so much going on-- i forgot to get steve's lamb chops for breakfast...-- i am going to get out of here today-- in my car... if no more than to the mail box...maybe even make it round the block.
actually i did make it out yesterday, i drove the tractor about 5 miles to janine's house-- where the roof had relinquished alot of her snow and she could not get out the normal door..and the oil pipe was hidden behind a 20' mound...
i had not driven the tractor on the road for any significant distance.. it was a learning experience...
when the tractor was new, i sent the tires off to be filled with something beside air-- at a cost of $750 -- so i never would have a flat tire...it is a simple matter to take the tires off , you just put the bucket down down and then teh backhoe wings down and it is possibel to lift the entiree tractor off the ground and just leave it ( hopefully out of the way- or looking extremely foolish in the middle of the parking area- as was this case.) til you get the tires back again.. i was told it took 2 weeks-- because they had to let the stuff sit to harden- or whatever... well they must have set them vertically, because -they have hardened, but they are not round.--- and if that was not bad enough.. i was unaware that topsfield had managed to have "town water" installed -- as every house we passed had a 2'patch in the hot top which did not quite aproximate the rest of the street. if ypu are counting-- that is 4 "shakes" every 10 feet from the tires and a jolt every 100' over the water main patches. we made it-- with jainine following behind with flashers.
the tractor is not registered,
we /i could have been arrested- but i was ready in topsfield- because they have my number at the police department as someone who can catch loose animals-- like horses-- last time at 4am about 2 years ago..
everybody has to be good at something-- and after many years with a bunch of 4h kids and their horses... i have had experience at horse catching. so the police called 4am -- they had been chasing a horse for 4 hours only about a mile from my house on rt 97 and tehy were afraid the commuter traffic would start... --it just happened that the trailer was hooked up and only had one sofa in it-- so i slid that onto the groujnd-- grabbed a bucket of grain and ropes and drove to the rescue... the horse came right up to the bucket of grain and teh police were very impressed-- helped me make an illegal u turn with blue lights and i trailered it home.
it was a good looking horse-- big time-- i just left it on the trailer figuring when someone got up to feed breakfast tehy would notice.. turns out Bonnie...with whom we have become pals-- had left the horse with extra hay and water so she could be gone overnigth- ( horses will live very nicely on hay and water-- too much grain will kill them )so all the following day i kept calling the police saying " don't forget i have someone's horse" bonnie finally called the police to ask - so i just drove it home for her.
Bonnie has become an asset around here-- i think she is a phd and a veternarian- retired-- i don't know where i heard this-- but i theink her claim to fame is taking 500,000 baby chicks into indonesia??? or something like that.at any rate she is an"intellectual veternarian"-- and the one - along with george- who said teh dogs needed tums with all the beef.
back to janine's snow- she shoveled her roof while i pushed snow-- then she slid off the roof into a snowbank up to her neck-- and i lifted her out with the tractor... i told her she could drive the tractor home-- she said "i don't know how to drive that tractor" - however by the time she had gone 100 feet she knew all she needed to know to bounce homeward... and i followed in the nice truck.
one other fyi bonnie said getting hte phd degree was much more difficult than the dmv degree. interesting.
one other fyi----i decided people tend to prefer to be in herds too.. because everytime i passed another front end loader-- we would wave at each other-- like motorcyclists do. sort of a kindred soul out dealing with a massive snow problem.
and it is massive.-- and tomorrow it is going to rain.
i think i will back up[ this computer and sit in my car and see if the roof collapses. the hunters dad, steve, ryan and david have got alot off the roof's but an inch of water might do amazing things.. bud -in the meantime-- is dealing with the fact that i opened the electric gate the easy way in the blizzard... it tried to oepn normally and got stuch-- so i pushed it with the tractor.. he tells me i should not have done that...
he was not sitting in a nice warm tractor cab ..... in a blizzard... when the decision was made.
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and teh next episode begins
Hi Carlene,
we are all home safe & sound. Ruckus did great at the rest stop & she travels real well. She is now smelling & investigating her new home. Oh, she just picked out her couch ha ha. Thanks so much for everything & I can't say enough about your awesome staff.
Carolyn & Ruckus
