Another lesson on wishing for things. Around here we all were praying for snow and a normal cold winter. Well.... we got it. What was predicted to be 1 to 3 inches of snow Friday turned into 2 feet! It started snowing lightly Friday, and just didn't stop until Sunday noon. Fortunately our young neighbor (new father 2 weeks ago) returned my favor of clearing their driveway while they were in Duluth having the baby. With his snow blower and mine going at the same time, then me and the ATV plowing, we made short work of it. All 800' and the 50' turnaround were clear in only 4 hours. I am glad we kept the snow blower, the ATV can only handle a foot or so by itself at one time. I came in soaked in sweat, snow and ice. Tippy enjoyed licking the ice off of my beard. Then a shower, put all the clothes in the dryer, and watched football the rest of the afternoon, happy with a job well done.

Lesley had to stay at the hospital, travel was impossible for a day, and is finally on the way home as I write this. She called and said she would be late, it was going to take awhile to shovel out the car. Another nurse came over and shoveled to the car door so she could get the shovel out of ours to finish the job. She told me she will take the shovel and windshield scraper inside the hospital with her from now on.

Now the forecast is for below zero temps for the next week, maybe a bit more snow, winter is really here.

Unfortunately there probably will not be any ice fishing this year (by me anyway). Before this big snow we had lake ice with several inches of watery slush on top of it. With all of this new snow on it, it will not freeze solid now. Walking thru two feet of snow on top of several inches of slush does not sound like fun, even to me.

Lesley is home now, taking a warm whirlpool bath. She said something about being tired.

People up here tend to be "loners", not particularly sociable. I have always told Lesley that if they wanted to be around people they would live in the big city, not here. The other side of that is that when you really need help, you don't even have to ask, help just shows up.

Well, Lesley has finished her bath, now breakfast, then some shoveling (still 2 feet on the deck).

My coffee cup is empty again, must fill it.