Plowing, shoveling, and salting, oh my!

Plowing, shoveling, and salting, oh my!  And a bit more, too...

Friday night until early Saturday morning, we had a dose (about 2") of wet, gloppy snow – and a thin layer of “black ice” all over our driveway.  Saturday morning when I plowed it was quite entertaining – my tractor slipped and slid all over the place.  Steering was a major challenge, and utterly depending on the fact that my tractor has four wheel drive.  If those front tires weren't scrambling and scratching to turn the tractor, I don't think I could have turned it at all!  Whenever I put the blade down, if I had more than a few pounds of pressure on it the tractor would simply stop, all four wheels spinning like mad.  If more than a few inches of snow built up in front of the blade, the tractor would also come to a halt, again with wheels spinning.  To get the snow off the driveway, I had to use inertia: I got a running start behind a snow pile, slammed into it, moved a few feet before the wheels started spinning, then backed up and did it all over again.  Tedious, that was!  But getting the snow off meant that the sunshine later in the day would melt the ice, which it did on the roughly half of our driveway that isn't shaded in the winter.  The remainder is still ice-covered...

Yesterday evening we drove over to our northern neighbors (Tim and Jeannie D.) for a visit.  Tim has been diagnosed with lymphatic cancer (there's a particular type, but I've forgotten what it's called), for which he had surgery last month and is now undergoing intensive (daily) radiation treatments.  Jeannie recently (also last month) had a serious case of pneumonia that required surgical intervention, something I'd never even heard of before.  From that description, you might think theirs would be a gloomy household – and you'd be very wrong.  We had a jolly time with them last night.  Debbie brought over some freshly baked lemon ricotta cookies (yummy, they are!), and we spent a happy hour or so in conversation with Tim and Jeannie, their three dogs, and their regal (and very fluffy) cat.  Jeannie, to all appearances, has completely recovered.  Tim is optimistic about his chances, but also ready for the bad news that he knows is always possible.  There's no doubt that his devout religion helps him with this, but no matter what the reason his acceptance and optimism are inspiring.  If such bad news ever befalls myself or Debbie, I hope we can handle it with such equanimity.

Earlier yesterday afternoon, Debbie and I finished watching (for the umpteenth time) one of our favorite series: the 1995 BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. If you know me, then you know I'm not much of a movie fan.  There are relatively few movies I can even sit through, and even fewer that don't regret spending the time on.  The list of movies (or shows) that I can stand to watch repeatedly is very short indeed.  This one is near the top of that list.  I love reading Jane Austen's novels; most of them five or six times over now.  Everything about this series is top-notch: it's reasonably faithful to the novel (though of course, of necessity, leaving much out).  The casting is superb.  The acting is uniformly good, and the leads are magnificent.  The costumes and sets are wonderful.  Even the music is beautifully done, quite unusual for a TV series.  If you've never seen this production, carve out a few hours and do so.  It's divided into six episodes, each roughly an hour long.  We watched two episodes a night for three nights...