More Hurricane Winds

I had the chance to break in the new snowblower again, and again and again earlier this month...Anchorage has already reached it's average snow 'quota' and we've still got a couple more months to go...I'm officially past the point of thinking the snow is pretty...now when it snows, I just think, 'oh, crap...more work'.  It IS getting easier and faster for me using the blower, however, I don't care HOW experienced you are with snow removal...when there are 95+ mph winds blowing all day and all night AND it's snowing...the result is insanely high snow drifts...and a snowblower, or even a plow truck isn't gonna cut it...this is what happened while my mom was visiting...stuck...again...but instead of a fallen tree blocking the driveway, we were snowed in with drifts across the driveway.

this is where the driveway should be...instead...there is a wall of snow

the marks in the snow were my feeble attempts with the snowblower

not even a plow truck is getting through this

There was more tree damage...this time to one of the deciduous trees in the back deck...thankfully there was no damage to the roof...

This was the first day since being in Alaska that I thought, 'What the HELL am I doing here?!?"  I had to call a company with a bobcat to come and dig us out...and missed working one of my PT job shifts as we weren't out in time for me to cover it, but I was never so happy to be free as when John, from John's Excavating, came knocking on the door.  :)

and proof that I actually DO know how to use the snowblower...we got MORE snow the day after John cleared us out...

 the piles of snow left by the backhoe

 there I am...

 John Deere is my new best friend :)

Catching Up From Last Week - Part One

To start, we made it to Anchorage this past Thursday afternoon, safe & sound.  It felt SO great to get here, and know we did not have more long days of driving ahead of us and no more hotels motels to stay in for the night.

Brief summary of the rest of the week's trip:
Monday ~ drove from Cache Creek BC to Smithers BC - beautiful backdrop of mountains surrounding the town; I took the dogs out around 10:00pm and this is what the sky looked like ~ so pretty!

 Smithers, BC

 Amy in front of our buggy hotel :)

I have a friend, we'll call him Matt.  Matt is an entomologist.  Matt does pest control when he is not teaching classes up at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.  Matt has shared many horror stories of things he finds in hotel rooms.  Matt has told me WHERE to look and WHAT to look for when staying in a hotel room.  One of the first things I always do now is pull back all of the covers, sheets and mattress pads to do an inspection of mattress I will be sleeping on ~ so far, I have been fortunate in finding nothing.  However, my friend Amy was not so lucky...and found two questionable moving objects (BUGS) on her mattress...The hotel manager was very nice and apologetic...we gave them the benefit of the doubt and opted to stay in the motel and switch to another room rather than try to find other lodging (our options were rather slim anyway).

We also saw our first wildlife on this day ~ a black bear that was debating whether or not it should cross the highway...he opted to stay put on his side of the road...we also saw our first moose, standing off the side of the road munching on some greens.   (No photos were taken as I'm not talented enough to snap photos of moving creatures and drive at the same time ~ Amy and I have to vouch for one another and what we saw) :)

Canada observations:

The average speed on the highways we are on is 90km ~ approximately 62mph.  This works out well with pulling the trailer, but makes our progress feel slow.

This was the first night we noticed the longer days with light ~ after taking the dogs out, I went back in to get Amy so she could see how pretty it was!

The 'towns' on the map are all pretty much so small that if you blink, you'll miss them ~ there seem to be just as many abandoned / empty buildings as there are active / open businesses. 

More trip updates to come...

Old Yeller & Murphy

I was not one of the kids in high school who got her own car the day she turned 16.  But I was able to drive one of the two family vehicles pretty much whenever I needed a car...it usually meant my mom was left at home without transportation but I think she was okay with that because it just meant her taxi days shuttling us around were done.  My preference was to drive our yellow Ford Courier pick-up truck, very similar to this one here, minus the awesome orange racing stripe.

 Source

I can't remember if it was a 1980 or 1982 (little Ford Courier trivia for you...they stopped making these in 1982, which I learned reading on the site carlustblog.com) (seriously, there is a website for EVERYTHING!!) but we'd had it since I was young...when we got ours (used), it did have the camper shell, but by the time I was in high school, the shell was off so it was just a regular old pick-up truck.  Instead of the orange racing stripes, picture strips of rust going up vertically on each front panel just behind the front tires...and THAT's what our truck looked like when I was 16.  Everyone at school knew who owned this truck.  Our nicknames for it were 'Lil Rusty' and 'Old Yeller'.

That's the only vehicle I've ever driven that was given a name....until now... :)

I've decided my 'new' Ford is being christened "Murphy"  can you guess why?

 This lovely message appeared on my dashboard as I drove home from dinner last night...

Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong"

I rest my case. :)

"I'm Busier Than A One-Legged Man In A Butt-Kicking Contest"

There's another movie quote for you...describes exactly how I'm feeling these days, between tying up things at work (sort of - more on that for another day), making trips to Goodwill, seeing as many people as I can "one last time", running last minute errands (think making keys, buying furnace filters, getting replacement bulbs for the bathroom vanity, returning unused / cruddy storage tubs to Walmart after buying better/sturdier ones at Target), learning how to back up with my trailer, CLEANING my condo...and on and on...Why oh why is it only when you're moving you decide to complete those small 'projects' you've been meaning to do but never got around to...wouldn't you want to do them while you LIVE there so you can get some enjoyment or fulfillment out of those completed tasks?  That's what most SENSIBLE people do...me??  Not so much... :)

I really wish there were 2 or 3 of me right now...I know that's a scary thought for some people...but it would really come in handy!! :)

Just have to stay focused!

the movie?  Somewhat obscure, but for whatever reason, it's one I remember, in particular that quoted line...the image makes me laugh every time...

"Straight Talk" starring Dolly Parton...can't say I'm a BIG Dolly Parton fan...just a coincidence that she's in this movie AND "Steel Magnolias"...she DOES have some funny lines though!

I Have to Laugh

This is what I was greeted to this morning as I left to get to work...

I didn't freak out, I started laughing...because it's just becoming comical to me that I am having so many issues with my 'new' vehicle.  And I'd like to take a moment to share why I'm thankful this morning:

 ~ I have a really kind co-worker who drove out of his way to come and pick me up
 ~ the same kind co-worker got out the car jack and attempted to get the tire off so we could bring it to work and have our mechanic fix it, so I was able to observe how to work the car jack (in the event I need to use it on my road trip).  We (well, let's face it...HE...I just stood there and watched) was not able to get the tire off the wheel or frame or whatever it's called
 ~ I work in a place that has a mechanic on-site
 ~ our mechanic said if we couldn't get the tire off relatively easily it means the tires hadn't been rotated in a LOOOOOONG time (have I mentioned lately that I will NEVER ever buy a car from the same dealership again?), but thankfully with the help of a rubber mallet he was able to pop it off, bring it back to the shop and repair the tire in a matter of minutes
 ~ the downpour of rain held off until we were able to get the tire off and get ourselves back inside AND I didn't actually waste time doing my hair today, opting for the lazy day baseball hat option so the rain can come down as much as it wants and it won't make a difference to me one way or another
 ~ my tires are going to get rotated
 ~ when I went back to my house with the mechanic to get the vehicle, I realized I had left my front door WIDE open (maybe subconsciously I was hoping to get robbed, lessening my decision making in what to take / what to get rid of and what to leave behind?!?), but was able to shut it and it appears people in Parker CO are not the B&E (breaking & entering) type.

Hoping tomorrow is less eventful, but full of just as many things for which I can be thankful!  :)

45

The # of days remaining until I leave Colorado...AAAACK!!!!

I've got a lot to get done in those remaining days...what happened to all of that time I had?  Don't get me wrong...I'm still very excited...but now I'm feeling a LITTLE stressed...

I just have to remember:

Sigh...........

Do you ever have those days you wish you could re-wind, but then realize, nothing would be different if you could do it over anyway, so you just have to suck it up and deal?  Or 'put on your big girl panties' as others might say?  Today is one of those days for me...and really it started last night...when I opened up my mail from my county and found out my property valuation went DOWN over $23,000...YIKES!!  Many of my fellow facebook friends commiserated with me, so I know I'm not alone...and others have seen values go down even more than that, but still...it hurts... And as one friend / former co-worker, so kindly pointed out..."That's just the valuation...it's probably worth even LESS than that right now..."  Wow, thanks Scott!  Appreciate you pointing that out... :)

And today, my lovely 'new' vehicle was taken in for what I thought would be a couple hundred dollar routine repair, only to find out it's more likely going to be a couple THOUSAND...something I was not prepared for / expecting to have to cover at this point and time.  I've had this car for 7 weeks now...and when I bought it, I was told that it had been 'thoroughly' inspected by their mechanics....and now they don't understand why I don't want to bring it back to THEM for additional repairwork...hmm...wonder why I wouldn't want to do that?!?  So I'm basically up a creek without a paddle to put it nicely...lesson learned...I just wish they didn't have to be such expensive lessons sometimes.

I went online and changed my 'review' of the business I purchased from...the review that they asked me to write before I'd even owned the car for more than 2 seconds.  So if you're in the market for a used vehicle in CO, I'd be happy to tell you where NOT to go...just let me know!

Here's hoping for a better tomorrow!