Tuesday, December 9

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

In some ways, all the snow we're getting. It's inconvenient, but it IS moisture. We were very dry this past summer, and a lot of the marshes were dry. I hope all this snow helps to fill them up again in the spring.

I got good sleep last night, and everything is better with a good night's sleep.

I managed to do two loads of laundry and pull a bunch of clothes I'm not wearing right now out of the "day to day" wardrobe and they went upstairs for next summer.

I spoke with Sister S for a while, and got her perspective of our family gathering last weekend. Once again, it's a bit of downer talking with her, because her perspective is generally about everyone getting old or ill.

It's funny how our minds work. There were young people and little kids at that gathering too, and NO ONE mentioned them at all.

I did a tiny bit of work with Wonder in her pen, and at least we did that. I'm finding it very hard to work with them in the pasture because of all the deep snow we have now.

I went to see River, and the roads on the way there were a bit snow covered, but at least they weren't slippery.

River did well today, he was pokey to start, and after we warmed up a bit he improved.

I got the stationary canter circle again both directions, so WOOO for that.

His ridden work was decent for energy.

Overall good work with good attitude.

I saw R's daughter L in the barn today. L has been VERY ill the last two weeks (she's a teenager), and ended up going to the doctor to get on antibiotics. They figure she had Strep.

She was hoping I had some of my macrame bracelets available, as she's been too sick to buy gifts for her friends, and has run out of time to order anything. I do have some left from when I made them as a fund raiser for the horse rescue a year or so ago, so she can have a look at those.

I also gave L some rabbit furs that I've had forever. I bought them before I became a vegetarian, and even then I think they gave me a twinge, but here we are. Now I don't know what to do with them. L sews a bit, and makes some ren fair/fantasy clothes, so I thought she might use them to make collars.

She liked them, and I know there are more downstairs, so she can have those too.

With the snow and colder weather, I decided to change River's blanket to a heavier one, and somehow the sheer weight of those horse blankets are exhausting (they're hanging up, and getting them down is a struggle).

Then I came home and needed to put blankets on Wonder and the ponies, and THAT was a bit of effort too.

My Sweetie was home, and he was all excited because he bought me an 'early Christmas present"....a snow/leaf blower thingy.

Yeah.

I said "that doesn't look like a gift for me, that looks like a gift for you". Except he said "no, it's for you, because you can use it for clearing the snow off of the steps, and it works for leaves too".

So, the implication being that those will now be MY jobs, because he bought me "my" snowblower"?

I have always been pretty happy using a broom for clearing leaves and such, and generally I'm not even worried about it. With snow, if it's heavy, I use a shovel or our big push snow blower. I don't know that I have EVER expressed interest in a tool like this.

Sigh.

I said "there's no way that counts against my Christmas presents".

Anyhow. He had picked up some other things, like Cotton Candy flavored wine that I hope isn't disgusting for R's already lots Christmas present. That was a good idea.

He had cooked, which was much appreciated, and we ate and chatted. Already too late to watch a show.

Comments

[ratunderpaper]

I see what his intention is, and his heart is in the right place; he wants to make life a bit easier for you. Leaf and snow blowers are great conveniences!

He still earns a ducking in the town pond for thinking this is a gift.

[gottawonder]

Yes, I didn't get all that upset, just sort of mystified.

He does like to give me practical gifts, not limited to special occasions, and most of the time they are very useful.

I do think sometimes that another implement that makes a lot of noise is more of a gift for himself, but I will give it a try to see if it's an improvement over a broom. Thing is, an implement will need to kept somewhere, likely the already full garage, whereas the old broom can just be propped up beside the steps.

Anyhow, it's all good.

[ratunderpaper]

Leaf blowers are great fun, though I know many people are irritated by the noise. There's a LOT of leaf-blower noise in this neighbourhood in mid-fall, but I always think, Great, it's time to get out there and Virgo up the gardens when I hear it.

This autumn I've had a lot of help clearing the gardens and bagging all the leaves.

You're right about storage, though. The leaf-blower is kept off-season in a basement nook; only rakes and shovels are kept in the garage. I dislike seeing them kept in view unless we're in the middle of a shovelling, but the denizens don't mind it.

[gottawonder]

I guess part of my puzzlement is just that I never rake up leaves. We have something like three acres of "yard" that we mow, and I can't be expected to do anything with the leaves. I just mow them again and let them become mulch.

I suppose I could use it to blow leaves away from the brick walkway...?

With the snow, that too is just a sheer volume issue. Light snow on the steps is easy to sweep away, heavy snow requires a shovel. I don't know that we needed an implement with power to do that.

Well, we'll see. Maybe there's something particular we'll use it for.

[ratunderpaper]

If you don't have a driveway to plow, or an urban garden to rake, it's probably unnecessary to have fancy equipment like a blower. I like my little leaf blower, but it's for an urban garden.

[gottawonder]

Our "driveway" is a rural lane, so kind of like having your own piece of gravel road.

We clear it with our big push snow blower, or a tractor.

I clear our steps with a broom.

As I mentioned, I pretty much don't clear leaves. I just mow them in the spring when the grass starts growing again, and they mulch up nicely and fertilize the yard.

I just don't know where he thought I needed to use this particular tool, and I suspect he just went "ooo, tool that makes noise. VRRRMMMM!"

[ratunderpaper]

Well,I guess if you ever decide to pave your driveway, it'll come in handy. I enjoyed watching a clip of Martha Stewart in what looked like a Jeep or a Range Rover with a big shovel attachment, roaring down her great big long snowy driveway.

[gottawonder]

Oh, that Martha!

[ratunderpaper]

Martha has quietened down now that she's been out of the big house for a few years. Then again, she is an octogenarian. Holy Toledo! Go, Martha!