplyDeleteLater that day, I pushed the button and the garage door opened. I wheeled the dumpster back inside. I pushed the button and the garage door closed.
Piece o' cake.
Then, later that night, the blizzard hit, with 24 hours of winds to 58 mph and 12 inches of snow coming down sideways. The snow stopped, but the wind kept up for two more days. It's a good thing the dumpster doesn't go out again until next Monday, 'cause the storm put a wide, 20" drift across the driveway and it froze the garage door shut. It faces north, y'see.
At Bastogne, they just used a Garand to shoot a hole in the ice, then started digging.
ReplyDelete"Tamsickle"......the rest was just details. :-)
ReplyDeleteStill taking a pass on the sheet metal screw hobnails?
ReplyDeletegvi
Tam, Baby - you got to get with the latest innovations in sidewalk clearing: ICE MELT!!!
ReplyDeleteSprinkle some on, wait fifteen minutes, and the granules have done their China Syndrome thing to the bottom of the ice, where they create a thin film of water between the ice and whatever it is on top of, then you attack with the chipper or whatever.
If you get the Mag Chloride type, instead of sale, it doesn't even kill the lawn, or leave salt-stains on the walk.
Store it in a air-tight bucket, lest it cake up on you.
It's triling for me.
ReplyDeleteIt may really Dangerous. You have the gust to handle it.
ReplyDeleteStay safe, Tam! You gotta snark me at an upcoming blogmeet.
ReplyDeleteI just fish out my Nitro tablets, and stare at them, until the city worker comes up to get the can.
Advancing decrepitude has it's compensations.
brave article
ReplyDeleteBravo man
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, back in Knoxvegasland, we're getting nothing but rain. How I relish these little excursions into meteorological schadenfreude.
ReplyDeleteOver at Cap'n Lex's blog, we've been amusing ourselves by teasing each other about how bad, or how good, the weather is where we happen to live.
ReplyDeleteIt's really been annoyingly warm here, the last few days. High of eighty-something F.
Makes it very annoying to go out and exert one's self, as one gets all sweaty, and all.
The kitteh has been lying out in the yard, stretched out at maximum length and panting.
P.s. Cap'n Lex lives in San Diego, and loves to twist the knife, so to speak, when it comes to teasing his commenters who live in places like North Dakota and Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteWV: kimicei. Somebody cain't spell kimchee. (which is good for you, btw)
Justthisguy,
ReplyDelete"P.s. Cap'n Lex lives in San Diego, and loves to twist the knife..."
That's because it's illegal for him to put it on the end of his rifle.
Anonymouse 3:38,
ReplyDelete"It's triling for me."
It must be; it's robbed you of your ability to spell...
To get serious: Have y'all thought about running a hose out there from the drain fitting on the hot-water heater, after having turned the thermostat on said heater all the way up?
ReplyDeleteLex doesn't know how to work a bayonet; he's a retired Naval Aviator. He was on the fencing team at the Naval Academy, though.
Here, look at his blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.neptunuslex.com
I've been commenting there for several years, and he seems to put up with me. His politics are more Christian-Conservative than Libertarian, and he writes like an angel, being Irish, like.
I believe he takes his Oath to the Constitution right seriously. He used to be second in command of Naval Fighter Weapons School, aka "Top Gun." He got off of the Admiral track because he wanted to look out for his family. He would have made a very good Admiral.
WV: tater. You can't make this up.
What flavors to Tamscicles come in? I'm guessing snarkberry or Hoppes No.9.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I love Austin. Yesterday, we got 1" of snow. Me and the kids went out and built a snowman, slid down the driveway on a cardboard box, and had a snowball fight. By noon, the snow was gone and the roads were cleared. No muss, no fuss.
ReplyDeleteGiven a choice between the weather in Dago, and the weather in Indy, I'd take freedom.
ReplyDeleteHey, you think YOU had it bad. It snowed in Austin, Texas for the SECOND TIME since 1985! Yes! We got ALMOST an inch of snow. BRRRRRRRRRR! Place shut down, 2 dead in traffic, had to have the heater on ALL DAY! And without globull warming, it would have been 17 degrees instead of 18 for a low. Thankfully it warmed up to 50 by noon and most of the ugly white crap is gone.
ReplyDeleteSo after all that did the city folks manage to pick the trash up?
ReplyDeleteA mile or so north of you, my bags have been out since Wednesday, with nary a truck in sight. Now I have to go dig them out of the snow.
Brigid: Bravo!
Yeah, I'd spend a half-hour or so shoveling snow in the single-digit/low teens and then spend a while in the house recovering; happens rarely enough around here I forgot how wearing it is to work in those temps.
ReplyDelete...caused me to demonstrate Newton's Third Law... To quote Sheldon, "Ah gravity, thou art a heartless bitch."
From snow to sleet
ReplyDeletethe weather so fickle
When winter leaves you
as a cold frozen pickle
We'll add syrup of cherry
Or grape or strawberry
And all take turns
licking the Tamsicle
:-)
Old Grouch,
ReplyDelete"So after all that did the city folks manage to pick the trash up?"
Yup, they made it through today as promised.