Hardi got home yesterday afternoon from his storm-extended trip to the clergy conference, pleased with my stewardship of the place in his absence and the measures taken against the snow. After watching the re-run of the last period, overtime, and shootout from the Valentine's Day hockey game he'd missed, we went out and started trying to free the John Deere from its snowy tomb.

Because I had been out in the snow as it fell, I knew where the shallow spots were.... Despite his grave doubts, Hardi was able to run the Deere out of its shed and into the open driveway. Deere progress continued until past dark, when it got itself stuck and I made Hardi leave it till morning. Overnight was forecast to be so cold that I filled up the washer with water, in case we awoke to frozen laundry pipes again.

The moring came, beautifully clear and sparkly. After a substantial Hardi-Special (breakfast), and my requistie half-hour in the Sun Chair, we suited up, took the dog, and went back out to resume Elemental Siege.

Egress out the back, last night, had required a trip through hip-deep drifts. So this morning I went out the shallower front-- it's usually left completely snowbound once the serious weather arrives, for various reasons. But again, having been out in it as it fell, I knew where the shallows were and thus I got out quite easily.

Hardi braved the deeper back path to get to the snowbound Deere, and I soon brought the van's hitch around, to line up with it. In about 4 seconds the Deere had been pulled through the deeply drifted mess, with no strain at all to the van, using Hardi's handy tow strap per the paln we hatched over brekky.

Faulkner had come out with us and again helped us confirm snow depths by leaping through the playland. (He also will pull against the long lead in case I need to be steadied, if I ask him to go ahead. He really does help and I think he knows it.)

F and I remained out, on standby, while Hardi tackled some usually-intractable challenges with the little Deere. With my guidance on snow depths and paths to try plowing, he was able to get quite a nice, wide path open through snow. The path is deep enough now to prevent loose snow from drifting back into the cart-wide "hallways." He did get stuck once more, but I spotted the need for help before he even asked, and was correctly lined up to pull in the right direction; we had the Deere back on good traction in a trice.

The vacation-trailering experience really paid off in this; I'm the driver when we hitch up, and he's the spotter. I'm really good at hitting the spot, first try.

We have just an hour's cleanup of Deere-plowing left and a trip planned later to get gas and groceries, with a stop at our usual Friday fish-fry to boot. Then we'll be cozily provisioned and caught up on chores in time for another GREAT hockey game tonight-- pork for BBQ is already thawing; a pot of beans is already hot in the crodckpot for chore-doers' snacking; milky coffee on a warmer is ready-to-pour.... this being-married thing is GOOOOOOOD.

Faulkenr agrees, and is doing a good job of making sure people out in the cold do get back in safely. If one of us is late getting back in, and the one inside gets nervous, F goes to the window and can hear that everything is fine, or he yips to call the overdoing-outside- chore-doer back in for a spell in the recliner to warm back up.

~Susan