Lots and lots of snow

After last week's storm, Ed and I shoveled for 4 hours each. We had to get our greenhouses and hay tunnel cleaned up, for fear that more snow, which was forecast to come (and did come), would make them collapse. We lost one greenhouse last year, and it was a real pain getting it back up and functioning; it made us late with our planting, and we did not want that to happen this year. So we were out there shoveling.

This week, the forecast called for a lot of snow, and it was right. Rd found a used snowblower attachement for our BCS tractor on Craiglist, and we decided to get it. He went to Vermont and picked it up on Tuesday. He had it all set up and working by Tuesday night, and I felt relieved that we would not have to shovel (as much).
But, on Wednesday, Ed came down with a stomach bug, bad enough that he could not get out of bed for very long. And it was snowing hard. When the snow got deeper than 6 inches, Ed tried to get the snow blower going, but he was feeling too crappy and came back to bed. I headed out to shovel. By myself. No Ed, and no snow blower. How ironic, I was feeling all confident the night before...but that's how it goes. I shoveled one greenhouse first, the one that looked the worst. 200 feet plus the roof. Then I came to the house and crashed in an armchair. Thank goodness that i had cooked a big pot of venison and cabbage stew, and Sena had made butternut squash soup. At least there was plenty of good food to eat when I came in.
Ed was throwing up and feeling miserable. Sena and Aiyana and I watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie, which my sister lent us. After that, I had to go bring water to the cows, and seeing that there was lots of snow on the ground, Ed and I decided that the hay tunnel would collapse unless someone shoveled it out. Sena and Aiyana and I headed out there again, in the dark this time. Sena and Aiyana used two little buckets to get snow off the hay tunnel, and I shoveled. We actually kind of had fun. We kept saying how this would make a good story to tell to their children. Little house on the prairie's got nothing on us!
Next day, Ed was still feeling bad, and it snowed/freezing rained again. We shovelled some more.
On Friday, Ed was able to get out of bed and run the snow blower. Since then, we were able to get everything cleaned up really well. No standing snow on the greenhouses or tunnel.
So this has been the week of shoveling. And we're not done - it's snowing again as I write this.
If I could only get those people paying the gym to waste their perfectly good energy running on those machines up to our farm! They wouldn't even have to pay me!