The Big Dig

I can hear a painful wind rattling and bumping against the siding. The frigid blast that follows a snowstorm will entertain, enlighten and envelop us for the next few days at least.

At my location the high today is expected to be 4. I shouldn’t complain. Already it’s 1, so the external warmth will quadruple! Sunshine helps. The breeze hurts, literally. I will spend at least part of today using a shovel to lift frozen chunks of snow, and then finding a way to hurl them in a direction that is NOT into the wind.

I’ll spend the rest of the day trying NOT to slide into a roadside ditch.

The eastern wind, by the way, blows snow into our crawl space of an attic. Something in the design of the vents, which are configured to keep snow out. yields to that persuasive eastern gale. As a result, a wet spot appeared on the ceiling of one of the interior rooms, so I was crawling through insulation last night, scooping snow and wet cellulose fiber into buckets. Not an ideal Saturday night diversion.

This is what extreme weather brings – a sense of urgency. Whatever you had planned for the moment is not as important as the fact that nature, the ultimate hacker, is launching an assault on the systems that keep you alive. The grandiose view of the situation is that “nature is trying to kill me”, but in fact nature doesn’t care either way. Humbling? That’s the point.

How will you face the elements today?

92 thoughts on “The Big Dig”

  1. Morning all. Since I live on a major thoroughfare, at least twice today I’ll have to dig out at the bottom of the driveway after the plows come through. Then we have to go pick up the fundraiser poinsettias that didn’t make it to the Twin Cities yesterday. And, we’re having some folks over tonight, so we’ll definitely have to get the front steps shoveled off at some point.

    I did a major blow/dig last night at 10. I now know why people believe in Yetis… because that’s what I looked like when I came back in. My headband/hat was actually frozen into my hair.

    Like

  2. think the snow in the attic and having to scoop it out along with the insulation itchies is a big ISH DA, Dale – travel safely later today, please.
    it’s minus 12 degrees out there just now, not counting the bitter, howling wind. i’m taking the fleece goat jackets out soon to see if they’ll keep them on for awhile. even if they don’t, the activity of trying to chew them off will warm them a bit.
    today is the monthly meeting of Goat Ladies of the North club. the host is making goat milk/goat cream egg nog with her Girls’ milk and another member’s chickens’ eggs. wouldn’t miss that; and we have so much to talk about – bloat, drying off methods, late pregnancy/early lactation feeding, and i want to ask them about pizzle rot (google it) which we do not have, but do not ever want. so let the Vikings cancel their game – the wusses! Goat Ladies will convene at 1 pm, come heck or cold weather.

    Like

    1. Be certain to pass on the latest regarding pizzle rot. Would not want to be in the dark on that one! Someone yesterday noted the wonders of goat milk soap. I second that. Use it all the time and it is the best.

      Like

  3. A Sunday post! I personally just let the storm do its thing yesterday and didn’t try to touch the driveway – with the wind howling and more snow falling constantly, my efforts would have been wasted.
    Right now, I’m watching the beginnings of what could be a very nice sunrise (BTW, did you see the cool sun dogs the other morning?!) and contemplating the headgear I will need to keep my face from freezing when I fire up the tractor in a bit. I get antsy to clear the road – my manifestation of that sense of urgency – and may even get out and about for a bit if I am successful, as I have most of my gift shopping left to do. I’ll clear the road again this evening in the hopes that it will hold overnight and I won’t have to get out there again before I go to work tomorrow.

    Like

    1. the sunrise was beautiful. i started blowing at 630 and it was cold and challanging. blew til 10. with the viking game called off i went over to a glass blower friends christmas gala and said hi. tough weekend for your big art sale weekend in a down arts year. it was sparse. got home in time to grab a shovel to sweeten up the rough edges and then off to lose my first basketball game as coach of my sons team. almot beat the team that hasn’t lost in 4 years but lost it at the end. back home to white christmas for the second night in a row and look at the blog…imagine my surprise, now i will go catch up on yesterday. may want to staple up some screening over the vents before the next east blow dale. wet insulation is useless and expensive to replace and pay the increased heat bill in the meantime. sorry man. onward and upward.
      welcome connie you look a lot like one of the other cats we have here on the blog. stop in again soon

      Like

  4. Rise and Shine Baboons:

    Dale, all I can do is pass on a comment to me over the last year when I experienced some thorny business dilemmas, “Gosh, Dale, it sucks to be you.” Crawling around in a freezing, dark, wet attic has to challenge one’s desire to be a home owner. Ja, Ish Da.

    I’ll work on clearing the deck, then the back patio so the dog can access the back yard. The dog looked at me with confusion all day yesterday. She kept looking at me with the mute message telegraphed to my brain, “What have you done? Why can’t I get out easily? Fix this.” So I’ll fix it while Lou clears the driveway and front walk. Nothing better than a really good snow storm. The plow pile at the base of the driveway is higher than waist deep. Then I might go to church and I’ll go to the grocery store.

    Like

  5. OK, I’m going out there to see just how tough it is going to be to get out of the alley.

    I’m putting on the kettle before I go.

    Thank goodness I trained the s&h early in the honorable art of snow shovelling.

    Like

    1. OK, the car can move so we can get to church (we have also earned a trip to the Copper Dome for waffles beforehand!).

      Our wonderful neighbor on the corner ran his snowblower all the way past our house, so we didn’t have the stretch in front of the house to do.

      S&h did most of the digging out of the side of the car while I removed the drift on top of it- Very proud of my boy I am.

      We did think it a mighty shame to wreck the beautiful sculpture by the wind and snow though.

      Like

  6. Urgh! What a day. I will try to shovel out at 8 AM, listening to Liane Hansen’s Sunday program. I have a heart condition that makes this kind of heavy work harder than it used to be. I don’t know what the snow depths are on the front walk. On the sidewalk beside my house, the drifts are deeper than an English setter.

    I hope we can fill the day blogging here as we did yesterday. That was fun.

    The other activity of the day might be listening to Christmas CDs. I want to offer a short list of my favorites, and I’d sure be interested in the favorite Christmas music that other baboons cherish.

    Yesterday we mentioned one of my top five: “A Christmas Together” with John Denver and the Muppets. It is lyrical and funny and surprisingly good. The range of Muppet character voices works beautifully for the music they selected, and the Muppet characters are simply a charming group for a project like this. One surprising song on the CD, When the River Meets the Sea, is gorgeous. But watch out. There are versions of this CD that only had ten songs, not thirteen, if you are buying used.

    Another favorite at our home has been “We Three,” the Christmas album by the Roche sisters. They sing at least one song with heavy northern Joisey Girl accents, and it is a hoot. The album is a delightful blend of Christmas joy and Christmas beauty. If you aren’t familiar with the lovely blended voices of the Roche sisters (Maggie, Terre and Suzzy) this is an excellent introduction. Beautiful and funny.

    A new favorite is the Cherish the Ladies CD “On Christmas Night.” This group, if you don’t know it, is an “all-girl” band made up mostly of Irish immigrants or first generation Americans. Many of the women have won prizes for musicianship. It is a gorgeous album that has a few songs you don’t hear all the time. (My copy didn’t play yesterday but I saved the CD by washing it gently in dish soap, which took off some residue causing it to skip.) The group’s leader, Joanie Madden, will respond to email about CTL’s music.

    My daughter’s favorite Christmas CD is another Celtic recording, “The Bells of Dublin,” by the incomparable Chieftains and a strange but excellent cast of collaborators. This amazing CD has 23 song. The Chieftains are unmatched for their ability to work with anyone with talent, so we have here Marianne Faithful and Elvis Costello and a whole lot of more predictable performers. Just excellent.

    Exercising great restraint, I’ll limit my favorites to five. And my number one favorite is a little-known gem called “Noels Celtiques,” which is a recording of the music of Brittany (the original Celtic area of France). It is more classical than the other CDs I’ve mentioned. The music is rhapsodic as the choir celebrates the appearance of baby Jesus in words I can’t translate but intuitively understand. I don’t know another album that says “Christmas joy” as winningly as this one. It never fails to melt my heart, and I only wish it could melt the snow on my walk!

    Like

    1. I have a compilation CD that I came across one year with all the best chanteuses singing Christmas songs – Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday, I think there’s a Judy Garland on there…I had it on yesterday while we decorated the tree. By the fourth track Daughter decreed that I couldn’t sing along anymore. 😦 I did anyway. Can’t help it. (She didn’t fuss when I sang along to Charlie Brown Christmas, though.)

      Like

    2. An old favorite of mine is Joan Baez’s Noel, with arrangements by Peter Schickele. It’s a very peaceful album.
      I have the Roches, too, and also Cyndi Lauper (love her version of In the Bleak Midwinter).
      I also have a three-record set (yes, it’s on vinyl) of a Book-of-the Month Club collection called Home For Christmas. It has some gospel. country, renaissance music, carols and ballads, a little bit of everything. Leo Kottke, Bok/Muir/Trickett, Jean Redpath, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Mahalia Jackson, the Staples, John Fahey, Odetta, Danniebelle Hall, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, the Waverly Consort, the Boston Camerata, much more. I should find a way to dub it to a digital format – I’m not sure it was ever made available on CD.

      Like

      1. Linda, Joan Baez’ Noel is my favorite Christmas album (I have a tape of my original album), and I had at one time the accompanying book… Sigh. I should look for it again on Amazon I guess. And I envy you that Home for Christmas collection!

        Like

    3. We have Noels Celtique, too, and it is delightful, as is The Bells of Dublin. I also like Wolcom Yule by Anonymous 4 and Classical Kids Christmas. We are just cold and slippery and are expecting 1-3 light fluffy western snow. inches of snow. All you in the Twin cities have my profound sympathy.

      Like

  7. Dale, that would be as bad as playing football in Duluth last night, even though they had no snow, better for the winning Bulldogs than the losing NW MO State, especially how they lost.

    Like

    1. UMD was giving free tix away to the first 100 students, i think. so a bunch of them SLEPT OUTSIDE saturday 1 a.m. to be first in line. Fei da at least. one girl said she couldn’t feel her feet. so what? they got free tix to sit in the stadium and freeze there also. we didn’t get to watch the game because it was on a cable/satellite channel. (not that i’d watch it anyway 🙂

      Like

  8. Re facing the elements: I would give hydrogen and oxygen a stern talking to, but I live in Efrafa, where they do get snow-removal right, right up to my door step.

    Like

    1. I did go out a do a bit, cleaned the drift away from the front of my garage door so the Bobcat could clean out out more quickly and cleaner. Very nice to be out, clean fresh, white.

      Like

  9. knew it. Gerta (doeling of our Dream’s “Desiree”) is here for breeding. this morning at 5:30 (and bone-chilling temps) i could just barely see a tall, dark silhouette outside against the snow – standing up on the fence between the Boys and Girls. T, who always knows these things before i do, was waiting for his new favorite Girlfriend to come to him. at 7 when i walked into the Girls’ barn to milk, sure enough – Gerta was wailing and wagging away. T lives at least 50 feet away thru two buildings, but he always knows. a cuppa coffee and then out to take Gerta to the tryst. this will definitely be a speed date.

    Like

  10. I am hoping to face the elements from the inside of my picture window. I know we shoveled yesterday, and the guy who owns the liquor store behind us came through on his ATV-plow late yesterday to clear the public walks, but it sure doesn’t look like it now. Even if I could get past the front walk, our street has not yet been plowed. I’m only a block off two snow emergency routes, but Mother Nature and the overworked Minneapolis snow plows may conspire to keep me tucked in, safe and warm.

    Daughter and I are supposed to go see a play this afternoon with one of her pals – we’ll have to see if that is even possible once we know if the show will be happening (it may be that the “show must go on” – but it’s darn cold out there).

    Like

  11. Morning! A bright sunny, windy, cold morning out there…

    Oh Dale… Ja, Ish Da!

    I’m gonna give it a bit yet; none of us are in a hurry to get anywhere today. And with our long driveway the wind is gonna be a problem. When I do go out I’ll have my long underwear and hooded sweatshirt. Work boots and tall yellow pull on boots- I think they are technically called ‘Slushers’… but I could be wrong on that. They are an ‘over shoe’ kinda thing and tall enough to keep most snow out.
    I just use plain cotton ‘chore’ gloves, but the heavier blue ones vs. yellow chore gloves.
    And I’ll have a couple extra pair with me.
    Blowing out the driveway in the tractor with the cab — I’m almost spoiled. Heat, wipers, radio… no problems other than a stiff neck. And if a ‘shear bolt’ breaks– which it almost certainly will in this deep snow– then I have ear muffs while I’m outside fixing it… parking headed into the wind helps…
    Son will shovel around the garage door and front steps; he’s young– and invincible– so probably sweat pants and maybe his insulated crocs. 🙂

    Clyde- manure traction… if the driveway got slippery, rather than spreading sand or salt, which we didn’t have, we would simply spread part of that days load of manure -which we did have- on the driveway… the older manure spreaders did a better job of distributing manure in a nice even, light pattern. Newer spreaders tended to leave heavier, bigger clumps, which was a problem once they froze…
    It had a side benefit of keeping salesman out. I mean, imagine coming to a potential sale site and the driveway is covered in cow sh*t?
    We started to use barn lime after I sold the cows and have recently installed barrels and have a sand / salt mixture. Progress!

    Take it easy out there TB’ers!

    Like

    1. Did not know that trick. We had our own private gravel pit . . . on our neighbor’s land, but he gave us right to use it. So we had barrels of it around during the winter, garage, back door, barn, shop, all hand work, of course.

      Like

    2. I envy you your tractor cab, Ben! The path out with my back to the wind wasn’t too bad, but the northbound return trip was mightily cold. Fortunately, no shear pin breaks this time.

      Like

      1. I’m back from digging out… only broke one bolt and was in a sort of sheltered corner so the repair was fairly quick and painless…

        Some good drifts out there 3′ – 4′ deep across the road… wind was so bad I would drive to the end of the driveway and then clear going South so I could keep the windows clean. Cleaner.
        Wind has died down now so the cold can settle in… got the light on in the well house and cars plugged in.

        Like

      2. tim, i know, no big deal, just a thing from my childhood, a thing you had to track so nothing froze; as usual it’s what and who you associate with the images it evokes.

        Like

  12. Not so windy here this morning, and it is good to see the sun. Our thermometer says 2 above. Although it was cool to watch the trees blowing in the wind yesterday, I’m glad this storm is over, esp. since we have to go out. We still have a load of shoveling to do (the snow plow debris and my paths to the bird feeders and for the mailperson), even though we were out 3 (three) times yesterday/yesterevening. We’ve contemplated getting a snowblower, but we would end up throwing it over into our neighbor’s driveway. 😐 If it could get over these drifts, that is.

    This afternoon is our final choral concert, Afterward we’ll probably find a coffee shop or something to hang out in till our Sacred Circle Dance this evening — since both are almost a half hour from here, it makes no sense to drive home and out again. We’ll bring a book apiece, and the Sunday paper, with the crossword and sudoku).

    Stay warm and safe, Babooners!

    Like

    1. thanks for sharing – great pictures, Anna! thanks. those of us “up north” got about 1/8 inch of snow. i think you folks got dumped on last year a couple times when we didn’t. what’s up with that?

      Like

      1. I think it’s nature’s way of keeping us honest (and perhaps a reminder to those who have moved here from the coasts that they are in Minnesota now – this ain’t just New York minus the Statue of Liberty).

        Like

  13. Here is a lusty cheer for good neighbors. My next door neighbor, Jeff, has shoveled out my whole front walk. I went out to shovel this AM and he refused to let me help finish it off. I’m thinking that family might be able to put a nice pie to good use sometime soon.

    Like

    1. Good neighbors are truly a blessing. Days like today I worry a whole lot less about my mom knowing her neighbors are out with their snowblower digging her out (they were out at least once yesterday, and no doubt have already been out today – I have been known to leave them baked goods bribes…).

      Like

    2. My neighbor blew the end of my driveway out too! 🙂 I wouldn’t have been able to shovel through that huge snowbank! Hooray!

      Like

    3. Neighbor from down the street came over with his ginormous snow blower (complete with Obama ’08 bumper sticker on it) and blew out the public walk and most of the driveway – quite the lifesaver. Even with his help it took over an hour for us to get things cleared out front (and enough out back so the short-legged dog can get past the bottom stairs). Will have to think up something nice to bring to the neighbors – I’m awful at pie crusts, so I can’t steal Steve’s idea.

      Like

      1. More cheers for my good neighbors as well. While we were doing the front sidewalk and steps, my neighbor came out and blew out the bottom of the driveway that had been filled in by plows overnight.

        Anna… I peeked down your street when we were out and about this morning. I’ll take my emergency route with the filled in driveway every time. Did the plows make it to your street yet?

        Like

      2. As of 6:45 tonight, still no plows on Aldrich or 53rd Street…yuck. And not even sure right now that even if I can navigate Aldrich, that I could thread the eye of the (snow pile) needle to get out to 54th…if I could get that far, I’m golden, but not sure I can manage that in my little VW. Bah.

        Like

    4. We also had a good neightbor help us out. All 4 of us were out there shoveling and a young man in a 4-wheeler with a snowplow front graciously tore down the snowplow ridge and cleaned the rest of our driveway as well. He looked like he was having a lot of fun doing it as well.

      Like

    5. I wish I had your neighbors. I’ve been stuck in my house since Friday afternoon. I shoveled snow about a foot and a half deep on my driveway. It wasn’t fun with the wind blowing.

      Like

  14. I spent a couple of hours this morning as a member of the Colorado Street Car-Moving Cooperative. Nobody got a ticket, and everyone was out of harm’s way by 9:30.

    Working together is definitely the way to go.

    Like

    1. Linda — When I was a grad student at the U of M, John Berryman was still alive and was regarded as one of the greatest living American poets. I remember a poem he wrote about neighbors getting together in their down coats and goofy winter hats, pushing each other’s cars off the streets, all red-faced and grinning as they worked together. For Berryman, that was the very essence of Minnesota, and I think he might have been right.

      Like

      1. watch out. berryman had that artists soul that haunted him. getting romantic about minnesotans is dancing with the devil. lots of good ones but plenty of others too. wonder if michelle bachman shoveled. saw al franken on channel 4 this morning, they were trying to get him to say it was a big deal out there, he said heck this is nothing. no problem. gotta love the good ones but i do talk smack to the idiots and morons on the roads in front of me on the roads and in many different venues of everyday life here in the stratford wives sister city of eden prairie. envious of those gas pigs in their suv yesterday in one of the 2 days a year where it would be nice to have a road pig vehicle

        Like

    2. We are back home at last after getting stuck twice, right in our own neighborhood. Both times, friendly neighbors helped out.

      First time it was a man and his Eagle Scout son ON THEIR WAY HOME FROM A WEEKEND CAMPOUT! I could not make this up.

      Second time was a lovely group of young men who were on their way so quickly, I did not get a chance to thank them.

      Both times, the s&h insisted on helping to push-now he is a real Minnesota Man, I told him.

      I like to think of snow emergencies as The Other Great Minnesota Get Together.

      Like

    3. A friend who lives near Daytons Bluff attempted to move her car last night (she’s on a night plow route) – gave up after 2 hours of trying, but not without the assistance of one neighborhood teen who was out in a blaze orange vest with the sole purpose of pushing cars out. Someone raised that kid right.

      Like

  15. Greetings! Dale, that sounds like the worst possible job to do in this weather. I feel for you. The house we’re renting now is newer (built in 2004), but we’ve been having problems since we moved in. Water heater wasn’t working consistently, furnace fan was always on, one stove burner doesn’t work, oven element blew and doesn’t work so I can’t bake, and dishwasher water pump is broken.

    Lest you think we’re really abusive to our appliances, we bought new appliances for our old house about that same time and they all work wonderfully (stripped them from the house before we left). We brought in our portable dishwasher from garage, so at least that’s covered. They fixed the water heater and furnace pretty quickly, but the rest is still unresolved after 10 days. I guess renting isn’t so bad — it’s just frustrating.

    Actually, I do have a nice refrigerator we need to sell — a nice big one with freezer on bottom, if anyone’s interested.

    Like

    1. sounds like a great beer fridge for the garage. ask the landlord about service plus posibilites it is a great deal. they fix whatever for nothing if you are on the policy. great deal 15 – 25 month no repairs ever. good trade off

      Like

  16. I was trying to find the vegetarian chili recipe someone had posted a month or so ago, but I don’t see it in Kitchen Congress. Anyone remember who posted it and where it might be? Thanks …

    Like

    1. I posted my vegan chili recipe some time ago. I just looked and can’t find it anywhere in Kitchen Congress. I’ll post it again!

      Like

  17. Here’s the Vegan Chili recipe. I don’t measure anymore so these amounts are approximations.

    1 -2 T olive oil
    Lots of garlic (roasted and minced or fresh minced)
    One large yellow onion, chopped
    4 – 6 medium carrots or 3 large, sliced into half-moons
    4 – 6 medium celery stalks or 3 large with some leafy greens attached, sliced
    1 package or 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
    One chopped bell pepper, any color
    Optional: 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
    28 – 32 ounces canned tomatoes (Muir Glen diced tomatoes work well if you don’t have your own canned)
    2 – 4 ounces tomato paste
    28 ounces of your choice of beans: kidney beans are good. I like 2 cans of Westbrae chili beans.
    1 cup of textured vegetable protein (tvp) or Boca Burger crumbles
    Unmeasured splashes of dry red wine and/or lemon juice (about 1/4 cup total). I prefer the flavor of the red wine.
    1 heaping T cumin powder
    1 heaping T chili powder
    1 heaping t dried basil
    1/2 t salt
    Black pepper to taste

    Saute the garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat until onions are getting soft. Add carrots and saute 3 minutes; add celery and mushrooms and saute 3 minutes; add peppers and saute 3 minutes. Transfer the veggies to a large crock pot set on high.

    Pour in the tomatoes, tomato paste and beans. Add the wine, spices and seasonings. Hold off on the tvp or Boca crumbles for awhile. Cook for a few hours on high, it should be bubbly, then turn down to low and cook for awhile longer. I don’t measure ingredients or times accurately at all. I add the tvp or Boca crumbles about 1/2 hour before serving.

    Like

  18. My daury, and family got from downtown St.P to Chaska but roads are closed south of there. Getting a motel near Canterbury, the great MN boondoggle.

    Like

  19. A heads up if you live in or are visiting in St. Paul –
    The city has declared a second snow emergency. There’s more info on the City of St. Paul web site.

    It also says they are planning to sacrifice a parking lane on each street in downtown St. Paul, using the space to pile snow. More efficient than trying to truck it out.

    Like

      1. I also looked it up. TMI. Next time I want to curse a male, instead of avering, “A pox on your house!” I will yell, “Pizzle rot on your ….” well, maybe not.

        Like

      2. There are a few select members of the George W. administration that I would wish pizzle rot on, but other than that, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

        Like

  20. My son in San Jose has been following the storm and the Metrodome collapse, saw many pix of his old neighborhood near Anna and others, and talking to his sister about her attempt to get home. He said as a result that he cannot shake the feeling of being snowbound despite where he is and what the weather is there. Once a MN always a MN.

    Like

  21. Well, I recall several comments on Friday’s blog taking the National Weather Service to task for promising a big storm and not delivering.

    Happy now?

    Like

  22. So… There I was, watching the video of the Metrodome roof collapse on YouTube (for the 15th time) and getting mentally prepared up to go out and shovel snow, when Deb came down and said “Hey there’s a guy comin up the street with a snow blower. Got a spare $20 to have him do our sidewalks?” Hmmm… momentary mixed feelings about it. I said “Yeah I think there’s one in my wallet.” Out she went. 20 minutes later the sidewalks AND driveway were cleared!!! (And my poor old back and shoulders still work) Is This the feeling of wealth and power that an old guy eventually achieves by sitting on his butt long enough? (I could get used to this 🙂 And now I see why some guys choose Cult Leader and Evil Tyrant as career options. (Just snap your fingers and let those little minions do all the work) Well…too late for that now. I guess I’ll just settle for being one really lucky guy with a smart wife! (Second best twenty dollars I ever spent 🙂

    Like

Leave a reply to Steve in Saint Paul Cancel reply