Hit by two good sized winter storms in 2 days, I've had to snowplow 4 times, totalling over 6 hours in the truck and many miles, nearly half of which were in reverse.   And, while the snow has finally stopped and the stars are now shining, gale force winds are whipping, creating all sorts of havoc which I'll have to repair in the morning.

You see, snowplowing is my job on the farm.   Georg is in charge of snowblowing.   And while I probably spend more time doing it, I know I have the more "luxurious" of the two jobs.   For starters, mine is done "indoors".

With Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", Anky van Grunsven's Kur Music, and Queen's "Made in Heaven" neatly packed into my Apple iPod Shuffle, I can plow... and sometime do... for hours.

The music and the warmth of the cab of our Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 work together to help keep the absurdity of plowing in perspective.   All the while, Mother Nature throws New England another curveball with a chilly 15 degrees outside, hours of snowfall, another foot or more of new white stuff, and increasingly strong winds that promise to whip everything into artistic but bothersome snowdrifts.

Plowing, like sweeping, can probably be done by anyone.   But doing it well is an learned skill that requires both shortterm & longterm strategic planning, methodic execution, coordination of motor skills, oneness with the equipment, and infinite patience.   For starters, how one approaches the first plowing event can define how successful snow management will be for the whole winter season.   The location of initial snowbanks is critical.   Once seeded, snowbanks take root and grow throughout the winter, requiring heavy equipment (and $$$$) when you need to relocate them.

Boss Snow Plow provides some great online plowing tips.   But my own Top Tip is simple.   If you're gonna spend a few hours driving back and forth at low speeds in challenging conditions, make sure you bring great music.

For friends, colleagues, and family...

Photos from around our property, taken the first days after the storm can be found here.

It's now being called "Ice Storm '08" by the local news.   After 4 and a half days, we got full power back.   But half the town is still without power, as are many in New Hampshire and apparently Massachusetts as well.

We have cleared up most of the mess...   downed tree limbs and broken fences...   but a couple of big hardwood trees will be left to age over the winter, then we'll hit them with a chainsaw in the spring.

At least the driveway (right) is no longer an obstacle course.

We lost a lot of refrigerated and frozen food when temps soared into the 50's before power returned.   And 4 copper heating pipes burst, ruining the carpeting in the process.   But overall, we fared better than many.

Our personal version of the Ice Storm '08 crisis is over.   Now, a big snowstorm is coming.   Oh well.   Ya gotta love New England weather.   It's that or time to move out!

As I write this, much of New Hampshire is without power.   After an impressive ice storm, many trees took down power lines.   At 1:47 am Friday morning, we lost power in Warner.   That was about 40 hours ago.

Like many of our neighbors, we have a generator for these rare emergencies.   Our home is wired to support the water pump, the oil furnace, a couple lights and two power sockets run off a generator.   And that's good enough!

In the past two days, we have come to appreciate access to water, first and foremost.   Not only for ourselves, but for the horses, chickens, dog and bird.   Next, we are glad we stocked up on firewood.   The woodburning stove not only provides warmth and a bit of light, it is kinda fun to cook on!

But the real challenge is lighting.   Especially for the 20 horse barn, which is not wired for the generator.   However, after a full day of cold but strong winter sunlight, we found our solar powered Malibu lights placed every 12 feet along the aisle are good enough to provide just enough light to tend to the horses one last time before bed.

Venturing out, we had to travel 20 miles to get gas for the generator.   The local super market, DeMoulas Market Basket, is running on minimum generator power and selling canned & dry goods, wine, beer, and a lot of water.   Meat, fish, and frozen goods were pulled from the shelves soon after the power failure looked more than momentary.   But the town is happy they are open and serving the community as best they can.   The hardware store next door, Aubuchon's, is out of all major emergency provisions.   Big batteries.   Generators.   Portable lights.   But they are open, running on a borrowed generator.   And as usual, we ran into some neighbors there.   Talked about the weather.   Talked about the power failure.   And learned that Warner lost power into our sub-station.   They say we should have power back by.....   Next Thursday!!!

At home, every fenceline on our property is down with fallen trees.   But in comparison to what we saw while out and about, we faired well.   Electric wires are down in the roads.   Some homes have been damaged.   Some roads are closed.   And the local rivers are creeping over their banks and will get higher when the temperatures lift out of the teens and into the 30's and 40's in the next day or two.

While temps are sub-freezing, we are keeping the former contents of our freezer outside and the contents of the fridge on the porch.   As it gets warmer, we will no doubt be eating the thawing meats with priority.

Finally, we have no mobile phone reception at all, but our land phone line is working, and therefore, we also have Internet access via laptops only.   However, that is at about 2 gallons per hour.  

To those who sent us emails, thank you.