Monday, March 31, 2008

Sugar Snow


Well, March is about gone here and it is snowing a wet and sloppy snow. I think this would be called a sugar snow, but then again it has snowed several times in the last few weeks and each time I have wondered if that was a sugar snow. Maybe this will be the real one. (It would be fun if it was. We have been collecting sap from our trees this year and the sap has been really slow so far)


It seems that I don't ever get over here often enough to tell you what I'm doing, so let me fill you in on a few things to catch up today with a few pictures and a little story.

More Banners that I made

On Good Friday it snowed all day long and continued on through Easter Weekend. We had to decorate the church for Easter breakfast on Friday afternoon, so I did a good bit of driving in my Tahoe and was feeling pretty good about the roads and my truck being able to handle them.

As always, pride goes before a fall, so I hopped into my truck and headed home on the road that I have been driving since I could drive and walking on since I could walk. On the way up the big hill that leads out of town (which is nicely steep--I usually have to get off my bike about 2/3's the way up or so because my legs can't handle it (that might not be saying much-I mean we don't exactly live in the mountains, but the road is gravel and when it is loose or wet or thick my weak legs have a tough time)) my tires decided that they had dealt with too much snow and lost their traction. Soooo, I headed off the road down a steep embankment into a very muddy, snowy plowed field. I just missed the power pole and thankfully I had gotten the truck to head straight down the embankment rather than sideways because that could have been a very bad rollover. Now, this field is at the bottom of a hill and the only way out is to go up, but I was able to get my truck turn around and headed up the hill, but not to steady ground. A neighbor was passing by, so she brought me home.

Later on that night (when the ground got a little more frozen) Dan got out our old Farmall 350 and we went to retrieve my truck. We had just enough tow rope and chains to reach down to where my truck sat from the solid grounded hay field that is above the plowed field and as Dan drove the tractor I was in the Tahoe pushing on the gas. I will tell you that was even scarier than going down in the ditch. My tires still had no traction (even in four wheel drive) because all the crevasses were filled with frozen mud and snow. Even when we got up to the road my truck wouldn't make it up the hill (plus I was pretty freaked out from the wild ride I had behind the tractor-let's just say my truck was sliding around for a good 50 feet or more before we were actually up on the road again), so Dan pulled my truck the rest of the way home. Needless to say, I didn't drive the rest of the weekend and the only reason I drove the rest of the week was because I had to. Although I think I have recovered by now. And--let me tell you Dan won't be playing any little hijinks behind the wheel of his truck for a while because I nearly started to hyperventilate when he slid a little on the road on our way to church on Easter.

I wish I had some pictures to show you of my adventure, but I was far too embarrassed to get any. Of course, the guy who plows our road goes to my church and saw my truck way down in the field on his way past and made sure to let my pastor and his wife and who knows who else all about it. I have only gone into the ditch or gotten stuck in a snowbank 4 times in my life and he has been around to see half of them (once I was stuck in the snow at a corner on our road that is notorious for filling in during high wind and heavy snow--he pulled me out). Actually, I think he is also the person who pulled us out of the ditch one muddy spring when my mom rolled our old Volkswagon van.

Anyway, all that being said here are a couple of pictures of something I finished lately.

A brightly colored hat for Dan's cousin who is going through chemo.

Now, I will be on my way home in the slush and muck that is my road. Don't get me wrong I love the slush and muck--I love country roads--I love living on a road that doesn't get plowed right away--I even love it all the more because it puts me in my place sometimes and tells me I am a bit of a wimp that can't handle everything that gets put in front of me--I need that reminder. All the same, I am hoping that I make it home without incident today. I don't think I need that much of a reminder! ;o)

Friday, March 21, 2008

Good Friday

In honor of Good Friday I just wanted to post a couple of
banners that I just made for my church.