I think the Ground Hog has Committed Hari Kari....

I think maybe the Wyoming Ground Hog just committed hari kari (japanese ritual suicide)

Why?? -- I just got an email weather warning for a Winter Storm beginning Saturday afternoon....well I suppose I should have suspected this would happen.  We NEVER get spring six weeks from February 2nd, Ground Hog's Day.  We are lucky if it's spring 10 weeks later.  I've seen Springs in Wyoming that did not arrive until after the first of May with May First ushering in the snowstorm to end all snowstorms.  My freshman year in high school, none of the ranch kids made it to school for a week after May 2nd, 1965, because they were all helping dig out cows from under the drifted snow.  They would find them by the 'air holes' that came steaming out of the drifts.  Quite a few cows were not so lucky and died.  It was the talk at school for a long time about how they found them and what they found sometimes.

On to more current happenings:
I did reposition my snow stick yesterday on my way to work ---

BEFORE - barely holding up

I think it was 40" here. (from top of 48" stick)

AFTER REPOSITIONING IN THE MOUND BEHIND IT.

Now it's at 23" from top of stick.

I have the sinking feeling this could all change drastically by Sunday....

My road has MUD!! at least yesterday in the am (well it was ice but it melted to MUD).

And Another One Bites the Dust: First it was the thirty-some year old Crapper Brush; I have been on the brink of having to replace my eons old Bugaboot snowboots.  The foot that has the poly-something making them waterproof is cracking after so many years.  It's been a shock.  Snow boots are now over a $80 - $100 for a good pair!  HOLY SMOKES. I think I paid $29.99 for my Bugaboots on sale about 9 years ago.  I've decided to put off the purchase thinking one or two more storms and winter will be over and I can go back to my 'pig' boots (so named because they are calf-high and mud-proof and what you would wear to feed a ......what for it.....pig!!).  I'll dig out the GOOP tonight and do some patchwork on the Bugaboots.

Lest you think I'm cheap...I do buy things.  You know the ol' patriotic duty to buy us out of this recession.......

I bought.........................

No More Straining Coffee Grounds outa my teeth when the Power is Out!  I won't have much, but by cracky, I'll have ALL the coffee I want!!!

And I bought TWO of these 

 One for each bathroom.

What's that you say???  What is a five gallon gas can doing sitting next to my toilet?  Well look at this...

Another one in the bathtub and an empty kitty litter jug full of WATER.  All three are full of water for when I have NO power.  Toilet Flushing will still be possible (unless the darn sewer line freezes but we won't go there AGAIN hopefully).  So we are set for the on-coming possible snow storm.

Here's our weather forecast.  Doesn't it just sound L-O-V-E-L-Y?

Saturday Night: Snow. Low around 9. Wind chill values as low as -10. Blustery, with a north wind between 23 and 29 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible. 

Sunday: Snow, mainly before 11am. High near 13. Wind chill values as low as -15. Blustery, with a north northeast wind 23 to 26 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. 

So the question is - will our power stay on?  Maybe, Maybe not.

And for those of you who thought it was cruel to Jerry aka Shitmeier when I clipped him, he got even.  He came in from 'helping' feed livestock so stinky it was BEYOND belief.  He had eaten something really poopie or really dead.  UGH.  Instant trip to the Bath!!!  It WAS BAD.  Now he will probably throw up on my carpet.  Ranch dogs....................................................................sigh.

I tell yah, the WOMAN is positively obsessive-compulsive about giving me baths.......

Well, we'll be hunkered in and waiting for this snowstorm....but it takes snow & rain to make grass so I guess I cannot complain.  At least the road has melted enough to be plowable again.

Slip Slidin' Away and Techno Disappointments

Well the Great Snow Stick Experiment continues but since I've been working the past couple of days, no new photos - it was way down past #22 after three days and now only has a few inches left in the snow but the big pile has sorda slipped down the hill so the stick is no longer at the peak anymore.

The beginning - 41" of snow

  In fact when I drove in tonight, there's only about 8" of snow around it's base.  I will have to reposition it.  We have been close to 50 degrees above for a few days so the snow that is left is very icy and very hard.  You have to be careful at our gate or you will slip on it and fall in the muck!  Yeah, rural folk are easily entertained and I intend to milk this for all it's worth on this blog  promise to keep you all updated on this fascinating project.  I have my camera set out for a photo on the way to work tomorrow.  If I am not rushing like a bat out of hell because I'm late not in too big a hurry I will stop and reposition the stick.

And minor tragedy struck over the weekend - my toilet brush broke.  I have been racking my brain to try to remember when I bought the darn thing.  I *Think* it was shortly after I was married in 1974.  So I guess the fact that wire holding it to the plastic handle finally rusted through can be understood.  Thirty-seven years is apparently the life of a 1970's toilet brush.

One thing that certainly improved over the past 37 years has been toilet bowl cleaners.  I know I used to have to get in there and really scrub and now I don't - or maybe I just don't CARE ANYMORE!!!  (I am a lot more relaxed about my housekeeping standards now that I am older--and wiser.  I have read obituaries in my local paper for YEARS and not one single time has one ever said, "She was a Rotten Housekeeper".  My point- maybe it DOESN'T MATTER!)

In high school we were required to read George Orwell's 1984 (remember that book?) which promised us all a life of leisure, luxury, little work, with a computer doing everything for us -- including monitoring our every move and taking over the world.  And that brings me to the techno disappointment.....

According to Wikipedia, the toilet brush was "invented in 1932 by William C. Schopp and later patented in 1933 by The Addis Brush Company."


So here we are - almost 100 years later and all we got was better cleaner?  We are using basically the same darn brush that William Schopp thought up when indoor plumbing was the new rage?  Nobody could come with a better system??  Good Grief, not Einstein, not Hawking???  NO ONE????


For that matter, where are the robots?  You know the really cool ones like the one that was pals with Billy Mum on "Lost in Space".  I want one to do my housework and scrub my darn toilet.


No, all we got was the Roomba that costs you an arm and both legs, and your cat can ride around on till it gets stuck in the clutter;  and the Volt car.  

That was the best technology could do since 1933????  HUH??????  I think I'm sorely disappointed.....no wait, I remember when I had NO TOILET just a few short weeks ago.....yeah, okay,  I will quit being cheap and buy a new brush and maybe one of these cute little aprons to clean in....VA VOOM!

from The French Fatrice