=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- title: Batten Down the Hatches date: 2024-03-12 08:43:00 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Whelp, I didn't have to wait long before that "one last blizzard before spring" prediction [0] actually came through. No sooner than after publishing yesterday's post, I received about a half-dozen alerts across my devices about an incoming winter storm, expecting 6-to-12 inches of snow (which means, where I live, probably closer to 8-to-14 inches). And it was such a beautiful week, weather-wise... damn false spring. So, while I had hoped to catch up on some reading this evening, it appears I will be whiling my time away in the garage, getting my snow blower up and running (which most likely just means filling the gas tank and burning off the dust). _Why haven't I used it up until now_, you ask, _now that winter is just about over?_ Well, for one, we've had two types of snow this year: extremely _wet_ snow, and extremely dusty snow. My snow blower is a damned beast (thanks Uncle Dan!), so shoveling the dust is sometimes a lot easier (and faster) than getting it going. As for the wet stuff, it just ends up being too heavy to "blow," as it were, and just flops out the top and lands about 12-inches away from where it started. But it's not raining today, which is usually what precedes me having to wade through a foot of slush, and 6-to-12 inches is hardly what I would call "a dusting," so it's time for Mr. Blower to shine *\*. Thankfully we just stocked up on groceries, so I can avoid the mad-dash to the grocery store to stock up on whatever it is panicked people stock up on (toilet paper, they stock up on toilet paper). --- [0]: http://flower.codes/2024/03/11/spring-forward.html --- >> This is post 040 of #100DaysToOffload EOF