Fortitude

Noun

the mental strength that enables someone to face pain, danger, hardship or adversity with resolute courage

Well I guess that sums it up. It's been a week from .... well for lack of a better term I guess I'll say hell. Nobody's particular hell, as far as religions go. I can't go so far as to call it a generic hell, because to me that implies bland, which it has definitely NOT been.

Let me begin with the unexpected blizzard a week ago Sunday Feb 10th. Snowing and blowing so hard that it made absolutely no sense to shovel snow (besides the fact that it was also about -30F wind chill factor) and I particularly despise frostbite. I say shovel since my lovely little
tractor coughed and died right in the middle of the driveway. I had just made obiesance to it by way of a gift of a brand new 600 cold-cranking-amp battery, for which it repaid me by traveling approximately 75 yards and then deep-sixing the starter motor. I also say shovel since the truck also decided it was too cold to start (lovely diesel fuel likes to gel up below zero degrees Fahrenheit) and like a dunce I did not think to plug it in the night before since I had NO clue it was going to be fricken freezing like that. My fault. Although to give me a little credit I think the truck would have also had trouble... keep reading. (Mind you, I only figured out the gelled
up fuel AFTER I trudged back to the barn, got the sledgehammer and dis-engaged said frozen truck from frozen horse trailer.)

Got up Monday morning and there was a frozen chunk of nicely packed snow (not the fluffy drifting stuff) that looked susiciously like some annoyed god had packed it precisely into my driveway.... a hump of glacier reaching 2.5 feet (yes about up to my a$$) exactly 8 feet wide and 30 feet long. Exactly the distance my little Neon has to travel to get onto the road. This snow was packed so hard that I literally had to slice it into little chunks with the shovel before I could lift it. I almost took a few pics but since the surroudings were all the same color I don't think it would have the impact of real life.

Well.... nothing to do but give in and call in to work or start shoveling. And damned if I'll miss a day's work... esp since I don't have the cash to pay for a snowplow (not like I even know someone close by) and I already paid the sitter! Shovel, shovel, shovel... oops, call in late to work...
shovel, shovel, shovel, shovel, shovel. By now I'm sweating heavily (did I mention I bought a new winter coat, the first real coat I've had in about 10 years... and by gods it's a GOOD one!). Sweat, shovel, sweat, shovel, etc etc. Finally after about an hour and half I was about 2 feet from the
end (and I was already on pavement, but the snow mound extended way out into the road). And DAMMIT here comes the #*^*&^ county plow truck. I stood at the end of my driveway, shovel in hand, impotently watching it come closer and closer. Sure enough, he did his evil deed and threw snow 6 feet back into my freshly cleaned drive. At this point it didn't matter if I got mad, so I just used that renewed burst of energy to clean all that up too. (I *did give him the universal one-finger-salute as he came back by the other way in about 10 minutes. Made me feel about 1% better.)

So....not sure how I did it but I finally got it done. Went back inside and got the kiddo ready to go (luckily she was sawing logs in mommy's bed so I just stuffed her into her cold weather gear). Went back outside, started the car and began brushing off the snow that accumulated since its
original grooming 2+ hours ago. Heard an engine in the distance, I could see it was the ex-neighbor (used to own the farm next door and moved down the road a half mile) with his hugeamungous tractor. He usually plows the next door house, I imagine it's some kind of deal they made when he sold it. I shrugged and returned to my preparations for work. The chugging came closer and here is Ron in his tractor with the little house on top, headed for my driveway! I gave in and laughed until tears ran down my face. We chatted for a minute as I thanked him for his neighborly attentions... albeit a bit overdue in my opinion. (He did concur that my truck would not have made it out either)

That was just the beginning of my week. At least the car would start although it did tear off the door seals because they were frozen shut. After that the outside water for the horses decided to freeze up. That usually happens at least once a year but I can also usually get it thawed
within 24 hours. No go this time. So for 4 days I was privileged to haul water from the bathtub in the house 75 yards out to the water tank. For one horse this would be easy. For five it is not. I will let it go at that. We begin to wonder who owns whom.

Here comes the hardest part. I don't want to go into detail, I just can't this soon. Let me just say that we lost our beloved pony Kia on Valentine's Day. It was a horrendous traumatic heart-rending experience. I am very lucky to have a friend like Abby who came and basically held my
hand throughout the entire ordeal.

At least last night, the water finally thawed out. For one day at least I don't have to haul a sled full of water buckets. But if I need to I will, all the way until spring.