Really, People?

Snow, Still Go

So we had quite a snowstorm today. Not sure how much snow but there may well have been 10 inches where I plowed. The road in front of my house was snow covered and not exactly what you'd call safe for driving.

The Governor--who shall go nameless--declared a state of emergency which implies that only necessary vehicles should be on the road. Did that stop people?

Nah. New Jersey drivers are cool. They think if there's a road they can see, there's a road to drive on.

That's one of the reasons schools close so quickly when the weather gets bad. It's not the inability of people to get to school, but it's all the traffic they have to encounter on the way. Oh yes, and by law, all the doors to a school building have to be cleared before students can go in the building.

All that being said, apparently there were dozens and dozens of "essential" workers who needed to use my road today. And tractor trailers carrying "emergency supplies" to places like the Coca Cola warehouse. State of emergency or no, these drivers were going somewhere important, I'm sure.

Not.

Anyhow, when I went out to plow at about 4:30 or so, they just keep driving by. Sometimes in convoy. At least most of them were going slowly because the road was really bad. That usually gave me time to get the snow pushed across the road and the tractor backed into my driveway well before they arrived.

And this time, no one blew his horn at me.

The Boys spent most of the day outside. They had a layer of snow on their blankets and icicles hanging off them. If I hadn't worn myself out with the plowing and shoveling, I would have taken a picture or two. Still might later on when I go out for late night feed. Not much will melt. The temperatures are dropping well below freezing...again.

The tractor did the job again, but the pile of snow by the garage is at maximum height. Even with the loader lifted all the way up, I can't pile any more snow on top without its falling back down into the driveway.

A bit tired of making this blog a weather report, but this winter doesn't offer too much more in the horse department.

To be honest, years ago, I'd be saddling up and riding in the snow. It really is fun and if you know what the ground is like underneath you can do all gaits. I even used to jump in the stuff. With proper snow shoeing, Russell R. was quite sure footed and the snow acted as a nice cushion. We had a nice level, grassy pasture and that's where I set up the jumps. Nothing big, but a ton of fun.

Trail riding around here gets a big trickier as I need to go out into the woods and there are lots of fallen trees/branches buried in the snow that demand caution. But I make no other excuses at this point because with my hip I am still not in riding form, and this kind of cold weather is not exactly conducive to the kind of stretching I need to do to get in shape.

For now, I'll just wait it out and wonder where all those cars were going.