Autumn in the North Cemetery.




...seems to be working so far

Saturday, February 5, 2011

More To Come Today (sigh)

Gary from Caron Construction moving mountains for me.
I listened to the weather the other day, and heard that today we can expect another six inches of snow in our driveway.

Six more inches.

Needless to say, I am not happy.  I have no more room for snow.

Mary takes her life in her hands as she backs out of the driveway in the morning, and there was noting I could do to make it better. I used the snow rake to take about three feet of height off of the mountains at the end of the driveway to improve the view, but the next storm added three more feet after shoveling.  Now, there was no place to drag the snow to.  The front yard had hit critical mass.

All I need is a front end loader, I thought.  I thought about that a lot, and as I escaped my driveway Thursday afternoon, on my way to work, I was thinking about it again.

"A front end loader.  A few scoops from each mound, and then dump the snow further up in the yard, and the view to the street would be restored.  A front end loaded like...that one...whoa, baby!!!", I screamed as I passed one pulling into the parking lot besides Fred's Variety on Route 148.  I flipped around behind Rovezzi's , and scooted out of St. Anne's driveway across to park in front of Fred's.

I walked over to the loader operator, and asked, "Wanna make some money?"

He looked at me like I was nuts, and said, "Let me ask my brother", then he into a little building beside Fred's.  I followed, half expecting the door to be locked, and the lights turned out, but the door opened, and I was welcomed inside of Caron Construction.

Yes, they have nothing against making money, even though it looked like it was the end of the day for them, and a nap would have been nice at that time.  They named a price, and a few minutes later, the driver, Gary was at our house, just up the street, and began moving those mountains of white.  Twenty five minutes later we were free of the Twin Peaks of Fiskdale.


Yesterday I gave the roof rake a workout, and took a few hundred pounds of snow off of the lower roofs in preparation for todays rain and snow, and I slept like a baby last night.

I am looking out of the window, into the snow covered back yard, and I don't see any bare ground at all.  Nothing.  The snow is at least two feet deep, just like in your yard, and although I don't mind some snow, this is a bit much.  I'm tired of seeing shades of white and gray all around me.  What I would give to see a daffodil break the surface.  Today, that would be better than a lottery win.


  1. Think you need an attitude adjustment badly, Spring is too far off, haven't even started to get the seed catalogs yet.
    Wally I think you forgot you can also get out and play in that snow, snowshoeing some of our Town trails is refreshing. Suggest that you put down the shovel and the snow rake buckle up the snowshoes and go out and enjoy.

  2. Ginger, I agree with you 100%. Spring is a ways off. I have been out with the camera, but snowshoes would probably be a good idea, too. Carol Childress suggested those to me a few years ago. You can see I took her advice. I guess the bottom line is that the present is what one makes it. Right now I am making it a Whine Festival, but I am sure I will be over it soon. Thanks for the "adjustment".

  3. You might have been really unto making this winter great if you made it a Wine Festival instead of a Whine Festival.....that might be just the adjustment!

  4. LOL. Rehab Resources is having a Wine, Beer and Food tasting at OSV on March 31, and Mary made sure we bought our tickets early!

  5. Well, folks, I'm having my own whine festival right now. It seems that the BOS has decided that the DPW needs to clean the sidewalks off this time, BUT then it's back to "you have to clean your own sidewalk if you abut Routes 20 or 131 - unless "we get a huge 3 foot snow storm in April or May." I'm not sure if people who abut Main Street are whining - it's probably something louder than that!

  6. Please consider this louder than a whine. Today, Thursday, Feb. 10th, I saw the fire chief himself (and he's no kid) digging out a fire hydrant hard-packed in snow. What's going on with our DPW? If they are so overworked or under-staffed they should be asking for funds to hire someone. If they need more equipment, they should be asking for it.
    I sat and listened to the DPW head at the last BOS meeting say that it is "humanly impossible" for the DPW to clear the sidewalks, but that it was no big deal for residents to clear the sidewalks themselves. Huh? residents don't have professional snow clearing equipment and can't afford to buy it. AND how many kids to you suppose are just waiting (even for pay) to shovel the hard-packed snow thrown onto the sidewalks by the big plows clearing the State roads and Federal highways?
    If we thought we had so much money available for the new sidewalks, bricks and all, how did we think we would handle their upkeep? Fiskdale has no brick sidewalks. Doesn't it even deserve a cleared sidewalk?
    I don't think the BOS should wait for a town meeting before making a decision for the DPW to clean the walks. Snow and ice make the sidewalks trecherous. Some who abut will not clear them, and many can neither clean them themselves nor find and/or afford anyone to do them. Use our chapter 90 or betterment funds or something for that rather than more bricks or slate, etc.
    For goodness sakes, we can't walk on the sidewalks, can't open the front doors to town buildings, and we can't even watch this week's BOS meeting replayed on TV. Sturbridge! What a Town!

  7. to quote my husband, "after 20 years of being in business, it's nice to have someone say something nice about us!" Thank you! Dena Caron

  8. Dena, Gary and Brian were able to remove a dangerous situation for my family at a moments notice. We appreciate it greatly.

