March 25, 2016 MAX To The Rescue!

A belly-panned Miss Kitty,

Using the jack come-along to
pull Miss Kitty out.

Wednesday 3/23. Our road was a bit soft in places on my way down, and a neighbor who is back up had plowed the main road once, but not very well.  Fortunately I was going downhill, but I barely made it past his pickup that he hadn't been able to get all the way up.  I was hoping he would be plowing again while I was Down There.  Got all my grocery shopping done and errands run, including getting some Slime for Miss Kitty's tire.  Also stopped in to visit Larry and Elsie.  Had to take my coat off in town, and it felt like my feet were sloshing around in pools of sweat inside my boots.  Forsythia was blooming and most of the yards were a bright spring green.

I arrived back at Larry and Elsie's at about 1:30 pm and transferred everything to Miss Kitty.  In the aspens our neighbor was indeed plowing and I had to wait a few minutes while he finished.  I spent that time throwing sticks for Buster.  So the main road is good to go now, but after a day in the low 40's, our road was even softer than in the morning.  I made it to our spring before Miss Kitty finally belly-panned.  That is about 1/4 mile from the house.  I couldn't dig her out, so I called JB and he came down in MAX.  Miss Kitty was too heavy to winch her out with MAX and there were no nearby trees to use as our winch isn't very long.  So JB made two trips with MAX to get all the groceries up.  I think the 50 lb bag of chicken scratch was the killer in getting stuck.  And possibly the cases of beer and hard cider. . .

Finally got home at 3:30 pm, just in time to feed the dogs and chickens, and gather the egg.  Unpacked everything and put it all away.  JB cooked dinner and then we just relaxed.  Read the mail and some of the papers, then watched Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which has to be at least 25 year old.  We had never seen it even though we had the next two movies that Guy Ritchie made.  Had to be in the right mood and I guess we were, because it was hilarious!

The day was mostly overcast and our high Up Here was 44 and windy.

Thursday 3/24. It was 32 and partly cloudy this morning, with a wind gusting to 21 mph.  Yesterday's wind stayed around all night, but I wouldn't know as I was sleeping hard.

We left to try to bring Miss Kitty up at about 10:30 am.  A few snowflakes were blowing about, but we were on the south end of the cell and really never got more than a few at a time.  We took two towing straps, a chain and the high-lift jack with plans to use the jack as a come-along.  We were able to get the chain wrapped around a large tree and attached to one of the straps, with the jack attached in between the two straps.  JB was actually able to get Miss Kitty's tires pulled out of the holes they had dug, but that was as far as we got.  When I tried to drive her, I only got another foot.  When I turned her motor off, I left her in gear and it locked up.  

We ended up leaving Miss Kitty there and hopefully by tomorrow there will be enough melting so we can rock her a bit to change gears (the motor will not start unless it is in neutral).  Oh, did I mention that yesterday I took the key to Miss Kitty with me and it was not in the coat I was wearing today. . .  So I had to walk back up and get it, as I wanted to use MAX as little as possible because of the track being loose.

So, all in all, we both got a lot of exercise, including the dogs.  And we were all still sore from yesterday.  We will try again tomorrow.  Am pretty sure we will not be going west of the mountains for Easter dinner.  Very disappointing.

There was a lot of melting going on Up Here yesterday and today.  The cistern is full again and there are several bare spots on the paths up to the south ridge and down to the north ridge.  I had forgotten how much effort it takes to walk on snow and ice until I was able to walk on solid ground again.

The wind stuck around all day but slowed down in the afternoon.  Most of the clouds moved on and we had a very sunny afternoon with a high of 42.

We watched Perks of Being a Wallflower this evening.  All I can say is, "WOW!"  Will definitely be watching this one again. . . and again.

Friday 3/25. It is 30 and partly cloudy this morning.  Buster just arrived for a visit at 7:40!

Thought for the day: Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.