Thank Goodness I Work From Home!

Thank Goodness I Work From Home!

Our son, Kevin, arrived home early Friday am from UND, Grand Forks ND, for spring break from college. The weather was in the high 70′s through the weekend. Weather reports were starting to appear on the news on Sunday about severe weather, possible blizzard conditions on Tuesday. Well, it started to snowing lightly on Monday afternoon. Our son packed up an overnight bag so he could stay in town, Fort Collins, with his friend, Steven, and his mom, Diane. He didn’t want to get stranded up here at 7200′ elevation in the mountains. My husband, Carl, made it home by 7pm, from Longmont CO, where he works for Peak Industries, which is an 1 1/2 hour trip one way. The ice balls started showing up around 5:30pm, followed by snow. By 7pm, Carl stated we had 4 inches of snow on the ground, with a layer of ice under the snow. Driving up McNeigh Hill was very difficult by that time. It has a very steep incline, the last climb up to this plateau and to Glacier View Meadows, a 13-mile long mountain subdivision between Livermore and Red Feathers Lake CO. We are approx. 20 miles from the Wyoming border off Hiway 287. I worked that day until 7pm, and was quite surprised to open the door and see that much snow in just 1 1/2 hours.

I shoveled off the back deck several times that evening, to try and keep up with the snow fall. By 6:00am Tuesday morning, we had 21 inches of snow on the ground, and it continued to snow until 4pm Wednesday evening. Of course, Carl wasn’t leaving for work. So we started by shoveling and unburying the snow blower. Once this was accomplished, he began 4 hours of snow blowing the driveway, while it continued to snow. I was in charge of keeping both decks cleared of the snow. In the evening, we went out again, and it took both of us on opposite sides of the one deck to clear the snow off the edge. And all I could do on the 2nd deck was just a path around the picnic table.

By the next morning, Wednesday, it had snowed another 38 inches. You couldn’t even tell where he had run the snow blower, And the decks, well….forget about it! I measured 53 inches of snow at 9:00am Wednesday am on our back deck, and it was still snowing. It continued to snow until 4pm that afternoon. By that time, I gave up measuring, and didn’t even care any more!!!! The official report at Red Feathers Lake, 15 miles up the road from us, was 63 inches of snow!

Our first task was to get the back door opened, which we had to shovel our way out and relocate the snow blower. How we both didn’t consider leaving it in the front of the house, under the porch, we still can’t figure it out, Must have been exhaustion! Once we found it, off he went for the next entire day till around 4:45 when he got to the bottom of the driveway. I worked on the side deck, due to it’s height, we were concerned about the weight of the snow. My second chore was to put on my sons snow shoes and snow shoe up behind the propane tank and retrieve a 5 gallon contain of gasoline for our snow blower. OH BOY! Now that was my first time on snow shoes, but it was not to be my last. I used the ski poles to drive a hole down 5 ft to the ground where the container was resting. Managing not to fall into the hole, head first, was more difficult than I expected. I was able to retrieve it, place it on my snow shovel that I dragged up the hill with me, and pull the load back down the hill where Carl was waiting with our Springer Spaniels, Ciera, and Skylar. I just figured if I fell in head first, that is where he would just have to bury me!

Since I had succeeded the first time, I was asked again to man the snowshoes and clear off the Satellite dish, so we could keep up with the news, etc. for the evening. I uncovered the dish, and could not get turned around without damage to my knees due to the depth of the snow. So I took off the snowshoes, thinking I was just going to walk out of there! Wrong!!!! I took one step and was up to my hip in snow, I decided to just crawl out, one limb at a time. Carl stood there saying: You don’t need those snowshoes!!! Well, by the time I crawled out of there, I couldn’t get up, I just landed on the snow in the freshly cleared driveway, laying down, and not moving for about 15 minutes. My dogs must have thought I died! Of course the laughter took over, which made me even more tired. That is about when I gave up for the day, approx. 4:45pm.

When I wasn’t totally exhausted, I was able to continue working, including today, Saturday. We will go back into town, Fort Collins, 35 miles away, to have dinner with our son, Kevin, bring him his luggage, and say goodbye, so he can leave tomorrow for his 1000 mile trip back to ND. Fort Collins had 66 business roofs fall in from the weight of the snow. They had a city wide state of emergency for 3 days – no one but emergency vehicle were allowed on the road. Fort Collins had 35 – 40 mile an hour winds, which gave them blizzard conditions. We did not have the wind up here, we were very lucky. In the stores, they ran out of food, and were starting to close their doors.
It’s a good thing that Steven’s mom, Diane, is Kevin’s 2nd mom, and loves him dearly. She cooked for those 2 boys all week! I would call every day to see if she was still alive!!!!
What a spring break for Kevin, and what an ordeal for us mountain people. Our neighbors all checked on each other, to be sure no one had run out of the basics.

Living in the mountains keeps us on our toes, and our pantry and freezer stocked, especially in the winter!
We have our home for sale, incase anyone is interested in mountain living. We are moving to Wyoming, so we can be closer to the boating in Glendo Res. But I know that there, as well as here, I will be very glad that I work from home!
Article written by: Peggy L. Bahus
Saturday, November 14, 2004